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Scienceman123
04-01-2008, 08:23 PM
Thomas, are you going to be using the classic ASCII character set that you used in ADOM, or are you going into Unicode territory? For instance, using the pilcrow sign "?" for a street sign, or perhaps an axe.


This site is useful: http://www.decodeunicode.org/

Nezur
04-01-2008, 08:30 PM
Thomas, are you going to be using the classic ASCII character set that you used in ADOM, or are you going into Unicode territory? For instance, using the pilcrow sign "?" for a street sign, or perhaps an axe.


This site is useful: http://www.decodeunicode.org/

Yep, unicode would be a nifty character set for JADE but the extended ASCII might be sufficient.

Artran
04-01-2008, 09:21 PM
The whole idea behind the roguelike graphics is that uses symbols instead of pictures. So in first it's difficult to learn all these signs but after some time it's very transparent and very quick to understand what's on the screen (very similar are army signs or meteorologic signs). I think the Unicode is not only possibility. There are ways how you can create your own fonts (and it means symbols for fountain, tree, orc, axe, sword etc.) I always dream about roguelike which has its own font with unique symbols. I believe this'll be the next generation roguelike.

Tannis
04-01-2008, 10:28 PM
Good old ASCII works for me, but to be honest I don't really think it makes a huge difference.

But here's a question. In ADOM, the color of your @ was determined by class. JADE, on the other hand, will have no classes, so you do you determine color? I can think of a few ways. One, have color linked to armor, so a clean robe produces a white @, leather armor produces a brown @, and plate mail produces a gray @.

Another alternative is let the player choose his @'s color. If that's what happens, I call pink.

Dougy
04-01-2008, 10:33 PM
Perhaps you could run ADOM/JADE in wingdings font and see what happens. Haha!

If I was writing the program, I would seriously consider using the Chinese Hanzi to represent the monsters etc.. They're square and fit the roguelike genre perfectly, eg. dragon could be 龍 (traditional) or 龙 (simplified) (for those who can see it). The downside is, you'll have to learn a bit of Chinese, the upside is, you'll have to learn a bit of Chinese! But I'm not writing the program. (:

F50
04-03-2008, 05:20 AM
Perhaps the color is determined by race? It would make more sense after all.

Epythic
04-05-2008, 12:33 PM
Perhaps you could run ADOM/JADE in wingdings font and see what happens. Haha!

If I was writing the program, I would seriously consider using the Chinese Hanzi to represent the monsters etc.. They're square and fit the roguelike genre perfectly, eg. dragon could be 龍 (traditional) or 龙 (simplified) (for those who can see it). The downside is, you'll have to learn a bit of Chinese, the upside is, you'll have to learn a bit of Chinese! But I'm not writing the program. (:

I dont like these ideas. In my opinion, ASCII is enough.

theotherhiveking
04-05-2008, 12:58 PM
Perhaps you could run ADOM/JADE in wingdings font and see what happens. Haha!

If I was writing the program, I would seriously consider using the Chinese Hanzi to represent the monsters etc.. They're square and fit the roguelike genre perfectly, eg. dragon could be 龍 (traditional) or 龙 (simplified) (for those who can see it). The downside is, you'll have to learn a bit of Chinese, the upside is, you'll have to learn a bit of Chinese! But I'm not writing the program. (:


Let's keep the normal letters please... everyone knows that a red D es a red dragon...

Grey
04-05-2008, 04:57 PM
I like the idea of certain cool-looking exotic characters for high-powered or individual enemies, especially Hebrew characters for rare demons (molochs are biblical creatures after all). If new enemies are introduced, such as some of the powerful lawful and neutral monsters suggested in another thread, then it might make sense to give them new individual characters. Would have to make sure all PCs supported them though, and we'd have to enable Unicode on this forum...

F50
04-05-2008, 09:20 PM
Molochs aren't biblical creatures. There is a pagan god "Moloch", but that's as close as you get.

Dougy
04-05-2008, 11:22 PM
Yeah, I don't think my idea is suitable for ADOM/JADE, but I think it'd look cool if there was a rogue-like with Chinese characters as the monsters. It seems that the same symbols in ADOM are going to be used in JADE with a few colour changes, as can be seen in the video, although it only gives a few small examples.

Grey
04-06-2008, 08:46 PM
Molochs aren't biblical creatures. There is a pagan god "Moloch", but that's as close as you get.

What I meant was the term Moloch comes from the biblical accounts (from the Hebrew "mlk" meaning king).

Plausible
04-07-2008, 03:07 PM
Yeah, I don't think my idea is suitable for ADOM/JADE, but I think it'd look cool if there was a rogue-like with Chinese characters as the monsters.
Please write such a roguelike! ;) It seems really appropriate: you get the whole name of the creature in one symbol, rather than just the first letter or some such; while you preserve the "no set graphic, free imagination" philosophy. In fact Chinese chess pieces work that way I guess...

Would be a nice way to learn a little Chinese too, though your vocabulary may stay a bit lopsided :)

What about creature names that are normally written using more than one character?


As for JADE, YES to Grey's idea of having exotic characters for exotic monsters, and YES to Artran's original notion of a nice font - I don't dislike ASCII really, but a stylish interface (an easy-on-the-eyes font, some borders and buttons maybe) wouldn't be bad either.

F50
04-07-2008, 03:56 PM
What about ASCII is hard on the eyes?

Plausible
04-07-2008, 06:55 PM
I wasn't really contrasting ASCII and easy-on-the-eyes. I find ASCII pleasant enough and won't mind at all if JADE stays that way. Just saying that if another, more 'elegant book' and less 'computer terminal' like font were used, and if that one were easy on the eyes (rather than overly complex or crazy), it might look neat. And it could perhaps convince more people to try the game - those that dislike computer terminals.

F50
04-08-2008, 06:04 PM
Ah, I see. Good point.

That said, I like computer terminals.

reich
04-08-2008, 09:28 PM
like this?

You hit the orc and slay him!

or

You hit the orc and slay him!

or

You hit the orc and slay him!

:D

Plausible
04-09-2008, 02:30 AM
Yeah, something like:

http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/d716a173f2.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Not claiming these are the best fonts, just picked a serif, sans-serif and a fancier one. I also added a bit of a colour gradient in the background, and the characters are quite wide-spaced... all up for discussion.

Epythic
04-12-2008, 01:10 PM
Yeah, something like:

http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/d716a173f2.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Not claiming these are the best fonts, just picked a serif, sans-serif and a fancier one. I also added a bit of a colour gradient in the background, and the characters are quite wide-spaced... all up for discussion.

Next time, could you please make the image horizontally (wide instead of long)?
Also, I would suggest to use Imageshack (www.imageshack.us) and use their thumbnail-feature.