Planet Textures by Players

[Vtron]

So one thing that bugs me about universe sandbox 2 (despite the great game it is) is that the textures of the planets are fixed. In the old game, you could add different textures to a planet or body, and it would look starkly different depending of which texture you chose, and of course, the textures were from the internet, so you could easily get a bunch for free. As of now, the textures of planets look a bit bland. Most of the rocky planets are very similar with the same rifts and fishers, gas giants are nothing but soft cloud bands. I do understand that universe sandbox is still in development and that real-looking textures may be too much to process, but if the choice is taken in the future, here’s what I would suggest.

A public texture library either in the game itself or in the website, where players and/or skilled artists can make textures for planets both gassy and rocky, and could share between them. Realistic-looking textures of the planets could be offered as templates, and they would edit, customize, and create new textures. It really only takes a few color changes and brush settings to turn Jupiter texture into a hot Jupiter texture. The textures could be posted and be used freely, and the developers may even add the more complicated features such as cratering, cloud movement, and melting. If this is done, the texture landscape of the game would be as good as the first, if not better.

Another thing is to improve the already existing textures of some of the planets. The gas giants are too bland, especially the custom ones the game designed. Gas giants could come in three different texture packs: (jovian featuring dense storms and cloud bands) (Saturnian featuring mostly faint cloud bands) and (uranian or featureless). Rocky planets could come in (mercurian being cratery) (Venusian being rift-heavy) (Terrestrial featuring plate tectonics) and (Martian being mostly dunes and desert). These could serve very well with the: “add random rocky/gaseous planet” feature, as it would make it more imteresting.

If anyone has questions or opinions, let me know your thoughts 

[Cesare]

When planet grids are released, this update will also bring high level detailed textures with elevation maps. Textures would look more glossy and realistic. Polished textures are just around the corner. Developers will also release new textures when planet grids are released. That's the good news about textures so far. Read the August 2019 archived forum to learn more.

What's coming next is that developers plan of reworking and updating the textures of planetoids and gas giants to make them look much more realistic. Probably next year, developers would make custom textures available so that players can create and design their own textures from scratch in the Universe Sandbox interface. I can't wait until that too.

When planet grids comes out, the overall graphics of planets will get a makeover to make them look much more realistic. The new textures will make it possible to see mountains and valleys when viewing planet up close. That means, no more bland crappy surfaces that looks like game textures from the 1980s or 1990s. We are nearly in 2020, so lets take Universe Sandbox graphics to a futuristic leap into the future. The future is now.