Author Topic: Reviving Iso-Angband  (Read 77732 times)

Etinarg

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Reviving Iso-Angband
« on: September 27, 2009, 10:28:30 AM »
Somewhen back in 2003 I had been working on a graphical frontend for Angband. The project died for several reasons, but the idea never really let me rest. A few days ago, I manged to get my old C compiler working again, and managed to compile the old Iso-Angband sources. Since then I have been replacing and updating a lot of the images, because I wanted to change the style from semi-realistic to a more symbolic one.

Today seemed to be a good day to write this announcement.

Here is a screenshot of the current stages of work:


click for full size view

I know the idea of such a graphical view is unpopular among many roguelike fans. Over the years, though, I got emails repeatedly, from people who were interested in this sort of graphical frontend. So maybe this message will reach a few of them.

You can find an explanation of my current plans over there:
http://www.funkelwerk.de/forum/index.php?topic=195.msg488#msg488

A snapshot of my current workspace, including a windows executable for the curious can be found over here:

http://www.funkelwerk.de/forum/index.php?topic=195.msg491#msg491

I hope I found the right place to post this. "In Development" seemed to match the current state of the project - there is much left to do, but one can try it already, and get an impression of how it might be. I hope I'll not anger the text-mode fans too much, and I can bring something of interest to those with a preference for a more graphical view of the old game.

The code base is still Angband 2.9.1 , because that was the current version 2003 when I made the first steps with this project, and at the moment my coding skills are too rusty to try an update.



Edit:

Announcement and download of the latest release:

http://www.roguetemple.com/forums/index.php?topic=487.msg8849#msg8849
« Last Edit: September 03, 2010, 01:55:20 PM by Hajo »

getter77

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2009, 12:58:49 PM »
Welcome!  This is definitely the right place to post this as well as being a worthy endeavor---even moreso if you can get it in sync with the latest core Angband somewhere down the line.  Keep at it bit by bit and ignore any ASCII detractors.
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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2009, 07:52:51 PM »
Welcome! This is fantastic, I'm a huge Angband fan and have been hoping someone would take on another Iso-Angband project. Really cool, I can't wait until this is released!

Fenrir

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2009, 08:14:05 PM »
....ignore any ASCII detractors.
Fenrir raises an eyebrow.

You aren't taking about me, are you? I am an ASCII fanatic, but I would never discourage anyone from making a graphical roguelike.

Etinarg

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2009, 08:59:21 PM »
Welcome! This is fantastic, I'm a huge Angband fan and have been hoping someone would take on another Iso-Angband project.

:)

Really cool, I can't wait until this is released!

Well, you can try it already. I've made a development snapshot available:
http://www.funkelwerk.de/site/misc/iso-angband/iso-angband-0_2_5.zip

There is a Windows executable included, so if you have Windows, you can try it out of the box. It's should be easy to compile for Linux (see src/Makefile.isov-sdl) but I must admit that gcc 2.95 is not up to date anymore and newer compilers might be more picky about C syntax. Other systems, I never tried.

If you find mismatched graphics, e.g. a mushroom that pretends to be a slingshot or such, please let me know, so that I can fix the config file.

A whole lot of things have no images yet - those will show up as ASCII symbols. I'll replace these step by step as I get along with painting.

... and I finally found out again how to zoom! There had been hints, but I totally forgot about it. With Scroll Lock, you should be able to zoom out and see more of the map. Currently the zoom isn't very nice, but it works, and might be useful now and then.

Thanks for the encouraging feedback, and happy testing :)

getter77

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2009, 09:44:43 PM »
....ignore any ASCII detractors.
Fenrir raises an eyebrow.

You aren't taking about me, are you? I am an ASCII fanatic, but I would never discourage anyone from making a graphical roguelike.

Heh, not in the least.  In my experience, they don't REALLY exist around these parts...moreso in the wilds of elsewhere on the internet.  I'm cool with everybody here on most everything, which makes the most sense considering I'm almost always the odd man out!   :D
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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2009, 11:30:14 PM »
Heh, not in the least.  In my experience, they don't REALLY exist around these parts...moreso in the wilds of elsewhere on the internet.  I'm cool with everybody here on most everything, which makes the most sense considering I'm almost always the odd man out!   :D
Oh, OK. I recently made a post about how I "recoil in disgust" at graphical roguelikes, which was hyperbolic, so I thought I might have made a bad impression.

Anyway, I don't know what's reasonable to achieve, but it would be cool if you could add graphics with directional facing. The game doesn't need to recognize it in terms of gameplay.

Etinarg

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2009, 07:50:57 AM »
Anyway, I don't know what's reasonable to achieve, but it would be cool if you could add graphics with directional facing. The game doesn't need to recognize it in terms of gameplay.

Technically, it's possible to some extend. At the moment, the only use for that are the doors, which the code tries to align with walls. Former versions also had directional wall graphics, but I took those out again.

Currently I'm trying to keep everything very simple, and at a quite high level of abstraction, at least compared to the other tilesets.

I might introduce the directional walls again some day, if the current block walls bother me enough (they might obstruct the players view onto items, that's my biggest concern with the current walls.)

Monsters and players I want to keep symbolic, without directional facing.

Edit: Some progress:

- Added mace image
- Updated mace config
- Added bow image
- Update bow/longbow config
- Added arrow image
- Added chain mail image
- Updated armor config
- Added war hammer image
- Updated hammer config
- Added Lance/pike image
- Updated polearm config
- Added quartz vein wall type

A preview of the new quarts vein wall type. Maybe it's not really quartz (I'm not that good with rock types), but at least it looks interesting. The orange wall block contains some sort of treasure.


click for full size view

Please report bugs that you find in the bug report thread:
http://www.funkelwerk.de/forum/index.php?topic=197.0
« Last Edit: September 03, 2010, 01:57:08 PM by Hajo »

ido

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2009, 09:22:20 AM »
looking good Hajo, I will definitely keep an eye on that one.

Karzack

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2009, 02:31:42 PM »
Looks good, keep up the good work.

Etinarg

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #10 on: September 29, 2009, 08:53:11 AM »
I'll try. The style of graphics is simple, so I make good progress with painting. At least with those things that I have an idea of how they look. My C coding skills got rusty, though, but there should be a few changes that I can do. Particularly I want to give the outer town wall a proper look.

A little progress again:

- Floating eye image added.
- Floating eye config updated.
- Icky thing image added.
- Icky thing config updated.
- Spider image added.
- Spider config updated.

Worm masses seem to be complex to picture, but at least I have a rough idea how such may look like.

More clueless I am about oozes, jellies and flesh mounds. What could be distinctive attributes of the latter three, that can be depicted?

Etinarg

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2009, 07:42:17 AM »
No suggestions for the oozes, jellies, mounds and such? Ideas will be much appreciated :)

I made some progress in other areas, though.

The biggest step this time was to change the code to display a single-tile wall around the Angband town. I did this on the display level, since I don't want to alter the Angband code. So it's a bit of a hacky solution, which makes use of the fact that Angband town always has the same placement and size. But for the moment it does the job, and it should be easy enough to adapt later, when incorporating a newer Angband version, or some Angband variant.

And, again a little progress on images and config settings:

- Humanoid warrior image.
- Updated some worrior config entries.
- Humanoid mage image.
- Updated some mage config entries.
- Empty bottle, flask of oil config update.
- Updated scroll and potion images.
- Updated wall images.
- Added town outside ground image.
- Updated shop entrance images.

A preview of the new floating eye and copper graphics - these are a bit older already, but I didn't find sokem  to show. I didn't go nearer, since those floating eyes can be dangerous for low level characters:


click for full size view

And finally, the new town wall and outside town graphics, also the new shop entrance tiles:


click for full size view

Almost forgot to mention, I had been experimenting a bit with outlined characters, and used the player @ sign for testing. The first screenshot features a black outline, the second a dark gray one. I think the dark gray one blends in better and will use that until better ideas come up.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2010, 01:57:55 PM by Hajo »

getter77

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2009, 12:47:37 PM »
Being largely unfamiliar with Angband...I'd hazard a guess to Jellies and such having a slimey/shiny texture to them not unlike Jello,  fleshy color to a flesh mound, and so on. Maybe have some little bone chips undigested sprinkled within?  Perhaps fire up the bestiary that, IIRC, details appearance somewhat on the latest vanilla Angband for some reference?
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Etinarg

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #13 on: September 30, 2009, 02:19:31 PM »
At least for the Angband 2.9.1 that I have here, the descriptions are a bit dry. For example:

N:79:Blue ooze
D:It's blue and it's oozing.

N:40:White jelly
D:Its a large pile of white flesh.

N:243:Quylthulg
D:It is a strange pulsing mound of flesh.

I guess I should also check a newer version.

There are some differently colored versions of each of them, so color to distinguish them won't be easily possible. It will have to be the shape, and maybe texture if I have to use it - I wanted to stick to mostly untextured shapes.

I guess, since the descriptions are a bit imprecise, there is some freedom for the artist here. Most important will be that they are distinctive, and once the player has learned the symbols it will be alright.

Edit: forgot a screenshot.

Another update, a piece of dungeon with the new, carved walls. Those should allow to see a bit more of the tile floor around the center, where items will be placed. That might be important in narrow passages. Maybe I must carve them even more ...

Also, they look more interesting this way I think, and give pillar rooms a better look :)


click for full size view

I'm preparing a new development snapshot. Stay tuned 8)
« Last Edit: September 03, 2010, 02:03:23 PM by Hajo »

Etinarg

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Re: Reviving Iso-Angband
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2009, 08:00:21 AM »
I've uploaded a new development snapshot, Iso-Angband 0.2.6:

http://www.funkelwerk.de/site/misc/iso-angband/releases/iso-angband-0_2_6.zip

This includes all changes listed in the development thread since 0.2.5.

There is a Windows executable included, so if you use Windows, you can try it right out of the box. Sources and images are included as well. I think it should compile for Linux, too, but I had no chance to test that yet.

I've changed quite a lot of the graphics configuration, and I haven't seen all changed objects and monsters in the game yet. So if you find mismatching images or run into something strange please let me know.

There is a bug report thread: http://www.funkelwerk.de/forum/index.php?topic=197.0
I'll try to collect all known problems there.


Edit: small update on the question oozes vs. jellies

Oozes will become flat, almost pool like shapes, while jellies are more upright, little hills. The Quylthulg species of monster is yet to be researched.


« Last Edit: October 01, 2009, 12:44:52 PM by Hajo »