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[Random832]

To those of you who create graphics sets and tilesets - what tasks do you find the most tedious / would appreciate an external tool (i.e. other than a graphic editor) to help with?

[dyze]

all you really need is the pen tool. drawing pixel by pixel is more or less the only way to create quality graphics this small.

[Savok]

See http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=30422 for a useful utility that Random made.

[Sinergistic]

Just thinking here, but don't you pretty much have to create the graphics file that points the game to the correct graphics for the thing getting displayed by hand? IE, you have to tell the game that the graphic for the king resides in coordnate position 1:4 or something.

How about a utility that automatically generates said code?

Thinking of the top of my head, I'm envisioning an excel like program. Each grid location represents a grid location in the image. The image would be displayed side by side to the grid. The user then looks at the picture and can quickly tell the program that the image in 0:0 belongs to a miner. The image in 0:1 belongs to a king. Etc.

Once you finish filling in the blanks, the program would spit out the relevant code. For easy debugging of errors, you might even have a 'side by side' comparison mode in which the program extracts the 16x16 image, blows it up a little (like a thumbnail in reverse) and then displays the relevant information pointing to it. For example: It shows the image you made for the king, but the text file is saying the masonry job is pointing to it. Basically a proof reader, not really necessary, just fluff. (You wanted ideas, right?).

Maybe even make it simpler than that. Maybe have it import the image you are working on, blow it up a little, and then the user just fills in the grid, and then clicks the image that it points to. For example, I type in 'miner' in the 0:0 grid position, and then just click the miner graphic on the image, and it associates the two.

[dyze]

Just thinking here, but don't you pretty much have to create the graphics file that points the game to the correct graphics for the thing getting displayed by hand? IE, you have to tell the game that the graphic for the king resides in coordnate position 1:4 or something.
...

not really, since that part is coded into the game

[Savok]

He's talking about creature sets. Which aren't coded like that.

[Plac1d]

Just thinking here, but don't you pretty much have to create the graphics file that points the game to the correct graphics for the thing getting displayed by hand? IE, you have to tell the game that the graphic for the king resides in coordnate position 1:4 or something.

How about a utility that automatically generates said code?

Thinking of the top of my head, I'm envisioning an excel like program. Each grid location represents a grid location in the image. The image would be displayed side by side to the grid. The user then looks at the picture and can quickly tell the program that the image in 0:0 belongs to a miner. The image in 0:1 belongs to a king. Etc.

Once you finish filling in the blanks, the program would spit out the relevant code. For easy debugging of errors, you might even have a 'side by side' comparison mode in which the program extracts the 16x16 image, blows it up a little (like a thumbnail in reverse) and then displays the relevant information pointing to it. For example: It shows the image you made for the king, but the text file is saying the masonry job is pointing to it. Basically a proof reader, not really necessary, just fluff. (You wanted ideas, right?).

Maybe even make it simpler than that. Maybe have it import the image you are working on, blow it up a little, and then the user just fills in the grid, and then clicks the image that it points to. For example, I type in 'miner' in the 0:0 grid position, and then just click the miner graphic on the image, and it associates the two.

Seconded. Added to that, the tool should be able to simultaneously handle multiple images at once found in a folder, and be able to switch to and preview each one separately without ever having to reload.

Unreasonably, I've always wanted a tool that lists the game's database (don't even know where it exists) of all available creatures and each of their given profession types that can have graphics applied to them, so the user can view what they have completed, and what could still be added. For example, the profession types for a hippo are DEFAULT, CHILD, ZOMBIE and SKELETON. But the profession type for ELEMENTMAN_FIRE is only DEFAULT. having a list to distinguish the professions for every unit would be helpful!

[Footkerchief]

^^^ Professions are defined in a list in entity_default.txt.  If a creature doesn't have an "entity" (civilization) entry, it won't have any professions.  Apologies if you already knew this and meant something totally different.

[Vucar Fikodastesh]

It may not have professions like cook or brewer, but if the animal can have children or is an undead candidate, they can have pseudo professions like child, zombie, and skeleton.

[Random832]

All that info would be in the raw files. I don't know offhand what tags indicate if undead versions are possible.