after watching the new video, i think that, although mipmaps are a step in the right direction, the textures should be smaller by default; ex: 128px, even 64px per block face, because then there would be much more space for things like specular, normal, and roughness textures. i think that having these would help delineate planetsmith more from minecraft and its clones, as well as making the blocks feel less like they're just made of paper.
#lower texture resolution
analog slate
errant cobalt
Agree. I imagine maybe even texturing that feels more procedural (without actual procedural texturing!) could be benefitial? The textures in Deep Rock Galactic are detail-dense, and yet probably use a simple repeating stylized noise/grain texture of sorts. Especially with stuff like specular and normal mapping, it could elevate the visual uniqueness of the game a lot!
analog slate
yeh
tawdry abyss
Maybe a bit of randomization that only applies to certain blocks? That way the image file isn't bigger, but stone is more textured, and blocks with faces aren't messed up.
Maybe the blocks with faces can still be more pixelated but the 4 (or however it's divided) mini-pixels are randomly shaded.
analog slate
wdym "blocks with faces aren't messed up"
tawdry abyss
Take Minecraft blocks for example. Stone and dirt can be randomly flipped and overlayed with random pixels and such without looking different. However, the creeperface sandstone can't be, as that would ruin the face.