Screw space exploring and combat ! I'll run around like a mad man collecting flowers and butterflies. Starbound has officially become my second, virtual life.
Will the dyes change the color tone of the armor (like a blue overlay) or will it be gradient mapped... Gradient mapped armor would look epic
I'm thinking about something like dye changing the colour only of some pieces of armour like the actual armour piece, not straps, cloth etc.
"SUPER productive", you say? And actually grinding petals into dyes? Gratzie, good sir. The wait just got that much more bearable. ;D
I think that there should be different kinds of fabrics based off of how far into the game you are, or based off the different types of planets. For instance there could be Cotton from Cotton Plants, Silk from Cobwebs or from (What other people have suggested) silk worms, Linen from plant fibers, etc, etc.
Awesome news! The only thing I don't really like is how petals looks like, sorry ( omg, it's actually the first time I don't like something about this game, lol ) Would be cool.
An addition to that, late game you should be able to create man made materials such as nylon. You'd have to collect the raw materials somehow (is crude oil in the game?)
Animal fibers could be obtained from hairy animals (you have random generated animals/monsters on the planets, so some of them could have the trait hairy/wooly), or they could be shorn off of friendly wooly animals (if you have friendlies at all). Of course there is the possibility to harvest silk (you can't "make" silk) from insect cocoons but it should be a laborious task which could give you fabrics that are more lustrous than the other animal fibers. Plant fibers naturally come from plants like cotton, flax or hemp, so if you have crops, some of them could be producing fibers instead of food. Of course there is the possibility to create fibers out of mineral oil or out of alcohol and acid, like polyester or nylon. (You need a chemlab to do this) Fibers then are spun with a spinning wheel or a portable spindle (spinning wheels normally are faster, but you have to sit down and concentrate while with a spindle you are a bit slower but you can do it on the go), or on a industrial spinner (for HUGE amounts of fibers) Normally, for the best quality and most versatility the yarn is dyed before weaving, so the dye can penetrate the fibers really deep. Then you can use a loom to weave the yarn into fabrics. On the loom you could decide if you want plain weave or tweed and which colors you want to use for the fabric (it could be realized as a couple, like 5 or 6, different options for different looking fibers.)
As far as getting fabrics in (or at least the raw materials for fabrics) you can't really go wrong with animal hide and certain plants, these could be taken to a loom or tanning station and then turned into clothes etc. etc. but that's just the basic level right? These are space adventures right? so I'll be a bit more creative: Fibrous Fungi? found underground and can have neat special properties (bioluminescence or and array of innate colours) Ductile Minerals? Minerals that can drawn and woven into threads ...like asbestos, except with the cancer (unless the devs are feeling vindictive). Now I propose to get a bit more, a bit more creative, so forgive me if you think this is stupid: Right, we've got places where fabrics occur naturally, but Starbound is about the tech as well right? so aside from developing basic synthetic polymers and such why not go for some really awesome stuff. Perhaps a really advanced loom-like machine that can start to make what we'd think of as impossible fabrics, getting progressively more impossible as you research it more? Like cloth woven from water, or dust, or starlight... or cheese? I'm not saying these should be easy to get - you have to get the research and production tech in place, and power it etc. Right, blue-sky thinking done for now. EDIT: typo
Depending on how complicated you want to get with the crafting, I'd suggest splitting things among plant based textiles, and animal based skins. Everything from variants of cotton, to alien plants capable of being manufactured into other fiber weaves. Certain creatures could be looted or skinned for their hides, for use in making other essential materials of clothing. Next thing to consider, is how involved do you want to make it? Should every plant and animal have a chance of dropping a generic clothing crafting material that can be used to craft any clothing? While the simplest solution, I think many would find it rather lackluster and not inline with the rich lore and other systems you're looking to implement. If you have textiles and hides instead, are they immediately usable, or do you have to somehow refine the material into a usable form (turning plant fiber into cloth, animal skins into leather, etc.)? If they do have to be refined, how many step required? I'd suggest keeping it to one step, similar to refining raw ore into into ingots (or cobwebs into silk) in Terraria. I'll admit that I would prefer a moderately in depth system. With many different plants able to be refined into different cloth tiers (rough, light, durable, etc.), and the same for animal hides being tanned into different leather tiers (light, hard, heavy, etc.). Now, with the great variety in animal and plant life, possibly having different or hard to get textiles/leathers to make specific clothing or to add properties to the clothing made out of them? For example, making a leather jacket from the hides of giant fire-proof creatures would allow you to tan fire-resistant leather and make a fire-resistant jacket with them. I would LOVE to see something that in depth. Even something as simple as a '+5% Resitance' or an extra point of defense could go a long way towards adding a great level of customization and ownership to the things you craft. Just imagine; there are many leather jackets, but this one is MINE (and it gives me added protection from the cold, cause I made it that way)! Many players love customization and ownership, and in depth crafting is a great way to scratch that itch. Also, this is a space adventure right? Once you get access to higher tech, then why not synthetic textiles? Or being able to combine other animal/plant drops (or even ores/crystals/etc) to make hybrid materials for making higher tier clothing. Not sure how far down the rabbit hole you want to take that, but if it sounds fun, run with it. I think anything more complex would border on too much, given the nature of the game's procedural content generation.
