Prop snapping is a great feature that enables fast placement of props aligned together and rotated about each other. It’s great for building roads, fences, and for ensuring that props are aligned to the same grid (think 90 degree rotations to make square corners and straight lines).
As it exists today, props have predetermined snap points defined based on, I can only presume, how a designer expected users to snap props together. This generally works fine, but there are some limitations: when rotating snapped props, they can become out of alignment with the prop they’re snapped to, or produce gaps in larger objects snapping about the center of an edge (for example, asphalt platforms).
I propose, instead of fixed snap points, being able to cycle through one snap point per prop. A good example of snap point cycling is the updated building mechanic in Valheim. Every object has multiple snap points. The held object can snap to any snap point of placed objects, but the held object only has one snap point active at a time. I believe this actually produces a net improved experience because:
- When all snap points on the held object are active at once, it’s common for the held object to snap using a point other than the one you want (think a fence snapping in the opposite direction to the last one placed, causing discontinuity).
- Complex shapes and structures are more easy to create, since additional snap points like object corners allow smoother shapes to be created without gaps and without manual adjustments to fix those gaps.
- The snap orbs can obstruct player view when placing props. Having fewer visible means more visual information for the user. This is more of an issue for smaller props; less of an issue for larger ones.