Reviving Iso-Angband, an isometric view addon for Angband

[EpicMan]

Scrolls are white '?' to distinguish them from spellbooks, which are colored '?' symbols. Scroll 'flavors' are the gibberish titles.

What some of the graphics tilesets do is have one tile for all un-IDed scrolls, and for IDed scrolls they have the scroll graphic with some symbol indicating what the scroll does. Look at the tilesets to see what I mean.

So you could have un-IDed scrolls be a whit e? (or whatever symbol) and add a symbol on top of that indicating the type of scroll if that type is identified.

[Hajo]

What some of the graphics tilesets do is have one tile for all un-IDed scrolls, and for IDed scrolls they have the scroll graphic with some symbol indicating what the scroll does. Look at the tilesets to see what I mean.

If that is what Angband does by default, then I guess this will happen with my graphics, too. I just thought I could remap the scrolls through a pref file, like the other flavored objects.

I have separate images for books and scrolls already. Was just wondering if I should try to give the scrolls more graphical variety. From your explanation, I guess that only works for IDed scrolls then. Which would be alright, I think.

[Hajo]

Iso-Unangband WIP 3 is available now. No code changes this time. I've mostly been configuring and adding things that I discovered in sewers level 1. Again, a bit more complete than the last version, but still on each tour into the dungeon I discover something new ...

Click for full size.

... other places might look much worse than this screenshot. Unangband is just full of surprises.

Download

=> http://www.funkelwerk.de/data/iso-an...4-iso-wip3.zip (5.2 MB)

Images and sources are included. A windows executable is supplied, and two start scripts "start_large.bat" and "start_small.bat", as known from the former Iso-Angband releases.

Changes

- New dusty floor image.
- Scroll flavor config (all white so far, and all got the same image).
- "Pebble" type floor.
- Food config.
- Faery image and config.
- Basic books config.
- Whirlwind image and config.

There were more changes but I forgot to write them all down ...

If you start a new character in Hobbiton, it can happen that you get a block of several dark grey X text character in the middle of the screen. They go away when you move. I don't know yet what causes this problem.

I keep finding early scrolls and potions is small stacks of 2-4 items. Is this intended? Did I break something?

[Hajo]

A small update that should help to display a good number of the early wall tiles better:

=> http://www.funkelwerk.de/data/iso-an...res-wip3_1.zip

Unpack this archive and copy/move the font-sdl-iso_features.prf file into the Iso-Unangband lib/pref folder. You might want to backup the old file, just in case. You need Iso-Unangband WIP 3 for this, see the former message in this thread.

Changes

- Roughly-hewn granite wall.
- Web-covered granite wall.
- Mossy granite wall.
- Vine-covered granite wall.
- Slime covered granite wall.
- pebbles in the shade.

Why does searching change the green vine-covered granite wall into orange vine-covered granite wall? I'd find a transition from orange before searching to green after searching more logical.

Edit:

Throwing/shooting already seems to work in WIP 3. Spell effects do not. I think I found a solution, which will be included in the next release. But I want to accumulate some more changes before publishing a new release already again.

[andrewdoull]

If you start a new character in Hobbiton, it can happen that you get a block of several dark grey X text character in the middle of the screen. They go away when you move. I don't know yet what causes this problem.

This bug affects all graphics versions. I've yet to track it down but IIRC Nick fixed it somehow in FAAngband. I don't believe he knows how though...

I keep finding early scrolls and potions is small stacks of 2-4 items. Is this intended? Did I break something?

This is intended - to make these items worthwhile keeping.

Andrew

[Hajo]

Thanks for the reply, Andrew, good to know that it "works as usual/intended"!

Meanwhile I've been busy again, and I think I have another release-worthy update, Iso-Unangband WIP 4.

Small code changes to help display of spell effects and shops in town. But mostly I've been configuring and adding more images. Once again, a bit more complete than the last version, but still a lot left to do ...

Click for full size.

... other places might look much worse than this screenshot. Levels are themed and some themes lack most images.

Download

=> http://www.funkelwerk.de/data/iso-an...4-iso-wip4.zip (5.1 MB)

Images and sources are included. A windows executable is supplied, and two start scripts "start_large.bat" and "start_small.bat", as known from the former Iso-Angband releases.

Changes since WIP 3

- Roughly-hewn granite wall.
- Web-covered granite wall.
- Mossy granite wall.
- Vine-covered granite wall.
- Slime covered granite wall.
- pebbles in the shade.
- Rubble pile image and config.
- Cave lizard config.
- Ooze config.

- Temporarily added a hardcoded solution for spell effects, since I could not find out how to configure those through pref files in Unangband. The supplied example from dvg pref did not parse.
- Also added a hardcoded solution for town shop display. Some day I hope to display real houses there.

Slowly it starts to look more solid and consistent.

[EpicMan]

This is looking really good! Andrew, now you are going to need an option to rotate the movement keys so that they work right in iso mode :-) (and only half kidding)

[Hajo]

This is looking really good!

Thanks, I'm glad to hear

The key bindings might be tricky, but I'm sure sooner or later there will be a solution found.

... and off to add more images

[andrewdoull]

This is looking really good! Andrew, now you are going to need an option to rotate the movement keys so that they work right in iso mode :-) (and only half kidding)

Mouse movement is the way to go.

Just needs a lookup function to translate screen coordinates back to tiles for isometric mode.

Andrew

[Hajo]

I feel a bit uncertain about move-by-mouse. This works best with some pathfinding, so that the PC can walk around obstacles if the player clicks a spot behind the obstacle, and at some point it will raise the question for animated PCs.

Both pathfinding for PC and animations are doable, but particularly animations are quite some extra work.

Key input has a definite "distinct" characteristic. One key press = one tile moved. The key press raises different expectations in the player than dragging the mouse (distinct vs. continuous action), which are better fulfilled by the current display and code. So for the moment I'd like to keep that.

I'm somewhat positive that there can be a solution for a rotated key input map. I'll see if I can do something about it in one of the next releases.

Some new images for the next release:

Lesser vortex/whirlwind, Faerie light, Insect swarm, Goat, Goblin

Maybe goblins should be taller than goats?

Besides the other things, I have been working on spiral staircases to replace the old ones:

I feel a bit uncertain about the stairs, they were created differently than the other graphics and do not fit the style as much as they should. But maybe it's ok to keep them. I'd rather assume that over the course of time the other tiles slowly get more detailed, too.

[andrewdoull]

I feel a bit uncertain about move-by-mouse. This works best with some pathfinding, so that the PC can walk around obstacles if the player clicks a spot behind the obstacle, and at some point it will raise the question for animated PCs.

Move by mouse is already in Unangband which is why I suggested it. The problem I had with isometric graphics figuring out how to convert clicking on the isometric display converts to an x,y grid coordinate.

Andrew

[Hajo]

Move by mouse is already in Unangband which is why I suggested it. The problem I had with isometric graphics figuring out how to convert clicking on the isometric display converts to an x,y grid coordinate.

Mathematically, the projection functions are reversible.

The lazy solution is to keep track of tile coordinates while drawing them, and later use this information to map mouse clicks to tiles.

The "store tile coordinates" approach has the benefit that it works with all sorts of projection functions - so if you use several projections and let the player choose one out of them, you do not need to implement reverse functions for all of them, but can use the same lookup table of screen-to-tile mappings for all.

[Hajo]

Iso-Unangband WIP 5 is now available.

No big changes this time, mostly image and configuration updates. I decided to change the configuration back to straight stairs in this release, since the spiral stairs did not fit very well with the other tiles. Maybe later after some rework they'll fit better.

I like the new spell effects - similar to the former ones, but with a bigger "bang" factor

Download

=> http://www.funkelwerk.de/data/iso-an...4-iso-wip5.zip (5.3 MB)

Images and sources are included. A windows executable is supplied, and two start scripts "start_large.bat" and "start_small.bat", as known from the former Iso-Angband releases.

Changes since WIP 4

- Cow image and config.
- Goat image and config.
- Emphasized spell effects images.
- Insect swarm image update.
- Faerie light image and config.
- Goblin image and config (leaving out the more special goblins).
- Ant image and config.
- Shrieker mushroom patch image and config.
- Mushroom patch config.
- Torch and lantern config.
- Dagger type weapon config.
- Sword type weapon config.

- Changed code to base display on p_ptr->wx/wy instead of px/py. I hope this will improve some of the problems with the (l)ook function, and maybe also some other display problems.
- Centered display better on player.

[Hajo]

Iso-Unangband WIP 6 is now available.

No code changes this time, just new images and more configuration entries for existing images. Focus is still the early game, and slowly, very slowly, the project becomes more complete there.

Download

=> http://www.funkelwerk.de/data/iso-an...4-iso-wip6.zip (5.3 MB)

Images and sources are included. A windows executable is supplied, with two start scripts "start_large.bat" and "start_small.bat", as known from the former Iso-Angband releases.

Changes since WIP 5

- Added new image templates to expand tile set further.
- Curved blades config.
- Whip config.
- Ball-and-Chain config.
- Mace type weapons config.
- Spear/Pike/Javelin config.
- Shovel config.
- Pickaxe config.
- Boots config.
- Cap/helm config.
- Leather armor config.
- Metal armor config.
- Complete centipede and crawler config.
- Complete worm mass config.
- Chicken image and config.

[Hajo]

I feel a bit uncertain if this is the right way to picture "open vents" and "empty basins". But it looks interesting to me anyways

Click for full size.

I'd assume that the basins are meant to be aligned with the wall, maybe like fountains as part of the wall. Such directional objects are kind of tricky in a block-oriented display though ...