Slightly More Realistic Radioactive Metals

Plutonium and Uranium are not bright purple and bright green (respectively) in real life. This is what refined Plutonium looks like:

And this is refined uranium:

I suggest adding some dull grey pixels to the uranium and plutonium ore sprites. Specs of green and purple can be kept to make it easier to distinguish the ores from their counterparts, but, overall, there should be more grey than not.

 

The bright green appearance of Uranium is likely a reference to the classical appearance of "radioactive" materials in movies and cartoons, as seen here in the Simpsons:



Realistic? No. But that's kind of what makes it fun and interesting in this case.

Besides that, it ensures the respective items are distinctive and easily identifiable to a player. They don't need to be bland and grey, because detail is more important than realism.

 

That I knew, Solaer. That's why I suggested making it partially grey with specs of color throughout the sprite, for distinction and to maintain the cartoon radiation stuff.

 

Believe it or not, there actually is a mineral, containing both uranium and lead, that glows that color. It certainly isn't a primary source of uranium, but because of that (and the insistence of the public on seeing science as some kind of magical art), it's in the popular mind that all uranium glows green. I worked with it for a while in an optics lab while I was in college.

My biggest objection to plutonium is that it doesn't really even occur naturally. It's found in trace amounts in some uranium ores (parts-per-trillion), but not as an ore in itself---it's generally produced in reactors from uranium and neptunium. On the other hand, "solarium" doesn't occur naturally either, nor does "erchius"; and it's a fun step in the fuel-ore chain. Actually building centrifuges and reactors to get it sounds boring as hell.

 

This is not about centrifuges and reactors (though I would like to see the game mechanics necessary to mod those in added to Starbound). This is, purely, about how radioactive metals are portrayed in Starbound, and it's, more-or-less about making the sprites less colorful in general and nothing else.

 

Since you worked with the material, Im sure you already know this, but for those that don't...

Tritium is a byproduct of nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium. Tritium glows various colors, with green being one of the more prominent one, which could explain why people have equated radioactive materials as glowing.

Just a thought.

 

You know I didn't even think about tritium. It isn't only pulled from Uranium/Neptunium/Plutonium reactions, though—it's hydrogen-3, so it falls out of all kinds of things. The reason it appears to glow is that the containers we use for it are lined with phosphorus, which glows on contact with tritium radiation. (Basically a way of saying, "live isotope; do _not_ drink".) The radiation from it is relatively mild and harmless, though.

It's actually used in a lot of commercial glow-in-the-dark products, like Swiss army watches. We used to do radium, but then, there was that whole ugly bone cancer thing...[trails off]. The phosphor reaction is actually very similar to the (scaled-up) lead reaction in the mineral I was talking about. (If only I could remember the name of it.)

It would actually be kind of cool if we could react the isotopes, in the game, to create these by-products. That's a little off-topic, though, and probably better suited to a mod.

 

The purpose of the coloration is more than likely for identification when you are mining it as opposed to an attempt to look realistic. If all ores were their respective real life color it would be nearly impossible to identify them without harvesting them first.

 

...which I acknowledged in the post you quoted, and suggested that there coukld still be pixels of color to differentiate the two different ores I listed.

 

What would be the benefit to game play? The colors are as they are for identification. Period. Given the textures are only 8x8, taking away most of that color would leave them more difficult to tell apart, so why should this be done when it would really only hinder game play, not help it?

Gameplay over realism, unless the realism improves gameplay.

 

I don't think this game is going for realism...

This person did a better job articulating their thoughts, lol. This is pretty much what I was going for.

 

Except this change would have no effect on gameplay in a positive or negative fashion, due to the color still being there and the unique shape of the ores remaining unchanged.

Hinder? Look at these and tell me how much of a hindrance it would be:


All I'm getting so far is negative thoughts who fail to grasp the simplicity of the idea.

 

Seeing as you are getting agitated over forum posts, I would suggest keeping to yourself when it comes to these ideas and perhaps commissioning someone to make a mod.

 

Commission someone to... make a mod...

Are you seriously suggesting that to someone who has already uploaded a mod specifically pertaining to improving the appearance of radioactive metals in Starbound, one which is linked within his forum signature?

Bloody hell. This is a suggestion for vanilla Starbound. Now either say "I don't like it" or "I like it" or offer constructive feedback or suggestions.

 

If you want those textures, then use the mod. Why should the devs waste time on this?

This suggestion was from the start better suited for a mod.

 

...

This forum is for suggestions. Period. I made a suggestion. Period. Whether or not the developers of Starbound implement it is up to them, and I am okay with that. It's about as much work as when I asked the developers to fix the fuel ratios for radioactive rods back in Enraged Koala (and yes, I did that).

And yes, I will be adding this to my own mod when I get around to it.

Why are you people acting like this? I said from the beginning that this was a simple image change.

 

Yes, its is the suggestion forum, but its also a place for discussion. The point of discussion is, how does this benefit the game, which by your own admission, it doesn't.

You are proposing changing a few pixels to gray which offers little visual difference, or make them all gray with a few color pixels which would needlessly hinder visibility.

Sure, suggest whatever you want, but expect people to weigh in their views on it. That's what forums are for. Otherwise suggestions would only be submitted directly to the developers.

 

A suggestion doesn't have to have meaningful impact on the game to be a meaningful suggestion. Starbound is supposed to be a science fiction game, so it has to incorporate some level of realism (science) in its world-building and gameplay. To that effect, i would like to see Chucklefish portray a more realistic version of the radioactive metals Plutonium and Uranium than what has been currently added, even if it is not entirely realistic like the magnified sprites I provided.

I'd actually like to see more related things added, such as radiation poisoning status effects and material modifiers (ore before it is mined) that can cause status effects in an area around them, but the simpler changes are more important for now.

Why you have to act so hostile to such a small suggestion is beyond me.

 

I'm not being hostile. Christ, will people stop saying that. I am very opinionated and blunt. Sugar coating is not my thing.

In this case, I am voicing my opposition in the form of counter claims. There is quite a bit of science going on in the game, but no where does it say that science has to be entirely realistic, otherwise star wars would be classed as fantasy.

The current textures work. They do their intended job and there is no reason to change them.

 

Beyond the fact that they aren't necessarily "correct." The current textures get the job done of distinguishing the ores from other ores, but it does so in a way that sacrifices scientific realities, while also perpetuating an illogical stereotype. There are ways to satisfy ore distinction without sacrificing as much detail, and my suggestion is such a way.

And yes, you've been hostile. Telling me that my suggestion doesn't belong in the Suggestions forum because it is minor? That's like complaining about me suggesting that the devs fix fuel values for radioactive fuel rods, which is also minor and insignificant because you never run out of Coal (EK) or Liquid Erchius (UG/SG).