ASCII graphics

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Jackolantern
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ASCII graphics

Post by Jackolantern »

What is everyone's views on ASCII graphics? And I don't mean drawing pictures with them, but more along the lines of using individual ASCII characters to represent entities in the game like in Dwarf Fortress or the traditional Roguelike games.

I have been considering making a multiplayer RPG with ASCII graphics for some time. Mostly because they are super easy to work with for those without much artistic skill. And also because they have had a resurgence in popularity that seems to have made players more accepting of ASCII graphics than of games with poorly-made graphics. Has anyone else thought about this? You could actually make the game quite dynamic and even real-time. I think building it as a web app could really allow a dedicated dev to make the game less obtuse and easier to understand than the super-hardcore styles of games that graphics style is often associated with. For example, instead of having players memorize what character represented what, you could have a dynamic key in the corner of the page that updates with what each character represents. This would also prevent you from having to use one-character-per-entity which I think is often a problem in these types of games and causes stupid things like "Ice Orcs are represented by the } character". Every "orc" could be a different colored 'O' character since you could re-use that character again for something else.

Anyway, I have been kicking around this idea. I am really thinking about doing it but wanted to get some input from you guys to see what you think or if anyone else has even considered the same thing.
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hallsofvallhalla
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by hallsofvallhalla »

You and I are often on the same page with things like this. I have the domain asciiwars.com that I gave been wanting to create something with. I would love to see more ascii games made.
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Jackolantern
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by Jackolantern »

Oh yeah, I think I remember you mentioning that domain before! Very cool. I really may do this but I have some work commitment stuff I have to take care of first. I may be able to pick it up sometime in May. I would definitely want to create a nice game editor that allows you to create new ASCII character entities and then paint maps with it. Typing maps out is not something I would be looking forward to :P
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Jackolantern
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by Jackolantern »

As an update, I am now starting on the ASCII RPG! It will probably be a few weeks before I have any real updates with it since I will be working on an editor first.
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hallsofvallhalla
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by hallsofvallhalla »

Sweet! Anxious!
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Jackolantern
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by Jackolantern »

Okay, so the plan has changed a bit. I think we have talked for some time about making an "enhanced MUD" with a GUI like a modern MMO to make it more user-friendly and familiar to modern gamers. Well, I want to finally try making that idea, but I am thinking that an ASCII game world would clash very badly with a modern MMO-like GUI. But I do think written text would work very well with it. So I am officially pivoting to make the "enhanced MUD". Development starts this weekend! :ugeek:
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hallsofvallhalla
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by hallsofvallhalla »

Awesome! I am jealous. I have been slowly working on one for so long but always start then stop over and over. I agree ASCII would not fit very well unless it was some kind of new ASCII graphics that matched.

Image

or
http://www.qqpr.com/animated-ascii-art-1052.html
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Jackolantern
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by Jackolantern »

Holy crap! haha

Speaking of ASCII graphics being used in a crazy way, have you ever seen Shoot'Em before (loud music warning on the video link)? It is a 3D turret-based shooter that uses all ASCII graphics haha!
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hallsofvallhalla
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by hallsofvallhalla »

Holy poop thats awesome!
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Jackolantern
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Re: ASCII graphics

Post by Jackolantern »

God, I have missed this. It has been way too long since I have torn into a big project. It feels like this project is what I am meant to be doing :ugeek:
The indelible lord of tl;dr
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