Aesthetic blocks and different block texture choices

(Edited 6/28/14)

My posts are usually about very technical or mechanical things, but this time, its all about aesthetics!
Personally I have always liked starships that had a bit of damage to them, or at least the appearance of damage. Chipped paint, scorched parts, dirt and grime here and there, rust from interior humidity, etc.
I propose that the paint color palate be expanded to include different texture options such as:
Chipped paint, scorch marks, rust, plates with larger edges visible, rivets, bolts, pipes, mirrored/seamless plate, etc.
I want a few of my ships to have a really industrial look.

(https://nizuvault.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/frame0135.jpgw=720)

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LonZ5m7DtAs/TcRFtDqNyJI/AAAAAAAACKY/Xn1NfErc5E8/s1600/Millenium%2BFalcon7.JPG)

(https://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130619200757/starwars/images/9/9e/Naboo_Royal_Starship.png)
Interior aesthetic blocks would also be a must. Below are a few examples:


(https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/circuit-board-technology-setsiri-silapasuwanchai.jpg)

(https://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/jgroup/jgroup1005/jgroup100500531/7055174-high-technology-printed-circuit-board-with-glowing-led-lights.jpg)




(https://i39.tinypic.com/2s7gl89.jpg)


(All credit for images goes to their respective owners)

 

Yes! I would love a texture palette.
Would also love the computer control room block, but would prefer super computer style stacks over the glowing circuits.

 

a nice related thread
https://forums.keenswh.com/post/remove-camo-texture-on-heavy-armour-6741222

I'm all for more aesthetics. although I understand there might be more important things this would be a nice addition for when the devs have a lot to do.

I'd also like a sleek and a high-tech version.

 

JamesAM: Updated with a control panel example. Yes many different types of interior textures would be a must! I want my space ship to feel like a SPACE SHIP!

SenorZorros: The thread you linked me to was a nice read! I guess mine is a tangent from that one, more specifically about textures.

I've added in sleek armor as a list item, and an example picture as well!

It is true that these kind of things will not be coming soon, but I do want them eventually

 

I also want these to be functional as well. Like LED Panels that you can type text into, the more text you type the smaller the text gets.

Desks and control Panels that actually interface with the ship.

 

Texture palette? Yes please!
I hope this is a must for devs in order to expand the game in a aesthetic way.

 

I guess it could be realised as some sort of texture overlay... so beneath your colour "brush" you would also have a brush for textures which could be controlled independently.

 

BlankWarningsign: LED panels would be a must, and functional panels would be great! Especially if we could link them to our future computer network.

Alvoreno: I really hope they do! Ships could become infinitely more customizable.

tobi tobsen: That is pretty much the idea. You would be able to choose the texture and the color. You could make some pretty weird looking combos, like blue rust on red metal....

 

And an option to save our favourite combos in order to use in future would be helpful to homogenize a fleet, yum...

 

An obvious yes,

 

In theory, you would be able to just use the eye dropper command to get both color and texture. If they added textures, I'm sure they'd add commands to eye drop only color, or only texture.

Then you could just make a giant space palette with all your color/texture combos, and eye drop from that.

 

Having a set of alternate images that are tiled over armor plating would be nice. Could use the colour picker/placer UI to select a texture as well as the colour. Peeps missing the texture ID received from the server would use the default.

 

Though the dropper tool can be used, I would like to have a save armor pattern button and a file where multiple sets can be kept.

There would definitely need to be a default texture for those who do not have the appropriate versions of special textures. We could even look into having a small subset of the modding community that made different textures, which would not be so different from the texture making community in minecraft.

 

+1 I'm for more texture patterns for existing armor blocks (and possibly a few new types of armor, "Medium Armor Block" anybody)?

 

Mmmm... textures modding community... sounds delicious...
Medium armour blocks? Maybe better have differents materials with different properties. But also sounds good

 

while I agree this has a lot of modding potential I believe we should have some basic textures. after all, minecraft also has more than only dirt and cobblestone blocks.

 

Gidar: I am all for different armor blocks, (one or two more should do it) as well as a super dense block that would be able to take massive impact, though it would be quite heavy.


Alvoreno: yes... it does...

Material properties should be implemented. I would like to have heat treated versions of armor, making it harder, but more brittle. (Could take higher impact, but would sustain more damage if stress limits were reached and passed. You would have decisions to make, and would have to correctly design armor sections properly, adding different layers to mitigate the effects of impact.)

SenorZorros: Yes, we should definitely have more vanilla textures. I should have been more clear. The texture modding community would offer different looks and different styles for textures.

 

I'd prefer to keep the textures purely decorative. off course we still need a heat-treated and a reinforced heat-treated block which would have a texture over the texture. (maybe something carbon-like).

 

SenorZorros: They should be purely decorative. However, I would like to have one or two stages of each, for damage purposes, just for atmosphere. Texture combinations would not be a bad idea either!

 

damage... yes... good idea...

 

I like the idea of some kind of "layers" of textures:
- Material+HeatTreatment: Steel, aluminum, titanium... (included alloys)
- Surface appearance: Smooth, rough, grooved... (included SCS appearance)
- Colour painting.

So, when a block is damaged partially loses its paint and surface appearance showing the first layer (material+heat treatment) until it's repaired.
Although I like the depth that heat treatment gives to game, maybe this should be simple with max two different treatments per each material. For example quenching and annealing for steel, having the basic material, a harder version and a ductil version. Thus we could design differents types of armour depending of the layers and its properties.

We need a "Material Variety" topic in order to discuss materials, alloys and heat treatments (ahem master of ceremony Vortexthewise, ahem...).

(In the picture it seen beryllium copper, Inconel (a nickel-copper alloy), steel, titanium, aluminum and magnesium)

 

+1, selectable textures would be awesome.

 

selectable custom textures would get overly abused... there'd be people building neon colored ships with corny logos all over them.
I'd limit it to being able to change surface appearance/material (shiny, matte, smooth, coarse, reflective, etc.) while keeping the original color of block. This could even be combined/implemented with some form of block friction system (surface friction based on texture of block). The characteristics of different surfaces could always be mixed up to keep things sensible. For example: a polished surface would have a less resistance, therefore a higher chance of deflection at angles, but weaker against perpendicular impacts; on the other hand, a matte/course block would have lower deflection, yet higher resistance to perpendicular impacts, etc. etc. so on and so forth.

 

eehm... you already are able to build a neon-coloured ship with corny logos...

and i really think that extures shouldn't affect gameplay. especially since they only change the surface.

 

Wargasm : The point of the idea is to add aesthetic textures to the game. It is not to add functional textures. As SenorZorros pointed out, we do currently have the ability to make ridiculously gaudy looking ships. Adding textures wouldn't make things better or worse, just a bit different.

Although the idea to have actual affects from textures sounds nice, I think it may complicate things quite a bit.

The main idea is this: Ships should have the look that the player wants. Weather that is clean and shiny or dirty and grimy, they should be able to make the ship their own.

SenorZorros: You are absolutely right. Textures should not change anything but the appearance. Some of them could be used to indicate a change in the surface (SCS, damage, repair) or composition, but the textures themselves would not be functional.

Brenner: Yes they would! Massive rust bucket FTW!

Alvoreno: You have made an awesome point. I will start a material science thread in the near future!

The textures, as you said, could be used to great affect, making battles more exciting, and building more aesthetically appealing.

The treatment options should be limited, but they should be included, as you said.

Making the base metal darker or lighter to indicate a treatment, as well as having a bit of wear, would look amazing. that would be two or three texture combinations!

 

+1 for modding ability, not for implementation to vanilla.

 

HitryiPryanik: They would be simple ones, for aesthetic purposes. The modding community would simply enhance and add to the vanilla selection. In order for modded textures to work, everyone on the server would have to have them.

I would like to have a selection of textures that all players would have access to immediately after they start playing.

Just throwing that out there

 

Yes, it will be nice to have something like workshop for decals and textures ingame.

But now you can do something interesting with colors. Try to make high value with low saturation somwhere in the red-yellow hue (or low saturation with high value). You will get rusty colors:


it happens because color-applying system is not linear.

 

The only issue I could see with custom textures is something Minecraft suffered from; namely, visual fragmentation. What might look like a spectacular castle to a mod-using player could look like a shitty cobblestone brick to another, non-mod using player.

On the other hand, we've handled custom skyboxes fairly well so far. No reason not to crack open more aspects of the game to that sort of treatment.

 

Well to me Minecraft always looked shitty, the texture packs just offered different flavors of shit.

But I think the OPs idea was a texture paint tool for the creator of a ship - the creator decides about the texture, out of a palette of textures that is provided by the game.

In case mod support for the textures is added later, the modders should be only able to expand the texture palette with new textures, not replace the default ones. That would prevent the visual fragmentation you described.