Space is Gorgeous – PA Should be Too

ebin may mey broski xD

Not to be a drag, but space isn't gorgeous it's actually pretty drab, which is why every picture that comes out of places like NASA has been subject to a whole lot of post-processing.

... I am not sure I can fully believe that. Most images I'm sure go through long exposure lengths to produce the light an clarity of galaxies and nebula that the Hubble and other telescopes have produced. Its not post processing, but an option you can do automatically on a Nikon Camera to get exposure lengths . I'm sure Hubble and other telescopes are using the same practices.

Much of the visually impressive stuff comes from light outside of the human visual spectrum so I reckon it is safe to say that space imagery takes a lot of transformation to be as visually stunning as it is often presented. Of course exposure times are involved in getting the necessary level of detail in the first place.
But I don't think that this is as important as fitting in with the rest of the game's art style. Just to give the dead horse a little pat on the back for good measure.

It's a good thing game is not called: "hyper realistic space simulator deluxe 2014". So some artistic licence is perfectly acceptable. Now bring on the nebulas!

Which is why the phrasing and not the goal was being contested.

I think there is nothing to make internet drama over. Uber Should allow client side mods such as skybox texture replace. However I agree, that space in this game looks cartoonish and boring, and should be bit less cartoonish and whole lot less boring. But that is cosmetic thing that should be left for last stages of development. We have boxy gunships now, i rather get nice units that better space texture.

It could be useful for making Galactic War feel more Galactic. If you fought your way towards a distant stellar phenomenon, it'd feel like you were actually travelling through space, and add that allure of persistent gameplay from Eve simply through having landmarks.

EVE? Landmarks? You mean EVE "3000 identical systems" online? No, that is not true. EVE is the blandest looking space game around.

Is there anything you do like besides complaining about things?

I like how the game looks right now is what I like.

Procedurally generated skyboxes, man.

bingo.
I, and I submit that most of us, play games for a break; an escape from the real world for a little while. Give me eye candy (within tasteful reason, of course.) I get enough realism with real life.

Star trek online has some pretty rockin sky boxes.

A 3D planetarium style star map background would be a nice feature. Also if you want the fancy colored nebula's and the like in the background you can just say Uber space robots can see every type of radiation so there is no limited visual range for them. They would all have Radio X-Ray & Ultra violet vision wouldn't they?

I never really liked nebulae and planetary nebulae. I'm more of a globular cluster/quasar/pulsar kinda guy.

Epic skyboxes in Super Stardust HD:

Btw. The Custom Skyboxes mod is essentially what I was originally talking about.

Here it is in action.

I like that mod, I think that this change is going to become inevitable/necessary one galactic or multisystem scales come into being. Some sense of scale is going to need to be given to the war and the easiest way is to have a skybox that is consistent and persistent, otherwise were just fighting a bunch of skirmishes that happen somewhere in the PA universe and are never tied together to give it 'epicness'.

Well, I guess the easiest way would be to hire a writer who puts scripted dialogue in that tells you how epic and grand scale everything is, "This war sure is big man. Did you see that explosion? It was freaking huge! This war is epic and our fate lies in its outcome."*dramatic music*

That site is awesome! Had no idea it existed. Amazing that such brief code can create such beautiful things... wish I understood more of the math.