revert the system map sprites to the old neon sprites

[La Villa Strangiato]

I don't like being "rah rah it was better back in the old days", but I really do feel like the new system map sprites are a big downgrade from the old ones.

While the new system map sprites are certainly more customised and more detailed, they're also a lot smaller than the old sprites. In addition, given that they're meant to be little tiny representations of the ships and shuttles themselves, it can be hard to tell what direction the ships are actually going. Obviously, you can squint a bit and then determine "oh, the shuttle is bearing 90 degrees", but I think our system map should strive to have a more intuitive visual design where you can take a look at a sprite and immediately get an idea of what it is and what it does.

This also applies, I think, to overmap hazards. On the old map, hazards were colour-coded and very visually distinctive; it was easy to tell an electrical storm and an asteroid field apart just by looking at their sprites. But the new overmap sprites for electrical storms and asteroid fields are pretty visually similar (even if the electrical storm sprites crackle with a little bit of electricity), as seen below.

But the most egregious example of unintuitive design here is the planet sprites.

Can you see the planet in this screenshot? I sure couldn't. And while it's certainly not as bad as the prior example, a lot of planets have a very low-contrast sprite on a dark background that can make seeing them very difficult if you've got a low brightness on your monitor or if you're just plain visually impaired.

On the old system map, the planet sprites took up the entire tile, were brightly coloured against a dark background, and had varying colours depending on their type. This made them easy to see and visually distinct.

Thus, I think we should retvrn to the old neon system map, or maybe modify the colours and designs on these sprites so that they stand out against a dark background and it's easy to tell what direction they're facing. I would be happy to contribute in this respect as well!

[Alberyk]

Planets' colors can be changed without reverting the sprites, by the way. It is a single line change.

[Kintsugi]

I would much rather we work on the readability of the new sprites as opposed to reverting them outright, considering how much of an improvement they are in terms of art quality and stylistic consistency.

[canon35]

Yeah I'd rather we keep the current look. That being said, I would definitely say:

-Make the planet sprites brighter so they stand out.
-Make it so carp shoals don't obscure vision.
 

[Dreamix]

Yeah, uh. The sprites are very nice. But imo the colors should be "inverted".

As in currently planets and ships are dark, while hazards are bright and super visible and marked with the red and yellow exclamation mark.

I'd prefer the opposite. Bright planets and ships, and dark hazards. (edit 1 hour later: I mean that as in, so places of interest stand out more, and are more visible than hazards)

Edited March 8, 2023 by Dreamix

[Scheveningen]

Dreamix's logic seems to be the most sensible. Good things should be bright on the system map -- bad things should be dark or marked out with typically unsafe colorings or markings.

[Gem]

being partly addressed in this PR.

[Alberyk]

How is it now?

[limette]

I haven't had any issues with it since the changes. Thank you!

[greenjoe]

Sani'Orios could do with being made more visible too.