We already know that Starbound is going to feature lighting effects. What if there were also effects which lower the light level around them, as if they were shining a kind of "black light"? This mechanic could be used in a variety of ways, such as "Blackout" bombs, which create an area of darkness around the point of detonation, or monsters which radiate an aura of darkness. There could even be planets where the atmosphere absorbs almost all light, restricting how far a player could see on its surface, even with a torch, and possibly even requiring that the player aquire a stronger light source to navigate. An example of a scene with negative light: Two players, Atrius and Novum, are chasing each other through the caverns beneath the surface of a dark planet. Atrius has just stolen a valuable item from Novum, and he is trying to get back to his underground base. Novum finally gets a clear shot at Atrius as he starts to scale a difficult surface, but Atrius drops a Blackout bomb, plunging the area around him into darkness. Novum fires several shots into the shadows, but cannot see his target and misses completely. In a flash of inspiration, Atrius decides to head to the surface. He activates his jetpack and flies straight up past a small cluster of sleeping Darkbats. The Darkbats wake up and in their panic, project an aura of darkness around them. Novum hurls a flash bomb into their midst, which penetrates the darkness long enough for him to jet through the flock unmolested. He then reaches the surface, but here the atmosphere absorbs light, and the light of his torch is abruptly snuffed out. He unpacks a floodlight from his inventory and sets it up, generating enough light to see for some distance, but by this time, Atrius is long gone. As always, any thoughts are welcome.
Anti-photon generators ,eh? By the way, every atmosphere absorbs light. Amount of energy absorbed depends on atmsophere transparency. So, each planet should be a bit darker, than space. May be add something like fog to the planets you are talking about.
Maybe an ore that absorbs light? Could be used for better sneaking armor/gear or something, also could be used for the bomb idea
Better sneaking armor? Are you aware that to be invisible you cant just stop reflecting light, you have to make light "slide" on you so the other guy could see whats behind you.I dont like the bomb idea. Its completely illogical to spend alot of money to develop such technology when you can just make the enemy blind with a flashbang granade or use smoke. The ideas of anti-photons and an ore which absorbs light are innovate but unpractical.
I see your point about the bomb. Although I'm no expert, I would think it would require only a slight alteration in lighting physics to create "anti-photons". All the devs would have to do is add black to the possible colours of light. I have seen this implemented in Hexen 2, although in that case, the item that produced the effect (the Icon of the Defender, when used by a necromancer) worked by simply reducing the light level around it in much the same way as light sources increase it. When I said "absorb light", I meant that the atmosphere would absorb far more light than ordinary objects do, although I think an especially dense fog effect would be the simplest way to achieve this.
I still think that decreasing light level would be as much noticeable as incrasing it. Think about it: what do you do when you see a sphere(?) of darkness passing next to you? You wouldnt see what it is, but you certainly get suspicious, wouldnt you? So thats why it is not practical, but if you want to look grim, you are a goth or something or simply you want to play on the computer during the shiny day its perfect invention!
which penetrates the darkness long enough for him to jet through the flock unmolested. Heh, unmolested. On topic: Great idea!
Well if the absorption effect is strong enough than you would create an entire area of complete darkness, similarly to a black hole. Physically I don't know any known way to pull electromagnetic waves but not matter, however, this is a game, with magic, anything is possible ^^. Maybe a complete darkness area would be overpowered though, I don't know. I like the bomb idea though, possibly there could be a type of spell for that too?
Well it's not really like black holes, coz they use intense gravity to pull in light, but the effect could just be a thick fog and animals and ore which give it off. The bombs I think are a worthwhile idea, they remind me of the Peruvian Instant Darkness Power from Harry Potter
I kind of explained the black hole idea, that gravity pulls in matter AND electromagnetic waves. If it was a magical ore than possibly it could absorb all electromagnetic waves ("blame it on magic"). That could work as a type of shroud for stealth users. I like the fog idea better though, consiodering that than you can make armor that gives partial stealth, not just full darkness. The bombs could work similarly.
Really nice idea, and it would pretty easy to implement. You'd effectively just have to make them reduce the light level to near zero and that would create the black effect. It would be great for designing adventure maps and stuff too.
I hope they do have it, then I will be able to make secret passages with traps and intruders won't be able to see them by using torches.
