Kwakstur
Level: Smiter

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(note: I'll be referring to the colors by their Web Color names.)

Sure, Fuchsia is not as big of a loss as Silver was, but singling it out as the new transparent color is still bad. It's among the most basic RGB colors!

I was using it in a sword animation. I could change that color to something like F000F0 instead so that it shows in-game, but it'll be tough to see in Paint when the surrounding area is fuchsia for transparency.
And that right there is a manifestation of a much bigger problem: That of color relationships. Analogous and complmentary colors will change your perception of what you're making. With maximum saturation and medium luminosity, Fuchsia is as bright and vibrant as it can get. Especially when the color itself is under no circumstances anything like the color of the ground it will be on (who makes a magenta dungeon?), there is no worse color you could have picked when it comes to accurately representing in-game contrast and resonance.

You know what the transparent color should be? 238,238,238. It's light, it's neutral, its hex triplet is memorable (EEEEEE), it's no harder to type than 192,192,192, and I doubt anyone will complain about losing it as a visible color.

Can anyone explain the idea behind using Fuchsia as the background color for all of Deadly RPG Of Death's objects? Or was there any big discussion you can point me to? I tried searching and didn't find much...

I am glad you got rid of the "at least one corner must be that color for it to be transparent" rule, though.

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Also known as ExpHP everywhere else.

Banjooie
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That's actually a pretty standard transparency color, because it's flagrantly obvious.

You'll see it a lot in other game makers and the like. Honestly, I'd like to know what you're making that requires so flamboyant a fuschia, though, I'm sure it's absolutely fabulous.

Jutt
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I don't find the transparency colour problematic at all. I've never felt the need of using magenta in any graphics, nor do I see how a colour like FF01FF wouldn't suffice. If that conflicts with paint, consider using another editor—one where you more easily can switch the background colour to something more of your liking.

Just selecting yet another colour for transparency is not really progressive thought either. I would rather encourage full alpha channel support for all graphics, such that no special transparency colour is needed anymore.

Oh, and another option for you: png files also support saving a single colour in the image as transparent and I believe DROD does recognize it as well. So you could simply choose your own transparent colour and use a program other than paint (for example IrfanView) to save the png file with correct transparency.

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Holds: An Architects Audition, Artful Architecture, Salamander, Elusive Exhibitions, Leftover Levels, Six Times Six
Collaborative: Way Forward, Advanced Concepts 2
Styles/Mods: Basalt, Sandstone, Garden, Clock using game elements

Kwakstur
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 385
Registered: 05-05-2006
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Jutt wrote:
Oh, and another option for you: png files also support saving a single colour in the image as transparent and I believe DROD does recognize it as well. So you could simply choose your own transparent colour and use a program other than paint (for example IrfanView) to save the png file with correct transparency.

Already tried that before I posted here with, you guessed it, IrfanView. It didn't work; it showed up transparent on the Custom Character dialog, but it was still gray during play-testing. Different display routine, I guess.

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Also known as ExpHP everywhere else.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 11-26-2008 11:41 PM : What the heck is an ifran?]