Smooth animations and ASCII - can they mix?

[BirdofPrey]

Since I'm writing my roguelike using SDL for graphics with SDL_TTF rendering the ascii characters, I realized that I have the opportunity of making animations a lot flashier than the terminal can provide. Nothing major, i've just been considering things like having projectiles fly in a smooth straight line instead of tile-by-tile, maybe other small touches like the screen shaking a little bit when there's an explosion nearby... Do you think that would work fine with ASCII graphics or would it clash?

It's mainly a question of aesthetics and I know there's no 'right' answer, but I'm just looking for what the general opinion is.

[Z]

In my opinion using SDL for graphics with SDL_TTF rendering the ascii characters is a clash in itself. Either use a real terminal, or real graphics.

[stu]

I like using ASCII graphics in SDL. It works well for me.

[njerpe]

I'd be interested in playing a game like this.

What about being able to zoom in on your ASCII "tiles"? Would you be able to achieve a smooth real-time zoom or would you have to increase the font size point by point?

[BirdofPrey]

I'd be interested in playing a game like this.

What about being able to zoom in on your ASCII "tiles"? Would you be able to achieve a smooth real-time zoom or would you have to increase the font size point by point?

I could probably get a smooth zooming effect by changing the font sizes and updating each frame. I'm not sure though in what circumstances you'd want to do that. The problem with zooming is that it would leave some of it out of view, and that would never be a good thing. One area i could see it being used in is moving from a large area to a small area and visa versa, for example, moving from a town to an overworld map, but the problem there is that it isn't really a change of size that's called for but a change of scale.

[njerpe]

Changes in elevation? From a top-down perspective, certain areas in a level may be closer than others.

If you were to change from one elevation to the next, you'd want to be able to zoom appropriately.

I don't think changing the font sizes would work though, simply because there are not enough point sizes in between to make it smooth. But I could be wrong.