Coloured Blocks

Admittedly without reading the entire thread, I'll just say that Option 3 seems the best, especially considering that we can paint blocks to taste after placement anyway. Less inventory clutter is also a good result of this.

 

Well, I think what some people want is to have exactly what they mined so that the unique colors from a planet aren't lost, aka option 1; and then some people want it all consolidated and not become some insane inventory issue, which I can sympathize. So perhaps it's not the customization, necessarily, but rather the variety - some (including I) want those 27 blue-grey stone blocks from Xyrxes II and those 156 yellow-brown dirt blocks from Ur-Quan VI so they can place them on an entirely different planet without any changes to that block. So, since infinite inventory space would be ridiculous and impractical, and option 2 negates the uniqueness of color and so does 3 essentially, there are no good options in my opinion. They all suck, 1 being the least bad because at least you can keep the colors you like most and only use up maybe 10-20 slots back on your ship/base.

So, about the issue of authenticity. It's not really an issue to me, but I just think it's a bit cheap to just paint over something and call it good - like painting gold paint on a rock and calling it gold. Not an issue in a pixel game so much, but still. I want to have discovered that color, somewhere in the depths of space in some remote planet *I* found stone the color of #2e95b3 and clay the color of #527423. It's different and cool, and goes with what I want to build back home. That's where my idea came in - a menu (or wheel, or whatever) that displays for that material (stone in this case) the colors that you have discovered. Not your buddies. (and perhaps you could sell or trade "bio/elemental IDs" with others so that they can have that color too if they don't know where to discover/scan it...just a side idea). The core of my idea (having it all in one stack type but offering a menu) isn't much different than that of Lobo's or TvK's. So perhaps it isn't an issue of customization, but really rather an issue of variety and keeping, in some form, what you found and earned.

 

This is a good overview, though for me it's also an issue of just the type of game i'm playing. The paint tool is fine as long as it stays optional, but I don't want to be at a disadvantage (or have to put up with "magical dirt", or other materials) for not using it. And that seems to be the way the game is heading at the minute, which makes me go:

I also don't care about inventory issues. I don't really consider inventory clutter a "bug", or a problem, for sandbox games it's more of a "feature". If I don't want 10 different stacks of different colours of dirt, they're either going to be properly sorted in my vast and awesome storage room, or dropped on the floor (I mean, if I don't want it in the first place, why pick it up? Down a random hole it goes). At some point when playing a sandbox game, you just have to accept that inventory management is a thing.

In the end though, there's only ~20 votes in it and it's been that way for the duration of the poll. If it was a majority vs minority situation, you could get away with not being able to please everyone (because obviously you can't), but one side having to "suck it up and deal" just isn't going to work here I don't think.

 

Agreed, I'm not going to experience a inventory overload crisis since I'll only collect cool colors, but for everyone in general...1 doesn't work for tons of people. It would be maddening. Same for 2...what happened to my beautiful cyan stone and red sand? Nope, it's all default earth colors now no matter where you are. Same for 2...it's now the planet's defaults. Magic. None of those options work for everyone...but I honestly feel that the idea that Lobo/TvK/I have expressed, just a small modification, can please almost everyone. Call me too optimistic, I guess. And I, too, don't want to be at a disadvantage if I choose to not use the paint tool based on principal or whatever reason.

 

so I have to wonder if the logic being used with option 3 is going to carry over to other aspects of the game. with option number 3 when we pick up stone or dirt on one planet it loses its individuality and becomes generic. it then basically auto matches whatever planet it is placed on. are we going to see something similar happen with say seeds of trees we cut down? I cut down a tree with a thorny trunk and white puffy foliage and find it drops me some seeds. if I take the seeds to another planet and plant them will it grow a tree with the thorny trunk and the white puffy foliage? or is it to going to auto match the local trees of the planet I just planted them on?

To me, this is the same concept as the stone and dirt automatically changing.

 

I have to say this is looking like what people want and it makes me sad . IMO option 3 is taking so much away from the game. I personally want to make a huge treasure planet with all the different soil, rock and wood and other things I come across. Then head there at the end of an adventure and be reminded of all the previous adventures I have had getting the loot I have saved in each chest/storage container. Option 3 destroys that dream.

 

That would be ideal, but that's putting it all on the devs to do more work. Since they've already expressed that these options are already "done" so they can just implement it, otherwise they'd be forced to go back and spend even more time on it. Ideally there is a way to do things*, but we can't really force the devs to bend to our will.

*Either the TvKlobolovesyou method, or even a world generation option for "I want option 1: super magical rainbow inventory" vs "I want option 3: paint tool all the things!".

 

I had the same vision. I wanted to create a large storage facility with materials gleaned from across the galaxy stored neatly for future use. As well as create a "botanical garden" with the native soil, stone, etc. from various worlds complete with flora and fauna where possible.

I suppose with option 3, I can make a bunch of dirt farms and paint them different colors. yay

It's not an issue of inventory management to me at all. I find that to be part of the challenge of a game like this. It's actually a FUN thing for me to gather organize all of these various materials. And then use them in my construction projects later.

Only Option 1 allows all this freedom. Please, Devs, make it a Game Option to either have materials be "universal" (ioption 3) or "unique" (option 1).

 

A lot of people who vote for option #3 feel the exact same way.

Like I said, this is an issue of when people are forced to use paint.

Either they have to use it while building, or they have to use it while exploring.

The game isn't even out yet, so it isn't actually taking anything away from the game. Starbound was never going to have the option of taking seeds on any planet and replanting the same exact tree on another planet on release. Option #3 doesn't destroy that dream because that dream was always doomed. It just requires way to much coding to do, and if you want Starbound to be released sometime before 2015 then you need to get over it. If it doesn't seem like something that would be so hard to implement as I am saying it would be, then feel free to prove me wrong and mod it in yourself.

The purpose of Starbound isn't to collect anything you get your hands on. Just read the about page. The purpose is to discover, explore, build, and adventure. The variety is to make the worlds you explore as interesting as possible, not so that you can rip them up and frankenstein them together. Now, admittedly, that would be an awesome addition to the game, but it isn't the most important key aspect of what the developers were intending to create in the first place.

 

I see. Well, that's another valid way of doing things. I'm curious to see what the outcome of all this discussing will be. Rainbow dirt house ftw

 

Ok, you're still missing my point, so I'll try this with wood. I don't want my oak wood to turn into maple wood simply because I'm on a different planet. Just as I don't want my red dirt to turn blue because I'm on a different planet. I want my items to BE themselves without having to alter them back and forth to look like what they're supposed to be in the first place.

I'm not concerned about the paint tool, I'm concerned about material consistency. I feel like being able to make any material in a general group out of something else in that group would detract from the gathering portion of the game.

For example, let's say I chop down an oak tree, but I don't want oak wood. I could just go to planet XYZ and it's magically maple wood. Or I could go to planet ZYX and now it's willow. I don't want my materials to magically transmute themselves. It defeats the purpose of even having multiple types of dirt, trees, etc. in the first place.

 

I would like to be able to bring blocks from planet type A to planet type B and use them to teraform an area or entire planet so it looks like planet A.

 

Anything but option 2.

 

I'd actually say I don't like any of those three options particularly. If I'd have to go with one it'd be the 1st option, however, I feel space in my inventory would quickly fill up.

I would like it if all the dirt blocks got stacked into one, but then when you hover the cursor over it in the inventory, a separate box appears, showing you all the different coloured dirt blocks you've obtained so far.

 

Yeah, I agree

 

Choice 1 for me, locally mined blocks stack and you can gather special colors all over the place and start building nice multi colored things with colors not available from the color tool.

 

Same for me, while it will take up inventory, I don't mind. I throw away tons of junk in Terraria anyway. You just have to make sure any color of dirt can be used to craft something, otherwise it'll get messy.

 

It's just not worth it. Too many stacks. Too much management. I think a lot of people here are underestimating how much inventory management is involved with having a bajillion different colors of the same thing.


Stop voting 1 people . I hate limits as an artist. But not this one! Unless you for whatever reason CRAVE to have to deal with 1000 stacks of different colored dirt and other natural tiles with a bajillion color variations... Which isn't easy and is too time consuming. Not worth it!

 

I crave the 1000 different stacks. Boo magical transmutation. Plus, why you go to a planet JUST to dig up their dirt if you consider it a pain to manage is beyond me.

 

As a builder I don't want to be constrained with one color of anything on a singular planet. I don't want to have to choose a planet because of it's dirt color...