Snow stuffs

[Cervator]

Replacement for ancient issue #487 fleshed out a bit more since we have more options now.

• [ ] Add one or more sizes of snow blocks made of slabs (1/8th, 1/4th..) that can be placed. Maybe a full snow block too that doesn't have a dirt side showing (pure snow)
• [ ] Ability to / example of using them during world gen to place on top of snow-covered blocks (add to the TutorialWorldGeneration repo/guide?)
• [ ] Maybe experiment with making the smaller slabs penetrable. If a player can jump/climb 2 blocks a tiny added slab of fluffy snow probably shouldn't impede movement
• [ ] To hell with the previous item! Make it risky to climb in snow! Add a chance the player will fall if climbing blocks covered in snow, causing a tiny bit of damage if so
• [ ] Find a way to create snowshoes that make pure snow blocks of any height no longer penetrable (so a player can walk on top of them - this might be tricky)
• [x] Enhance the WeatherManager module to add snowy weather that deposits snow slabs (I think it has rain, just no graphic for it?)
• [ ] Add logic so that if for whatever reason a snow slab grows to a full block switch it to an actual non-penetrable full snow block. And/or maybe turn heavy enough snow build-up into ice blocks.
• [ ] Maybe allow pure snow slabs/blocks to be "scooped" for modules that have buckets (could then be heated to get water)
• [ ] Wax philosophically about the potential of other slab-based materials that could work similarly (pseudo-liquids like tar?)

Some of these items are probably appropriate for the general backlog (stuff we could do, but no real priority) but we do have snow blocks and it is a pretty basic concept so we should further the cause of the white walkers at least a little before archiving the rest. Winter is coming.

[omomthings]

Hello, thinking about implementing this block, anything i should know before getting stuck with it? haha 😄

[skaldarnar]

A good starting point would be the tutorial on world generation. If you haven't already, do have a look at our wiki. In particular the sections block attributes, potentially also on block shapes.

That said about world generation, the other issues are more related to gameplay. Josharias Survival is one of the game modes that also deal with affecting the player. There are other module which use our Entity Component System for buffs, item equipments, etc.

Overall, it should be fairly easy to get started on this one. How detailed this will get is up to you ;-)

[suyasha0]

Hi is someone working on this issue? I believe I saw a full snow block pull request but I was unsure if anything else has also been completed.

[syntaxi]

The only snow related PR is #2660. As such it only seems that there is a solid pure snow block and no slabs of any sort.

[ryanchau]

Hi! Just to add to the conversation there do appear to be some snowy areas here and there, using the snow block. I think it'd be useful to make them their own separate biome, rather than just part of the biome they're encompassed in. Also, I'm not sure if it's been said but plants crop up in these biomes. I think they should be removed to add to the snowiness!

I have a screenshot of this behavior here:

[Cervator]

Heya @rchau0623 :-)

There actually is a snow biome in the main world generator, but I'm not sure how hard it is to find one. It even used to have ice blocks in the water ages ago. What you usually see is snow blocks over a certain height, I think that was added back when we included unlimited height. Yeah those could use improvement and the flora generator needs to know not to put regular plants there.

[ryanchau]

@Cervator Ohhh I see! That's awesome! Sorry for the confusion

[godfather2]

is this still open?can i work on it?

[Ewwweee]

Hello ! we are a team of 7 students who would like to work on this issue. Thus, we would like to know if this issue is still open and if we can work on it.

[jdrueckert]

hey there @Ewwweee generally all open issues are technically open, so yes you could work on it. however, there might be work items that would actually help us more than this one tbh... for instance, you could have a look at https://terasology.org/contribute/#hot-topics for currently ongoing workstreams.

we currently don't have capacity for supporting you with other endeavors (especially contributions to in-game content) much, simply because we're a very small group of maintainers right now and need to focus on stabilizing the engine before we can get back to content considerations.

if you are still set on working on content, though, in particular weather-related, then I'd like to encourage you to take the idea of https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/18 and bring it to completion as that's a requirement we need to get taken care of before any other weather-related content. in the past we already had to disable weather-related content because it's not usable as long as the underlying maps are based on noise rather than the generated world.

also, please feel free to come talk to us on our Discord, that's more suitable for discussing where to contribute than individual github issues :wink:

[Cervator]

Oh hello 7 year old issue! This brings back memories.

At least after 7 years we do have the depositing of snow slabs happening in the WeatherManager, so hooray, checked one box! However that's also somewhat representative of how fast some areas of the project move I'm afraid ... 😅 And who knows if that still works in the WeatherManager.

As noted you are free to play around where you feel like it, make something your own, but help with priority issues would be appreciated, and we can better support those. And yeah definitely get on Discord, easy to chat and give more advice there 👍