Suggestion: Please could we get an octagon pole with signs to make a signpost? (pic heavy)

Yes it's one of those "Spoon has been thinking too much again" type of posts.
@Winfield
@Chaox
@Skullmuncher34
@UglyFist
@Themo Lock
@Rufus D`Asperdi


The short version:

Please create two assets;
1) an octagon pole with 'wall' surfaces on the eight sides and
2) signs thin enough to 'stick' on those pole walls.
That way we can sandbox our own signposts and point them roughly where we want.​

The loooooooooong version (or rather the tl;dr inducing one)

So I was playing around with using Plain Ground Signs to use as signposts to help visitors find their way in Lux Sanctuary.

As you can see I'm hovering on the sign and it displays my custom text.

Now this presented me with a lot of problems with this setup.

• The footprint of those ground signs is huge, that is a giant paver I use as road and just having those two signs there blocks half that road.
• Secondary thing due to that huge footprint is that you cannot put two of them next to eachother, so in the pic one can see the problems that present.
• I want to indicate a direction by pointing the sign in a specific direction, however this asset is not made like that. It would be better to have an arrow or something.
• It just doesn't look like a signpost so visitors don't try to read them, which is fine since it isn't, but I'd like one, so...

So that got me thinking. I had an old suggestion for how I would have solved this but it is a high end one which requires new tech.
So then I thought let's make an idea that works within the already existing tech but which solves the use case that I wanted.

Which gave me the idea that what if I hade a ground pole just like that one (with a smaller footprint), but which I could 'stick' those wall-signs onto (but really thin arrowy pointing type of wall-signs) then I could sandbox style just place the pole in the center, and stick however many signs onto that as necessary. But in order to do that I need a variety of directions.

In my mind I landed on the octagon:

this since it is easy to understand with its 45º angles, plus that would allow the surfaces to be wide enough to 'hit' easily with a thin arrowy sign just a tad thinner than those sides.

So imagine you have the octagon-pole, each of the eight sides would be like a 'wall' in that one can 'hang' wall deco off it, then the arrowy-signs are just a bit thinner than an octagon side is wide. That way the player can decide how high or low on the pole to stick it, AND most importantly, by hanging it on a specific side it will point in the generally correct direction.

So I place my pole

then I slap on a couple of these arrowy signs and fix the texts

but then one could also slap on a 'you are here' more boxy sign like this

which attaches only in one end and is again a bit thinner than the pole octagon side to fit.


This also means that if I run an event I could easily add a sign to existing signposts to point towards the event location, and then easily remove them afterwards while keeping the rest of the signpost intact.

And by adding a bit of a different flavor (textures) to both the pole and in future some different designs on the signs then we have a whole system in place for the sandbox to go to the next level.

One can even imagine flower poles where the 'sign' parts have things like festive flags or may pole style appendeges.



Easy peasy.
The only drawback is of course the item count. But if I have these assets then I could place most of my signposts on lots to circumvent the POT count.

Now I can imagine that the city/keep/castle lots are huge enough to have a need for signposts all in themselves. Same thing for guildhouses etc.

So that is enough ramblings, might add a poll tomorrow when I'm more on the wake side of totally almost unconscious.

So now the only thing left to say is:

 

I REALLY like this idea. Constantly, people don't know what direction our Pub is or our Castle or Winfield's Favorite Hidden Fishing Spot. Also, a sign could be used for Events, especially if made of different hues/colors / type wood (ornate versus plain).

No new programming tech?

If the Oct Pole acts like a WALL ... are there walls now (external ones, not part of a house) that we can put things on like signs, trophies, etc.? So definitely no new programming tech? I have not tested much lately, but I could only put things on "house walls", not things like "wooden walls" that are crafted and placed outside the building.​

If so, then an Oct Pole could become an eight-sided wall (very small in diameter) with a base. Small sign arrows are made and connect to the Oct Pole. Could other things connect to the Oct Pole too, or tech be made to prevent what can connect to it, like other big signs or trophies making it an ugly sign, like hanging a bike in a tree (well, that could be considered art)?

For POT or House Deco count, would be 1 + N to make a Navigation Sign:
- 1 - Oct Pole
- N - N number of sign arrows

PLUS.. kits could be crafted or ornate ones sold in Add-on store.

I really like this idea! (oh already said that).

 

@Spoon gnnngh less pictures please.
Suxx on mobile

@ idea:

Nice one. I agree.

 

Nah, so it is more tied to the housing stretchgoal.

Since all other items are wider then the side of the pole then you couldn't hang those there.

For instance if you tried to hang a painting on a wall, then painting has to be smaller than the wall otherwise it will be red.

So that is why I mention that all the signs in this concept have one "thin" side which is the "sticky" side, that is the one which would attach to the wall, or the pole.
Which is another thing, one doesn't need the pole for the 'sign' part to be useful since one can use those on any wall surface.

 

Awesome idea! Aweeeeesome! Signage is sorely needed.

As a side note, Unity can render text on objects pretty easily. Those signs could actually say TAVERN and people would be able to see it from 50 meters out, instead of having to mouse over.

But even without that, Awesome Idea!

 

While I like where you are going with this (you always have excellent posts!) it seems to me that a partial solution that is really easy to implement and satisfies most of your requirements might be worth considering.

I'd like to suggest simply removing the base of the sign, so that it is more like crafted lamp posts. That way you could arrange several of them bunched together, with the advantage that the signs can be set to point in any arbitrary direction, rather than fixed angles to each other.

 

I want a "midsommarstång"! is there a English word for it even? my character would love to get wasted then try to dance around it
or maybe better suited as a POT decoration as they can be quite large and is a group activity anyways

as for signs I would say they are definitely needed. I always get lost in POTs

 

maypole.

 

I think there was a comparable suggestion 1 or 2 years ago…but I currently cannot find it...never mind.
I do not know if I posted it back in the days but I would suggest a different type of solution. (honestly maybe a little bit more work-intensive for the devs as some kind of automatism is included)
Basically it is a two-step solution.

First step would be to define POI.
In most NPC town we already have them in PoTs this would be a new “feature”. These POIs are defined by e.g. simply attaching a POI-marker on the ground/wall. This marker does not have to be large and could be made out of different material. e.g. Gold = Add-on store, iron/chopper/wood = crafting. On these POI-Marker should be just a relatively small amount of letters possible. (because of the second step)

Second step would be the signpost.
Without any POI-markers this is simply just a pole on the ground. But with POI-markers in town a sign appears at the side of this pole directly pointing into the direction of the POI-marker, out of the material and with the short text of the POI-marker. Wherever you place such a signpost it always is showing all your designated POIs.
As there is a limit of possible signs on a pole there might be a maximum of POIs a town can have…if such a pole is 200cm maybe a maximum around 20 POI-marker per town would be fitting.

I do not think it would be too complicated to create such an automatism as we already have this active in our avatars compass showing us where a POI in an NPC town is.

Additional thoughts:
- If the signs should be larger or more POIs possible maybe just the POI within a specific range are shown at a signpost.
- Near POIs are maybe at the top of the signpost and further away POIs more at the base.
- Maybe the POIs just get visible on your compass if you touch these POI-markers to not make them visible while you are simply running around instead you have to actively discover them.

 

not necessarily so! i think it's the door/window frame that interferes, not the lack of a wall behind it. try it in a house without collision for those:

 

That sounds like a good 1st iteration.

I really dislike the footprint of those unnecessary base support beams.

The issue is when you want two posts pointing in the same 90º direction then those signs would be blocking eachother.
But I'd take that over what we got today anyday.

Maybe if they create a new smaller sign asset, based on the Wooden Streetlamp, with a much smaller pointing directional arrow?

Not really, they have a maypole but its not the same.
I'd call it a midsummerpole since those familiar with it would know what that means, and those unfamiliar wouldn't get the wrong picture in their mind by calling it a maypole.

Back in the olden days of yore then in ireland it was the craebh. Which you had in combination with the midsummer bonfire. But that is long gone.

In modern times then among some neo-pagans you'd get some using a Beltane-pole but that gives the wrong context, since it is a modern creation of mixing cultures.

Yea, that was mine as well, and linked in the OP:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...wns-features-and-mechanics.21587/#post-327847
originally that was an idea for the NPC scenes where these things are really needed, which I then expanded for POTs.
But since that one got no traction and POIs in general for POTs was shot down in a hangout, I came up with this instead.

Also a drawback about the POI concept was that it was only for scenes. So only for POT owners and Portalarium world builders.

While the octagon pole idea can truly be sandbox for any lot deco thus for more players and could be built upon with other items and concepts as one goes forward.

 

Stage 1:
Lose the large base. Quick and easy to implement.

Stage 2:
Signs no longer hang - have multiple signs attached at various heights directly to the pole, which has been changed to used the crafted lamp post version. On an individual pole the signs would all point in the same direction. Groups of these signs could be clustered together, pointing in different directions.

Stage 3:
Spoon's suggestion.

 

Signed.


I'd just add that for stage 2 the poles could have a smaller collision detection so that one can "sink" them into eachother kinda like the wooden fences.

 

@Spoon
Looking more closely to your suggestion…do we even need a pole-sign-combination?
Maybe the pole can still be an option but wouldn’t it be more individually if these signs can be used everywhere? E.g. wooden streetlamps could also act as signposts or they could be attach to/on/sidewise of walls/fences or simply laying the signs on the ground or …
This way the signs could additionally work as road signs, information boards,...

 

Correct, the pole is not necessary as the sign parts are separate and could stick to any wall.

 

Well i dont like the signs we can currently make...either the base takes up too much space or the ones that can hang off the building do not work on my house. And the flat plank one doesnt fit anywhere but the side of my house and no one can see it. Signs suck.

 

How about using the compass? I am for listing all points of interest on the compass when entering the pot, not after discovery. Then make the compass toggleable to a large version so we can see it when needed. The little icons are almost useless IMO.

 

Why not allow the hanging wall signs attach to the sides of the "octagon"/Pole, (and remove that god awful stand) makign it a pole.

 

They are waaaaay too big, and not pointy.

 

Psst, as mentioned thrice in the topic
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...wns-features-and-mechanics.21587/#post-327847

So absolutely, yes please, but adding POI tech for governors is really a long way away. This suggestion was more of an in between thingie.