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[CanadianWolverine]

I don't know what this will be worth to the discussion, but I just found DF very recently, through a article in my latest PC Gamer.

One of the first things I did after downloading, extracting, and upon trying to figure things out was wonder what the symbols meant on the map building and choosing a place to start for the first time. In an effort to understand, I googled up these forums, got lost in cool story, followed the link to the wiki, didn't find out what all the symbols meant but a few of them after digging through a number of pages, read a bunch of other stuff that didn't relate to that but gave me an idea that basicly my dwarves are dead meat (hehe) and then came back here, read some more fun story, and then stumbled upon a thread about graphics, got lucky and had someone share with me what to do to get them - sorta, and now I recognize what most symbols are supposed to be now that they are little pictures but certain things on that world map are still a mystery, possibly even more so now.

Somehow, I get the impression not too many newbie DF players would go to those same lengths *shrug* But what I did discover has let me know I enjoy watching my dwarves die in this more than seeing my NetHack characters die.

[Muz]

I'd appreciate graphics very much. I'm used to roguelikes.. heck, I've played ADOM back when it was still in beta. But graphics make the game a lot better.. trust me, as an indie game maker I've seen what a difference graphics make.

I'm willing to bet that if DF uses a decent looking, properly done tileset with ASCII graphics possible, after 4 years or so, all but the most hardcore ASCII graphics lover will settle with the tileset. But I hope it doesn't go 3D any time soon, though. That'll cause a big mess.

Anyway, does anyone know a good graphics mod for the game? I've seen a few of them in screenshots, but I'd rather prefer something that shows as much detail as the original ASCII graphics.

[Tormy]

I bet that the Adams brothers wouldn't even have to create their own full graphics set once that ability is available.  I have no doubt that at least some in the community would be willing to create a full graphics set and officially make it public domain material, allowing Bay 12 Games to use it as a default for Dwarf Fortress if they wished. 

I am pretty sure that Toady would't use any user made gfx tilesets in the official game. Dont ask my why, but I think so at least.

[MMad]

I am pretty sure that Toady would't use any user made gfx tilesets in the official game. Dont ask my why, but I think so at least.

That's the impression I've gotten as well.

[Exponent]

Yeah, I'll admit, I get that impression too.  And given what Sowelu said, I can understand part of the why as well.  Nonetheless, I'm quite sure such a graphics set would be available, even if not accepted.

At the very least, after reading CanadianWolverine's post, I would suggest that it would be nice if somewhere on the opening screen, or in the documentation, or readme file, or somewhere likely to be seen by new players, Toady provided a link and short description for a popular graphics pack.  Even if it isn't included, it would help tremendously for it to be obvious where to obtain it.  Yes, we all know about the wiki, but not everyone does; and even if a person knows about the wiki, they don't automatically know that it contains a couple of pages specifically with user-made tile/graphics sets

[MMad]

At the very least, after reading CanadianWolverine's post, I would suggest that it would be nice if somewhere on the opening screen, or in the documentation, or readme file, or somewhere likely to be seen by new players, Toady provided a link and short description for a popular graphics pack.  Even if it isn't included, it would help tremendously for it to be obvious where to obtain it.

It would help a lot, but frankly I don't think even that would be enough. I think many new players would go "eh, whatever, I won't start messing around with mods and stuff unless I'm sure I like this game" and they'll start playing with the default settings - and get the ASCII-shock and promptly delete the game.

The default, unmodded version should be extremely newbie-friendly.

[Idiom]

I think SNES grade isometric is about the minimum I hope for. Though 2.5D like dungeon keeper is what I dream of.

If nothing changes, I'll still be happy. To me, DF is a niche game.