A skybox designed to give the player an impression of being in a low orbit is a concept I've been considering for some time myself. Though it's a pretty advanced feature that also falls under the category of aesthetics, so priority will be saved till some time later in the future.
Currently are the celestial body icons 12x12 pixels to match the default Moon sprite of 8x8 pixels, but unlike it, still have that valuable extra room for defining details found on other celestial bodies. Not to mention it's an appropriate resolution for GUI lists.
Although, even if a 12x12 pixels icon can simply be scaled when used as skybox elements, I've been exploring the possibility of using a higher resolution sprite for low orbit scenarios. I'm not sure what resolution it should be or if there's any references. Based on current scales, a theory on how to sweet-spot this would be using the Moon as a resolution guide, which would roughly translate into tripling (36x36) the Overworld's sprite resolution:
Then again, this is assuming it's in a supposedly higher orbit. In low orbit I'd suspect the resolution could reach 128x128 or higher. This concept would also be arbitrary and regular scaling would probably still be used for more complicated systems (e.g. the Jovian). A more simple approach would be to assume the celestial bodies are like any texture in Minecraft, which is definite and doesn't upscale from its default resolution when the player gets a closer view.
I could have added a "halo" and clouds for planets with an atmosphere, but these efforts have been saved for later considerations depending on if it will become a feature managed by the engine. Planetary phases would be relevant to that. Not to mention, in low orbit the surface seen below you would also be constantly moving. Surely there's some mechanics that needs to be considered and also what of that is within feasibility.
For now, the only thing I can really provide is this mock-up:
Currently are the celestial body icons 12x12 pixels to match the default Moon sprite of 8x8 pixels, but unlike it, still have that valuable extra room for defining details found on other celestial bodies. Not to mention it's an appropriate resolution for GUI lists.
Although, even if a 12x12 pixels icon can simply be scaled when used as skybox elements, I've been exploring the possibility of using a higher resolution sprite for low orbit scenarios. I'm not sure what resolution it should be or if there's any references. Based on current scales, a theory on how to sweet-spot this would be using the Moon as a resolution guide, which would roughly translate into tripling (36x36) the Overworld's sprite resolution:
Then again, this is assuming it's in a supposedly higher orbit. In low orbit I'd suspect the resolution could reach 128x128 or higher. This concept would also be arbitrary and regular scaling would probably still be used for more complicated systems (e.g. the Jovian). A more simple approach would be to assume the celestial bodies are like any texture in Minecraft, which is definite and doesn't upscale from its default resolution when the player gets a closer view.
I could have added a "halo" and clouds for planets with an atmosphere, but these efforts have been saved for later considerations depending on if it will become a feature managed by the engine. Planetary phases would be relevant to that. Not to mention, in low orbit the surface seen below you would also be constantly moving. Surely there's some mechanics that needs to be considered and also what of that is within feasibility.
For now, the only thing I can really provide is this mock-up:
