Super jank prototype of my idea but I am rendering multiple characters per cell to give the effect of a more complex character. Now to make this a data setup so it's easy to make characters. Also, probably have little add ons to show things like weapons equiped, etc.

gui.cpp

@@ -123,6 +123,22 @@ bool GUI::handle_events() {
   return event_happened;
 }
 
+
+sf::Sprite &GUI::get_text_sprite(wchar_t tile) {
+  if(!$sprites.contains(tile)) {
+    sf::Glyph glyph = $font.getGlyph(tile, MAP_FONT_SIZE, false);
+    // WARNING! we actually have to do this here because SFML caches
+    // the glyphs on the font texture, so this gets loaded each time
+    // we get a new glyph from the font.
+    $font_texture = $font.getTexture(MAP_FONT_SIZE);
+    sf::Sprite sprite($font_texture);
+    sprite.setTextureRect(glyph.textureRect);
+    $sprites[tile] = sprite;
+  }
+
+  return $sprites[tile];
+}
+
 void GUI::run_systems() {
   auto player = $world.get<Player>();
   System::enemy_pathing($world, $game_map, player);
@@ -133,33 +149,39 @@ void GUI::run_systems() {
 void GUI::draw_screen(bool clear, float map_off_x, float map_off_y) {
   if(clear) $window.clear();
   std::string screenout = $screen.ToString();
-  std::string map_screenout = $map_screen.ToString();
   std::wstring main_screen_utf8 = $converter.from_bytes(screenout);
   $ui_text.setString(main_screen_utf8);
   $window.draw($ui_text);
 
+  std::string map_screenout = $map_screen.ToString();
   std::wstring map_screen_utf8 = $converter.from_bytes(map_screenout);
-  sf::Texture ftext = $font.getTexture(MAP_FONT_SIZE);
 
   float y = 0.0f;
   float x = GAME_MAP_POS;
   const float line_spacing = $font.getLineSpacing(MAP_FONT_SIZE);
+  sf::Glyph base_glyph = $font.getGlyph(L'█', MAP_FONT_SIZE, false);
+  auto bg_sprite = get_text_sprite(L'█');
+  bg_sprite.setColor(sf::Color(20,20,20));
+  auto add_sprite = get_text_sprite(L'!');
+  bool has_add = false;
 
   for(size_t i = 0; i < map_screen_utf8.size(); i++) {
     wchar_t tile = map_screen_utf8[i];
-    sf::Glyph glyph = $font.getGlyph(tile, MAP_FONT_SIZE, false);
+    sf::Sprite &sprite = get_text_sprite(tile);
-    sf::Sprite sprite(ftext);
-    sprite.setTextureRect(glyph.textureRect);
     sprite.setPosition({x, y});
+    bg_sprite.setPosition({x, y});
 
     if(tile == L'█') {
-      sprite.setColor(sf::Color(100,100,100));
+      sprite.setColor(sf::Color(80,80,80));
     } else if(tile == L'☺') {
       sprite.setColor(sf::Color::Blue);
     } else if(tile == L'Ω') {
       sprite.setColor(sf::Color::Red);
-    } else if(tile == L'·') {
+      add_sprite.setColor(sf::Color::Red);
-      sprite.setColor(color(Value::DARK_MID));
+      add_sprite.setPosition({x-3,y-3});
+      has_add = true;
+    } else if(tile == L'#') {
+      sprite.setColor(sf::Color(5,5,5));
     } else if(tile == L'\r') {
       continue; // skip these, just windows junk
     } else if(tile == L'\n') {
@@ -171,8 +193,13 @@ void GUI::draw_screen(bool clear, float map_off_x, float map_off_y) {
       sprite.setColor(color(Value::MID));
     }
 
+    $window.draw(bg_sprite);
     $window.draw(sprite);
-    x += glyph.advance;
+    if(has_add) {
+      $window.draw(add_sprite);
+      has_add = false;
+    }
+    x += base_glyph.advance;
   }
 
   $window.display();

gui.hpp

@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ class GUI {
   Screen $screen;
   Screen $map_screen;
   DinkyECS::World $world;
+  sf::Texture $font_texture;
   std::unordered_map<wchar_t, sf::Sprite> $sprites;
 
 public:
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ public:
   void shake();
   void configure_world();
   void run_systems();
-  sf::Sprite get_text_sprite(wchar_t tile);
+  sf::Sprite &get_text_sprite(wchar_t tile);
 
   int main();
 };

map.hpp

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #define WALL_VALUE 1
 #define SPACE_VALUE 0
 #define WALL_TILE "█"
-#define FLOOR_TILE "·"
+#define FLOOR_TILE "#"
 #define PLAYER_TILE "☺"
 #define ENEMY_TILE "Ω"