A Lack of Environment

Reading through a few suggestions, I guess it crossed my mind. What would it do to the level of immersion, if while planet-side and on the surface/outdoors, Starbound had a filter overlay to change the look of the atmosphere on different planets and moons. Of course no filter effect would mean no atmosphere (some moons, dwarf planets), and disabling the effect while underground and indoors so it wouldn't be an annoyance. It will also help indoors feel like indoors and increase the feeling of safety. And caves feel more like caves as you aren't immediately exposed to the elements.

And yes I know that the backgrounds change and sky color changes, backdrops and such, I've seen all the screens and love them. But I'm talking foreground, responsibly done, static, fuzz, distortion, palette shifting, possibly some color wash out, radiance, and saturation. All produced dynamically. Not all at the same time of course. But layered. With the levels either really faint for low level planets or really extreme for really high level planets. Feedback anyone?

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I shifted the images color temperature deeper into blues. To show how cold the world is. Slightly increased blur around the edges and increased brightness to simulate snow blind. Added drama around the actual surface of the snow.

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I did a lot with contrast, shading and tinting. A very small amount of blurring. It really makes it feel like a bad storm is passing over. I thought about adding a lightning effect, but seemed like too much, so I removed it. Some light water effects, and clouding in the sky also.

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This one took the longest. I did so much. It should give you the idea of radiation. Lower than healthy oxygen level. There's no plant life, it looks like an abandoned industrial age world. The filtering lends to that, while before filtering it feel like just any other planet. I added film grain initially, but removed it. On top of everything else I did, it was too much.

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This was the most fun because so much was going on. It looks like it may be snowing, but I assumed it was ash fall. The sun is so huge on this world, because of its proximity, that it has a huge affect on everything. I warmed up the image a bunch by shifting color temperature towards red, added blur to simulate the effect of heat on vision, some minor washout, and a little drama. All to show the effect of being on a planet that was being exposed to high level of sun exposure. It all feels like this planet is really being baked. And classic sun glare.

It all really pulls you into these worlds environments. I hope this current batch of filters gets my point across a little better.

 

Options! MORE OPTIONS!
Could be fun to turn it on and start putting on horrible 80's Scifi voices.
"THERE'S NO OXYGEN ON THIS PLANET"
"PUT YOUR GOGGLES ON!"

 

I'm ALL for options. I'm totally an immersion guy, I'd even love it if SFX were muted, or muffled, while outdoors on a planet or moon with no atmosphere. Just that beautiful soundtrack in the background.

 

I'd love this as an option, but only if it was an option. I'm sure there are a lot of people with computers who couldn't handle this, and though I'm not one of them anymore, I understand how they'd feel if they couldn't turn this off and couldn't play the game because of it.

 

Eh, I guess it could be a little rough on some machines.

 

Apologies, but can you explain to me what a filter overlay entails? Does it change the colors, the hues, the brightness and the overall "feel" of the foreground and background as you venture into different terrains? It is anything like how the background changes in Terraria?

Also this part. There are many words I do not understand. Why do you need static in game? Are distorting the environment really such a good idea?

 

Granted, I'm only talking about really low-end machines here, but it would still really suck for those people.

 

I feel like what you're talking about is technically already implemented. There will be things like weather, and not all planets will have a blue sky, so isn't that just the same thing? It would be nice if your post was more clear, with examples etc.

 

I think the OP is talking about effects like film grain, shaking frames, and fog.

 

Oh, I see. First off: Music isn't immersive (quoting an earlier post from OP). Music doesn't just magically appear around us, and that is why I have my Skyrim music volume at 0. I hate hearing the freaking music and it's especially bad when the fight music turns on, because it's the same music EVERY time.
But back on topic:
Starbound, being of the low pixel quantity graphics as it is, will most likely not benefit from film grain and other things, but I do like the idea of fog, as long as it isn't too strong. Film grain is really best placed on games with better graphics.

Oh, and another thing: How do you get immersed into a 2D game?

But yeah, your idea is fine, it's just that it would be going overboard and we already have all the immersion atmosphere effects we need. Just my opinion, you are welcome to your own.

 

I think Mass Effect was a raging fail. Please don't suggest things from EA games.

 

Instagram does much of this with photos, but with videos and video games it can be dynamic and adapting. I would consider instagram filters on the extreme end and they're probably meant to be. The colors, hues, brightness, ect, are all affected by a filter. It does affect the overall feel of everything but I would base it on planet and not terrain. Imagine if you were on mars right now, in your spacesuit, the sky would be orange to rust colored (palette and hue shifting) which would shade everything in those colors (tinting). There is a lot of sand/dust in the air on mars from its constant dust storms that would be in your field of view (film grain, static). Mars is farther away from the sun than the Earth so it would receive less light (shading, color washout, brightness). Now imagine that for different planets with all their different variables. A planet that receives a lot of radiation having a slight contrast shift, with static filter overlay.

Now let's say here on Earth, if Earth's oxygen concentration was slightly higher, I'd have a radiance filter and make the colors more bright and vivid. All this can be done and is done with filters. Ahhh, immersion.

That much is true. But read my earlier post to see kinda what I'm getting at.

Lol, I think I've read a post or thread of yours raging about how useless music is in gaming. Oh, but to answer your question: Limbo, Braid, Oscura. If you haven't played them, please do. At least do yourself some justice and check out some gameplay vids. All three titles are 2D as well. I've never been more drawn into the environment then in those titles, also, possibly Don't Starve! All use filter overlay. And revolutionary graphics isn't they're claim to fame, immersion is. The only problem is, I've yet to see a game with (16-bit?) pixel-based aesthetics such as Star bound attempt it.

 

I don't believe I made that post. I generally enjoy music, as long as it is good. Most games (like pokemon) play the music so much it becomes annoying though.
I guess you are right, it is still easy to get immersed into a 2D game. I generally go for 3D though, cus that's my personal preference.

 

As soon as I found out I could turn the Mass Effect filter effect off I did. Made the picture look crisper and the colors more vibrant. I'm cool with the ability to have filters (think of the cool add on filters like black & white, old movie, etc), but the Mass Effect filter was just annoying.

 

Ah. That makes much more sense. Your field of view is sort of like a camera, capturing the environments as they shift and change. You will get the static and grains of sand in your field of view, and that's what creates the realism. Make sense.

 

I did on my second play through. But that was for the "constant" film grain. I'm talking the effects you see while piloting the Mako all terrain vehicle. Anytime your exploring a planet, the camera had many filters applied that I imagine would be true to life on other worlds in our universe. I would disable it automatically while indoors and underground. My basic reasoning is, while your exposed to the elements, the game gives you these filters so you get a sense of the environment your in. Very light (5%-15%) on low level planets, to simulate how peaceful they are, and much higher (35%-45%) on very high level planets to simulate how hostile and uninviting they are. Oh and the Mass Effect filter levels were a bit high, I would consider that a level 100 planet, with very high radiation level, and constant dust storms on Starbound.

 

Would be cool if it obscured the screen if there was a sandstorm or something, not so much it actually blinds you though.

 

So, reluctantly, I grabbed my tablet and mocked-up a few images. I didn't want to use images initially because image filters and video/video game filters are two different beasts. Video filters are dynamic and show motion/action. The easiest was to explain this is, imagine the static on an old tube TV as a video static filter. While a picture of that static as an image static filter. Anyway here are the images, the effects have been greatly exaggerated compared to what I intend, to show effect. You can imagine them closer to being what would be seen on level 100 planets.

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Highly Oxygenated Thriving World.



Highly Irradiated World. Low Oxygen. Far From Sun.



During A Dust Storm. As it Passes By On Screen.

Now remember all of these images are extreme do-not-use in-game levels. And they would be laid on top of the game layer. In the foreground.

 

To be honest, the oxygen-rich picture looks very nice, which can be achieved if they include a gamma slider in their game. However, the irradiated world, as well as the world in sandstorms, obstructed my field of view, which makes me reluctant to like it. To be honest, the second and third one belongs on a poster, or a horror game, and a bit less in an exploration game like starbound.

 

I like effects like these so long as they are subtle.
For example in Don't Starve everything gets tinted slightly blue during Winter.
You might not even notice it until after a while.