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Sculk Sensor Feedback

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Sculk Sensors slipped into snapshot testing in recent weeks and with players now having a preview version of the feature to experiment with, we're looking for your feedback!

For those of you who have been able to test out the block, we want to know the following: 

  • How do the current frequency ranges feel?

  • We are limited by 15 values and have to squeeze in many different actions into such a small space, but our goal is to allow players to detect individual actions meaningfully. Our current approach is to clump together actions that usually you wouldn't find happening together at the same time in a normal scenario. Are there any overlaps where this could be improved?

  • How do you feel about Sculk Sensors being silent (not making any noises) while waterlogged?

  • Currently, Sculk Sensors have a 40 game tick cool down when they're activated by a vibration, during which time they cannot detect other vibrations. For contraptions that are trying to listen out for specific actions, this can mean that simple vibrations like footsteps can "occlude" the actions they're trying to detect. Are there any suggested design changes that might be able to resolve this problem?

Let us know your thoughts, feedback, and suggestions in the comments below, and look out for future updates to this post as sculk sensors continue to improve! 

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  • 4
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    1. I feel like it would be great to have a way for a player to customize frequencies in Sculk Sensor. This allows both to avoid delay problems and to achieve greater flexibility in redstone circuits.
    Customization can be done via teaching: Sculk Sensor can program itself to react to certain vibration when it senses it and is powered by a specific power level.
    By default it could sense specific list of vibrations which can be replaced during teaching process.
    Or, for example, it can consume certain items to learn to react to certain events (leather boots for walking, food items for eating, snowballs for projectiles etc)

    2. About waterlogging. It can be a bit overpowered when making traps. I would suggest some way to counteract that (for example, if player has amethyst in the hotbar, it rings when sculk sensor is activated nearby).

  • 7
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    I would like to be able to detect mob footsteps separately from player footsteps. Maybe player footsteps make a redstone signal of 1 and mob footsteps a signal of 2 (to go with flapping, which only mobs do). I want to make a maze that has a chance of changing or activating invisible traps, but I have brutes and wither skeletons walking around as well and I dont want them to be setting off the changes and traps.

    Another use for this could be a custom door greeting for whether you are a mob (you get killed) or a player (can walk through normally)

  • 4
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    I like the fact that they are silent when waterlogged, but maybe it would be good to add waterlogged redstone like they have in bedrock edition, as having water inside your redstone is kind of a recipe for disater.

    What if higher frequency vibrations were able to override signals from weaker frequency sources? that way all the common things like mobs walking or flying that could trigger and block the signal wouldn't anymore. for example you shoot an arrow and then extend piston, the sculk sensor output would start weak and then increase, but if you walked near it it wouldn't have any effect. This would probably mean you would need to balance frequencies again, maybe it would be best  to put all mob created frequencies below player created ones.

  • 4
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    I like the idea of using note blocks to interract with Sculk Sensors. One idea is putting the note block underneath them, and depending on the instrument and/or pitch it affects what sounds the Sculk Sensor can detect. Another idea is that Note Blocks can occlude sounds like wool, except they only occulde certain events or all events but one depending on what the instrument and/or pitch is

  • 3
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    I think Note Blocks should be used to interact with Sculk Sensors. While I think changing the pitch would be cool, I think that what instrument is being used would affect the Sculk. As there are 16 instruments and one of them uses wool which occludes sound, I would have each of the other 15 instruments correspond to a redstone level.

  • 5
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    Sculk Sensors could act similarly to note blocks where they are affected by what blocks are beneath them. Alternatively, Note Blocks could do something when Sculk Sensors are beneath them

  • 3
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    Footstep detection as it is right now allows for some insane undetectable traps, and I think that it either needs to be changed or removed.

    One way footstep detection could be prevented would be through something like leather boots. Being able to prevent footstep detection would allow players to feel much safer when just simply walking through someone's base and would solve the problem of footsteps occluding other actions from being detected. However avoiding vibrations would still be a challenge, as all other types of vibrations would not be preventable.

    Another idea I had would for footstep vibrations (or all vibrations) was to have them "dampen" as they travel through different blocks. Dampening is figured out before a vibration is made, to determine if the sculk sensor will be able to sense the vibration or not (too much dampening = sculk doesn't sense vibration). The amount of dampening of a block is determined by the tool used to mine it. Pickaxe blocks dampen the least, then axe blocks, hoe blocks, and finally shovel blocks dampen the most. This is based on how sound is transmitted in real life: the harder and more compact the material, the better sound is transmitted. Pickaxe blocks are the hardest, and shovel blocks which are the softest and least compact. This would add some interesting mechanics for redstoners and cause players wary of traps to only have to sneak when near blocks that transmit vibrations well.

    Sorry for being so brief I ran out of characters

  • 0
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    I think it would be a good idea, to get 2 types of Sculk Sensor:

    1- Sculk Sensor: obtained with a pickaxe with silk touch (Sculk Sensor that there is currently, with sound, vibration, waves, that does not turn off even in the water)

    2- Sculk Sensor "weakened" breaking with a pickaxe without silk touch (Sculk Sensor, no sound, no vibration, no waves, but it picks up signals just like the Sculk Sensor, but it goes out with the water)

  • 2
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    1- While the current frequency ranges feel comprehensive, they also feel slightly bloated. For example, the detection of a lightning strike does not need to be detected in this way, as you just implemented a different way of detecting them (lightning rods). I think the frequencies could be trimmed a bit from actions that can easily be detected another way. There is also a problem where the higher frequencies have way too many things on the same frequency, where it is much too easy to produce a false positive.

    2- Stated above.

    3- As for skulk sensors being waterlogged, I think that this feature is essential, as it provides a huge benefit for those who use them in their bases, ie. no annoyingly constant sounds, while also not too drastically effecting those who are the target of a trap. This is because, it is still possible to see the generated particles travelling to the skulk sensor.

    4- This is admittedly the part of the skulk sensor that I was the most concerned about after we got it. This part of the sensors design allows the sensor to easily miss a vibration, such as a player eating, if, for example, the player just walked into the area. The best way that I have thought of to fix this issue, is for when a comparator is facing into the sensor, whatever signal strength is coming out of the comparator, and thus powering the sensor, is the exclusive frequency in which the sensor will listen for.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    I think that certain vibrations should activate sensors further away. For example, a tnt explosion should activate sensors 50 blocks away while a footstep only activates sensors 5 blocks away.

    Keep up the good work!!!

  • 3
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    Point 4: Comparators can only filter though Sculk outputs, but we'd then need a 15 combation item to filter inputs as well.

    I can think of one thing - carpets. Wool carpets come in 15 different colors, exclusing white. Each frequency could be given a carpet color (blues being high frquency, reds being low frequency). Vibrations would be occluded if they pass through a carpet that doesn't match their frequency.

    Then, the question becomes "How can this be optimized?" because this kind of filtering requires a lot of checks for a single game tick. Another solution could also then be to be able to "refresh" Sculk Sensors quickly, with bonemeal for example, so that if it got activated for the wrong frequency it could be refreshed to listen again quickly? That would require extra redstone to builds and might not be a perfect implementation though.

  • 7
    Registered User commented
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    Skulk Sensors should pick up minecarts!

  • 3
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    I think the silencing feature is cool and really useful but i don't like that you have to put blocks around the waterlogged sculk sensor to prevent the water from destroying the redstone. I don't have a solution for this yet, but maybe something other than water to silence it.

  • 7
    Registered User commented
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    skulk should be burn in fire and should SCREAM 

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    I hope the Sculk Sensor is more efficient

    1. Sends a signal to the neighboring redstone

    2. It senses another Sculk Sensor

    3. There is a way to delay the sensor a little like a redstone

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    On/Off Switch, begin able to select want frequencies can detect and mobs/players need to have different values.

  • 3
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    The sculk sensor concept is just amazing!! It's perfect just like it is, but I have several questions. Knowing that sculk sources hide many secrets at the moment, I can't know if you plan to do something similar to what I ask, but here is one of my ideas: I purpose a way to cultivate them, possibly difficult to do and preferably a new or curious way of farming, with a different purpose than normal crops, as it is not a food source. I like the idea of ​​sculk propagation, but would like it to only propagate in the shadows so cultivating it would require the use of the new tinted glass.

  • 2
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    I think the actual system of sculk sensors is good, however, it would be fine if you can add a way to activate the sensor without showing the particles, maybe that when the sensor is underwather you cannot hear the sound nor see the particles.
    And talking about the actual system to detect centain frequencies (comparators), the actual systems (at least the systems I've seen) don't are very specific, for instance, if you wanna detect an 8 power signal, the comparator works with 8,9 and 10, and fixing this with the in-game elements is kinda difficult, this could be solved if you add maybe a new block that recieves a redstone input, and only outputs a 15 level signal if the input signal is in an specific level, like for example, 12. This will work not only for the sculk sensors but also to the whole redstone components.
    Maybe there is a way to make this with in-game elements, but I haven't seen it yet, this is only an idea.
    I hope you all could understand my english, I'm not a native speaker❤️.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    unfortunately I cannot test the snapshot, but I have a little idea, that such that the sculk sensors work as a repeater, that the block has a delay, but with an instantaneous signal, exactly like the repeater, but it is multidirectional and does not need redstone, and as a comparator, but without redstone ...
    it's just an opinion ... ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯

  • 4
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    All types of sculk should be flammable :) Not setting wood-on-fire like, more like turning on a campfire.
    What I mean by that is, fire shouldn't just be on top of the block, but actually a part of it, like how, when you lit up a campfire, the block itself is on fire. Giving it an ash-like fast animation while it's burning would be even better.
    There is another suggestion that suggests sculk scream when set on fire. I really agree this would very much improve every aspect of the game.

  • 2
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    1. The ranges feel OK
    2. Some changes I would make:
    • Don't give Elytra glide its own frequency, it's very minor and other frequencies are jam-packed
    • Add less obviously physical sounds such as note block and music disc
    • Make frequencies intuitive, why is entity fall 5 but entity walk 1?
    • Entity walk ≠ Player walk
    • Perhaps group some actions into a category "use item" to help with only having 15 frequencies
    • Another option is to add signal strengths that are larger than 15 which can be handled using comparators but not dust, that way using subtraction you can detect a frequency of 19 even though dust will just downgrade it to 15 without subtraction.

          3. Great feature, perhaps also cancel the particle effects
          4. That is a lot and can make some contraptions really messy I have a couple of suggestions:

    • Make it cool down only for the specific frequency detected
    • Make a GUI where you choose what to detect (a bit too much for my liking)
    • A little less about this but please make skulk sensors shut off when directly powered as working with them is an actual nightmare

    that's basically it for me, I hope you have a great time developing the sculk and making it more user friendly (aka not having to google frequencies whenever using it☺)

  • 1
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    hi, glad your trying to get a lot of feedback from the community, here's my idea especially for waterlogging:

    • The range feels good

    • the waterlogging feels weird, it feels like your drowning a skulk sensor,  however, wool stops skulk from getting noise, so maybe if you surround the skulk in wool, it to will cancel out the noise!
    • the cool down also seems fine

    thankyou!

    -Hound4004

     

  • 0
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    vibrations from running water activate sculk permanently

  • 2
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    Sculk sensor need more features to fix those issues not just sticking with the same idea that just limit any great possibilities.

    I posted these idea in the feedback site to help fixing those issues

    1. Sculk Sensor Deactivator - Using Campfire
    2. Simplified Frequency Filter - Using Redstone Signal Strengh
    3. Adjustable Detection Range - Using "Living" Organic Blocks/"Blocks"
    4. Mobs & Player Particular Frequency Values - Using Spider Eye

    Feel free to check my posts for more details.

    Hope those ideas will inspire you devs 

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I truly want to have the ability to get them in survival.

  • 3
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    Enties moving on carpets shouldnt activate the sculk sensor. It shouldn't block the signal from moving but just shouldn't make it trigger a signal.

  • 1
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    I think the current animation only makes sense when the skulck sense is underwater, i think it would be interesting to do something with the acnimation like, normaly he is sleeping but then when it activates it would be like it had awaken

  • 1
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    Skulk sensors should detect a Bell ringing

  • 1
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    1. The only real problem I have with the list of sensor triggers is that casting a fishing rod has the same noise level as an explosion. It just doesn't make sense to me personally. However, I think giving sprinting its' own value might be neat

    2. Skip because I'm not sure about this one.

    3. I'm not sure how that would really affect my use of the sensor, but it could be really op in the hands of a master redstone engineer. Being able to silence a sensor so players don't know they're being trapped is a very dangerous power if you know how to use it. I don't play enough PVP to bother prototyping such things, but I'm sure there will be plenty of PVP servers that will see SOMEONE utilizing the full capabilities of the sculk

    4. I actually might have a solution to this. If the sensor is outputting a low signal, like from walking, and a significantly higher noise occurs while the sensor is on cooldown like an explosion, it resets the cooldown with the new redstone level. It would have to be significantly louder for the sensor to go off again though- like at least 2 levels up.

  • 0
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    I think they should still make a noise while waterlogged but it's more disorienting