Creativerse has a pretty good blueprints system
As for prefabs, I’m fine with having them as something that builder has built each one and packed it for selling. I don’t think there should be automated building as in create blueprint and provide materials to the blueprint to build it automatically.
This hits home for me. It would change the cityscape a lot. With prefabs a new town portal appears and x hours later there’s a complete city there? Cities could move overnight if you could pack your beacon and move it to another planet. I don’t like the sound of that.
What I do understand is the potential builder market for this. It would make builders more self-sufficient, right now I feel like I have to commit enormous resources on creating buildings and if I didn’t have 4 other professions (alts) to support it I wouldn’t be able to build anything better than a timber wood shack. But I still wouldn’t support the prefab option because of the first point. Maybe the hologram approach would be nice middle ground? Buildings would still have to be manually built, automated building doesn’t fit the feeling of the game.
I also come from Creativerse, and I do miss the blueprint system in Boundless. The difference here is that @Karokendo seems to ask for something that would avoid the builder to even do anything after placing this ‘cornerstone’, which could lead to some minor problems (namely, placing a cornerstone by accident and having an instant build pop-up ^^).
I think that being forced to re-build the blueprint yourself while following the blueprint, with something similar to CV’s “burst-fill” feature could be great.
I’m definitely all up for blueprints in Boundless. It would allow me to blueprint trees to ‘replant’ them where I want.
I can see both sides. I’m lousy at building. A blueprint that I could follow to know how many blocks I need, to follow location to get the shape I want. I can picture it in my mind but doing the task is a whole other ball game.
But, it can hinder the creativity of some.
It could be offered for those who want it, but not required, especially for settlements, they need to have their own stamp on it, so they aren’t cookie cutter towns.
Being able to copy a build and create a blueprint for it is going to be in the game at some point I’m sure of it. Now being able to create a machine that builds the blue print for you if you give it the materials needed for the build Might not make it in the game. so the debate should be would it ruin the game to have such a device that builds the blue prints for you or would it create a market where their is no real market to this point. A player can build a something blue print it and sell the resources that would be needed for it. That would create a much bigger market for all the basic building materials that dnt get the love in the market place that they deserve.
Why go out and get the resources myself when Bob is selling them next to his blueprint. Now bob is happy he made something someone wanted and he gets to put some coin in his pocket. And the customer doesn’t have to spend countless hours farming materials.
Not everyone wants to spend time building some just want to pay others to create something for them while they enjoy other features of the game.
So idk maybe leave this one up to the devs it could go either way.
Have to say, when this was brought up and when I myself thought of it a while back and others wrote also about similar ideas I never expected to want entire beacons or many plots at once to be ‘packed up’ and then plopped down somewhere else but lately I am starting to feel that it might be an excellent idea.
Why?
Well, with the more recent talk about rental planets and such I started to think that if the price is affordable to me I would like one, but… I’m currently still building at my current location and somehow do not see myself replicate it block by block so am starting to wonder why I should keep building.
I will continue, but I know I would be way more enthousiastic about continuing if I knew I could pack the lot up and move it to my new rental planet…
Totally agree Aenea!!! We should also get to pick an area to blueprint, not the entire beacon (unless you wanted to lol)… so if you wanted to move this building and that over there to a new location GREAT!!! If you want to move your entire city (New Leyden for your example) then you can do that too GREAT!!!
I also like the idea to have the blueprint create a machine that will list all the materials you need and you can feed them in as you have them until it is ready to “create”.
I also like the idea that the person who makes the blueprint can make copies of it and sell it in shop.
Just updated suggestion with new section: Expired beacons
To confirm, the proposal is:
Questions:
Does the blueprint only capture the design and leave the blocks for regen, or does the blueprint also contain the blocks?
When a blueprint is placed is it only placing the design, which players need to then build against (like a lego manual), or does placing the blueprint automatically build the structure from the materials you’re carrying?
1 - Only the design. . .the plots either regened or were salvaged by other players otherwise this is a way to game the system where I let my beacon expire and my friend salvages all the materials and when I come back we double the items that I had before the game blueprinted it. I would not like the salvage mechanic removed.
2 - I also think only the design again. I can see all sorts of issues if I do not have all the materials where I would be missing the bottom of the build because I did not have x color of block or be missing parts that would be hard to place without removing a lot of what was built.
I also think that letting people capture a blueprint on any build would let groups build things like walls and roads more easily as they would have a template to do it. It would make it easier for different people to build portions of a larger build the same way.
Having the blueprint capture the blocks would go a long way to easing the pain of returning players. As much as I have had fun looting expired beacons I feel it would be much better if those blocks we available to the player when they return. So no more build regen to avoid abusing this system and duping items.
Automatic builds would Possible open the door to many abuses. An overlay that the player can see sounds like a good compromise.
I really enjoy salvaging spent beacons, but I would rather give that aspect of the game up and retain more players.
I like the idea of blueprints that just give you an outline of the build. Making a whole section of a build with the press of a button might not fit into the normal boundless world. Private servers not connected to the boundless universe? Sure
As far as using it on expiring beacons i would say it should only work to save the outline. Blocks are left there to be regenned/looted by other players. If it kept all your items that would defeat the whole fuel mechanic and make gleam club useless as well.
Maybe introduce a new item. The blueprint machine. New players who come back get their stuff but have to unlock the machine or buy it from someone else to access their old materials.
And I think we are overstating the players that we would keep, but I could be wrong, I have no basis for my feeling on the subject other than how I have played when I took a break from the game. I just think if players are having such an issue with the beacon fuel then that is what needs to be addressed. We are looking at a symptom of what I think a group of players thinks is the problem. If we do not fuel beacons then how do we clear the worlds of abandoned builds?
I do not like the saving the blocks option for the following reasons:
1 - It takes space to save the information and no one is paying for that space except the people currently playing the game. Not the ones that walked away from their builds and decide maybe (and that is a big maybe) to come back. So the developers are saving all this data for how many years and the active player base gets to pay for the storage versus the funds being spent on something for the active players. James already stated the data storage for a large build is not insignificant.
2 - I am also concerned about the complaints from players that will say “I had 24 power coils and you only gave me 12 back”. Another distraction for the developers instead of working on the game.
3 - I think it undermines the value in Gleam Club and that is cash flow to run the game. Why buy gleam club as protection for not remembering to fuel my beacons when I can merely let my beacon expire and still recover everything exactly the way it was?
The developers will have to do what they think is right, but I have some major concerns.
I like this… sometimes I want to build but not sure what to build and sometimes I just need an extra building quickly… also if I build something and want to sell the idea and sell the mats to make it as well!!! I support this!!!
Both fair points. Perhaps only save the most expensive items like coils machines etc.
Perhaps add to gleam club a free always powered personal 1x2 portal to boost appeal.
I like the portal idea… how about a reduced Oort cost for portals when buying gleamclub ?
I would say it should only contain player placed blocks. Terrain from other planets may look glithy when placed for example inside the city.
I think it should automaticaly place whole structure - maybe over time. Because, if somebody makes a small house it’s okay to place blocks again, but if the blueprint is the whole colloseum, then it would be close to impossible to recreate it again. And after all to some players this game is grindy enough, so this would not make it more fun.