Uniques now purple in nightlies

[Magnate]

Evening all. Just a heads-up, following a recent thread: all unique monsters are now purple. All previously purple monsters are now dark red, except for those where no unique exists (Z, v, w).

I chose the dark red because it was close, but it means you might now muddle up nexus Q with the much deeper dark red one (greater draconic?). You might also muddle up barrow wights with emperor wights, I guess.

Any dramatic clashes, please let me know.

[pav]

-1

This really is a terrible mistake to do. You just took 1/2 of the surprise oompf from the game. Do the devs recently do *everything* that lands on Trac without thinking? What's next, all artifacts purple?

[Nightmarjoo]

-1

This really is a terrible mistake to do. You just took 1/2 of the surprise oompf from the game. Do the devs recently do *everything* that lands on Trac without thinking? What's next, all artifacts purple?

+1 ._. Some colour changes here and there I could see definitely being helpful, but this is kind of boring ._.

[Marble Dice]

I could understand an objection from a flavor standpoint (boring purple uniques), but I don't understand this complaint. Would it be better if uniques showed up as a normal monster of their race, and you had to figure it out on your own because that cave spider just one-hit killed you with darkness breath?

[Netbrian]

I think this is a wonderful change. It's not like it was a huge surprise before, there's always the monster list. This makes things much more jarring.

[fizzix]

I could understand an objection from a flavor standpoint (boring purple uniques), but I don't understand this complaint. Would it be better if uniques showed up as a normal monster of their race, and you had to figure it out on your own because that cave spider just one-hit killed you with darkness breath?

Apparently some people play Angband for the graphics. Who knew?

(I like this change)

[miyazaki]

I could understand an objection from a flavor standpoint (boring purple uniques), but I don't understand this complaint. Would it be better if uniques showed up as a normal monster of their race, and you had to figure it out on your own because that cave spider just one-hit killed you with darkness breath?

I dislike this change for flavour reasons, but also because I use colours to distinguish between uniques: think about the C's or E's or p's or U's. I think that uniques stand out on the monster list enough without this change.

Watching the monsters carefully is a skill that is needed to advance in the game. Just like it would be if you were a real adventurer in the world...

[RogerN]

I don't like the idea. Seems boring to me.

I also don't really understand the reasoning behind it. There are plenty of non-unique monsters which are just as dangerous as uniques; why should uniques get special color treatment?

[Marble Dice]

I dislike this change for flavour reasons, but also because I use colours to distinguish between uniques: think about the C's or E's or p's or U's. I think that uniques stand out on the monster list enough without this change.

Watching the monsters carefully is a skill that is needed to advance in the game. Just like it would be if you were a real adventurer in the world...

This is probably a good point. I am relatively neutral to rendering all uniques in purple, but since the monster list, I've never been surprised by a unique. Also some uniques are always striking when you encounter them because of their colors - Fundin Bluecloak, for example. On the other hand, I like the look of the monster knowledge menu when I browse through it with purple uniques. They all stand out from the rest of the monsters. I'd probably enjoy playing both ways.

Maybe the ideal solution would be to support more colors, then add an option to render uniques in a special light violet/pink color that looks different from the normal violet for mindflayers and the like.

[fizzix]

This is probably a good point. I am relatively neutral to rendering all uniques in purple, but since the monster list, I've never been surprised by a unique. Also some uniques are always striking when you encounter them because of their colors - Fundin Bluecloak, for example. On the other hand, I like the look of the monster knowledge menu when I browse through it with purple uniques. They all stand out from the rest of the monsters. I'd probably enjoy playing both ways.

Maybe the ideal solution would be to support more colors, then add an option to render uniques in a special light violet/pink color that looks different from the normal violet for mindflayers and the like.

what about the suggestion made (not by me) to have uniques have a different background color. Gray perhaps. Or is this very difficult?

[PowerDiver]

I don't like the idea. Seems boring to me.

I also don't really understand the reasoning behind it. There are plenty of non-unique monsters which are just as dangerous as uniques; why should uniques get special color treatment?

Because it's such a pain to hit space a dozen times to find out which spider is Shelob or which balrog is the unique in a room with 30 of them. Should a 3500 hp spider be obviously different from a 10 hp spider? Some say yes.

Boring is hitting the space bar in look mode.

[Atarlost]

Angband uses custom fonts anyways, why not use extended Ascii to give each letter a black on colored version? We're already using strings of 8 bit charachters rather than 7 so it shouldn't break anything to add extended ascii support.

[Hariolor]

Because it's such a pain to hit space a dozen times to find out which spider is Shelob or which balrog is the unique in a room with 30 of them. Should a 3500 hp spider be obviously different from a 10 hp spider? Some say yes.

Boring is hitting the space bar in look mode.

Then use a subwindow with the visible monster list - no spacebars needed.

That said, my only complaint with purple uniques is that it teaches bad habits. If you're not afraid of being surprised by the unique orc amid the horde of normal orcs, you may tend to fight less cautiously than you otherwise would (holding down buttons, etc). This just encourages lazy gameplay, and will thereby create fewer (not more) winners.

Just my $0.02

[miyazaki]

Because it's such a pain to hit space a dozen times to find out which spider is Shelob or which balrog is the unique in a room with 30 of them. Should a 3500 hp spider be obviously different from a 10 hp spider? Some say yes.

Boring is hitting the space bar in look mode.

Making all the uniques bright purple is kind of a lazy solution. I think that a number of different colours could be reserved for uniques, the purple, blue, a dark grey, a dark red. This way, uniques could have a colour different than their escorts without compromising the game esthetics.

[Derakon]

Making all the uniques bright purple is kind of a lazy solution. I think that a number of different colours could be reserved for uniques, the purple, blue, a dark grey, a dark red. This way, uniques could have a colour different than their escorts without compromising the game esthetics.

I'm inclined to agree with this. I don't have a problem with uniques standing out from other units of the same race, but they should also stand out from each other. As it stands, uniques already tend to have distinct colors (with notable exceptions like Shelob -- and here, I'm inclined to change the color of the Giant Cave Spider instead). I'd say, find the uniques that don't stand out yet, and pick a new color for them, but the rest should stay as they are.