Help Wanted: Graphic Artists for Z+

[buzzkill]

I am currently on a full 32x32 graphic tile set for Z+Angband 3.x.

This expanded tileset could then, of course, be used to create tilesets for other variants, expanding it even further.

There is still a lot of work to be done. If you would like to help (maybe just a little), PLEASE contact me through the forum.

I will continue to EDIT and update this post on what has been completed, so check back every now and then if this is of interest to you as it will not appear as a 'new post'.

This project is NOT dead (although I haven't worked on it in a while).

Update 2/17/09 Thanks to Fenrir for his recent help (Wyrms/Serprnt/Unicorn/Godzila and more)!!!!
Update 2/22/09 Added a few more items.
Update 3/31/09 Added more monsters thanks to Thapper.
Update 4/08/09 Added some more monsters and weapons.

The very latest graphic updates will be maintained at mediafire.com/buzzkill. Get them any time you want.

[andrewdoull]

I am currently on a full 32x32 graphic tile set for Z+Angband 3.x. I started with the David Gervias tile set, but Z+ added a lot (a whole lot) of new monsters and so we need new tiles. That's where you come in.

I'm going to post about 50 monsters here, just for starters, that currently don't have tiles.
...
Sheep 889
...
Evil eye 941
Gauth 942

For what it's worth, David Gervais' 54x54 tile set does have tiles for the above, which are designed at the same scale as the 32x32 tile set (just with bigger borders).

You may want to have a look at any other possible tiles from that set as well.

Andrew

[Mangojuice]

While we're on the subject, I added this random unique thing to Z+ without thinking at all about how it would interact with graphics. Currently, random uniques will show up as ascii symbols; I could probably find a way to make them look in a graphics set just like the monsters they are based on (e.g. a unique cave orc could look like a normal cave orc) but that loses something.

So, anyone have any ideas how this could be done? Or are heroes going to have to stay ascii even for those who like tilesets?

[Narvius]

Create a tile at runtime that has a gold circle around it's legs.

[Jungle_Boy]

Create a tile at runtime that has a gold circle around it's legs.

Or maybe just highlight the tile with the cursor?

[Narvius]

What if cursor-on-player is enabled?
Or if there are multiple heroes?

[Altefcat]

Great initiative! Some random thoughts:

• Many of David Gervais tiles are listed here: http://pousse.rapiere.free.fr/tome/ in the tiles library. There are even some benchmark there to create new tiles.

• Have you asked David Gervais? Maybe he could help :-). PM me if you want his email.

• ZangbandtK have already a lot of those tiles defined, such as wyrms and hounds, but I don't remember if those you mention are included.

• Another idea would be to scale 16x16 Adam Bolt tiles and 8x8 tiles to fill the holes meanwhile. I did something like that for Tometik: first I took the 16x16.bmp file, scaled it 2x on width and length, and replaced one by one tiles with D Gervais tiles. Thus tiles not already changed were still displayed graphically.

• Have you listed the other tiles missing, like ground, shops, items? I think we could cover most of the tiles quickly with some community tools. Maybe a wiki, or some shared google sheet? I can write a tool to create the 32x32.bmp from text files if you need (well, now that I think of it, such a tool was created years ago for Tome 16x16 tiles).

• Watch out the licence of the new tiles, D Gervais tiles are released under the CC-BY 3.0, that would be easier to have all the tiles licenced the same (otherwise you'll have trouble gathering them on the 32x32.bmp file).

[andrewdoull]

Great initiative!

If it's *really* successful, maybe some of the momentum can be carried over to Unangband, which has around 1370 monsters at the moment, plus ego monsters...

I don't hold out much hope. Best of luck though!

Andrew

[Nick]

If it's *really* successful, maybe some of the momentum can be carried over to Unangband, which has around 1370 monsters at the moment, plus ego monsters...

UnAmbitious it is not

[Fenrir]

Oh, oh! I'd LOVE to help

Here's a sample from my work: (it's the Chromatic Dragon from my NetHack tileset)

I'm going to start with the Wyrms...

[buzzkill]

[*]Many of David Gervais tiles are listed here: http://pousse.rapiere.free.fr/tome/ in the tiles library. There are even some benchmark there to create new tiles.

Thanks for the tip. I've been there and I know there are tiles that can be used. It would be great if you could isolate a particular tile and an enemy to associate with it. I've downloaded bunches of different tiles from here and there and, and now I'm a bit overwhelmed.

[*]Have you asked David Gervais? Maybe he could help :-). PM me if you want his email.

I'm a little shy about contacting the mighty DVG himself. "I'm not worthy".

[*]ZangbandtK have already a lot of those tiles defined, such as wyrms and hounds, but I don't remember if those you mention are included.

I'm not familiar with ZangbandTK. I've carried over all the associations from vanilla? and then from FA. For the sake of continuity, I'd like to not change these. Also, I'd like to not have to use any tile twice.

[*]Another idea would be to scale 16x16 Adam Bolt tiles and 8x8 tiles to fill the holes meanwhile. I did something like that for Tometik: first I took the 16x16.bmp file, scaled it 2x on width and length, and replaced one by one tiles with D Gervais tiles. Thus tiles not already changed were still displayed graphically.

Yeah, but thoses tile look pretty bad, almost unrecognizable, once you blow them up. The Chimera comes to mind, just awful.

[*]Have you listed the other tiles missing, like ground, shops, items? I think we could cover most of the tiles quickly with some community tools. Maybe a wiki, or some shared google sheet? I can write a tool to create the 32x32.bmp from text files if you need (well, now that I think of it, such a tool was created years ago for Tome 16x16 tiles).

All of the other items are very manageable, at least for right now, mostly complete. I'm sure that at some point, new graphics for the new races/classes for the player characters will be needed, but that's not even on my radar right now.

[*]Watch out the license of the new tiles, D Gervais tiles are released under the CC-BY 3.0, that would be easier to have all the tiles licensed the same (otherwise you'll have trouble gathering them on the 32x32.bmp file).

I'll burn that bridge when I come to it. I kinda figure that anything I 'borrow' will be sufficiently mangled to make it unrecognizable as being akin of the original.

[buzzkill]

For what it's worth, David Gervais' 54x54 tile set does have tiles for the above, which are designed at the same scale as the 32x32 tile set (just with bigger borders).

You may want to have a look at any other possible tiles from that set as well.

Andrew

Thanks for the specific suggestions. I do believe a already have the 54x54 on my desktop. I think I've already used some, the horse, wolf, bear.

BTW, rescaling is no problem. I do some of my best work rescaling!

[buzzkill]

If it's *really* successful, maybe some of the momentum can be carried over to Unangband, which has around 1370 monsters at the moment, plus ego monsters...

I don't hold out much hope. Best of luck though!

Andrew

One never knows... I just happened to stumble onto Z+ after tiring of getting my butt kicked by FA. I kinda miss the FA,O,Un? engine.

[Fenrir]

I have a question.... how do you do so the graphics appear at their original (32x32) size?

[buzzkill]

I have a question.... how do you do so the graphics appear at their original (32x32) size?

In the main directory of your Z+ folder there is an .ini file. Mine is called z+angband.ini, yours may differ. The first nine lines of the file should read something like this for optimum graphics. The lines in yellow should be changed to read exactly as they do below.

[Angband]
[COLOR="yellow"]Graphics=3[/COLOR]
[COLOR="yellow"]Bigtile=1[/COLOR]
Sound=0
[Term-0]
Visible=1
Font=16X25B.FON
[COLOR="yellow"]TileWid=16
TileHgt=32[/COLOR]

The font can be whatever floats your boat (fonts are located in the lib/xtra/font/ folder, just pick one), but bigger fonts look better with the large tiles. Using a small font makes the text l o o k l i k e t h i s.

These settings can be accessed from within the game, but it's easier to set them by just editing the .ini file.