Use icon variants of raw resources in inventories

[ickputzdirwech]

TL;DR

Items that have variated icons should use these variations in inventories as well.

What ?

When iron ore, copper ore, coal and stone items are placed on a belt they randomly use four different sprites to give them a more "raw" and interesting look. I suggest that these variants are also used when items are in inventories such as chests, wagons, ̶m̶a̶c̶h̶i̶n̶e̶s̶ * and the player inventory.

Why ?

To begin with this would look pretty nice (in my opinion). Secondly this would make the game more consistent as the way the raw materials are displayed in inventories would be equivalent to the way they you can see them on belts. Finally these items would look even more "raw", a good indication, that you have to process them further.

Extra

Make icon variants for sulfur, wood, fish, solid fuel*, uranium-235 and uranium-238 as well. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=77018


* Edit as a result of the discussion below

[Deadlock989]

No thank you. Icons are symbolic. If I'm looking for a symbol, I would prefer to look for one symbol.

[ickputzdirwech]

You do realise that these different icons are already in the game and also look very similar to each other?! It's all about very subtle differences to give the game a more rough and interesting look and break monotonie.

Here an example. I think one wouldn't have any difficulties recognizing all of these icons as coal:

coal.png (7.99 KiB) Viewed 1376 times

coal-1.png (8.13 KiB) Viewed 1376 times

coal-2.png (8.48 KiB) Viewed 1376 times

coal-3.png (8.05 KiB) Viewed 1376 times

[Deadlock989]

You do realise that these different icons are already in the game and also look very similar to each other?!

Yes, of course I realise that, because I have made mods which use the feature. This is the proverbial grandmother/egg situation. I had prepared randomised belt variants for my mods before they were even available in a released vanilla version, in anticipation, within a couple of days of the original blog post announcing the feature. I have done it for ores, coal, stone, sulphur, solid fuel, and a handful of other modded items that don't exist in vanilla. I didn't do it with wood because I decided the icon was too "orderly". I didn't do it for fish because that would be a massive waste of my remaining oxygen. I didn't do it to uranium products because they are just blobs. So this egg is very well sucked.[1]

But I don't ever have to select coal from a moving belt. I have to select it from a crafting menu or an inventory grid. So I need to know what coal looks like. I shouldn't have to scan visually for multiple variations of coal so that I can pick things out of an inventory.

There are mods which add many more items to the game that have their own icons. The more icons, the more confusion. The more variations of those icons, the more confusion squared. This is not just your game. Other people are playing it as well.

I think this is a very, very weak idea and I absolutely do not wish to see it in the game. It would cause me personally extra work. More importantly, it would be a visual mess for players. The devs were perfectly capable of putting this in place when they introduced the feature: the fact that they did not speaks volumes. No offence, but I trust their judgement more than yours.

We call things "iconic" for a good reason.

[1] I believe in German you say "Das Ei will klüger sein als die Henne".

[Koub]

[everything in there]

Couldn't agree more with this. The symbol representing something in inventory, menus, ... is one thing and should always be the same for the same thing. The symbol is not the object.

On the contrary, each piece of resource in the world is a different instance of the resource, a different object. It makes sense to have random variations of it.

[ickputzdirwech]

I believe in German you say "Das Ei will klüger sein als die Henne".

In regards of your knowledge of German sayings: I would argue that in most cases eggs are actually smarter than hens. New generations generally know more than their predecessors. That's why we are arguing about icons in a video game and not about painting them on the wall of a cave. But it's getting a bit philosophical and neither way helps to decide who is smarter (which is completely irrelevant anyway) nor who is right and who is wrong.

I think we should settle this by agreeing that it is fair for me to make this suggestion and fair for you to oppose it.

solid fuel

[...]

I didn't do it with wood because I decided the icon was too "orderly". I didn't do it for fish because that would be a massive waste of my remaining oxygen. I didn't do it to uranium products because they are just blobs.

I agree that fish would probably be a waste of time, when you account for the small amount that one usually accumulates but I put it in the list since it is one of the raw resources and irl (okay, it's only a game ) fish usually don't look exactly the same. You usually got significantly more wood but since most people just waste it or store it in a chest the arguments are similar to those for fish. That you didn't do it for the [boring] uranium "blobs" supports imo the argument that it should be done. They would certainly look a lot more interesting. Solid fuel is also a very nice idea.

inventory, menus,

I didn't suggest using variants in menus. That would also make no sense at all since each item is only visible once there. Because of this reason I drop "machines" from the list of inventories in my first post.

each piece of resource in the world is a different instance of the resource, a different object. It makes sense to have random variations of it.

Since the individual objects look different it would make sense that stacks of these items also look different. Take the resources placed in the game as an example. They are kind of stacks of this resource as well and there texture is also variated.

I'm not super obsessed about this suggestion getting implemented. Just wanted to share this idea. I made a mock-up of my suggestion and I think it looks quite nice, but that's of course just my personal opinion.

Variations mock-up.jpg (51.22 KiB) Viewed 1290 times

[Deadlock989]

In regards of your knowledge of German sayings: I would argue that in most cases eggs are actually smarter than hens. New generations generally know more than their predecessors.

Dunning-Kruger effect nicely demonstrated.

[ickputzdirwech]

Dunning-Kruger effect nicely demonstrated.

But it's getting a bit philosophical and neither way helps to decide who is smarter (which is completely irrelevant anyway) nor who is right and who is wrong.

[...]

I think it looks quite nice, but that's of course just my personal opinion.

I tried to stress that this matter is not really about right and wrong or how smart ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ one is* but about y̶o̶u̶r ones* personal opinion. If you have only your own brilliance (your mods are really good, no question) in mind or just have a different opinion I can't stop you.

I stand by my earlier statement:

I think we should settle this by agreeing that it is fair for me to make this suggestion and fair for you to oppose it.

* Edit to make clear that I generelise