true color ascii graphics, bRogue-style

[droof]

I really like the true-color ascii graphics from bRogue. They create a wow-effect while remaining somewhat true to the original roguelike graphics.

Would there be an interest in having these graphics in Angband? If so, would x11 or SDL be the better interface for them?

[Nick]

They are nice - I guess the question for Angband would be what do the different colours mean? It looks like in Brogue it is representing different lighting levels, where in Angband light is typically binary.

[Derakon]

If I recall correctly, Angband does support 24-bit color; the main problem is figuring out how to use color meaningfully without penalizing the player for not noticing subtle color differences. We tried using more colors for monsters, for example, only to find that players tended to have trouble telling them apart anyway.

Angband doesn't really have any "analog" attributes where subtle gradations would make sense, as far as I'm aware. That doesn't mean we couldn't add some, of course.

[LostTemplar]

I don't like non-black backgrounds in roguelikes, looks ugly imho, however 24 bit RGB character colors are nice.

[nppangband]

If I recall correctly, Angband does support 24-bit color;

The one exception the GCU port. I think that will only support 16 colors.

[Magnate]

The one exception the GCU port. I think that will only support 16 colors.

Do you mean 16-bit? We've supported 256 colours for a while now.

[buzzkill]

They are nice - I guess the question for Angband would be what do the different colours mean? It looks like in Brogue it is representing different lighting levels, where in Angband light is typically binary.

The different colors look pretty as they cycle and shimmer. That's just about all they do in Brogue. If there's a fire source nearby, tiles near it will be lighter. If there's a fire, tiles near it will be redder. If you fire a lightening bolt, tiles near it's path are briefly illuminated. But good luck trying to discern a concrete lighting status just from looking at a tile. In this way I think it would be a poor fit for traditional Angband, not that I wouldn't like to see it happen anyway.

The colors make Brogue feel alive. It's like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket, eventually pulling it up over your head and sealing yourself in. It's a experience that ebbs and flows continuously until you're done playing. There's seldom disappointment when death finally finds you, for there has been a courtship. Angband is much more sterile. Like solving a crossword puzzle with a golf pencil while sitting on a sturdy bench facing a brick wall on an overcast, but not otherwise unpleasant, day. Every once in a while you wish you had an eraser and every once in a while you feel good about having solved a particularly clever clue. Aside from those moments... not much happening.

[nppangband]

Do you mean 16-bit? We've supported 256 colours for a while now.

I didn't quite say it right. There is the compiler option of the GCU port where the color is stored using only 8 bits. The value can't go above 218 (values of 0 to 5 for RGB). There is also the compiler option in the GCU port with the colored pairs, that doesn't support the modern color system, for much older monitors, I think.

/* Attempt to use colors */
else if (can_use_color)
{
/* Prepare the color pairs */
/* PAIR_WHITE (pair 0) is *always* WHITE on BLACK */
init_pair(PAIR_RED, COLOR_RED, bg_color

[Magnate]

Angband is much more sterile. Like solving a crossword puzzle with a golf pencil while sitting on a sturdy bench facing a brick wall on an overcast, but not otherwise unpleasant, day. Every once in a while you wish you had an eraser and every once in a while you feel good about having solved a particularly clever clue. Aside from those moments... not much happening.

You'll enjoy a maintainer who maintains, then, keeping those lovely feelings of sterility and bad weather just how you like them.

[droof]

The different colors look pretty as they cycle and shimmer. That's just about all they do in Brogue. If there's a fire source nearby, tiles near it will be lighter. If there's a fire, tiles near it will be redder. If you fire a lightening bolt, tiles near it's path are briefly illuminated. But good luck trying to discern a concrete lighting status just from looking at a tile. In this way I think it would be a poor fit for traditional Angband, not that I wouldn't like to see it happen anyway.

Maybe the colors don't have to be functional and give precise information to the player. What makes Brogue pretty to me is not the fact that monsters can use all colors of the rainbow and that I can detect the origin of a light source. Instead, I simply like those non-functional light source gradients that make the world feel more alive and pretty. They shouldn't really give the player an advantage over someone who wants to play the game using an 8-color TTY. Or someone who likes the clean look of the current Angband.

What if for example the line of sight becomes a gradient, which can be reversed to a binary light source depending on the interface used and when the gradients have not been enabled as an option? Would that create complications?

[molybdenum]

Maybe the colors don't have to be functional and give precise information to the player. What makes Brogue pretty to me is not the fact that monsters can use all colors of the rainbow and that I can detect the origin of a light source. Instead, I simply like those non-functional light source gradients that make the world feel more alive and pretty. They shouldn't really give the player an advantage over someone who wants to play the game using an 8-color TTY. Or someone who likes the clean look of the current Angband.

What if for example the line of sight becomes a gradient, which can be reversed to a binary light source depending on the interface used and when the gradients have not been enabled as an option? Would that create complications?

It looks like takkaria might have been thinking about something like that with http://trac.rephial.org/ticket/1721. The biggest issue that I can think of doing something like that has to do with mixing the existing lighting code with dynamic coloring. But, perhaps, after the Great Restructuring, it may be cleaner to implement.