endless-sky
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endless-sky
Galaxy Sprite Overhaul
Content
Summary
This pull request completely reworks the Milky Way galaxy sprite, without changing the (relative) positions of any systems or labels. It also adds sprites for two satellite galaxies, the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds.
Artwork Checklist
- [ ] I updated the copyright attributions, or decline to claim copyright of any assets produced or modified
Feature Details
The new Milky Way sprite incorporates the original, retaining all of the old structural features and bright stars. It is however now a proper circular galaxy, which both looks more aesthetically pleasing and adds additional room to the North and South for expansion (and a proper Map Rework in the future).
Additionally, the Ember Wastes have been given a dull red nebula overlay on the galaxy sprite, making it visually apparent. This provides a fairly large area for future EW content, which can always be expanded if needed.
Along with the Milky Way, this PR also introduces our galaxy's two satellite galaxies, the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. These are essentially directly lifted from the NASA database, with some tweaks to contrast and saturation to fit better with the Milky Way sprite. I've put these in semi accurate locations (okay, the Milky Way's spin is backward so technically they should be on the Eastern side, but that side of the map is already empty enough and it looks better this way), but haven't added any systems or other content to them. They will be hidden due to exploration fog, with no way to reveal them, so I don't think there will be any issues with people thinking they can be reached in the current version of the game.
Besides replacing the Milky Way sprite, all systems and labels were offset by (112, 22) pixels in the x and y axes to put Sagittarius A* at (0, 0).
Additionally, while offsetting the coordinates via a script helpfully provided by 1010todd, I decided to round off each coordinate to the nearest whole number. It kind of annoyed me to see system coordinates with three decimals of precision, which is completely unnoticeable on the map. This has literally zero visual impact but it's included here for some unfathomable reason.
UI Screenshots
Overall view of the Milky Way (-2 zoom)
Full view of the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds (-4 zoom) (Milky Way is kind of outdated but the Magellanic Clouds are the same)
(Not sure why but github seems to be desaturating the screenshots I upload for some reason? I recommend playing with the PR or checking the images on discord)
Bonus pic: an image of the galaxy with the Map Stars PR installed
Testing Done
I opened the game and was awed to see that the galaxy sprite had indeed loaded, exceeding my wildest expectations (this took me three attempts) [this number has since increased]
Performance Impact
The new Milky Way sprite is approximately 8.5 MB, compared to the 1.12 MB of the original galaxy sprite. The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are about 400 and 700 kB respectively. While this is a significant increase in size, it still has a negligible performance impact.
Thank you to everyone who has participated and given their feedback in the Map Rework Thread! Your feedback and input has been invaluable, and posting my progress on the (many) iterations of this sprite has done a lot to keep me working on it. I would also like to thank ravenshining for inspiring my initial interest in replacing the map sprite a year ago.
I like this a lot! Very similar to the original, but different enough to just make the galaxy feel much bigger and more alive. Kind of reminds me of those Hubble vs James Webb telescope comparisons, lol.
I will just straight up say, the sharp edges on the map sprites feel bad.
Are there sharp edges on the sprites? I can't see any when zoomed in on the map, and it's surrounded by a vignette that should fade it into black in a circular shape.
Okay I think I fixed the sharp edges by slapping on more vignettes. Also the LMC was overlapping with the Milky Way for some reason, even though I thought I had fixed that earlier, so the most obvious edge is gone now.
So how much of this did you gank from my work in Swizzle 6?
Pretty much the only reason I never PR'd any of that was because Derpy was against it.
They will be hidden due to exploration fog, with no way to reveal them, so I don't think there will be any issues with people thinking they can be reached in the current version of the game.
There's a preference to disable the fog of war, so I'm afraid this issue does exist.
So how much of this did you gank from my work in Swizzle 6?
Pretty much the only reason I never PR'd any of that was because Derpy was against it.
None.
I’m pretty sure we talked about your old galaxy texture, which you said you no longer liked and weren’t interested in remaking. I really liked the look of it and eventually found one of the galaxies used in your composite (M83), but this is my own work.
I’m not sure where the hostility is coming from here as I’ve posted previous iterations of this before on Swizzle 6 and have gotten positive feedback from you and others.
They will be hidden due to exploration fog, with no way to reveal them, so I don't think there will be any issues with people thinking they can be reached in the current version of the game.
There's a preference to disable the fog of war, so I'm afraid this issue does exist.
That’s true. I suppose I could hide them until revealed by event in the way some of the labels are?
I think it would be better to remove, since they'd be unused. When there's a use for them you can PR them
Okay I think I fixed the sharp edges by slapping on more vignettes. Also the LMC was overlapping with the Milky Way for some reason, even though I thought I had fixed that earlier, so the most obvious edge is gone now.
Did you update the PR description after making this change? The one shown still has some noticeable sharp edges that look pretty bad.
I like the new map, but one concern I have is Wanderer space; when going there, the background is very sparse and the hyperlanes are very long, indicating that this is a very spread-out area of the galaxy. With the new map, it looks like it has the same density as Republic space. Perhaps changing wanderer space so that it reflects its new position would be in order.
I think it would be better to remove, since they'd be unused. When there's a use for them you can PR them
Maybe. The reason I included them was so that people would be aware that they are an option for adding semi extragalactic species and missions (in the same way as the empty eastern half of the galaxy), so I feel like removing them might just mean no one does anything with them.
Okay I think I fixed the sharp edges by slapping on more vignettes. Also the LMC was overlapping with the Milky Way for some reason, even though I thought I had fixed that earlier, so the most obvious edge is gone now.
Did you update the PR description after making this change? The one shown still has some noticeable sharp edges that look pretty bad.
I don’t think so, let me check the actual file. Does that edge show up in game?
I like the new map, but one concern I have is Wanderer space; when going there, the background is very sparse and the hyperlanes are very long, indicating that this is a very spread-out area of the galaxy. With the new map, it looks like it has the same density as Republic space. Perhaps changing wanderer space so that it reflects its new position would be in order.
Yeah agreed on that, but for the sake of limiting the scope of the PR I decided that I would only change visuals and wouldn’t touch the positioning of any systems in here.
I do plan on an extensive and complete galaxy rework (which does depend on this sprite and a couple other things), which would definitely involve restructuring Wanderer space.
Similar to roadrunner's concern, I'm also worried about wanderer space, mainly the Pug system. In vanilla, it's actually somewhat hard to see the Pug system unless you click around (and I believe there's another system like this in the south) because they softly blend into a background cloud on the map. That lead to a little mystery as well as reward for finding these systems.
Also I have to say, I do like the new sprite, however I'm against any map restructuring changes at this time. That should left for a way later date, if at all, especially after once more factions are in the game.
Similar to roadrunner's concern, I'm also worried about wanderer space, mainly the Pug system. In vanilla, it's actually somewhat hard to see the Pug system unless you click around (and I believe there's another system like this in the south) because they softly blend into a background cloud on the map. That lead to a little mystery as well as reward for finding these systems.
Also I have to say, I do like the new sprite, however I'm against any map restructuring changes at this time. That should left for a way later date, if at all, especially after once more factions are in the game.
The new map incorporates the old map into it, so structures and features like stars will still be covering the same systems. I believe becca brought up the same point in the Map Discussion thread, where I posted a screenshot showing that it’s still hidden.
As for restructuring systems, I agree that it’s something that will only (if ever) come a long way down the road, but it’s still something I’d like to plan out and work on as early as possible.
I'm personally in favor of reworking the map sooner rather than later. IMO it's much easier to expand the map now than later, when we presumably have way more factions and species in the game. Having to rearrange and deal with those factions will be difficult, and doing it now will save us more work in the future.
I definitely like this new map; and I also would like to see the map rework sooner rather than later. I'd rather have new races get added where they will ultimately be; rather than adding them to the current map, and once we have it full deciding to move over to a not-slanted map and have to figure out new and revised linkages and/or neighborhoods.
I’m pretty sure we talked about your old galaxy texture, which you said you no longer liked and weren’t interested in remaking
I said nothing of the sort. And yeah you were there and had access to that work, hence the suspicion. I find it hard to believe you didn't benefit from all that.
No matter. I'll be glad to see the old, distorted galaxy image go. And I guess this lacks a lot of the structural features mine had. I'd certainly be interested in collaborating to bring some of those in here.
I’m pretty sure we talked about your old galaxy texture, which you said you no longer liked and weren’t interested in remaking
I said nothing of the sort. And yeah you were there and had access to that work, hence the suspicion. I find it hard to believe you didn't benefit from all that.
Whatever. Properly attributed or not I'll be glad to see the old, distorted galaxy image go.
And I guess this lacks a lot of the structural features mine had. I'd certainly be interested in collaborating to bring some of those in here.
There was nothing for me to benefit from, unless you count a list of the public domain galaxy images you used in your previous composite, which you yourself directed me toward. Of those, I only decided to use the M83 galaxy. You never posted any assets that I could have even "benefited" from, because as you said, you didn't keep a copy of your original image and didn't plan on remaking it.
(The thumbs up reaction here is yours)
This is from more than a year ago, when I was still interested in recreating (with your help) the first galaxy sprite you posted, which you said had been lost. It has been quite some time since then, and I have gone through at least 6 revisions of the galaxy map, many of which I posted on the Swizzle 6 server and which you commented on.
For example:
(And no, you did not end up sending me the XCF file)
I'm perfectly happy to credit you with inspiring my interest in the original project, but accusing me of stealing your work when you've been well aware this entire time that I was working on a galaxy sprite just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Edit: And if you still don't believe me, I'll happily upload the paint.net file that I've been working on for almost a year.
"Don't have older revision" is not the same as don't have or plan anything. I was not aware you were still working on a galaxy sprite, or certainly not at all one that matches the current scale without making room for Grey's Xapeleaux. I assumed both our efforts were dead with Derpy's disapproval, hence the lack of recent activity there. Had he at any point expressed a change in heart over the matter of expanding the galaxy sprite, the project would have resumed.
Regardless, this is not the appropriate place to be running court and trotting out discord screenshots.
Your sprite in this PR is certainly an improvement over the current, as I was trying to segue back into. Personally, I would much prefer to, as I did with mine, add in structure which did not come from a galaxy image, the realistic red streak from M96, and add that bit of room around the core. There were also some negotiations with Arachi that went into determining the precise edge of Coalition space which may be of value.
Very much in love with the new sprite, IMO the galaxy as it is now looks very lopsided.
Re: The Clouds: I doubt anyone will notice them, even with fog-of-war disabled - they're pretty far out. I mean, has anyone noticed the Pleides before the Pug wormhole yet? Plus, their inclusion would allow modders to start developing content earlier for them.
I really like this new sprite, I do think that the galaxy should be BIG! In a similar vein, I think the Magellanic Clouds should be left in so that content creators can use them.
I also agree with those who have said that if the map is to be reworked, sooner would be better.
I'm personally in favor of reworking the map sooner rather than later. IMO it's much easier to expand the map now than later, when we presumably have way more factions and species in the game. Having to rearrange and deal with those factions will be difficult, and doing it now will save us more work in the future.
I am in favor of expanding the map sooner rather than later - I am against rearranging current or planned factions, with the possible exception of the Wanderers.
I definitely like this new map; and I also would like to see the map rework sooner rather than later. I'd rather have new races get added where they will ultimately be; rather than adding them to the current map, and once we have it full deciding to move over to a not-slanted map and have to figure out new and revised linkages and/or neighborhoods.
Ultimately, current and planned races have often been located based on structural features of the underlying galaxy image. The focus on a map update should be on allowing suitable space for additional planning, with meaningful new features. Not on rearranging existing factions. Tweaking maybe, rearranging, no. Fortunately, the current implementation looks compatible with this approach - though I don't understand why we felt the need to offset everything just so Sag A was at 0,0.
I would encourage you and Raven to collaborate on adding additional structural features though. I really like where this is at as of right now, but structural features really make faction placement and narrative foundations pop.
Working on structural features is definitely a top priority, as I can see where people are coming from with the galaxy seeming too uniform.
Regarding a full system rework, I'm very back and forth about whether one should happen and how extensive it should be. I'm not too attached with our current layout, especially with human space, and like the direction things were taken with the Syndicate / Core rework in the Xapleaux PR, but others are understandably more attached to the way things are laid out now. I'd like to see what everyone thinks with a poll at some point, hopefully with a couple examples of my vision for reworking human space.
For those who aren't on my discord, this is a screenshot of my own map image, in game without any system moves.
Hey so I'm comparing some alternate blending modes for one of the detail layers, and am looking for opinions on these two in particular. I'm doing some more in depth testing (involving a plugin) in the Map Thread on Discord, but at a glance which of these looks better to you guys?
Decided to commit the second sprite after positive feedback on Discord. I'm curious to know if the lesser amount of details (bright areas, etc) is seen as a positive or negative with the second sprite. Also, a small mask was added for @Saugia 's Gegno PR, which has a darkened region with some interesting content in it.
I got started on a slight rework of human space, with the goal of the overall layout remaining the same while systems are organized into clusters separated by both uninhabited systems and distance. This also involved creating more room in the Core for the Xapleaux.