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[gimymblert]

The three quarter view anything is way more dynamic, that's a win ... try double mouth + 3 quarters + split lips?

[darthlupi]

I LOVE the second and last one.  I am only one man, but one man that is in love with an ASCII worm beast.

[standardcombo]

Still needs more work but I'm going back to coding. Next step for the boss is to fit it against that level's background to see if the size is right, decide colors and stuff like that. Once I settle on a design it's on to detailing and texture, followed by keyframe poses.

[standardcombo]

Couldn't resist, made a few experiments

            ________
         .-´        `'--.     
       ,´_.----._        `.
      /,´   )   _`.        \
      \   .´ ( ´*)|       U .
        ,´,.---.  /      U U|
       / (_     `/    /   U |
       `--´   _.´  _,´      |
           \-´__.-´         '
            ¯¯,´           /
            ,´            / 
           /            ,´   
          /        U   /     
         .        U U /     
         |         U  |     


        _.------.___
       / _,.._      `'--.     
      /,´   ) `-.        `.
     |´  ,-´   __`.        \
       .´   ,'´  )|         .
      /,-´,' ,.'´ /         |
      ` ,´ .´   `/    /     |
       / ,´   _.´  _,´      |
      / /  \-´__.-´         '
     . /    ¯¯,´           /
     ' \    ,´            / 
      `,|  /            ,´   
   (__//  /            /     
   `--´  .            /     
         |            |     


          _____
          `Vv-,`-.
             \ ', `-.
              )  \   `'-.     
             /  _ \      `.
            /  ´*) \       \
          .´   `   |        .
        ,´,.---._  |        |
       / (_      `.'  |     |
       `--´ ,   _.´  ,'     |
            \--´ _.-´       '
             ¯¯¯´          /
            ,´            / 
           /            ,´   
          /            /     
         .            /     
         |            |     


                          _____
                          `Vv-,`-.
                             \ ', `-.
                              )  \   `'-.     
                   - .       /  _ \      `.
                   .  -  ` ,´  .-) \       \
                 ,  -   ,-´ ,-´    |        .
                      ,´ ,-´---._  |        |
               ,     (,-´_       `.'  |     |
                   ,-´/--´  ,   _.´  ,'     |
                ,-´/ !      \--´ _.-´       '
             ,-´: !,´|       ¯¯¯´          /
          ,-´  / \/ /       ,´            / 
       ,-´|   ;   : :      /            ,´   
    ,-´  ,!  / \   \|     /            /     
 ,-´    / | ;   \   !    .            /     
                     `   |            |     

I'm thinking of giving this guy a debuff attack where it sprays you with a web, decreasing your attack speed.

                   
           .´¯`.     
          /  _  \   
          \ | )  ` __'--.     
           \(´ _  /-. `. `.
          , ` ´*)   )  |   \
         / ,--.    ´   '    .
        / (_   `.     /     |
        `--´     `._.´      |
                 |          |
                /           '
              ,´           /
            ,´            / 
           /            ,´   
          /            /     
         .            /     
         |            |     

              ______
         _,-'´      `'--.     
        (o)¯`--._        `.
         ¯  )   _`.        \
          .´ ( ´*)|         .
        ,´,.---.  /         |
       / (_     `/    /     |
       `--´   _.´  _,´      |
           \-´__.-´         '
            ¯¯,´           /
            ,´            / 

              ______
       .-.,-'´      `'--.     
      (<O>)¯`--._        `.
       `-´  )   _`.        \
          .´ ( ´*)|         .
        ,´,.---.  /         |
       / (_     `/    /     |
       `--´   _.´  _,´      |
           \-´__.-´         '
            ¯¯,´           /
            ,´            / 

Some failed ideas

[JobLeonard]

AWW YISS, GRABOIDS!

[PetterBergmar]

I never thought ASCII art could actually scare me. I was wrong...

[standardcombo]

Redoing the Bronze Gate art



Tempted to color it. There are colored elements that appear in the game later and become ever more frequent. The Bronze Gate appears somewhat early in the story and may be a good place to introduce this, as to not be so alien later.

[JobLeonard]

 

[standardcombo]

The light was a pain to do. Dunno why quicktime screwed up the color.

There's also this ugly guy here. I like where the texturing is going but the stinger didn't work for many reasons:

                 _____
                /     `.
               / )--'_, \
              / /   /   |
              \ )  ,\_  /
               )  /    /
                 ,\_  (
               ,´     ´\
              )       _/\     
             )   _  `    `.
            )   ´*) )    _/\
          .´    `  /        .
        ,´,.---._  |   |   ´|
       / (_      `.'   '  _/|
       `--´ ,   _.´  ,'     |
            \--´ _.-´      ´'
             ¯¯¯´_ ´      _/
             ,´_          / 
            /    `     _,´   
           /` - ´      /     
          .  __      _/     
          |´    `     |     

[nathy after dark]

I can tell that the gate opening is going to be sick. As for the pit boss, I agree the texturing is looking good in that last one. And I actually kinda like the first one in the list of "failed ideas" with the three spiral-hooking mandibles.

@chriswearly @standardcombo: I found out this morning that I can't secure rights to use the font I was using in my own ASCII game, and I immediately thought of the pixel font work you two are doing for Stone Story. Could I chat with either of you about some font work for The Whisperer in Darkness?

[standardcombo]

I'm sorry to hear that. Get in touch with Chris, he's the font master. Can't you use something like DOS or Amiga font?

[gimymblert]

 

[rj]

god this game is just so on-point aesthetically

[standardcombo]

Still not able to figure out how to fix the color from screen cap. Oh well.

Latest iteration: http://www.stonestory.co/gifs/new_bronze_gate_open3.gif

[chriswearly]

It looks weird how the ceiling brightness transition is overlapping the doors as they open. It's breaking the illusion for me. Everything else though is fantastic.

[standardcombo]

I see your point.

[wurthers]

Whoa, that static bronze gate image creates such a good atmosphere for the game. I really feel like I'm down in some dank dark dungeon, and it actually makes the design of the gate more readable than the white on black. The animation is definitely jarring though, with how bright it gets so quickly.

Also just wanna say this project looks amazing, and I can't WAIT to play it! Reminds me of Progress Quest with the most luscious ASCII art I've seen, and actual player interaction.

[standardcombo]

I've re-written the "ascii sizer" algorithm and am making it available at this location: http://stonestoryrpg.com/StandardcombosAsciiSizer.cs

This concludes an important step in the porting. The game now automatically switches to the best font and rebuilds the grid at runtime if it detects a change in screen size.

The new version is faster and reduces padding and clipping margins. I've also tightened the row constraint from 24-28 to 25-27 rows, for a more consistent result across devices.

Here is the updated list of fonts. #p denotes priority to be implemented. In parenthesis are easy ways to modify another font size to achieve it:

7x12 #p0
10x19
13x24 (14x25 - 1x0)
14x25 #p0 (7x12 * 2 + 0x1)
15x28
16x28 #p1 (16x29 - 0x1)
16x29 #p0
16x30 (16x29 + 0x1)
18x32
20x36 (10x19 * 2 - 0x2)
22x40 #p0
22x41
25x46
26x46
27x48
32x59 #p0 (16x29 * 2 + 0x1)
35x64
45x82 #p1 (22x40 * 2 + 1x2)


Screen sizes and their outcomes with the new algorithm:

Resolution, Aspect Ratio (Devices)
grid size | font size = used pixels (padding)

480x320, 3:2 (Android HVGA)
68x26 | 7x12 = 476x312 (+4, +8)

800x480, 5:3 (Android WVGA800)
80x25 | 10x19 = 800x475 (0, +5)

854x480, 16:9 (Android WVGA854)
85x25 | 10x19 = 850x475 (+4, +5)

1024x600, 1024:600 (Android)
78x25 | 13x24 = 1014x600 (+10, 0)

960x640, 3:2 (iPhone 4s, Android)
68x25 | 14x25 = 952x625 (+8, +15)

1136x640, 16:9 (iPhone 5)
81x25 | 14x25 = 1134x625 (+2, +15)

1280x720, 16:9 (Youtube)
80x25 | 16x29 = 1280x725 (0, -5)

1334x750, 16:9 (iPhone 6)
83x25 | 16x30 = 1328x750 (+6, 0)

1024x768, 4:3 (PC, iPad Mini, iPad2, Android)
64x27 | 16x28 = 1024x756 (0, +12)

1280x768, 5:3 (Android)
80x27 | 16x28 = 1280x756 (0, +12)

1366x768, 16:9 (PC)
91x27 | 15x28 = 1365x756 (+1, +12)

1280x800, 8:5 (PC, Android WXGA)
71x25 | 18x32 = 1278x800 (+2, 0)

1440x900, 8:5 (PC)
72x25 | 20x36 = 1440x900 (0, 0)

1600x900, 16:9 (PC)
80x25 | 20x36 = 1600x900 (0, 0)

1280x1024, 5:4 (PC)
58x25 | 22x41 = 1276x1025 (+4, -1)

1920x1080, 16:9 (PC, iPhone 6+)
87x27 | 22x40 = 1914x1080 (+6, 0)

1546x1152, 4:3 (Android)
62x25 | 25x46 = 1550x1150 (-4, +2)

1920x1152, 5:3 (Android)
74x25 | 26x46 = 1924x1150 (-4, +2)

1920x1200, 8:5 (Android)
71x25 | 27x48 = 1917x1200 (+3, 0)

2048x1536, 4:3 (iPad mini 2/3/4, iPad3, iPad Air/2, Android)
64x26 | 32x59 = 2048x1534 (0, +2)

2560x1536, 5:3 (Android)
80x26 | 32x59 = 2560x1534 (0, +2)

2560x1600, 8:5 (Android)
73x25 | 35x64 = 2555x1600 (+5, 0)

2732x2048, 4:3 (iPad Pro)
60x25 | 45x82 = 2700x2050 (+32, -2)

[standardcombo]

All game screens now automatically adjust to any changes in resolution!

Basically this is a rudimentary auto-layout system in ascii 

There's only one UX issue left to fix due to the layout and screen size changes, related to equipping items. That fix will conclude the screen size porting.

To test things working I added a bunch of placeholders for all the font sizes using a larger font scaled down (anti-aliased). It's functional and readable but doesn't have the same level of quality as the pixel-perfect fonts (only 7x12, 16x29 and 22x40 drawn so far).

It's fun to just resize the window and watch everything adjust automatically.

[standardcombo]

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