The idea comes from me considering that the game already contains electronic circuits, which are very small, yet when creating our own circuits using combinators they end up very large. It seems to me that players should be able to create their own user defined circuits but contained inside a single circuit/module of some sort. I'm basically talking about a type of circuit blueprint, but one that only takes up a single space in the world.
Users could start with a UI containing a grid, with two circuit inputs at the top and two outputs at the bottom, then you build your circuit within the grid in a similar way to normal. In the image below imagine the two constant combinators at the top and bottom are the fixed inputs/outputs to the final circuit, the rest of the items have been placed by the user (no this circuit doesn't do anything!):
Once done your circuit is crafted and becomes an item in your inventory which can be placed in the world, similar to a combinator, with input and output connector points. When connected to the circuit network it 'runs' the circuit defined within it based on the inputs, and outputs the result.
This could allow users to create much more complex circuits without the space difficulties, and if the crafted circuit is treated like a blueprint then it becomes reusable as well.
Suggestion Enhancements/alternatives:
* Use of green/red/blue circuits to allow for more larger/more complex circuits- e.g no of components/grid size limitations.
* Nesting of circuits within each other - e.g create a user defined AND logic circuit which you can then use in further circuits for simplicity (maybe red/blue circuits only)
* Test Mode in the UI to allow players to make sure their circuits actually work before crafting them.
Hopefully ths hasn't been suggested already. My search didn't turn up anything but apologies if i missed it.
