Coloured Blocks

I'd much rather it be an option the player chooses, and we can both be happy. That said? I'll enjoy the game regardless, and wait for a mod to come out that does what I want it to do, if they go in favor of "your side" so to speak.

 

I don't know if someone sugested this already, but why not storing all blocks of the same type in a single inventory slot, and the colors in a sub menu?
Something like this:



When you place the cursor over the block, the sub menu pops up with all the color variants you have, so you can chose wich one to use!
If you place the "raw" block in a hotkey instead of chosing one of the colors, then either you use the default color, or you use the the color variant from the top of the sub menu (think terraria ammo slots)


EDIT:

Sorry George, I just thought it'd be a good idea...

 

That's unfortunate and disappointing, George. This thread was created for feedback, and that's what the community has given. I think that a large percentage of the options presented have been constructive, and could certainly be ideated from internally if nothing else.

If the feedback detailing alternatives in this thread will in no way be taken into account, then I'm for option 1. Don't take this the wrong way, but the paint tool is neon bright as of the last time it was shown, and would look extremely harsh when used on dirt/stone/etc compared to the natural scenery on some planets. The options shown during the paint playtest stream certainly match the figures given in this thread as far as variety, and they are very limited compared to the natural shades and hues present on planets we've been shown. Not only that, I'm saying this from the perspective of somebody who's supposedly only seen "just a small selection of the kind of worlds you'll encounter." So the diversity certainly is not comparable.


The shades generated randomly are supposedly in the millions, are they not? Some would look poor combined together, some wouldn't. But reducing our options to ten colors plus whatever is on the planet is certainly a limiting factor, and a sandbox game is supposed to be about creativity. So of the three, with no other options in mind, in their absolute present forms as presented by you and nothing else, option one.

 

Yeah Lobo, this is exactly what I had in mind... Would be really neat.

 

Someone doesn't know about Funday Monday.

Sometimes limiting factors help you think creatively.

 

You have to admit, SC2 wouldn't be as decent a game if you could ONLY mass a certain unit and that was the only choice you had.

 

I don't have to admit. I've seen it be a supremely awesome game with only photon cannons allowed.

Just watch Gaulzi. He cannon rushes every single game and has tons of fun doing it. Link.

Apparently you just aren't a Monobadass. I've won hilarious matches using only Phoenix in HotS.

Also, I think the dirt issue is more like having to choose between the units that are already in SC2 vs being able to choose between any number of thousands of units. I don't think SC2 would be a very good game if we had over 100 different types of Terran units. Sometimes less is more, and IMO ten color options multiplied by the number of unique block and tile types is good enough.

 

Sorry...but, SC2 feels like a really, really bad example. Especially when some units don't really see the light of day until the much higher league play. Scrub account into bronze or silver and see how often you see ravens, or infestors, or carriers etc. Even high-level players almost never use, or make use of carriers. The option is there but no one uses it, why? Because it's mostly ineffective and not cost effecient, that sort of style doesn't fit into building blocks. Most people unless they are derping, don't bother with subpar units, generally (Personally) I don't care what color the block is if I'm just tossing down a makeshift bridge, however if I'm taking the time to build a project, I want to be damn sure it all looks nice. 10 colors is just not enough to do that, especially if I have to paint thousands of blocks because I can't just use resources from another planet.

Besides, using the paint tool will use resources (This yet again is another arguement towards individual color.) You yourself said Luvdisc, you don't want to harvest tons of dirt from a planet because it leaves a larger footprint. (Forgive me if it's not an exact quote, that's rather close though is it not?) Sorry, but I don't want to spend pixels painting blocks that I could have harvested from a planet, two jumps back. Now I am literally paying, to customize my building in the color I want.

 

Oh, I completely agree. Even so, limitations do inspire creativity.

Sources:
http://www.ted.com/talks/phil_hansen_embrace_the_shake.html
http://www.fuelyourphotography.com/how-limitations-feed-creativity/
http://scottberkun.com/2008/do-constraints-help-creative-thinking/
I'm not just making shit up here. Sometimes less is more.

I'd like a link to your source for confirmation, please.

 

Sure limitations do inspire creativity, when there is a blank canvas you can use creativity on so to speak, not when the hard-coding in a game limits you to 10 colors and doesn't allow you to deviate from that course, there's a difference.

Secondly, I will do what I can to dig up the original source (As it was Tiy asking opinions etc if I recall.) when the paint tool was initially introduced, they said it'd take pixels to use it, or you made the paint via the 3Dprinter (Which also takes pixels.)

 

If I was limited to ONLY dirt and ONLY the paint tool, then I could still use those ten colors in some very creative ways to achieve what I wanted. It might not be perfect, and it would be different from what I might have made without those restrictions, but it definitely would be creative. Also, there are hundreds of various blocks and tiles you can place, multiplied by ten colors, which is more like a thousand potential colors and textures-- You wouldn't ONLY have ten options. In fact, this is exactly why I made this new thread to discuss the issue, which I think is actually not just about dirt. It's something much bigger and more abstract than that.

 

Ok so after giving it some more thought I've came to realize what the problem here may be. The idea of a sub-menu sounds great but when you think about the fact that

you're still going to end up with a lot of clutter because obviously that sub-menu has to be limited as well. So you have one limitation per stack and another limitation per number of blocks in the sub-menu. And if it's not limited you might just get the sub-menu of doom. So I think it may be creating new problems because you can't really balance those things out properly. I think that objects that fall into the same category (such as dirt) but have different colors on different planets could all be merged together. And maybe the pain tool could be improved upon to have a simple mode where you choose from basic colors, and a complex mode where you can choose from all the colors. Maybe even a couple slots for saving custom colors ?

edit: seems like a more reliable and practical fix

 

This is pretty much exactly what I was suggesting, too, consolidate all dirt types (or stone, clay, sand, etc.) into just one type and then implement a sub menu that lets us pick which color we want. The main difference is that I suggested that we have to scan or discover those colors of dirt or stone or whatever in order to be able to pick them in the menu. Our plan is flawless! Sadly, it hasn't gotten any attention. I really don't think it would be much work to implement and would end the debate (and controversy) over options 1, 2, and 3.

 

Option 4: Remove all color from starbound making it only black and white so it can be "artistic"

 

It could work but that would mean a couple of things. First of all, the max sub-menu slots should be equal to the max number of pieces you can have in one stack, and second of all, the sub-menu should scale depending on how full it is. In this case it really limits the amount you can have in one stack so it doesn't get crazy and all over the place. So maybe 50 dirt per stack ? It certainly wouldn't work if the first condition isn't met because your sub-menu could end up taking a huge chunk of your screen and managing that would be a pain. So it's not exactly bulletproof to simply have a sub-menu.

 

This is exactly what I've been suggesting but I guess until I make an art for it no one will care, good job anyway and I completely agree.

@Edit
Oh and don't argue for no reason, everyone has their opinions.

 

Hmm, in my idea I was just figuring that your Matter Manipulator would recognize the elemental makeup (ingredients) of that certain tile and what makes it that color so it would be stored as a generic block but then manipulated and then placed in the color of your choice. So I still the stack size shouldn't be affected since when stored, it's just the generic version. And the sub-menu could either be a window with a scroll bar or a tab with an "x" button to close it, simple enough I think.

 

Well then this is not a matter of authenticity anymore as some people are suggesting here, but a matter of color customization. So it's not about "oh I've mined 45 blocks of blue moon dirt from system xyz689", in which case you wouldn't need a sub-menu at all. You would only need a color wheel + a brightness slider. Which could optionally be selected when placing blocks or could be applied to the paint tool. But again, this is no middle ground, in fact this doesn't fix the problem of authenticity at all. So maybe we should have a new poll, what is the real issue here ? Do people simply want that extra customization or do they simply want things they mine to stay precisely the same ? If the latter we can't simply have infinite inventory space and infinite sub-menus (considering the many colored dirt variants). One would have to be responsible with that space. Want an inventory full of dirt ? so be it, your call. As a side note, an option not to pick up dirt or things that commonly drop would also be a welcome addition.

edit: I've mentioned a possible way the sub-menu would work a few post above, sorry for the edits, I tend to do that a lot

 

Personally it's almost the same thing, I mean it's better to mine red wood block and a blue wood block and have both of them than mine red and blue and have only red available, right?
Block -> menu of available block colours -> block placement imho, but that's just me.

 

That could work, of course. And it would be a convenient way of doing things. I was just trying to discuss whether or not that would be the solution for everybody. I'm personally felling neutral about all this at this point. All options seem to do something right.

edit: except option 2... I hate that one... jk lol