Spark machinery blocks

[crypticworlds]

I don’t normally post my ideas or suggestions on the forums anymore. I actually rarely post anymore too.

Felt like sharing this one since I strongly believe the game could use some sort of Red Stone mechanic that fits well within the limitations and gameplay feel of Boundless. I understand it isn’t Minecraft, but that doesn’t mean the game couldn’t use some sort of similar mechanic. I think we already have half of the system in place already.

Pistons are a main component of Minecraft machines and I think it’s possible to have the same sort of machinery block in Boundless. The entire system would be powered through Spark to give more uses to Spark outside of just providing an energy source for crafting machines.

The basic concept would be that you’d have a single piston type but different types of Spark Cord and even a new item that you would apply to other blocks kind of like how Spray Cans are used to change the color of blocks. That would be something called Adhesive or something more Boundless-ish. When you apply the Adhesive to a block it would create a noticeable pattern on that face of the block and the face opposite of it.That facing with the Adhesive would stick to surfaces, such as a Piston’s pushing face. So this means you could apply the Adhesive to any face and the opposite one would be affected as well. It only sticks to blocks and not creatures as well. So this allows for hidden entrances or even moving block doorways. It could even be a way to create man made bridges across a lava river or some other area. A way to create lattice gateways that are the entry point of a city or underground build. Probably some details with that which need to be worked out though.

A big concern is the load and stress on the server with the feature in place and a couple hundred people building some crazy cool stuff. The concern of death traps and killing players is pretty obvious that it would require dev intervention when reports start flooding in or when @james gets bombarded with forum PMs. Let’s be really honest with ourselves, if we don’t try and implement things that can obviously be abused but currently people don’t use existing methods for the same result, let’s try and ask for things like this.

The different Spark Cords basically mean different colored ones. We already have blue. We could use yellow, green, red, purple, orange and white. Basically to make the color code of Gems and the crafting machines. They wouldn’t be able to connect with one another so you could basically run Spark lines under your build or through your walls to various locations that require the power or use certain colors for certain things. Such as white for lightning or blue for crafting machines. This could setup some pretty cool Spark machines with pistons and Adhesive blocks.

The reason why I am bringing this up is because I remember a long time ago that airships were going to be something that the devs wanted to try and get brought into the game at some point. I would like to at least see some sort of way to create large underground hangers that airships can basically VTOL (vertical take off landing) from and go some where else on the world and if possible travel through large stargate portals to other worlds. I just think it would make the game feel more industrial in a lot of ways and a heck of a lot more scifi (which is what the game is: futuristic scifi).

Plus, there really hasn’t been much that’s been done for Spark lately other than more Spark fuels added to the game outside of Farming. I just would love to see a lot more things done with Spark since we have a large range and variety of Spark fuel qualities in the game right now that give just a few hundred Spark to almost 20k Spark.

So what say you Boundless community? Want to see more Spark related things outside of new fuels? How about a weapon fueled by Spark that you have to insert spark batteries for that you craft?

[Aragorn]

There’s a lot of good ideas in here. Some new colours for spark cords would be nice. Definitely some automated machinery, even in the simplest form would be very interesting and fun to play with. I especially like the air ship idea. Seams like a great opportunity for an air battle with titans when they come. We could add cannons and giant rams to the air ships. Have a mid air battle that could be seen from a good distance away. Make it extremely challenging, maybe even a bonus factor for guilds working together on multiple air ships. This could even open up a whole new exciting combat side to the game, giving it alittle more diversity that could attract some new players.

Good ideas keep’em coming!

[crypticworlds]

Well something @james said is he wants things to be more simple but add some progression into the mix as well. It’s definitely a simple thing to do by adding in stuff that’s powered up by Spark and takes Spark to use per hour.

I do hope there’s something on the books to expand Spark uses.

[Tricov]

I’m all for machines and blocks that “do” something but it needs to be done in a way were it is unique and not a more complicated way of doing something we can already do.

A redstone type mechanic seems horribly clunky to me and probably unnecessary for a few reasons. Firstly what would it do for us?

Automate machines ? that might be kind of cool, a slippery slope for botting though and ultimately probably not going to improve the game that much if at all.

Allow people to make silly “calculators/really slow games”? Atleast for myself when I go exploring its this kind of “creative” stuff that looks awful and ruins the game world, the floating revolver on RAXXA for example.

More advanced dungeon/things Ran into a cool build, had a underground maze thing with hidden rooms. Cool idea, not enough tools to make it really interesting, movable blocks and such would make it into a labyrinth and a super cool thing to encounter

Boundless is a better game than that, with a great world that is meaningful and filled with a broad collection of creativity that forms a community and active and real game world.

What it could do that we can’t do with other things and would actually make it a useful and unique addition, good looking elevators, “gates” think like a fancy house would have a large sliding metal gate or similar, auto opening doors, solar lights, triggered lights, Triggered doors, gate, traps etc.

Back to being better than minecraft. This game actually has an incredible art style and a unique and interesting feel to it, a bit of mystery, a clear style or theme, and a fair bit of detail in all of that. Having people then fill that same world with shitty looking, choppy, minecraft elevators would be a huge disappointment. We have great art and and design, we should continue to use it and not devolve into people making piston gates out of dirt… “gate” blocks could be made and used within a system. keeps the style relevant and keeps things looking good.

Just some examples

Elevators a real set of blocks could be made for the elevator cabinet for example(expanded by the same system of block type and fancy-ness), the “shaft” could be a more common “construction” block used for other things. Some sort of "control block " for the floor stops, call button or such.

Gates Same concept, I’m sure we could have a collection of doors/gates that could be made from a variety of material. Potentially in the same manner of sign modules allowing for a variety of shapes and sizes, and again a more common “construction” block for the runner and then connected the spark sorce, and “control block”

other thoughts

A lot of these things could be done with a forged spanner like the auto closing doors, I think that is good for a lot of things such as the auto closing doors, maybe would work for solar sensing lights as well, or proximity lights, just crack out a spanner or transform style chisel and wack it between normal lamp, proxi lamp, solar lamp, not a bad set up, works for smaller items for sure… I think its good.

This doesn’t work best for everything. For example, i’m sure we could design a switch that might for example turn off all the lights in a certain radius until switched again, or better yet an interface could be added to that to show the lights in a certain radius and allow you to toggle which ones are affected. The easy way of doing this would be again with a spanner, makes a block into a switch, adds a press E to flip text. This is obviously a boring and less attractive route. Absurd I know, but i’m making a point not designing the game.

Good things we already have
The spanners being forged to do different things, a good system, should be kept and added to, keeps forging relevant for more things.

Transform chisel interaction with LED block, I’m sure this could be expanded on to be used with the “control block” or other construction materials to set and change settings.

Something to remember
I’m not trying to give you a specific design with this post, it’s a thought put into text and examples are there to make my point and are obviously not fleshed out concepts. Remember that when referencing this, the topic is machine/construction/redstone not how a gate should look/function.

I don’t know firsthand how the server and game works, this is also why I make reference to things we currently have in the game and appear to not cause problems

[crypticworlds]

I think whenever you add layers of additional building options to a game it can become more complicated just by having those new options.

Proximity detection blocks that can open a wall by removing blocks and then placing them back in place should be relatively possible. Same goes for lights that go from being off, to dim to finally full brightness as a player gets closer to these lights. It would be a pretty cool way to light up a workshop and take a little bit of design planning to make the space function the best as possible for something like that.

I am not trying to suggest forging be abandoned. I just think that things that can be a brand new item should. New spark cords that have different colors that don’t connect to one another (maybe unless a forged chisel or spanner forces it to) is a good example of a brand new item instead of just throwing it on the back of forging and calling it a day.

Part of the issue the game has is not having enough separate features from another another. I do think that the whole mesh limit is probably going to be an issue for these types of things which is why we got a lattice boon for chisels instead of just a bunch of extra fencing style mesh blocks.

As far as having more advanced dungeon stuff, I think it would be a lot better than you might think. Mob spawners that run off Spark that generate enemies as a player gets further into the dungeon or triggers a pressure plate trap that causes the spawner to be powered up long enough to spawn an enemy wave of some creature. Perhaps bats or spiders? Maybe release some ancient robotic Oortian androids that start shooting energy weapons at the players. Might even trigger a couple blocks from moving from a wall and a spark powered turret pops out and starts shooting at the players.

Things don’t have to be complicated with what you allow for Spark to power up. Turrets probably are pretty simple to put into the game. Mob spawners probably are too.

I do wonder about how this would impact mesh limits inside builds. Cause I think someone would try and create a dungeon underneath their town or city might prove to be difficult with those mesh limits.

It’s kind of why I wanted to make the thread and get other people who actually want the game to have this and lay the foundation to having some additional creatures and mechanics into the game for future content releases.