New feature: speed lines

[robn]

Terrible name, nice effect:Its not as interesting when not moving, but you should get the idea. Lines that swish past showing the direction and speed of movement. Nice out in deep space where you don't have a convenient point of reference.Its probably not for everyone, so its off by default. Look at your graphics settings for the button to turn it on.Available in today's build (when it finishes).

[Przemyslav]

I really like this! Great work :)I think that it could be called 'space dust'

[sapog662]

I really like this also!))) !

[Cody]

Good old space-dust!

[Guest]

I just tried it. It's a very useful visual clue for guessing your ship's direction. :)Maybe it could be refined a little. I'd like it to fade in when leaving a planet, insted of appeating instantly.It could also fade out a little when moving at high relative speeds (as Fluffyfreak suggested on GitHub), but I won't make it disappear completely (even when slower than 100m/s) because it could be useful to still have a clue of your direction when you are not facing your target.Maybe Virtual Space Dust could be a better name? VR dust system? Speed effects? Showers-in-space? :)Could it be recycled to do some weather effect (maybe when we'll have clouds)?

[pazuzu]

beyond being perfect for visualizing inertia, it's damn beautiful

[Cody]

beyond being perfect for visualizing inertia, it's damn beautifulThere was (briefly) a little bug in Oolite where the 'spacedust' came in rainbow colours.The Devs squashed it PDQ, of course - but it did look beautiful at Torus speed.

[pazuzu]

a "fabuolus mod" could get attention on the project, or just for the lulz

[Vuzz]

I've tried this speed effect : Personnaly i think it's maybe more amazing with dots { simulating space dust) ...

[Marcel]

I like it but I think the way the effect changes speed needs to be tweaked a bit. It doesn't reflect the ship's velocity very well. I'd prefer dots at slower speeds that would lengthen as the ship moves faster.

[Geraldine]

I agree with Vuzz, Frontier style space dust, but having said that, I still like the lines, great work Robn! :girlcrazy: Gives the player more visual clues on the trajectory of their ship and that can only help with manoeuvres.

[nozmajner]

I'm in favor of the lines. It's mora abstract and AR like. And more prominent visually then points.

[Vuzz]

And more prominent visually then points. Yeah , i thinks too its more prominent , and maybe a little more intrusive on screen . i think dots around ships( in mumbers more important than lines to accurate the speed effect ) lets a better visibility ,.. isnt it ? 

[nozmajner]

Too many points would be more intrusive in my opinion and would still provide less information by merely emulating an effect which isn't that common anyway. And they won't really be that cohesive.I think these lines are doing much better job at being part of the hud since they are clearly belong to they and provide more and clearer spatial information.But this is mostly a question of habit and taste really.

[Guest]

Lines lets you guess more clearly your direction. I like this approach. By the way, I don't understand why sometimes they slow down while I'm still accelerating. It's a bit confusing. :)I agree that, at low speed, they would look better if they were shorter or like dots.

[fluffyfreak]

Well... I like it  How would you like it to be configurable?By this I mean, what options would you like there to be rather than on & off.So a toggle between points & lines? Able to choose the colours? Able to choose the speed at which it switches to different colours?Anything else? Make a list.

[robn]

Seven hundred config items will make me cry, ok