I really like this tileset. I really dislike this tileset. I've spent an afternoon modding it.
I'll list most of the critiques I've come up with so far, then post my current modified copy of the tileset, than present and talk about a couple of example images. Hopefully, this method is found helpful and constructive. 'Cause this tileset's obviously get legs!
Critiques:
The first requirement for any tileset is to identify what's on screen. This tileset gives me serious trouble here. To my eyes, wood looks too much like metal ore, which looks too much like excavated rock, which looks too much like refuse, which looks too much like blocks, which look too much like boulders. Unmined metal seams look too much like unmined ordinary rock, which looks too much like fluids (blood, lava, water), which look too much like saplings.
This issue is greatly exacerbated by the speckling surrounding all letters (in the standard sets) and the corner outlines for other characters (in all sets). There's just too much visual distraction.
Smoothing and engraving floors and walls add to this problem, as they are too large and too bold for background.
The choice of a top view for various things yields images that don't look familiar and are over-complex for the 16x16 space available. Dwarves in particular are hard to pick out, but I also have trouble with armor stands, statues, crowns, crafts, and meat.
The images for levers suffer exactly the opposite problem: They're super-clear, but look industrial and modern and are therefore out of place.
Many of the other pictograms for furniture look unpolished compared to the work in Mayday's tileset. In my modified copy, I replaced the images that I had most trouble with with ones from Mayday's tileset (some of which Herbdog originally drew). They're more-or-less out of place, but I lack the skill to redraw them in a style more suitable for this tileset.
I love the new look of rock - this is one of the many brilliant bits in this mod! - but feel that unmined ore looks too much like ordinary rock, and that many of the new rock colors need reconsideration. For example, giving grabbro a green highlight makes the unexcavated rock look like something special, which it isn't and too similar to olivine and serpentine. It's also confusing to have largely green rock become dark grey rubble. IMHO, the primary color of a rock should be consistent. Similar comments apply to other rocks. The color change to orthoclase I dislike; light purple is an even more "special" color than yellow, and orthoclase in nature tends to be yellowish.
In sum, the "artyness" is taken too far (at least for my taste), especially given the limited 16x16 size.
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This modified version is based off of "DwarfletterGothicLite_16x16.bmp".
My changes (so far):
* Big change is to smoothed and engraved surfaces. They're more subdued, subtly textured (like the tables and thrones) but no longer have ragged highlight edges, subtly grided, and a touch more smoothly rounded then the GothicLite original. The capital "O" letter now compromises between being an "O" (it's now a little better at this), being a pillar (it's now much better at this), being a wall end (it's now worse at this), and being a glass portal (it's now a little batter at this). Basically, I've tried to make things look "cleaner".
* Various replacement of problematic pictograms. If I couldn't readily identify it, it got replaced with something out of Mayday. The exception is that for tables, which I was able to edit a bit myself. Most of the other furniture pictograms I also think imperfect, but I can at least recognize them.
* Restoration of the backets. The "dogtag" images don't do it for me in any context.
* Rock doors show highlight color. Doors are another things I *love* about this tileset.
* Smaller edits to various things. "%" character is out of Mayday because the existing character was distracting in unknown rock areas. The picture for the top of boulders was offset with that for boulders by one tile.
This picture shows the altered smoothed and engraved surfaces. In the bottom-left corner is gabbro in grey, promising and delivering grey rubble.
Blocks and furniture. Bin, barrel, and floodgate highlight colors are less jarring, metal floodgates and rock doors show some highlight color. Blocks are out of Mayday. This tileset's block character works brilliantly for the tops of trees, but very poorly for blocks. And blocks are much more important to me than treetops. I haven't gotten around to revising the image for ore, but it's too similar to those for various other things and ought to be changed.
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Topic: DWARFLETTER CLASSIC: ver 2.0 (Read 23952 times)