[Freeciv-Dev] isometric view (was: Where can I get that Great Tileset?)

[Jeff Mallatt <jjm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 2000/08/31 16:13 , Thue wrote:
>> 
>>  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\ 
>> /x5\/x0\/x1\/x2\/x3\/x4\/x5\  <-- x is 0..5
>> \y0/\y5/\y4/\y3/\y2/\y1/\y0/\  <-- y is 0 .. 5
>>  \/x6\/x1\/x2\/x3\/x4\/x5\/x6\
>>   \y0/\y5/\y4/\y3/\y2/\y1/\y0/\
>>    \/x7\/x2\/x3\/x4\/x5\/x6\/x7\
>>     \y0/\y5/\y4/\y3/\y2/\y1/\y0/\
>>      \/x8\/x3\/x4\/x5\/x6\/x7\/x8\
>>       \y0/\y5/\y4/\y3/\y2/\y1/\y0/\
>>        \/x9\/x4\/x5\/x6\/x7\/x8\/x9\
>>         \y0/\y5/\y4/\y3/\y2/\y1/\y0/\
>>          \/10\/x5\/x6\/x7\/x8\/x9\/10\
>>           \y0/\y5/\y4/\y3/\y2/\y1/\y0/
>>            \/  \/  \/  \/  \/  \/  \/
>>

If I understand the discussion so far, Thue's isometric numbering is simply
rotating the current numbering 45 degrees clockwise, right?  If so, this is
the idea I'd vote for, as it can be mapped onto a flat display for
compatibility.

(I'm confused by the above diagram, in which the far left "column" seems to
me to be numbered incorrectly.  Am I missing something?)

Anyway, with a numbering like this, it would be possible for a isometric
client and a flat client to connect to the same server at the same time.
It's just that the "world shape" would be different -- one would see North
along the top, the other would see North along an upper diagonal.

What I want to see, however, is a server option to orient/number the map
such that either isometric or flat is more natural.  In other words, given
a flat client, I want to be able to configure the server (must be before a
game is generated) so that I see exactly what I see now -- a rectangular
world with North along the top.  Similarly, given an isometric client, I
want to be able to configure the server so that the world is rectangular
(well, as close as diamonds can be) with North along the top.

This should be easy, compared to the rest of the changes needed for
isometric, and allows for maximal compatibility with old save-files.

I believe this modification breaks up naturally into at least two distinct
patches: 1. Display of "inflated" tiles (includes adding customizable black
borders around entire map; this is something I've wanted for quite a while
:); 2. Change to allow rotated map of varying shape (for isometric;
probably the bigger change).

The first part can be used immediately to, e.g., draw city icons larger
than will fit in one tile and for roads/railroads so that diagonal
connections don't have little nicks out of them at the corners.

jjm