MARS: OpenGFX Style

[Andrew350]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so:

mars-tiles-1.png (76.12 KiB) Viewed 10830 times

An example of a randomly generated landscape:

screenshot#1.png

(133.77 KiB) Downloaded 7 times

And a little test grf, mostly so you can see the water in action and "explore". I suggest using the original Toyland to Mars conversion (If you do, make sure it's on top) together with this set so you don't get toyland graphics mixed in I can't access the devzone lately to grab stable nml, so 1.2.0+ only for now. I'll fix that later

marsrenewal_9_17_2012.grf

(64.51 KiB) Downloaded 354 times

Alright, so now that's out of the way, time to explain what's going on. I'll try to keep it short. The full name of this grf is MARS Aesthetic Renewal Set, and the goal is to create a whole climate replacement for toyland. For the most part it will be a simple ( ) graphics swap with no real change to game mechanics. The only exceptions to that will be the industries, which have obviously needed to be changed since day 1, and the vehicles which I'm sure will need updating too. Industries will be kept simple, similar to the default industries, so basically just giving them more realistic names and cargoes (no more Bubble Factories on "Mars" ) At this point that is as complicated as I'm going to go, anything more will have to wait.

As you can see the landscape is pretty much done, with only the bare land transitions and rivers left. Everything else is still open, I really haven't given the rest of it any thought yet. I'm just trying to take this grf piece by piece, i.e. doing the terrain, then infrastructure, then houses, etc etc. In no particular order, but I think industries and other things affecting gameplay should be handled first.

Anyway, I should cut this short now, I just wanted to gauge people's interest and reactions on this now that the landscape is in place, and maybe get some ideas going for some industries/cargoes. Enjoy!

[Pyoro]

This looks ... very bloody.

[planetmaker]

True colour images suggest that Mars is rather brownish-orange than red.
Water on Mars accordingly would still be blue-ish with a bit more reddish influence (thus a faint pinkish influence). TBH, I don't like the lava-like water in the existing Toyland2Mars conversion NewGRF; for me it spoils the overall good impression.

[XeryusTC]

Mars is not this red. Almost every red picture you see of Mars has been doctored to meet with the general public's expectations. I would go with a more brownish look. I'd also go with more of a contrast between the landscape and water, it is quite hard to distinguish them ATM. Water is almost transparent blue and maybe you should reflect that by going with just blue. If you want to go with lava instead then you can go with either a more orange colour or go with black.

[V453000 :)]

I like the red water in the original newGRF, but because the landscape is different. Having both landscape and water of same colour looks like a really poor idea to me, regardless of which colour do you actually choose.

I actually prefer the red water over blue, simly because it makes it something else than just desert-like landscape.


Generally the screenshot looks very dark; the water probably adds to it but I would try to add more contrast to the tiles with light vs. tiles with less light.

Making a Mars newGRF sounds kind of "again?" to me, but why not. I would probably try to make something new instead, but that is your choice .

[kamnet]

Oh, the tiles with the lighter-colored flecks in them is supposed to be water?



Yeah, I'd change up the color, and I agree about the red color not being so red, too. Orangish-brown (or brownish-orange?) would be better IMO. That said, I was JUST imagining what a newer OpenGFX-style revision of T2M would be like. Also had some ideas for new roads too.

[Eddi]

i disliked the original mars water, simply because it made my eyes hurt after a while.

after that, i always used the "bug" of stopping animation in normal mode and then switching to mars, which kept the blue water, but changed everything else.

anyway, i couldn't look at the above image for more than 20 seconds without throwing it away in disgust. please do not let this loose on real people.

[SkiddLow]

New Look, but Back from Mars Original Set from TTD, now into Red mode....

[YNM]

WHO DID SPILL SOO MANY RED FANTA ON MARS ?

eh, the drink (in case you forget) :



Hmm, probably 'tis is better to replace the Toyland, named "Fizzy Drink World" baseset

EDIT : And for suggestion, 'tis is how Mars look actually :

[Andrew350]

Mars is not this red. Almost every red picture you see of Mars has been doctored to meet with the general public's expectations. I would go with a more brownish look. I'd also go with more of a contrast between the landscape and water, it is quite hard to distinguish them ATM. Water is almost transparent blue and maybe you should reflect that by going with just blue.

But if you did blue water along with making the ground more brownish orange, you end up with a more-or-less tropical looking climate. A big reason I went with the red landscape was because it's the public expectation, I think that would especially hold true playing it on a video game

After having just created the landscape, I'm not going to go back through and re-do it now, so that'll have to wait. In regards to water, I originally didn't want to do red either for the exact complaints you all have (too much red!). I actually wanted to do ice, with maybe just a hint of red/pink in it, to provide a contrast. After a dozen or so attempts at different sprites though, I couldn't find one that wasn't too jarring against the red land. Perhaps if one did tone down the red to a more orangeish color it would work better, but again, that's not something I want to do now. I'm also not sure about the pinkish water idea, but I guess one would have to play with it to find out. All stuff for later.

Oh, the tiles with the lighter-colored flecks in them is supposed to be water?

It's more obvious when you actually see it in-game, hence the grf I posted. I guess you couldn't view it?

I kid, I kid. Seriously though, if you've got some ideas for roads I'm all open for suggestions.

i disliked the original mars water, simply because it made my eyes hurt after a while.

Me too, I made it a point to tone it down and make it "calmer". It's more like red silt-laden water instead of boiling pools of hot lava now, but if it still disgusts you as a whole, I guess that point doesn't matter much to you anyway

please do not let this loose on real people.

Too late

------------------

So, nobody likes the landscape, point taken. However, I'd still like to move forward with at least the industries and such. Going backwards now will only kill my interest. I'm going to start brainstorming some ideas myself about an industry scheme, so if someone has some ideas you're welcome to write it down.

[Quast65]

It may be a good idea to post the landscape tiles here, maybe someone will pick them up and recolor them for you. You can then always choose if you want to use them or not.

[Andrew350]

Honestly, with the huge color difference and ~79 sprites to do (so far), it'd probably be easier just to start from scratch. If someone ever wants to do it though and use those sprites, they're of course welcome to PM me.

[oberhümer]

Depends more on how many colors you used, select all + replace isn't too much work with the TTD palette. I'd like to at least take a look at it.
For reference, here is that Mars image converted to the TTD palette. Of course, this could also become a 32 bpp NewGRF, in which case it doesn't matter at all.

[oberhümer]

Hmm... Need to get rid of the "quicksand" (or not?), but pretty good otherwise.

[Supercheese]

Of course, this could also become a 32 bpp NewGRF, in which case it doesn't matter at all.

IMHO that'd be a much better idea, for a set such as this.

[oberhümer]

And with most of the original lava put back in. I left it out of the small crater, both because that was easier and because it creates a look of "something bubbling under the surface". What's missing now is some wacky Mars Trees (slash rock formations).

[oberhümer]

Well, maybe river and custom bare land sprites are more urgent. On that note, there was a "more smooth tile iteration" LFSR or something patch on the bug tracker at one point, but its search is so bad that it isn't found; I might have it somewhere.

[YNM]

Good things Ober ! Well, we just need some "smooth" feeling... (as mars surface is layered with thick iron dust)

About water, maybe we can make them whitish (or grey-bluish)

[V453000 :)]

I am just not sure if this is in any way better or even comparable to the original toyland to mars conversion.

[planetmaker]

About water, maybe we can make them whitish (or grey-bluish)

I would like such kind of water.

Also I agree with Oberhumer that an addition of the missing additional landscape and related tiles, like rivers, canals, trees and possibly also roads might be preferential to industries and houses. I much like the idea of representing trees by interesting rock formations or possibly dunes or so. The latter would then lend itself later to the idea to invent an industry acting like the wood cutter which excavates sand from dunes

Last but not least: it's your work. You shape it as you like. Don't mind too much what others think - you have to be contempt to play with it and it must suit your playing style. Though, if feasible, make it as compatible as possible to allow many playing styles - and keep features like landscape, industries, trains, road vehicles and houses in separate though related NewGRFs. And if you work and license it open-source, you can tell all others who disagree with one aspect or another "here's the source, change it yourself to suit _your_ needs. This suits mine". Plus you can integrate back the best ideas and amendments into your own version.