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That is right

[Impaler[WrG]]

Nice work on the shadow blob Kaypy, I particularly like the height indicator though it might look a bit better with a more blurred edge so it seems to actually be an extension of the shadow.  Can you toggle shadow rendering on the 'light' value of a tile or apply shadow over the terrain tiles themselves to make underground areas dark?

[tehmarken]

So kaypy, we should make all future sprites without shadows?

[kaypy]

Yeah, even if automatic shadows doesnt work out, its always easier to add things than remove them.

[tehmarken]

Ok, cool.

Also, what is the general brightness level we should be working with? I know we have many different artists working here, but a consistent color pallete or luminosity will help a lot. Should we work on that on our own, and will somebody we compiling the artwork and checking these kinds of things?

[CobaltKobold]

...the semiproblem: Now, something back in the draw order will depend on something later, if fliers/swimmers. So, place shadows when loading?

Also, shadows on surfaces.

[kaypy]

Nice work on the shadow blob Kaypy, I particularly like the height indicator though it might look a bit better with a more blurred edge so it seems to actually be an extension of the shadow.

*That* one is still a mockup- I try to specifically mention when I have something that actually works...

Can you toggle shadow rendering on the 'light' value of a tile or apply shadow over the terrain tiles themselves to make underground areas dark?

Without proper alpha and a plan for showing flying stuff underground, I will probably be keeping it simple for the moment. Hey, let me get something that works- then we can worry about the details 8-)

Ok, cool.

Also, what is the general brightness level we should be working with? I know we have many different artists working here, but a consistent color pallete or luminosity will help a lot. Should we work on that on our own, and will somebody we compiling the artwork and checking these kinds of things?

Hmm... Solifuge is theoretically Artistic Overseer. I just turned up about a dozen pages into the thread and started doing stuff...

...the semiproblem: Now, something back in the draw order will depend on something later, if fliers/swimmers. So, place shadows when loading?

Yeah, that's what I'm wrestling with now. Also, shadows from multiple critters on the same tile, shadows needing to be different sizes, so needing more config, and probably more I haven't thought of. This isn't going to happen instantly, and will probably need a few tries and a good runup...

[CobaltKobold]

Height indicator...doesn't look that good as a shadow, to me.

a few brainzaps on options:
Art: 1. predraw all shadows. Takes a bit of art time.
2. pre-drawn generic circle shadow. Not so good.
3. look at width of sprite, pick a circle shadow based on that. OK.
Detection: 1. Place shadows as loading. Best: Place creature, flag(/index) for shadowing, place floor, place shadow, clear flag. O(1) detect time per creature. Can handle collisions by masking shadows together, possibly, if you're using unique shadows, or just picking the larger. (note: requires loading top-down for this nice case. O(x*y*sprite) space)
2. Place shadow when drawing creature. O(h), may have draw order issues- but there are draw orders that will make it not matter. O(1) space.

[tehmarken]

Ok, here's a Goblin Archer:



No shadow, no attempt at clawed feet.

For rendering shadows, I think there should be an alpha kind of thing, so it's not a solid black shadow, just a circle under the creature that darkens the underlying surface.

I don't know programming much, but if you could do something similar to using magenta as our transparency color, could you have a specific shade of gray as our shadow color? And for every case that shade is used, it just darkens the surface underneath it. Is that a feasible option?

[kaypy]

For rendering shadows, I think there should be an alpha kind of thing, so it's not a solid black shadow, just a circle under the creature that darkens the underlying surface.

Evertually, we will probably get proper alpha support. Until then, its likely to be an 'every other pixel' job like the water

[YojimboUsaka]

Just had one of those epic things happen in my fort and started to take screen shots as it happened.  Stonesense worked really well.  Only thing missing was the blood and body parts.  Any chance of getting those in at all?  Would make fights look very epic.

In case you would like to know what happened

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=45496.0

Posting here as Stonesense was used aquite a bit for the pictorials.  Thanks.  Really made the story come out.

Yoj

[Firnagzen]

I do believe you mean this, not the link you posted.

[YojimboUsaka]

Thank you sir.  Most kind.  Corrected.

Yoj

[kaypy]

Just had one of those epic things happen in my fort and started to take screen shots as it happened.  Stonesense worked really well.  Only thing missing was the blood and body parts.  Any chance of getting those in at all?  Would make fights look very epic.

Eventually they will most likely be in: bloody splatters are a known occ flag, so shouldnt be too difficult. But items are going to be a real pain.

[Footkerchief]

Eventually they will most likely be in: bloody splatters are a known occ flag, so shouldnt be too difficult. But items are going to be a real pain.

FYI the current splatter system is going out the window with the next release -- instead of being part of the map format they'll be more like items, i.e. they'll be allocated as needed, and can be any material in any solid or liquid form.

As for items themselves, this was another feature that Lifevis had.  Presumably he'd found a reasonably efficient way of handling it.  You can see items (blue blobs) lying on the ground in that demonstration video.

[kaypy]

As for items themselves, this was another feature that Lifevis had.  Presumably he'd found a reasonably efficient way of handling it.  You can see items (blue blobs) lying on the ground in that demonstration video.

"Is there an object here" is relatively easy- theres an occ flag for that, so I had it on a branch a few weeks back. Anything beyond "an object" eg "what kind of object" suddenly becomes much harder.