Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rekov]

I'm not sure how to represent the "north-south" running ropes, so I left them out.



Obviously having a unique color for each kind of stockpile isn't viable, but you could probably group stockpiles into a few colors, and then the objects in the stockpile should help clarify too.

EDIT: Added alternate with flags in a different corner.

[Cruxador]

Seems to me there's no benefit at all to adding another layer for the sake of the latter.

Well, I mean, what if we want the rollers and minecart tracks to change color per their materials? It seems more difficult and inelegant of a solution to create N^2 different roller tiles.

You're right, that's definitely a reason. There don't need to be separate tiles for each material, though. I've been assuming that the sprites will be per general class of material and then will just inherit color from the raws dynamically, as now. And there isn't really any reason that a sprite can't inherit more than one color from raws.

I'm sorry, but transparency results in something completely unreadable:

Well, a transparent stockpile wouldn't necessarily need to keep the checkered pattern, that's the kind of thing that can definitely be reimaginied in this kind of big graphical overhaul. But actually, that looks fine.

If we do hide them, my idea would be using borders. Transparency makes both sprites (ground and stockpile) less readable.

This looks good, but I wonder about very big stockpiles. What about having this kind of small line on/around all stockpile tiles, and not just the ones at the edge? In other words, a stockpile design with a lot of transparency but not one with homogeneous transparency like Mayday's example.

Why do you want to see what is under your stockpiles?  I've never heard of using them for sapling growth prevention before.

I use them to prevent sapling growths a lot. ^^

That's basically an exploit, though. It can be said that there's no wrong way to play a single player game, but even so this kind of thing should probably not be considered too heavily in design. Same as things like quantum stockpiling or atom smashers.

What if you had the existing opaque griddy-thing, but made it blink between stockpile and ground tile, sorta like how items blink over stairways now? Best of both worlds, or distracting mess?

Distracting mess.

[Bumber]

How about a simple grid of dashed lines?



The above image could represent either 2 or 8 tiles, depending on what looks good.

[jecowa]

Imo, stockpile boundaries should not look like it's something that is physically in the world. I like the transparent box because it makes it more clear that it's just a designation. Maybe add some kind of border to help distinguish between adjacent stockpiles.

[PatrikLundell]

I strongly dislike the idea of blinking stockpiles. I explicitly remove the stockpile from tiles that blink (such as stairs), because it's so distracting and ugly.

I'd also recommend holding off on efforts to try to distinguish between stockpile types, at least beyond principles, until it's been decided how stockpiles will be reworked for the Premium release (or not, of course, if that's the outcome). As pointed out, though, stockpiles can be combined in various way, as well as be restricted according to various criteria.

And, as an aside, my current sapling control method is regular construction of dirt roads to kill off saplings, with floor building as a slow background activity for a permanent solution (gave up on constructed roads after a dragon set those on fire...).

[Hommit]

I'm not sure how to represent the "north-south" running ropes, so I left them out.

looks good imo

[Mike Mayday]

I see your point guys. Semi-transparent, colour coded flat surfaces with abstract borders (nothing depicting physical items) might indeed be the way to go here.

[Erendir]

personally I like Meph's borders-only version the most; although there is the issue Cruxador pointed out it might not be viable for very big stockpiles.

Maybe it's possible to have different borders, a more visible for the outer stockpile border (like Meph's) and dashed lines (or something) for borders between tiles inside the stockpile.

[MoltenIdol]

I'm not sure how to represent the "north-south" running ropes, so I left them out.



Obviously having a unique color for each kind of stockpile isn't viable, but you could probably group stockpiles into a few colors, and then the objects in the stockpile should help clarify too.

EDIT: Added alternate with flags in a different corner.

This is a great idea. Now its a designated stockpile area.
Id much rather look at thiswhile playing, Even though it might be less "readable" in edgecases.
I actually think this is more easily "read" as being a stockpile. Mephs outlines are basically back to ASCII, with abstract but readable symbols for Everything (no offense, its crystal clear and readable, but might as well be an ASCII symbol).
It makes a Lot of sense, that a designated stockpile area would look like this, if it Shouldnt be fully abstract

If there could be a double rope where stockpile borders Meet (Maybe only for the north/south ropes), it might make things clearer. But maybe it would be more messy than the current mockup. Just a thought

You could make the north/south ropes just 1 pixel thick, without the black outline? (Maybe Also the east west ropes, for consistensy, Even tho they ARE pretty and could be left as are).
Also, i cant really tell how many pixels wide the sticks are, (4?) but you could place the north/south rope on the "innermost" pixels on the sticks (the pixels closer to the actual stockpile area), so the ropes dont overlap to much of the stick.
Maybe the outermost would make more sense, but placing them innermost could Maybe make room for double ropes Where the borders of stockpiles Meet?

I Think the flag situation you have makes most sense on the image to the right(but that might just be Because of the specific way these stockpiles are placed). If You could put flags in the diagonally opposite corner as well, so 2 flags per stockpile border, I think it would be perfect.

Maybe Some planks strewn about inside the outdoors stockpiles, for "leveling" the ground, giving stability, when placing, say a cabinet outside in the grass, you Wanna make sure theres Some level ground to place it on.
It could be Some planks (saturated in color, so they dont pop out to much), crossed over eachother/laying parallel to eachother, to make small "bridges" over small (abstract) holes and irregularities in the ground, on Some of the tiles, when the stockpile is outdoors.
(Could also be used for dirt paths, planks strewn over muddy spots on the path etc)

It might make it even clearer, that the area inside the ropes is for placing things.
(Again, might also mess things up visually)

[MoltenIdol]

If we do hide them, my idea would be using borders. Transparency makes both sprites (ground and stockpile) less readable.

Maybe this would work really great for indoors stockpiles!

I mean, you might not be able to put sticks with flags on them, down in a raw stonefloor (unless ofcourse you make Some small holes)

Of course, theres also raw stone on the surface outside, but that could be an exeption.

But i generally like the ropes Idea the most.

[PatrikLundell]

I don't think it's a good idea to depict a lot of stockpile infrastructure (i.e. floors) where the game doesn't have any. Now, I wouldn't be opposed to the game having the current quick and dirty storage area stockpiles as well as organized "warehouse" stockpiles with floors, shelves, etc. but the graphics should try to follow the game where possible/reasonable (and, to make it clear: I think the artists are doing a very good job), so any such enhancements should come when/if the game has them.

[MoltenIdol]

I don't think it's a good idea to depict a lot of stockpile infrastructure (i.e. floors) where the game doesn't have any. Now, I wouldn't be opposed to the game having the current quick and dirty storage area stockpiles as well as organized "warehouse" stockpiles with floors, shelves, etc. but the graphics should try to follow the game where possible/reasonable (and, to make it clear: I think the artists are doing a very good job), so any such enhancements should come when/if the game has them.

I mean, Some loosely spread planks on 15% of the tiles wouldnt Really be much more inaccurate Than having sticks with ropes, as you dont currently use rope for designating a stockpile, or cloth for making flags for it.

To me it would just add to the immersion, in the exact  same way as the ropes and sticks does. Its what a stockpile looks like, for functionality, Even though you dont spend any of those materials on building them.

But Youre right tho,  planks are a ressource that has gone through several stages og processeing in order to become planks, so Maybe just use raw wood logs instead, as wood logs require less overall work in order to serve that function.

And I totally see your point, the less abstract a representation we can get, in terms of materials used/functionalit, etc., the better, in general.

Still, I think it might look good. Lil flavour.
Would like to See it mocked up, muddy spots in the grass with some logs loosely placed over them, and the like.
Of course, it could come by as a stockpiled item on a quick glance, unless it could be made to blend in/not stick out to much from the other floor tiles, shape/colour wise.

[Meph]

Not sure how happy Tarn will be about printing a potential 5 layers. For example Grass + Bush + Stockpile + Bin + Item. But I think he will be open to suggestions.

I do like the idea of poles and ropes, but it might be a bit hard to read in busy forts, especially since it uses the tile above for the poles as well.

Edit: I tried testing it with TWBT, but sadly the stockpile doesn't count as a construction and doesn't support transparency. Would have been nice just to test it ingame ^^

[mko]

I really like this one.

[Uthimienure]

I really like this one.

Me too!