Friday Facts #179 - New resource graphics & concrete

[Stripes]

Oh my, this is positively GORGEOUS development!

One of these completely unexpected (not even once I though that "updated graphics" should really bring "updated ore graphics") things which should be really expected in retrospective

[torham]

What's with the heavy noise around the ores? Is this on purpose or an artifact of a fast render?

It almost ruins how good they look otherwise

I am pretty sure that is jut ore dust around the ore, a byproduct of either the mining action or the natural weathering of the mineral over the millenia. This is a virgin planet untouched by humans, so a piece of iron would really just rust in one spot for millions of years, as for the biters its just a piece of non edible rock.

[lodar]

This graphic look great
0.15 released on this month?

[vaderciya]

I've fallen in love all over again!!
0.15 is going to be the update that gets people to play another couple hundred hours!!

Please just give it to us sooner! Give us an early dev build or something!

Oh.. and don't think we've forgotten about the inserter monster vehicle thing, we never forget

[Creat]

0.15 is going to be the update that gets people to play another couple hundred hours!!

Yea cause we need an update to do that... right

[timesinker]

How are we ever going to get mods which can call "seamless blending with the base game" one of their features?

with blender 3D. ...freeware and allmighty!
the second best program right after factorio .

[Noobc0re]

The new ore looks amazing! I can't wait for 0.15!

[Dyscordia]

Look amazing, good job

[AnarCon]

Weekly dose of Factorio news: https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-179

looks great, again great work from the art department. whats the eta on .15?

[Xterminator]

Never really expected the ores to be overhauled graphically anytime soon, but man am I glad you have done it. The new graphics are stunning! Will go very nicely with the other HD graphics.

Fantastic as always guys. The hype for 0.15 keeps building with each new Friday Facts!

[deepdriller]

I think they said a few 3F's back they postponed the release to the end of march.

[Proxy]

Guys arguing colors of the ores is pointless.



Most people don't know what ores actually look like IRL so videogames just go with old conventions (iron is gray = iron ore is gray). Very few people know what uranium ore looks like (thankfully), but most people associate radioactivity with neon green plutonium rods so that's what most radioactive stuff is now. These conventions might seem a bit misleading but they're not bad per se. Neon green stuff is more awesome than boring yellow lumps of what might as well be sulfur. And having brown ore turn into gray iron plates while grayish ore turns into brown plates is just counter-intuitive.

Which makes Sense, the Natural form of Iron is Iron Oxide... which is Rust.
and Copper Oxide which is that Green Layer on the Surface.
and Uranium Ore with it's Wonderful Yellow Color, even "Pure" Uranium isn't Green, it is a Gray Metal.
and Plutonium... (the Stuff that makes me Hope we get Placable RTGs in the Game), is also Gray/Silver Colored.
But it would also take another form of Reactor to Create.

Question

Plutonium is a Heavier Element than Uranium, so wouldn't the Reaction from Uranium and Neptunium to Plutonium be a Sort of Fusion?
Because as far as i know, Fission = Take Heavy Element and Split it into Lighter Elements. Fusion = Take Elements and use them to Create a Heavier one

I have no idea where People get the Idea that everything Radioactive is Green... where did that Start?

[deepdriller]

I have no idea where People get the Idea that everything Radioactive is Green... where did that Start?

I made a huge post about how not all ore is the same, and people seem to be completely ignoring it.
I put so much research into it! Why won't you appreciate my work?!

Plutonium is a Heavier Element than Uranium, so wouldn't the Reaction from Uranium and Neptunium to Plutonium be a Sort of Fusion?
Because as far as i know, Fission = Take Heavy Element and Split it into Lighter Elements. Fusion = Take Elements and use them to Create a Heavier one

Well, it's only two atomic numbers higher, and the article says it's generated through neutron capture, but doesn't go into detail. I suppose the atom gets so overladen with neutrons that two of them decay into protons.
EDIT: Further research showed I was right! It's called beta decay. Nothing to do with fusion, sorry.

[StoneLegion]

Damn I made a mess in my pants seeing the new ore

[hk29]

new graphics preview looks great. but is that green going to contrast well on grass and when using NV?

[bripi]

The new ores look great! Like the new detail and the more "spready" nature...of course, I say that now, without having tried to mine them! It seems like this new tiling technique might lend itself to those problematic areas where ores mix and cause annoyances for mining.

[eradicator]

While i do agree that the new ores look good overall i have to agree with some of the previous posters that they look too similar to each other. This is also the case with the old graphics but due to lower resolution it doesn't stick out as much.

Several thoughts that come to mind looking at the prerenders:

Powder: The "powder" surrounding the chunks looks good with iron/copper, but for stone it doesn't really feel right. Personally i'd vary the "powder" grain size a bit. Stone might have larger grains (sturdy material) while coal has really fine grains (brittle material).

Size: The chunks all more or less have the same size. Stone coming in largish boulders would probably also look nice and get some more variety.

Edginess: The old ore chunks all have more or less the same rounded corners. The new uranium ore with its sharp edges really gives a nice contrast there. So it would be nice to have for example stone with more sharpish edges. Or maybe an ore that has both sharp and soft edges.

Lighting: Uranium sticks out here being more matte than the others which looks good. Iron/Copper fit too because "metallic" materials are expected to have some refraction. But coal in the form it is known to most ppl doesn't reflect light or shimmer, so maybe reduce that? Stone could profit from a larger color range in that aspect i think. (From almost blackish to very light gray).

Shape: Finally and this is probably the biggest point on the list is that all the ores look like similar shaped "chunks of something" that fell on the ground from a truck. Uranium (again! i guess it's because it's new...) with it's triangularish shapes is in a good contrast with the others. Coal is on a good way too, but Stone still looks to similiar to iron/copper.

Maybe varying the density or stack height of some of the materials would make them look more distinguished? Also what would be really awesome would be if some of the materials looked less "on the ground" but more "in the ground"-ish. Half buried bits here and there, maybe have a percentage of the metallic ore chunks still be enclosed in stone....

I really like the new tiling btw, and i don't think it's going to cause any problems. The drill does show what is being mined and mixed ore fields aren't that common in the first place. And it really looks nicer that way. :=). Also doing some 3d moddeling myself i know how difficult all that can be to get it perfect, so don't think i'm thinking lightly of your current work .

[super_aardvark]

I love how organic the new ore tiling looks. Really fantastic job there. I don't care for the stippling surrounding the larger chunks, though -- it just looks like noise, or the dithering you see in 256-color graphics.

[torham]

I have no idea where People get the Idea that everything Radioactive is Green... where did that Start?

I think it started with radium "glow in dark" paint, which is green. It was very popular at the beginning of the 20 th century, before the effects of radiation were properly known.

[Ghoulish]

I have no idea where People get the Idea that everything Radioactive is Green... where did that Start?

It's strange because cherenkov radiation is actually blue, slightly white even.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=chere ... 20&bih=955