Starmade and 3d decorations.

[CIR]

This post is to find the importance of 3D decoration/furniture assets.

Would you like to see 3d assets in Starmade? This includes 3d furniture, screens, and other things.

If you vote, please state:
What assets would you like to see?
What function could they serve?
How 'fitting' is it for Starmade?

 

[Doomsider]

I would like to see a system that allows people to create in-game 3d assets like you describe. I think this would be most ideal way to enhance game play and follow the build it yourself philosophy of Starmade.

If we can't get there then I would say let's use an accessible format that will allow anyone to create these assets to add to the game. I would of course like to see a variety of sci-fi decorations to add atmosphere to stations and ships. Also it would be nice to be able to use these objects as switches or the like.

I think if it could be done in-game it would be the perfect fit for SM. If we do it outside of the game we should allow players to make their own resources to add.

 

[therimmer96]

Command chair
Provide a way to kill the pilot without killing the ship. They should not have the astronaut diamond while in this mode. 2 modes, flight mode as it is now, and first person, where you see out of your characters eyes.

Table
Entirely design, but allow us to fill those big empty rooms with things

Console/Terminal (Floor mounted, wall mounted)
Tie to a ship system to allow another player to control it. Could be an interface for a programmable computer system (hint hint)

Normal chair
please let us fill those rooms

stairs
wedges dont make good ramps, they half your speed when walking up them, plus they are ugly.

Beds and bunks
Purely design, but 1m^3 blocks dont make good beds.

Cryotube
A place to log off and respawn with your ship, even if it moves. If the block is damaged, the player dies, if the ship loses power, the player dies. One player per tube.

Door
Not really an issue now with rails we can have sliding doors, but they are still pretty nasty.

Pipes/Greeble
Lots of tiny, beautiful details.

Carpet/paneling
Small, thin blocks similar to those in MC. Lets you squeeze more interior space out of the ship, and someone will find an odd way to use them and get some awesome stuff.

Why would this fit in the game
Is this really a question? More tools for ship builders. we have huge rooms with nothing in them. People complain about ships being huge blocks of systems, yet there is nothing to go into the ships. Alot of the really pretty ships use blocks for detail in ways they were never thought to be used. Please give us more.

 

[Crusade]

I'd like to see guardrails

There is no block that provides a 'fence' properly, blocks are too thick and wedges too awkward.

 

[therimmer96]

I'd like to see guardrails

There is no block that provides a 'fence' properly, blocks are too thick and wedges too awkward.

I feel panelling in my list would cover this. A scaffold panel could look like a fence

 

[Ithirahad]

Eventually I'd like to see a ton of things (Viewscreens, fancy shelves, maybe some generic techy-looking elements, 3D models for the various capsule and rod light items...) but for now, I feel that all we need are a few basic 3D-modeled elements and a few basic new mechanics to go with them.

IMPORTANT:

• Chairs, which could be linked to the core or to a computer/computers (Or a build block), and serve as a secondary access point to pilot the ship or fire/activate said computers. These would have to be generic enough to also serve as, say, a chair in a ship's lounge or observation deck.
• Beds, which would save a player position relative to a ship when used. If the bed was destroyed, however, it would kill the offline player.

NOT AS IMPORTANT:

• Small buttons and switches. Could be cylindrical or square, doesn't really matter too much... Just a single, small button and a small switch that can be linked into logic, and that look like actual small buttons or switches (And do not collide) rather than one-meter-wide blocks. Buttons would work like the current button blocks, switches would work like current activation modules and could have a small color-coded panel next to them that shows their state. The main reason for this is in smaller ships and spaces - Building a button block into a wall is not only unsightly, it can also be dangerous if that wall happens to also be an exterior hull wall or a wall protecting a key part, such as a weapons computer. If instead a button can be placed ON the wall, you won't sacrifice protection or space but you get the logic functionality. Eventually I would like to see a working "switchboard" element with a whole bunch of switches that can be linked to other things, but for now it's not particularly important.
• Guardrails and Guardrail Corners/Angles. As Crusade said, there's really no functional railing block in the game at the moment. Inevitably, railing blocks should come with an angular version that connects two straight lengths of guardrail, otherwise wedges would have to be used to connect the corners, and... Let's not do that.
• Smaller Signs. There are plenty of cases in which big display blocks aren't really needed (Particularly when labeling logic controls) and even when they are, the massive, 1-meter block causes problems, particularly on corners. I propose a simple, rectangular gray-framed black screen that's about the thickness and size of a Minecraft sign.

TRIVIAL/WHENEVER:

• It would be great to see certain sprite blocks like resource capsules converted into simple animated models. Seeing little crystals of Varat or cubes of Macet or spheres of Larimar floating around in their respective cylindrical capsules would be a lot more decent-looking than the 2D sprites, which, IMO, largely lost their effectiveness when we moved to high-resolution textures.
• Another possibility is some kind of grouping sliding door piece. It's a bit fancy/funky, and isn't a high priority since we already have two options for building doors, but a thin (1/2 block or less) part that slides either to the direction it's oriented, or out of existence, when turned OFF. Preferably in all currently available hull colors. All adjacent sliding door blocks that have the same orientation would slide out of the way as one model. (That way, a two-block-wide splitting door would be possible.)

The ultimate, ideal furniture system would be some kind of 'microblock'-type system, allowing us to create our own furniture elements with basic coloured mini-blocks and certain larger elements like blinking light cubes and graphs and text-line displays, but I don't think this needs to be worked on until far, far down the line when larger features like resource distribution, planet revamps, and so on are finished.

 

[CaptainTaz]

^^^^^^ Pretty much agree with what everyone said so far. Decoration would be a wonderful tool to enhance building.

 

[Captain_Stripes]

Eventually I'd like to see a ton of things (Viewscreens, fancy shelves, maybe some generic techy-looking elements, 3D models for the various capsule and rod light items...) but for now, I feel that all we need are a few basic 3D-modeled elements and a few basic new mechanics to go with them.

IMPORTANT:

• Chairs, which could be linked to the core or to a computer/computers (Or a build block), and serve as a secondary access point to pilot the ship or fire/activate said computers. These would have to be generic enough to also serve as, say, a chair in a ship's lounge or observation deck.
• Beds, which would save a player position relative to a ship when used. If the bed was destroyed, however, it would kill the offline player.

NOT AS IMPORTANT:

• Small buttons and switches. Could be cylindrical or square, doesn't really matter too much... Just a single, small button and a small switch that can be linked into logic, and that look like actual small buttons or switches (And do not collide) rather than one-meter-wide blocks. Buttons would work like the current button blocks, switches would work like current activation modules and could have a small color-coded panel next to them that shows their state. The main reason for this is in smaller ships and spaces - Building a button block into a wall is not only unsightly, it can also be dangerous if that wall happens to also be an exterior hull wall or a wall protecting a key part, such as a weapons computer. If instead a button can be placed ON the wall, you won't sacrifice protection or space but you get the logic functionality. Eventually I would like to see a working "switchboard" element with a whole bunch of switches that can be linked to other things, but for now it's not particularly important.
• Guardrails and Guardrail Corners/Angles. As Crusade said, there's really no functional railing block in the game at the moment. Inevitably, railing blocks should come with an angular version that connects two straight lengths of guardrail, otherwise wedges would have to be used to connect the corners, and... Let's not do that.
• Smaller Signs. There are plenty of cases in which big display blocks aren't really needed (Particularly when labeling logic controls) and even when they are, the massive, 1-meter block causes problems, particularly on corners. I propose a simple, rectangular gray-framed black screen that's about the thickness and size of a Minecraft sign.

TRIVIAL/WHENEVER:

• It would be great to see certain sprite blocks like resource capsules converted into simple animated models. Seeing little crystals of Varat or cubes of Macet or spheres of Larimar floating around in their respective cylindrical capsules would be a lot more decent-looking than the 2D sprites, which, IMO, largely lost their effectiveness when we moved to high-resolution textures.
• Another possibility is some kind of grouping sliding door piece. It's a bit fancy/funky, and isn't a high priority since we already have two options for building doors, but a thin (1/2 block or less) part that slides either to the direction it's oriented, or out of existence, when turned OFF. Preferably in all currently available hull colors. All adjacent sliding door blocks that have the same orientation would slide out of the way as one model. (That way, a two-block-wide splitting door would be possible.)

The ultimate, ideal furniture system would be some kind of 'microblock'-type system, allowing us to create our own furniture elements with basic coloured mini-blocks and certain larger elements like blinking light cubes and graphs and text-line displays, but I don't think this needs to be worked on until far, far down the line when larger features like resource distribution, planet revamps, and so on are finished.

This, 200% yes. not a slightest thing to disagree with.

 

[Warprider]

I would like a fridge and sofa.

Also a 50s jukebox and stool :D

 

[Lancake]

Extremely not important for me, waste of time relative to other crucial features that have to be implemented first.

 

[therimmer96]

Extremely not important for me, waste of time relative to other crucial features that have to be implemented first.

We have 2 3d modellers, and 3 developers. Surely it's not too much of an ask for one of the most requested features to start being worked on. This would also help lay the groundwork for modders wanting to do new and really unique things without needing to hack it in.

 

[Lancake]

We have 2 3d modellers, and 3 developers. Surely it's not too much of an ask for one of the most requested features to start being worked on. This would also help lay the groundwork for modders wanting to do new and really unique things without needing to hack it in.

"One of the most requested features" Chairs are going to be a gameplay (replacement for shipcore maybe?) feature so I exclude them from any 3D decorations mentioned in this thread. The rest is what it is, decoration and adds little value for me.

I don't see how implementing 3d decorations would lay the groundwork for modders, a modding API but I'm not programmer or developer so I don't really know.

I'm not saying that it should not be implemented, just that it should not be for now and other features would need to be implemented first.

 

[iceman6491]

I'd love to see things like this, although not at the expense of other bigger features, like full on shipyards! hint hint.... :D

But yea, i think they have a lot too add, and would almost help to counter a little bit of the gigantism thought process. With some of the above suggestions, alot of detail could be achieved in smaller builds

 

[Megacrafter127]

Extremely not important for me, waste of time relative to other crucial features that have to be implemented first.

We have 2 3d modellers, and 3 developers. Surely it's not too much of an ask for one of the most requested features to start being worked on. This would also help lay the groundwork for modders wanting to do new and really unique things without needing to hack it in.

"One of the most requested features" Chairs are going to be a gameplay (replacement for shipcore maybe?) feature so I exclude them from any 3D decorations mentioned in this thread. The rest is what it is, decoration and adds little value for me.

I don't see how implementing 3d decorations would lay the groundwork for modders, a modding API but I'm not programmer or developer so I don't really know.

I'm not saying that it should not be implemented, just that it should not be for now and other features would need to be implemented first.

The easiest way of doing that without having to put in too much work would be putting the models for the blocks into an external file.
My recommendation would be something like this:

<shapes>
    <vertdef name='v0' x='0' y='0' z='0' u='0' v='0'/>
    <!--defines a vertex for use across the entire file, name is a string, x, y, z, u and v are floats-->
    <shape id='5' name='customShape1' orientationStyle='0'>
    <!--id is the <BlockStyle> from the BlockConfig.xml[the preimplemented shapes should not be overwritable using this], name is just for humans to identify the shape it is supposed to be, orientationStyle is either 0[like a cube], 6[like the old docking modules], 8[like heptas and tetras], 12 [like wedges] or 24 [like corners]-->
        <tri>
            <vertex ref='v0'/>
            <vertex ref='v0' x='1' u='1'/>
            <vertex x='1' y='1' u='1' v='1'/>
            <!--a vertex, local assignments of x, y, z, u or v locally overwrite the referenced predefined vertex, if no vertex is referenced, unassigned values are defaulted to 0-->
        </tri>
        <!--vectors in <tri> elements are grouped in triplets in the order of definition, each triplet defines a triangle in the shape
        <fan> and <strip> process the vectors as triangle-fans or triangle-strips-->
        <mesh scale='1' x='0' y='0' z='0' rotx='0' roty='0' rotz='0'>myMeshFile</mesh>
        <!--references a mesh stored in a file; x,y and z are offsets; all attributes are defaulted to the values in this example-->
   </shape>
</shapes>

(the XML markup in here is awful)

 

[therimmer96]

I don't see how implementing 3d decorations would lay the groundwork for modders, a modding API but I'm not programmer or developer so I don't really know.

The game currently doesnt support them. Adding them in officially would mean there is a proper way to do it, so modders wont have to mod in support for them, making it easier for them, and chances are, more stable mods.

 

[kupu]

We have 2 3d modellers, and 3 developers. Surely it's not too much of an ask for one of the most requested features to start being worked on. This would also help lay the groundwork for modders wanting to do new and really unique things without needing to hack it in.

1 active modeller, 3 developers diligently working on core game mechanics and bugfixing.

Something rarely grasped is that max capacity is infact max capacity. Asking to squeeze a little more out of a saturated team doesn't work, you'd have to change priorities.

The actual vote should read "Does the community find decorative furniture to be more important than Fauna".

 

[therimmer96]

The actual vote should read "Does the community find decorative furniture to be more important than Fauna".

Personally, yes.

Id rather have furniture than animals on planets that in them selves are gimmicks right now, and avoided by most due to the lag.

 

[rariisan]

Starmade really needs to get rid of this "blocky" feel interiors have. It feels plastic, unnatural... imagine in real life every object was 1x1x1 big, this is how Starmade feels at the moment.

EDIT: But if you're asking me if the team should make this a priority, NO, there are more important things to be done, but I feel it's something that should be considered important for the finished game.

 

[godmars]

Extremely not important for me, waste of time relative to other crucial features that have to be implemented first.

This. At this time, IMO, it'd be nice but I would take something that actually gives players something to do besides decorate their ship or expands/improves other gameplay elements

 

[Saber]

While there will certainly be additional decorations added to StarMade, they are at a very low priority level. At this stage of development we are focusing heavily on core game features, for example the fauna system, which is currently being worked on. After which focus may shift to other areas of development, but I don't plan to have our team working on purely decorative things for awhile. As features come up that could benefit from having an additional model/block (such as a control chair, so you don't need core access) they may be added. But please do keep in mind that we aren't overlooking these things, they're simply planned for a later time. There's a lot to add to the game and the Art Department is working hard to ensure that every feature we're involved in is the best that it can be.

Please keep in mind that we are a small team with limited resources, a lot to do, and not enough hours in the day to do it. That said I love your enthusiasm and am looking forward to seeing more ideas for future pieces you'd like in game. Thanks everybody!

P.S. As a builder, I'd looove to have plates/glass panes that we can use for windows or walkway handrails so that one is definitely a possibility.