Invisible Grid

[mobius187]

I'm sure all of us have at some point dug-up and replanted berry bushes, grass, or saplings. I'm sure that you've also encountered the same problem I have, which is that it appears to be a difficult task to arrange these resources into an orderly row. As shown here:

Now, I don't need everything to be nice neat rows... I like nice neat rows, but it's not killing me that I can't have them. The problem here though is that in some cases the berry bushes are creating "walls", so when I move from bush to bush harvesting berries the path finding glitches and has poor Wendy running in place as the bushes near her block her access to another bush.

One solution would be to have an invisible grid. Just like how you cannot plant two berry bushes in the exact same spot, what I'm suggesting is that the cursor indicate where you can plant a resource, and have said resource assigned its own "square". So it automatically places it in the middle of its area and doesn't let you plant anything else haphazardly around it. Now, grass and saplings doesn't really need this as they don't block the player (in fact I purposefully bunch these resources together in the smallest area possible for convenience), but something like this would be an asset for berry bushes.

[Toaster Fu]

I kind of like it how it is… It allows there to be quickly made gardens and carefully planted masterpieces.

[Excess]

I wouldn't like a grid to align items too. It would seem to unnatural in a game like this.

But I have wondered, several times, how can trees grow so close to each other, natural or replanted ones.

Right now, each item currently has attached an invisible oval that works as a "hit detector" and tells the player whether he can walk through it or around it.

I propose to give each item a second oval, this time to tell the placement function how close you can place an object to another. This should be bigger than the hit oval, forcing you to plant the trees farther away from each other but letting you walk between them.

[mobius187]

I propose to give each item a second oval, this time to tell the placement function how close you can place an object to another. This should be bigger than the hit oval, forcing you to plant the trees farther away from each other but letting you walk between them.

I would go with any option that doesn't have the bushes obstructing the character's pathfinding and leave them running in place.

[Shadoweangel]

I tend to space my gardens out, in a sort of Au Natural style. This is partly because of my own innate sense of Feng Shui, but mostly because I can't get the damn things to line up right. Honestly I like the idea of a grid that could be turned on or off from the options menu, but the oval would likely suffice.

[Kaliflour]

I think a grid would be a bit weird, and possibly even limiting. I think in a game like this, where everything looks so natural, the player shouldn't be forced to line things up perfectly. It would just look strange.

[mobius187]

I think a grid would be a bit weird, and possibly even limiting. I think in a game like this, where everything looks so natural, the player shouldn't be forced to line things up perfectly. It would just look strange.

It's not about forcing the player to create orderly rows, so much as to make sure objects cannot be placed in a manner that obstructs pathfinding. Whether that's by employing an invisible grid or but setting a second proximity ring, as Excess proposed, I'm all for it. I just hate being "bush blocked", especially when its sunset and I'm trying to collect a last few berries before it's night. I mean it's one thing to be afraid of the dark (night), but another that an issue with the game's pathfinding mechanics might screw you over.