Coloured Blocks

It would require changes to the code and delay the game.

Plus, once the game is released it is annoying to change basic elements of the gameplay.

Didn't you read GeorgeV's post about how there isn't any option #4?

EDIT: There are a lot of different "option #4" possibilities that would make everyone happy, but they would all mean more work for the developers. I don't have anything against your particular version of the "optimal solution", but I believe that of the original choices option 3 is clearly the best. I personally think that it IS intuitive, since I wouldn't have even noticed it because I'd have just assumed it changes to match the planet, honestly. How can you get more intuitive than Paint Tool = custom colors?

 

The only problem I have with using the paint tool is that there are only like 10 options for colors at this point, so if you like a particular shade of something you find on one planet, there's no way of keeping that exact color/shade.

However, if the paint tool was able to absorb colors/shades from planets, or had more customization.. I'd be sold on option 3.

 

As far as I know the paint tool is limited with it's colors and it doesn't apply to certain blocks. In comparison, it seems that the procedurally generated elements vary a lot more with their colors. While the paint tool may be intuitive, it's currently limited in scope whether by choice or by design. I think it's silly to remove what I would consider a major feature in any other sandbox game just for mild convenience.

In my opinion, option #1 obviously isn't the best choice but neither is #3. There's probably a compromise to be had somewhere and I've seen a bunch of good suggestions on that note. But seeing as George said that there is no option #4, I'm not sure what to suggest. If there were assurances that the paint tool would eventually become up to par with the procedurally generated colors then I'd be perfectly fine with that.

 

Yeah, this is how I see it as well, having only 10 different colors for dirt and sand, etc, would not be enough if there are planets with other colored blocks. It would feel very limiting. Like what if you want to stay on a red dirt planet, and then rebuild it a little by applying different shades of red, and different shades of gray, etc. You wouldn't be able to do that with option 3 in mind unless it was changed for this purpose.

 

It's not really an option 4 so much as a different way of presenting options 1 and 3. The poll is showing a fairly even divide between 1 and 3 so I thought they might appreciate suggestions that allow for both those options. But if it's already decided (I just hope it isn't) then they can just look at the poll and ignore the rest of this thread

And of course the paint tool is intuitive - but that's not what I was talking about. I'm talking about dirt changing colour in your inventory when you change planets. I'm not sure why anyone would expect that without being specifically told in advance... It's not natural to expect it to happen. I've never seen a game where building materials change colours without your intervention. It's something I can see confusing a new player without a very specific part in tutorial telling you when your dirt is going to change. Option 3 is convenient, and probably much easier for the devs to implement, but that doesn't invalidate everyone else's ideas (I've seen some craaaazy dev suggestions in other games that totally would not work from the player point of view, but were great for the devs! Not saying this is one of them, just saying devs are not gods with omnipotent knowledge of all possible solutions that never need to hear other options, and their views are coloured by their perspective, and that is not always a good thing).

 

Would it be feasible to simply place an option in the Game Options when beginning a new game to select which method you would like to use? It is said the game can already function in any of the proposed ways, why not just let the player select which one they want to use while playing?

Shouldn't be hard to implement. I don't see why you couldn't even change it in an Option menu at any time. It would just change the way materials are handled depending on the current setting. This way those who like the realism of Option 1 can select that and play that way. You like the materials to auto-match when placed? Select that option in the Game Options and there you go.

This is the only Win-Win solution I can see at this point. And it shouldn't take much to implement this system.

 

TBH, I am strongly in favor of option #3 because I think it is the best choice for the default.

However, if the paint tool isn't versatile enough to suit everyone's needs, I think it will be much easier to mod the paint tool than to create a mod for almost any other version of the "option #4" where you basically get to keep both options 1 & 3. That means the players (myself included) will have an easier time meeting their own needs with mods, so that Chucklefish can focus on more important additions such as working vehicles, pets, etc... That's just my take on it.

Just because they have the code for both options doesn't mean it is compatible. Having both options possible in the same build of the game could cause bugs, crashes, etc... They might just not want to have to deal with that at this point.

I thought that at first, and that might be what they end up doing due to how close the poll is.

However, like I just said to Trowzers, it's hard to say how that would actually effect the game build. We're talking about two different sets of potentially incompatible code, not simply adding or subtracting a segment of code (like hunger or temperature). Who knows how difficult it may or may not be. I hope a developer can shed some light on that, actually.

 

Every sandbox game does this. They've already said they're going to patch frequently.

 

One could easily reverse that:

 

Will they change things like the default jump height in each patch?

Will they remove the ability to mine blocks in any of these patches?

If a mechanic is sufficiently basic such that every player is used to it working that way, changing it becomes much more frustrating because it causes a landslide of effects in other aspects of the gameplay. It's one thing to ADD new features, but changing older features in fundamental ways can be more problematic.

It seems like the paint tool (and the number of base materials) is significantly more versatile than ANY other Sandbox that I've seen to date. If that feels "limiting" then maybe this is an issue of perspective rather than an objective assessment of the game. Also, GeorgeV specifically stated that while the Paint Tool doesn't yet apply to any type of block, the intention is that it will eventually.

It is easier to overlay filters over a block to alter it's color than to mod the UI in the ways that are being suggested. I think that's the main reason there is no Option #4: change the UI to allow multiple colors in one slot. The developers have clearly read this stuff, they've discussed it. For whatever reason the UI isn't an option. So no, one could not easily reverse that.

 

Sorry, I'm just going to stop here. You're viewpoint is that there will be no compromise whatsoever and that option #3 is the only choice. Everyone else who seems to favor option #1 is looking for a compromise of some sort.

I'm curious how this discussion would have played out had George not posted which option he favored. Frankly, I think the results are only somewhat skewed towards option #3 because of this.

 

No, I'm not anti-compromise. I just think that between the three options given, #3 is the best.

I also don't think that option #3 is the only choice, simply that it is the best default choice.

 

Drama queen much lately?

Okay so I want to create huge chunk Blue dirt on a Red planet. With option one, I just place blue dirt on red planet, with what you saying, I need to do the same thing while also painting the blocks as I go. I don't know about you, but I would prefer to have less busy work to accomplish simple tasks like that.

 

Your scenario also requires you to find a planet with blue dirt.

With the paint tool, you don't need to search out specific dirt.

 

Considering we will be exploring and digging on different planets all the time, players will end up with piles of colored dirt laying around no matter what they do. I wouldn't even consider it an extra task, it will just naturally happen. Furthermore I don't know how exactly pain tool works, but you will most likely have to research it, gather materials and craft it, and it might take ink or not be infinite, so at the end of the day, just placing already colored blocks out of easily defined stack would be easier way to go. AND it makes sense, if you dig dirt of one color on one planet, why should it turn to color of different planet? Other than saving space in inventory, it really does not make much sense from gameplay point of view.

 

I think "painting" things is kind of ridiculous in a way. It's not genuinely that tile, you just painted it. I don't really like that. I can't help but notice that my idea to have a menu of discovered colors goes perfectly ignored, I don't get it. It's the perfect mix of all the choices.

 

There are actually two perspectives on this:

1.) players will end up with like 50 different colors of dirt clogging up their inventory, so they'll be forced to store it or toss it. Either way it ends up being an inventory management nightmare when you multiply it by the number of other natural materials you are likely to find.

2.) players won't switch planets frequently enough for inventory management to be a big problem, in which case it is very likely that you won't actually have dirt of every color until you've been playing for quite a long time, and by then you will probably have the paint tool anyway.

To be clear, both cases are in favor of option #3.

If I'm completely honest, I have to admit that my own OCD biases me towards option #3. I hate the idea of placing a block of dirt to help me up the side of a cliff and having it stick out like a sore thumb. If your own OCD prevents you from ever recognizing a painted block as being "legit" then I suppose I have to respect that.

 

The accuracy of that statement strongly depends on how the paint tool works under the hood. Recoloring 1000 blocks (that was the estimate I saw recently) per color you want to add by hand might not be the easiest thing to mod, in fact I'm willing to say right now that it would be entirely impracticable. If it simply means adding a new dye color to overlay other blocks and choosing a recipe, then you are probably right. We simply don't know.

 

You can toss or store your dirt whenever and wherever you would like to. If you think those reasons are real problems, than it sounds like it will be a wrong game for you. Games like Starbound have thousands of items and hundreds of blocks that player can interact with, its not a problem, its normal.

 

Totally axe the original paint tool code and replace it with a system that adds an opaque layer over the existing block image.