Creative mode / Advanced build mode - super thread

[zigyzigy]

So, IIRC there is some form of creative mode planned but I am unaware of what that will actually contain aside from there being a different 'mode' of game play. All the same there are a number of things that get suggested/have been suggested about build mode and/or creative mode and I thought it would be helpful to consolidate these into a single thread.

Creative mode:​

This would essentially tie in with the shipyard update where (I think) we will build a blueprint without resource limitations and then somehow plug that blueprint into the shipyard for it to construct.

A) GUI

A new GUI that replaces inventory similar to that seen in Minecraft, kind of the same as the shop screen except each block is infinite and doesn't leave your hotbar filled with lots of 999999's

B) Quickpick

the ability to 'quickpick' the block you are currently pointing at and put it straight into your currently active slot (including the block's orientation)

C) View as public

You know on facebook and google you have the ability to 'view your page as the public will see it' button well starmade should have one too. when selected you can change your identity to a different faction, either neutral, enemy or friend (and if friend then also choose your security level clearance) this allows you to test your build from another players perspective. However as an enemy you won't simply die when you are hit by the massive cannons you built on your new station, you will simply record all of the things happening to you and then put it in to nice looking graphs for analysis.

For example DPS done to you, effects on you etc. So now you can calculate if you are an enemy approaching your station at 100m/s you will take 10 Million damage before you can reach the hanger door with the current range and damage that your turrets do. Useful info to have, no?​

Advanced Build Mode:​

1) Templates

When loading a template instead of having to press 'paste' to build it, it will put a block in your inventory that looks like the shape of your template or has a generic 'template' icon and has the name of your template. You can place this block like any other block except when you place it, it pastes your template. the block itself will not be consumed but will obviously remove the required blocks from your inventory. when you are done with it you can just drop it in the trash and use the 'load' button to get it back when needed. The 'Copy' function would also do the same as this but wouldn't save the template unless you choose to save it.

1) b. Tessellating templates

When using templates in the above way the advanced build mode changes slightly. The X, Y, Z sliders now allow you to tessellate your template in 3 dimensions saving you having to paste over and over for repeating patterns. so if I have a Template that is 1 x 10 x 10 and I change my X, Y, Z sliders to 5 x 20 x 30 and now place my template block it will paste my template 30 times in the area of 5 x 20 x 30.
​

2) Fixed point build / separate frame drawing

In Advanced build mode there would be a 'nudge' or 'fix point build' check box. When this is clicked the the selected block is no longer defined by where you are looking but is put into a set place, let's say by default 3 blocks in front of your head. You can now move around freely and the selected region will not move. Now when you check the 'fix point build' box it also adds and additional 3 sliders similar to the current X, Y, Z sliders except these ones are different. When you click the + button in the X slider it will move your selection 1 block in the direction +X and when you click the - button on the X slider your selection moves in that direction and this works in each of the dimensions. The Current X, Y, Z sliders would continue to function in the same way allowing you much more refined control of where you place blocks without the need to build temporary scaffolding. This will greatly enhance the advanced build mode, especially when combined with copy/pasting. Now to fill the selected area scroll to the correct slot in your inventory and left click on the selected region. Oops I picked the wrong block! Fear not, simply right click on the selected region to remove all of it's contents, pick the block you meant to choose and left click the selected region again. Simple. (obviously left/right click are the same as normal delete and place block so will be inverted if this option is checked in the controls)

For a more detailed (better) explanation of this idea see this > thread <

3) Central build

Quite simply this option would change the way place/remove blocks in advanced build mode. It would make your pointer the center of the area to be affected instead of the corner of the area affected. For example I want big windows on the walls of my hanger so I go to where I want the center of the window to be. Lets say I want the window to be 51 blocks along the X axis and 21 blocks along the Y axis so I put these numbers into the sliders and click the remove mode button. Now I click where I want the middle of my window to be. What happens at the moment is I end up with a window above and to the left of where I just clicked or below and to the right. What would happen if I did this with the 'center build' mode checked is it would delete the block I am looking at and 25 blocks on either side of it on the X axis and 10 blocks either side of it on the Y axis. In this sense it would work in the same way that the build helper works, when you choose a 5 x 5 circle you place it from the center, not the corner, it just makes sense.

This is helpful because in the current mode if you are building something big you often cannot even see the far end of your selection because it wont fit in your field of view because you have to be looking at correct block to make your selection in the correct place. This would effectively double your viewable area as you would be viewing from the center rather than the corner. This is particularly true when pasting large objects in my experience. which at the moment requires me to take a guess and paste it. count how many blocks I missed it by, undo, add the right number of blocks to my scaffolding and paste a second time. (it's a tedious process)

Additionally, many people just prefer to build in this way, it is more intuitive, and it would also be extremely helpful for when you want to 'paint' something a different colour using the 'replace' function

4) build helper - Build Doer!
So the build helper is really amazing (though it is way too laggy at the moment but I'm sure that will be fixed) and it also helpfully illustrates the 'build from the center' concept above. But what would make it even more handy is if there was the option in the build helper that simply said 'fill with selected slot' then when you click to place the helper it also goes ahead and fills it with whatever your active slot is. I know it is easy to do this anyway with mirrors and the 'fill/delete' only what is in the helper option but this is just a nice touch and speeds things up a little. However this doesn't just relegate the build helper to being an actual builder because it still leaves the mesh in place, so now you can continue to use it as you always have done.

5) Manual input into sliders
Quite a minor change but I think it would make things really helpful, just the ability to type a number directly into the X, Y, Z sliders. very helpful if these are changed from the default of 10, scrolling between 1 and 200 can make it a bit fiddly to get to exactly 48.

6) Toggle advanced build mode!
Press Capslock


7) build mode shift speed
I know there is a function to change the speed at which you fly in build mode while holding down shift but it is not exactly accessible to your everyday player who would greatly benefit from it, nor is it user friendly to advanced builders who may want to change it regularly. Simply adding a slider in the options menu ranging from the current default speed of 10, all the way up to very fast for those who want to work on massive builds.

7) b. Relative shift speed
I think a really nice extra to go along with this would be the option to have a 'change speed relative to build size' option that would automatically increase the speed you move at when holding shift depending on the size of the station/ship you are in.​

8) improved 'pick remove/replace filter' function
In the drop down list of blocks to choose there should in addition be a multi slot for each block that normally has a multi slot, such as all armors and metal grills and doors etc. When you select this option and your active slot is also a multi slot it will automatically replace every block type in the slot, so you can replace blocks, wedges, corners, heptas and tetras all in a single go. This function should also work in conjunction with point 3 as this would really speed up the re-painting process.

8) b. Bug fix needed
Currently this function already does not work properly with corner blocks as it always puts them down in the incorrect orientation when replacing​

Ok folks, that is all I can think of off the top of my head but please feel free to add in your own suggestions here and if they gain enough traction I will put them into this post to try and keep things neat and tidy. Feel free to disagree with any number of points these are just things that I would like to see in game.

Peace.

 

[jstenholt]

I agree with some of your points, but most of these things are already implemented in game or just flat out unnecessary.

For instance, there is a config for 7b.

Perhaps you need to explain your reasoning better for numbers 2, 3, and 8.

 

[ltmauve]

A) GUI

Okay yeah.

B) Quickpick

Erm orientation isn't stored in the slots but yeah having the orientation set to the block would be good.

C) View as public

View as enemy? Yes this would be a good feature.

1) Templates

Ummm... While this might be really useful it would start to get impractical in non-creative mode with limited slots.

1) b. Tessellating templates

I like this idea.

2) Fixed point build

So from what I understand this allows you to set the X,Y, and Z of the cursor and move it around?

3) Central build

Whar would actually be more useful: Becuase we can't move in advanced build mode, we use the WASDQE keys to move the build box realative to where the cursor is. So we can have the cursor in the front, middle or back of the box, and the right, left, or middle of the box, and in the top bottom, or middle of the box.

4) build helper - Build Doer!

Sure.

5) Manual input into sliders

Yes

6) Toggle advanced build mode!

Capslock?

7) build mode shift speed

Um maybe.

7) b. Relative shift speed

Very much so.

8) improved 'pick remove/replace filter' function

I know, right?

8) b. Bug fix needed

bugs.star-made.org

 

[Auriga_Nexus]

I know the admins have already kind of planned creative mode and shipyards for a while, but I was just thinking... if we're going to be relying on shipyards for construction from blueprints, then why not have a mode where we can build freely without limitations on supply?

This is how it would work: we would have the shipyard block which would construct a ship from a blueprint, and a "design simulator" block, that has all the features of creative mode above plus a feature that lets you place blocks regardless of whether or not the blocks are in your inventory. Once you've designed your ship you can maybe test it; test weapons against static target blocks or drone ships, test logic systems, faction permissions, etc etc.

Then, once you've figured out your design, you can save it to a catalog entry and then print out a blueprint for it. You then take the blueprint to the shipyard, and once you've collected all the necessary blocks the shipyard builds the new ship for you. Basically this would separate ship "design" from ship "construction", and make the former easier by not requiring materials while still needing them for the latter.

The only other thing we need to think about with this would be the station construction. I personally vouch for changing the build block to be a "station constructor" block; to spawn a station you would need a constructor block and the station spawn fee, once spawned you can add your station blueprint and materials and it will construct the station just like a shipyard.

As for where to put design blocks if you don't have a station, well just place them in astronaut mode on a planet, asteroid, ship, or station.

 

[Valiant70]

I know the admins have already kind of planned creative mode and shipyards for a while, but I was just thinking... if we're going to be relying on shipyards for construction from blueprints, then why not have a mode where we can build freely without limitations on supply?

This is how it would work: we would have the shipyard block which would construct a ship from a blueprint, and a "design simulator" block, that has all the features of creative mode above plus a feature that lets you place blocks regardless of whether or not the blocks are in your inventory. Once you've designed your ship you can maybe test it; test weapons against static target blocks or drone ships, test logic systems, faction permissions, etc etc.

Then, once you've figured out your design, you can save it to a catalog entry and then print out a blueprint for it. You then take the blueprint to the shipyard, and once you've collected all the necessary blocks the shipyard builds the new ship for you. Basically this would separate ship "design" from ship "construction", and make the former easier by not requiring materials while still needing them for the latter.

The only other thing we need to think about with this would be the station construction. I personally vouch for changing the build block to be a "station constructor" block; to spawn a station you would need a constructor block and the station spawn fee, once spawned you can add your station blueprint and materials and it will construct the station just like a shipyard.

As for where to put design blocks if you don't have a station, well just place them in astronaut mode on a planet, asteroid, ship, or station.

If I'm not mistaken, when build mode is merged into the shipyard feature, you'll be able to create a blueprint without limitations and without placing physical blocks, as you've described. If that's not the plan, it should be.

A simulation for weapons and flight testing sounds great too.

 

[Auriga_Nexus]

If I'm not mistaken, when build mode is merged into the shipyard feature, you'll be able to create a blueprint without limitations and without placing physical blocks, as you've described. If that's not the plan, it should be.

A simulation for weapons and flight testing sounds great too.

Ah I see. Devs beat me to it, I guess. Still that's good to hear.

I'm afraid though that having a simulation mode would be too much strain on the server especially if you have multiple people using it at once. Maybe you could limit the simulation to take place within a copy of the system or sector on which the design block was placed? Still since that would be multiple instances running recursively within an establish instance I shudder to think of the workload that's going to place on our poor unfortunate server processors.

Still, if you wanted to merely test designs you could always use single-player mode for that.