Re: New Tileset and some questions

[Matthias Grimm <matthias.grimm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Am Samstag, den 15.01.2005, 00:53 +0100 schrieb Jens Granseuer:

> On to the tiles: I must admit I have some problems identifying the
> new ground tiles. Maybe that's just because I've never seen a map
> use them the way they are supposed to be but I'm very much unsure
> what they represent. Could be me, though.

This become better in future after more tiles will have been available.
If I have enough tiles I will also prepare a demo map to show how the
tiles could be used.

> On another note, if you would like to help in the graphics
> department I think it would be even better if you would help
> finishing the default set instead of starting another. Some of
> the things that need to be done are listed in the wiki. I'd say
> a complete set is worth more than several incomplete ones.

This is right, but you assume that my tileset will never be
completed. ;-) I don't think so. :-)

My tileset should get a realistic look for nice ground maps. Furtheron
this way I get tiles in different sizes (for zooming) and may create
special overlay tiles for the building and maybe the weather layer. Take
it as an investment to the future of crimson. :-)

> > 1. Is there a documentation of the *.tsrc file out there?
> 
> No. The .tsrc format is still very fresh and undocumented...

Oh, this will help a lot ;-)

> There is one rule you have to follow for the tsrc: Shop entrances need
> to be defined in the order [player 1, player 2, neutral]. Concerning
> the images the meta tiles (cursors, shadows and the like) have fixed
> positions. Everything else is configurable.

Is the game limited to two players only? There are currently only two
player colors defined (buildings and units) but this might not the
limit?

> > 4. Which tiles are necessary (functional) and which are optional (only
> >    to beautify maps)? May I choose this on my own?

> There are no required tiles except for the meta tiles.

fine.

> > 5. Are we limited to 256 colors or may tilesets have more? How about
> >    alphablending? Currently you use only transparency but libSDL_image
> >    also supports PNG which have full alpha channel support.

> We don't use SDL_image. Therefore we can only read BMP images which
> don't support alpha AFAIK. And yes, we currently only support up to
> 256 colors, but that's a restriction in the image loading/saving code,
> not in the engine and thus not too difficult to change.

Ok, fine. We should put this on the todo-list.

> > 6. How about tile size? Currently all tiles have the size 32x28. I draw
> >    all tiles with size 64x56 amd scale them down. Would it be possible
> >    to support larger tiles and scale them inside the program if
> >    necessary. This would allow map scaling in future. On high
> >    resolutions the tiles are quite small.

> The tile sizes are hardcoded at the moment. I don't see why this
> couldn't be adapted to support different sizes, though.

Put this on the todo-list too. At first zooming in two steps should be
enough. I think linear scaling will not be necessary and practicable due
to the quality loss of scaled bitmaps but might added later if desired.

> > 7. Would it be possible to create the hexagon form (with a mask
> >    operation) inside the program and use square tiles as source? This
> >    will make tileset generation more easy and avoid gaps between tiles
> >    due to scaling. Currently a tileset designer has to perform this mask
> >    operation on each tile (and for each size).
> 
> Theoretically possible, but if we choose to do it this way it should
> be done in mk{tile,unit}set so that it's only done once and doesn't
> unnecessarily slow down the rendering.

I aggree to that. mk{tile,unit}set could do most of the scaling and
create also missing {tile,unit}set sizes in future, so that the main
program works always with prepared images.

> > And last but not least an feature request :-)
> 
> > Please add an additional layer for buildings, streets, rails, cannals
> > and other things built by humans. Divide the ground from the buildings.

> I agree this would be nice to have. Patches welcome ;-)

I will see what I can do but I need some tiles for testing first.

 Best Regards
   Matthias