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[TheWing]

...There is also a large amount of audio feedback (700 sound effects and counting), which has yet to be demonstrated since I haven't recorded any videos, but you can hear everything that's going on, another benefit to feedback...

Oh, talking about audio, I'd be really keen on hearing about your ideas and things already completed when it comes to audio... Does the game have music, if so, what kind of music? and if not, how "deep" the atmosphere will be and how have you planned to make it work :D

The reason I'm interested is mostly because I haven't really played any roguelike which would have properly immersive audio... aand I'd sure like to play one

[Kyzrati]

Hah, this is an awesome take on an ASCII roguelike.

Thanks, it's different at least

...There is also a large amount of audio feedback (700 sound effects and counting), which has yet to be demonstrated since I haven't recorded any videos, but you can hear everything that's going on, another benefit to feedback...

Oh, talking about audio, I'd be really keen on hearing about your ideas and things already completed when it comes to audio... Does the game have music, if so, what kind of music? and if not, how "deep" the atmosphere will be and how have you planned to make it work :D

The reason I'm interested is mostly because I haven't really played any roguelike which would have properly immersive audio... aand I'd sure like to play one

I've written about the audio a bit before, here and here.

The game doesn't have music yet; I haven't made a decision on that, though some form of continuous ambient background is planned. Environmental source-based ambience is already implemented and works nicely, but I'm waiting until pretty much everything else is complete before adding those assets (I want to talk with the composer about how it will all fit together).

There are a few other types of fluff-type audio I'll probably implement and haven't talked about yet, but I don't like to mention features I may not get around to .

What the game does already have is a ton of UI sound effects for feedback. Every little thing that either you do or just happens has some kind of sound effect associated with it. Combat and items all have hundreds of sounds as well.

If you want to play something now, I've actually already released a pretty immersive audio-enabled roguelike in the form of X@COM. In fact, it's even more immersive than Cogmind will be in that regard since Cogmind has a more limited environment while X@COM's setting is Earth with its variety of objects and potential sound. There's still a lot more to do with that project, but right now it already has an even greater variety of sounds than you'll hear in Cogmind. Check it out!

[Kyzrati]

And artist L jumps in with an updated version... (As much as I tell people I'll work with what I've got, apparently I can't stop these guys.)


You'll notice the left/right walls are old or from other sets, but all the sprites have been updated, there are new doors, and a section of new wall top center.

[JobLeonard]

 

The new L comes closest to the old aesthetic, and it looks like it has solved most readability issues too

[Kyzrati]

So you're saying you prefer that one, now? I'm torn between L and the more solid identifiable shapes of P. L has more detail, for sure, but P is still a bit easier to parse. I'm curious how both styles will work at larger sizes, though that's a secondary concern because I'm sure both scale just fine.

[happymonster]

It depends also on what screen size these small tiles are supposed to be used for. For example if they are for a 800 x 600 screensize and I view them on my 1980 x 1080 monitor then really 1:1 is a little too small (but it's hard to do 1:1.5 with pixel art!)

Does that make sense?

[Kyzrati]

Oh sure, that makes sense--the situation may be unclear unless you've seen this before (which I only linked in the original artist ad rather than repeating it all). On your 1080p the font won't be this small. The game will switch to the 18x18 font for you, and then also expand the map view and topside windows to match the 16:9 ratio to make it fullscreen. However, a lot of players use monitors that will require the 12x12 font, and that's the the most difficult one to do, which is why I'm focusing on that for the purposes of tileset design. The larger tiles will be easier, but should also be related to the small ones.

While this is a pretty common method of handling ASCII roguelike interfaces, it is somewhat unusual as far as commercial tile-enabled games go. One of the experienced artists I discussed this with thought I should lock down the sprite resolution, but I'd prefer to have it as an option since it makes the UI a lot more flexible. Not to mention the UI/game design requires a minimum 50x50 viewable map area, so locking the tiles to some larger dimension would leave out anyone with a smaller monitor, since I'm certainly not willing to do any scaling, up or down.

[Zorg]

I think you should not focus much on the worst case alone in terms of font size. Many users will have big screens and use the biggest sprites the game offers. The 20x20 sprites can contain more detail, like the L sprites.

[Kyzrati]

It's not the worst case scenario, though. I'm basing it on statistics. 33% of surveyed Steam users game at a 1080p (1920x1080) resolution, 25% game at a 1366x768 resolution.

Technically in my experience from previous released games, the percentage of regular roguelike players who use smaller than 1080p monitors is even higher, but ignoring that and looking purely at statistical data from the general gaming population, a full 1/4 of players are likely to be using the 12x12 sprites, while 1/3 will use 18x18 sprites.

20x20 sprites won't be used by anyone but those with at least a 1920x1200 monitor (like my own)--above that (essentially 1440p) and they'll be using 24x24 instead, which is another reason I want the 12x12 tileset to be of excellent quality: it's going to be directly upscaled for the 1440p version.

[Kyzrati]

I got that same question by e-mail recently, so I should add some of what I wrote there in response, since it might make more sense to look at it this way:

Larger tilesets are only available to those with a large enough monitor to display them. The minimum map display is 50x50 cells, so if you have too small a monitor you'll end up using smaller tiles/fonts. The minimum resolution for 20x20 tiles is 1600x1200--the width will expand automatically for 16:9/16:10 monitors, which is almost everyone these days, but most players don't regularly use monitors with a 1200px height. That said, even if you have a larger monitor you can also opt to use smaller tiles and increase the viewable map size to see more at once (though it was designed such that 50x50 is the "right dimensions" for the map). Players with smaller monitors must use smaller fonts in order to contain the entire UI. The basic chart for font sizes and their respective resolutions is shown at the beginning of this page. The UI will automatically default to using the largest font size that will fit your resolution, but can be changed manually via the options menu.

[happymonster]

Thank you for the explanation, that makes sense..

L really reminds me of classic spectrum monochrome graphics (laser squad, etc..). It worked for them because the pixels were relatively large. For very small pixel sizes I still think P is easier to parse.

[Kyzrati]

Artist L said the same thing about his own sprites reminding him of ZX .

I agree about P being easier to parse for that reason, but it's interesting you mention the "large pixel" issue, because the 12x12 tileset(s) will be directly upscaled to 24x24 for the 1440p version... not that a huge number of people will be using that one, though some certainly will, and it'll be a good "traditional" feel compared to whatever the 20x20 looks like. (I wouldn't want to waste effort on a separate 24x24 font when doubling 12x12 will look quite good on its own.)

[happymonster]

You can always double with image smoothing - I've been working on that with my Tixel Editor to get nicer results.

[happymonster]

[JobLeonard]

For the record, I'm not voting for anyone because I'm flip-flopping too damn much for my vote to be worth a damn at this point

[Kyzrati]

@happymonster: Depending on the sprite style I'll likely prefer pixelation over image smoothing (which sometimes just looks weird), though the example you show is not bad, with a little fixing up needed. P does seem like it will need smoother edges for a large version, while the other concepts could be better off pixelized. Blowing the concepts up was on my list of things to do when I get that far.; right now one of the artists is MIA, which is slowing everything down...

The other thing about 1440p is that the pixels are usually smaller and thus sprites tend to look different on those displays than you might expect (an enlarged pixel version of 12x12 could end up with a similar feeling as the original).

For the record, I'm not voting for anyone because I'm flip-flopping too damn much for my vote to be worth a damn at this point

I've been wondering why you've been strangely silent as we get further into this... I see you're in essentially the same boat as myself

[ENDESGA]

I kind of like, really need this game in my life right now.
Like I cannot even, I am literally dead. Like, seriously.

Haha but in all seriousness, I've been following this game for a while, and I absolutely love it.

[Kyzrati]

Hehe, the full game should be out late this year--at least unfinished alpha releases will begin within a few months .

And what a coincidence I just dropped by your thread earlier today, too . NIKRA's come quite a long way and is looking great (though I found it odd you say the game could be done in September but is only 20% complete as is).

[oodavid]

Really really excited to play an alpha release!

[tupperwarespoon]

Seriously awesome art style.

Really keeps the focus on all the cool parts of mech sim stuff like energy and systems.

Not really a fan of the genre, but I would play this.