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[Tamren]

This is a blank 6X16 (I think) fortress rendered in 3dwarf.
 

[ June 12, 2008: Message edited by: Tamren ]

[ June 12, 2008: Message edited by: Tamren ]

[Kagus]

Ahh...  You know, I love huge maps like that...  It would be so incredible to be able to play on one.

[Fieari]

You know, I want the actual game interface to look more like this for one reason only... not for the pretty graphics... ASCII is fine when it conveys the needed information.  I want to be able to see multiple Z-layers at the same time like this.  Imagine seeing an army of U's stampeading over all those hills and dales...

[Tamren]

ASCII is more than capable of doing that. All you need is separate graphical layers. When tiles are one level below you they appear slightly smaller and farther away. When tiles are very very far below you, they appear much smaller and you can see more of them, but it is much harder to make out individual objects.

Essentially it would be adding perspective to the overhead view. Only problem is that this would be a nightmare to code. Maybe in a couple years.

[Tamren]

8X12 map. This one is up against the side of a named mountain. *EXTREME* cliffs don't seem as daunting from this angle but the peak of that "mountain" is over 200 levels above sea.

Fractal algorithm generated terrain ftw. Beautiful aint it?

[Keiseth]

Indeed. Even better than the first one.

[The13thRonin]

When will this be available to the public? (AKA - us).

[Tamren]

Oh it is already. 3dwarf is a program that takes a screenshot of the memory DF is using while DF is running. It then translates this into a 3d render which you can then view. The thread for it is here:
http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=001450

Watch the tutorial first.

[The13thRonin]

Does it show creatures and dwarves?

[Tamren]

As of yet no. It will show water magma rock, walls, fortifications, trees, shrubs, boulders and stairs. It is not intended as a 3d interface, simply a way to visualize the otherwise 2d worlds.

Personally I prefer 2d ASCII, DF simply wouldn't be DF without it. But it is nice to be able to see things this way in glorious 3d, especially the world terrain.

[FunnyMan]

quote:Originally posted by Tamren:
<STRONG>ASCII is more than capable of doing that. All you need is separate graphical layers. When tiles are one level below you they appear slightly smaller and farther away. When tiles are very very far below you, they appear much smaller and you can see more of them, but it is much harder to make out individual objects.

Essentially it would be adding perspective to the overhead view. Only problem is that this would be a nightmare to code. Maybe in a couple years.</STRONG>

Actually, it might not be *as* hard as you think.  Remember, Toady's using OpenGL for control reasons.  I seem to recall that OpenGL forces you to draw in a 3D space and then lets you emulate 2D by putting a surface right in front of the camera.  In which case, you could set up a stack of them and move the camera to an isometric view.

Take that with a *rock salt bag (pig tail)*, though, since I don't actually work with OpenGL.

[Dadamh]

I tried to trump this thread with a full local-area sized map, but PERL crashes at 63/85 in the map extraction.

A 6-bit space or something?

[Tamren]

quote:Originally posted by FunnyMan:
<STRONG>Actually, it might not be *as* hard as you think.  Remember, Toady's using OpenGL for control reasons.  I seem to recall that OpenGL forces you to draw in a 3D space and then lets you emulate 2D by putting a surface right in front of the camera.  In which case, you could set up a stack of them and move the camera to an isometric view</STRONG>

I asked him about this a long time ago when we didn't have Z levels. DF graphics currently have only one layer. Meaning that each tile can only display one thing at a time. You can display black sand, or the boulder sitting on it, not both at once. Graphical layering is apparantly very hard to implement, but possible. So its something to look forward to in the future.

It would allow us to do pretty fun stuff. Diagonal walling for one thing. If you made walls with diagonal lines the game would need to "fill in the gaps" because the walls would have a serrated look to them. These filler wedges would need to fit on top of alternating squares. Since they are only visual they would not block movement beside the wall and it would function as normal. If you can imagine what I mean there.

Edit: Changed some misplaced words. I need more sleep.

[ June 13, 2008: Message edited by: Tamren ]

[PTTG??]

Actually, Tahin created a non-jaggy tileset that I later stole. Mine is on my forum- see my sig- and his is on the wiki. It's so easy to get used to smooth angles.

[Lord Nightmare]

<deleted>

[ June 13, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Nightmare ]