Just a simple idea here. in addition to background bricks why not add foreground bricks that you can hide behind. Things like bushes, curtains, and walls.
Oooo foreground.... That would be amazing. The creative potential would be through the roof! Also lots of places for mobs to hide.
The problem with foreground blocks is that is causes frustration. When you're running home with 1hp left, only to be killed by that wimpy mob hiding behind a bush, you'll rage-quit. Opacity, as Doused mentioned, is the obvious fix for that.
Letting mobs hide in bushes was one of the reasons I made the suggestion. True, when someone jumps out an ganks you, it is rather unfair. Still kind of fun I think. And if the player can be the one doing the surprising, .
I think if mobs are going to be hiding behind bushes and jumping out, they may as well be background bushes.
Letting a mob or a player hide behind something in the foreground opens up a world of possibilites for enemy AI. Bats that only attack when you draw near their hiding spot. This would create an element of suspense, I think it would add an entire dimension to the game. I Support it 100%
Wouldn't foreground tiles make the save files at least 1.5 times bigger though? And since the worlds are gonna be infinite as it is, we might want to conserve as much space as possible.. I do like this idea from a creative point of view, though if the foreground tiles had some transparency it would look hella ugly..
The save file doesn't contain even a single 2d sprite, just information, like "this tile at coordinates X,Y,Z contains dirt" except it's in a language Starbound can understand.. I didn't say that having a third layer of tiles would use a lot of space, just that it would use 1.5 times more than 2 layers of tiles.
Right, I hear what you are saying. Blue tells me it would cause lag, but apparently starbound has great netcode. I heard Tiy say their game runs fine on an old computer with 600 ping. I am confident they can handle it.
It also means 1.5 times as much data needs to be sent to the player (if in multiplayer.) Network lag isn't what worries me though, I think this would use more RAM, too. Though I could be wrong, since I'm not sure how the worlds in Starbound are saved, and how they are sent over the network.
This is something I actually suggested on TO. The way I had it, all buildings were considered forward ground until you went in them, in which case the background wall tile showed and your forward ground blocks faded away. It would make it look really nice from the outside.
It adds an air of mystery to the game. In terrarias case things like thoses hidden log cabins underground would look nice as you wouldn't know whats in them until you broke them. Same with the little obsidian brick towers in the underworld. (meaning you wouldn't know what loot was there until you went in.)
Foreground tiles have been the topic of much ongoing discussion and experimentation. We'll let you know what we can figure out
