Visual Style

Caves of Qud employs a restricted “low-res” visual aesthetic that complements its history-focused themes by referencing and paying homage to hardware and software of the past.

Graphics

In-game screens display vignetting and visual scan lines, which give the impression that the game is being viewed through an older style of computer terminal. (Either or both of these effects can be disabled from the options menu.)

Each game zone (or console screen) is 80 tiles (or characters) wide by 25 tall. Each tile is 16 pixels wide by 24 pixels tall and may contain up to three of the game's 18 fixed colors, referred to as the primary, detail, and background colors. Usually the background is left black (the color referred to in the game code as k, and fanonically called “Qud viridian”; see the Palette section). The tiles may be scaled to fit the actual size of the game window.

Exceptions

Some tiles use colors outside of the fixed palette. These colors are always some mixture of the primary and detail colors of the tile. (See Modding:Tiles#4th Color for details.)

Game mods are allowed to specify that their tiles are of sizes other than 16 by 24, however the base game itself doesn't use this function. (See Modding:Tiles#Tile_Size for details.)

Palette

The tile palette comprises 18 colors, which are given in the following table:

Code	Name	Hex
r	dark red / crimson	#a64a2e	█
R	red / scarlet	#d74200	█
o	dark orange	#f15f22	█
O	orange	#e99f10	█
w	brown	#98875f	█
W	gold / yellow	#cfc041	█
g	dark green	#009403	█
G	green	#00c420	█
b	dark blue	#0048bd	█
B	blue / azure	#0096ff	█
c	dark cyan / teal	#40a4b9	█
C	cyan	#77bfcf	█
m	dark magenta / purple	#b154cf	█
M	magenta	#da5bd6	█
k		#0f3b3a	█
K	dark grey / black	#155352	█
y	grey	#b1c9c3	█
Y	white	#ffffff	█

Palette Files for Pixel Art

PNG palette format

Some programs including Aseprite can import palettes in PNG format. You can download and import the following .png file:

JASC palette format (.pal)

The JASC palette format is useable by a variety of pixel art programs, including Piskel and Aseprite. (It isn't useable by GIMP; see the GIMP palette format section.)

Copy the following text block into Notepad or another plain text editor and save the file as Caves of Qud.pal. Then you can import it into a pixel art program. (See your program's documentation for details on how.)

JASC-PAL
0100
18
166 74 46
215 66 0
241 95 34
233 159 16
152 135 95
207 192 65
0 148 3
0 196 32
0 72 189
0 150 255
64 164 185
119 191 207
177 84 207
218 91 214
15 59 58
21 83 82
177 201 195
255 255 255

GIMP palette format (.gpl)

Download GPL

To import the gpl file, open GIMP, select Windows -> Dockable Dialogs -> Palettes.
Right-click anywhere within the docked Palettes dialog, click Import Palette..., and choose the Palette file radial option.

You can also place the file directly in your GIMP palettes folder. This folder's location varies by platform:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\GIMP\2.X\palettes\
• Linux: ~/.config/GIMP/2.X/palettes/
• OSX: ~/Library/Application Support/GIMP/2.X/palettes/

Below are the contents of the palette file.

GIMP Palette
Name: Caves of Qud
Columns: 5
#
  0   0   0	True Black
255 255 255	White (Y)
177 201 195	Gray (y)
215  66   0	Bright Red (R)
166  74  46	Dark Red (r)
233 159  16	Bright Orange (O)
241  95  34	Dark Orange (o)
207 192  65	Yellow (W)
152 135  95	Brown (w)
  0 196  32	Bright Green (G)
  0 148   3	Dark Green (g)
 21  83  82	Black (K)
 15  59  58	Dark Black (k)
119 191 207	Bright Cyan (C)
 64 164 185	Dark Cyan (c)
  0 150 255	Bright Blue (B)
  0  72 189	Dark Blue (b)
218  91 214	Magenta (M)
177  84 207	Dark Magenta (m)

Trivia

Caution: This article or section contains unverified speculation and should not be considered canonical.

• The game code's tendency to refer to object sprites as “tiles” may be an allusion to the phrase “tileset“ as it is used in roguelike circles to refer to optional graphics for a game that can be used in place of the usual text terminal. Unlike some such games, Caves of Qud's tiles mode is enabled by default.

See Also

• Modding:Text Color Codes & Object Rendering
• Modding:Tiles