I may have to jump in with the coding, but here's some suggestions for rebuilding the graphical engine (most of these hinge on the suggestion of custom themes, so take it in that context):
* Animated tiles. The theme bitmap would go something like this:
⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞ - various tiles
⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞
⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞ - animation sequence 1
⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞ - animation sequence 2
etc...
A regular tile would be replaced by an animated sequence if its square was filled with a particular colour. The sequence starts on the left and ends on the first square that's fully transparent. The sequence loops. You could use this to do bubbling lava pits, moving shadows and the like.
* Widgets: I know this has already been mentioned, but mainly to add variety to the 2x2 blocks. How about widgets that have the properties of any tile? You could, for example, have windows that act just like pits, or cracked floors tht are just like regular floors, or tapestries that act like walls. (Or even breakable walls as well).
* Light sources. I've been gunning for this one for a while. You have a light source that gets placed somewhere and casts shadows. This one might not be all that practical, as you'd need 4 shadows for each monster at least, but it would be cool. Maybe the DROD3D guys could do this?
Matt
____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?
Click here to view the secret text
×Lost.
