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> I've been thinking about using SVG graphics, but I'm not really sure
> how it'd work with Kolf. Things like the ball and holes would be fairly
> straightforward, but I can't see how puddles and sand would work.
> Currently they are ellipses using a pixmap as their texture, so I
> can't just have a water svg, since the water ellipses can be in any
> shape or size.
>
> I can achieve scalability simply by using QGraphicsView::scale so
> use of SVG graphics isn't essential. However, the current graphics
> in kolf are greatly inferior to those used by the games that have
> had the SVG makeover.  Katomic, kmahjongg, ksame and kreversi
> all look absolutely amazing, and alongside them
> kolf looks really dated. I think kolf could do with a bit of an "oxygen"
> style look, but I'm just not sure how. I've been playing around with a few
> ideas, but not really got anywhere yet. Any ideas? Is there a way to get
> around my problem with the puddles and sand being of irregular sizes?
> Does it matter if I don't use SVG at all?
>
You could try OpenGL in 2D mode, at a large cost in learning-curve
and programming :-(  It has scalable graphics, textures, lighting, etc.
and you draw everything on the fly, but it is probably an overkill for
Kolf.  IMHO the problems with Kolf graphics - remembering that
they are diagrams of golf holes, not realistic representations - are:

    a) the coloring is rather "Technicolor" - real grass is never so
        green, water never so blue and sand never so yellow,

    b) the moving bridges need a better color and maybe a texture,

    c) the shading on the grass slopes, humps and hollows does
        not blend well with flat areas.

I think a) and b) should be easy to improve, perhaps by using
paler "map-drawing" colors (?), but c) might be hard.

All the best, Ian W.

PS. Have a look at the diagrams of golf holes they show on TV
broadcasts of golf tournaments.  They seem to look OK, but
maybe what looks good in one environment (TV) might not
look so good in another (KDE desktop).