Watch the skies, traveler!

From the moment i joined the community [still waiting for october to come around to make my preorder :catface2:] I was amazed by how much detail the devs and artists put in this game's enviroment. I mean, lightning forks, rain that is not JUST an overlay, auroras, the very moons/nearby celestial bodies appearing in the skies, meteor showers...?

To me, it only makes things better that this game is a 16-bit looking game, because the explosive levels of nostalgia and deja-vu are going to be incredible. If you ever played Spore or an elder scrolls game near its launch, or even a modded version some time away from its release, the feeling of being in a new place [or planet] where you just want to spend the first five hours [or DAYS] of gameplay looking at everything and just enjoying the scenario, you know why i'm talking about deja-vu - it's going to be that all over again in every new planet i visit in this game xD

[thankfully, this is much more expansive than spore was... Tho i seriously hope that there'll be twin suns to find in the galaxies. Such a beautiful sight~]

Either way, one of the things that i'm most curious about [didn't see many of the videos... slow internet] are the planetary rings. Like, if they'll turn slightly while you walk, or if they'll at least deform a bit as you "pass" below them.

Another thing that got me curious is... What if there was a "doughnut-shaped-planet/asteroid"? You know what i'm talking about, don't you? I wonder if the "top" side would be barely visible in the sky, if there was one.

 

As far as the planetary rings go, I'm not sure if the rings themselves will spin in the background distance as you walk across a planet, but I might not be understanding what you mean exactly, do you mean will they spin and deform as you walk on them? A little more insight would be helpful.

As far as the doughnut planet, that would be rather silly and I can see quite a few of the more serious members complaining about immersion and realism. But anything is possible .

 

Topic title got me to think about this.


And yeah, the level of detail is pretty awesome. I recall reading that other objects in the system you're in will appear in the distance.

 

I hope it wont crash like spore... EVERY 15 MINUTES IN THE SPACE STAGE WHEN YOUR TRYING TO CRUSH A GALACTIC EMPIRE.

 

No, no, lemme try to explain...
Imagine a tunnel, with a bunch of arches. They are all parallel to each other, but if you look to the tunnel wall instead of its end, the perspective will make the arches look different. like ( before reaching your direct line of sight, | right on your line of sight, and ) when leaving it. Technically, you are walking below them, and as you move... away from the equatorial line of the planet, the less "lined" the rings would look, and the more their curvature would show.

I didn't want to name things, but i was making two direct references. Halo, and Sonic the Hedgehog [archie comics]. Both have a "planet" shaped like a ring, and you could see the horizon bending up above your head. It's a rather interesting view, barely implemented in any other game.

 

Ohhhhhhh yeah, Halos ring planet was epic! Thing is seeing as how SB is a side scroller you wouldn't be able to see the ring curving up along the horizon in the distance, so it wouldn't exactly work out.

 

------ = other side of the ring in the distance

= SKY

____ = ground


I know it's not simple, but it's still an idea. Not one that can be implemented for the beta or initial release, i'm sure. The other side would have to scroll backwards to the direction you're going.

 

Personally the title made me think of that creepypasta about a morrowind mod.

Will make an actual post when not on an iPod.

 

My cousin's out fighting dragons, and what do I get? Guard duty.

OT: I'm probably going to spend several hours just exploring planets before setting up a homeworld, exploring the underground, and advancing tiers.

 

Did you see those warriors from Hammerfell? They've got curved swords.
CURVED SWORDS.
On topic, while this is a cool idea, I think this would be better as a mod. I can't really see any actual moments in Starbound where they would need something like this. However, if someone made something like a Halo mod and implemented something like this, I'd be all over it.

 

Did you ever play Halo?

EDIT: This was answered. Halo's got a pretty good lore behind it, though the halo rings are all artificial.

 

It would be amazing to see the foreground and background like normal, then another set of background on the top of the screen separated by spaaaaaaaaaace. And as you walked across the "perfectly horizontal" foreground, the background would slowly rotate, giving the illusion that you are looking through a vertically-turned ring at your character.

Let me illustrate kind of what to it might look like?VVV

This kinda shows what I mean. The dark purple is the foreground, the light is the background, the wedding ring is the planet As you scroll across the "visible area", the background rotates.
But you can't really see the top background, which is the desired effect. So i thought... Flip it turn-ways! I made another example... VVV



I made the rings into square rings so its easier to draw... ^^^
To explain, if its flat, the top background is a bit too high to be seen. But if we change our view angle, and flip the planet turn-ways, we can see more. The red boxed areas are "visible areas", or what you can see in your screen.
The highlighted yellow-orange areas are the parts of planet you can see. You can tell the first image you can only see the lower grounds, but in the upper image you can see the lower and upper areas. I added a little purple guy
so you can see easier. The below image is kinda what the above image might look like in the game.


Hopefully i've provided some good(?) input.

 

Well, the ring asteroid-planetoid in Sonic Archie Comics is natural! Or rather, sobrenatural. It IS kinda hard to imagine a formation like that, unless it was made of mostly rock, and had rings beforehand [like saturn] that got down and merged into one solid ring...

You are an artist, Quantum Robodance. This is almost exactly what i meant. Of course, showing the ring border cut, only partially appearing on the top part of the screen, would make it look even bigger [and that the camera was "curving upwards", instead of you walking on the side of the doughnut. Also, atmosphere... unless it IS a harsh enviroment that can't grow atmosphere at all.

 

So, for atmosphere, just imagine seeing the other side of the planet in the sky, like how you can sometimes see the moon during the day here on Earth.

 

What on Earth does seeing the moon during the day have to do with a ring planet?

 

No, since no matter how far you travel, the effect on your perspective of a distant celestial object would be infinitesimal...totally negligent. This would apply to a planet you are on or not on.

 

Hmm, i kinda think what you guys are getting at. If the atmosphere covers the ring's surface, but there is a "void" of sorts in the center, then from the surface, the horizon would bend up and up and start to look "white" the more distant it gets, as long as there is light being cast on it. This way, there'd be a white line covering the top of the screen - the surface, properly said, would be barely visible...

But then again, so would the other celestial bodies that were shown up to now DO show their surface even from inside the planet's atmosphere.