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Everytime I finish playing the game, I end up recreating one of the graphic elements. At this point, I've replaced a ton of items, and plan of changing others. This is a strictly aesthetic change (since I'm a designer, and not a programmer).

I saw in other posts, that if I wanted to replace core graphics, I just need to place the png graphics in the mods/core folder. For example:
Mods/Core/Textures/Things/Building/Production/TableStonecutter.png
Of, if I wanted to replace the graphics for someone's mod, I would just replace the image in their mod folder.

I want to actually create a mod that will replace these elements (so I can share the graphics with others. Can someone help me with this?  I saw some tutorials online, but they were mainly for creating NEW items ... Can someone show me how to replace one item, and I will run through the rest?

Here is a small taste...

Nutrient Displenser


Butcher Table


Electric Sawmill


Stonecutter Table


All these were created by me. Feel free to use them for your own game. Please ask permission if you want to add these to any mods of your own.

[More Furniture & Buildings]

So, here is a large list of ideas for the game. Some have been mentioned in other threads, but I am going to go a step farther and also explain how they can be used with other changes/ideas. And, thoughts on how they can be implemented.

This is a large list. I know that there are programming constraints, possible performance issues, and some of the items below are BIG tasks ... but hey, it's a WISH list.   

1. More Furniture & Buildings - I notice, at this point, that my users get unhappy about alot of things (sleeping outside, seeing dead bodies, etc.), and only food & rest make them happy. So, more options for furnture and entertainment items. Things such as...
    a) Statues - Built with stone, or metal - see below for MORE RESOURCES
    b) Garden Items - Bushes, trees
    c) Wind Generators (2x2) - Generates small amount of power
    d) Space Radar - A radar to notice traders (right now it is automatic)
    e) Planetary Radar - A radar to notice people / raiders on the ground if a fog of war exists (not needed now, since all enemies are viewable).
    f) Crematorium / Mass Grave - To get rid of sooooo many bodies and dead animals that pile up on the map, and create clutter.

2. More Resources
   There is probably a limit to items in the game because of the limit of resources. Using the generic metal to build everything is tough to believe. Here are some suggestions...
     a) Wood / Timber - This would require "farming" trees, but could be used to make furniture, doors and weak walls.
     b) Stone - This could be handled a few ways. Either having a "stone source", like AGE OF EMPIRES. Or by having any rock wall yield stone. If the programmers are worried about clutter (i.e. EVERY wall dropping STONE ... that's ALOT of stone), then there could always be a percentage change a mined wall yields stone. Stone makes stronger walls / doors / furniture.
     c) Iron - Similar to the metal in the game now. There would me iron veins in rock. Iron makes even stronger walls / door / furniture.
     d) Steel - You could built a smelter that makes iron into steel. This would require 2 iron, and possibly some water (if water is added as a resource) and it would yield 1 steel. Steel would make even more stronger walls / doors / furniture.
     e) Gold - Precious metals, like gold / silver / copper could also be used to make walls / doors / furniture. While they are stronger than stone, they would not be stronger than iron or steel. But, they would provide some happiness.
     f) Titanium or Adamantium or "Ludeonium" - Some other stronger metal than steel. Could require steel + some other precious metal to "smelt".
     g) Water - A necessity for life. Water could be found in bodies of water (which would have to be added to maps) or via wells. Wells could be added similar to Geothermal reactors (at set points on the map).
Note: This may require a new job called "smelting" and require a special "workshop" (similar to how the research table works).
     h) Oxygen - Another necessity, and being on an alien planet ... could be scarce. Oxygen could be another "need" like food or sleep. When inside, the need almost immediately disappears. But, while outside, the colonist has difficulty breathing, and will die if exposed for too long.  This would have a good deal of logistics and probably be a pain to troubleshoot ... but could be cool.  It would require...
          A) Some kind of "building" that creates AIR inside (and will connect "air" into other building via the electrical wires that are already implemented in the game).
          B) Items that users can carry (similar to guns) that allow users to breath better. Like a simple breathing mask, an oxygen tank, a special helmet, and eventually a researchable "all purpose breather".  These items would make their need drop much slower... eventually (with the "all purpose breather") getting rid of the need entirely.
          C) A final research item that allows the user to build a TERRI-FORMER ... getting rid of the need throughout the planet.

3. More Wall / Floor choices
     Walls - Right now there is one type of "wall" and a few floor options. The wall is solid, but there should be weaker and stronger options available. If more resources are implemented (see above), then you could have weak WOOD walls, STONE walls, IRON walls, strong STEEL walls and even stronger LUDEONIUM walls (yes, a play off the studio name).  This would be GREAT for doors, especially when invaders arrive. Stronger doors would give more time to get ready inside for invaders.
     Floors - Concrete and stone floor are ok. So are carpets. But, it would be good to have some other options. Wood floors would be cool. Maybe MARBLE (created using a few pieces of stone).

4. Restricted Areas & Alerts
     This request is based on some issues I had with my colonists. I would designate some mining or hauling "outside" my main colony area ... and then raiders would appear. In order to stop my colonists from performing tasks outside of the colony area, I would have to CANCEL all of the tasks outside (to keep my colonists from running into danger). It would be great, similar to dwarf fortress to have an alert system and restricted areas.
     This could work 2 ways.
     a) A complex way would be to create an ALERT system, based on a set of restricted areas (similar to DWARF FORTRESS). This could be a chore and requires a system to be built.
     b) A simpler solution ... right now you can designate a HOME ZOME. You should be able to designate a RESTRICTED ZONE and an ALERT ZONE. The RESTRICTED ZONE would be an area that no colonist could enter (unless chased). The ALERT ZONE would be "activated" only when there is a "Raiders have landed" message.

5. Pathing
     Another issue I've run into is pathing. My colonists aren't so bright. They will run through a large area of slag and debris, rather than taking a shorter/faster way around it. This is a pain ... It would be good to set a path that my colonists SHOULD follow.
     Again, DWARF FORTRESS does this well, allowing you to designate areas of high traffic, normal, low and restricted. In DF, dwarves will go to the high traffic areas, unless they can't (or if their task is in a lower traffic area).  This could help improve a colonies development, speed up your colonists and make players alot happier. 

6. Furnace / Disposal / Decay
Another problem I've run into is the growing about of refuse in the land. My colony has a strong wall with plenty of turrets and colonists ... but there are piles of dead animals, slag and rock debris everywhere. It would be good if you could handle this problem more efficiently.
     a). Be able to BURN or permanently DISPOSE of debris.
     b). Once placed in a DUMPING AREA, any debris would DECAY over time.
     c). Or, you could RECYCLE material. A "Recycling Plant" could be added as a research item, and could allow colonists to pull stone / metal or other items from debris.
     d). Dwarf Fortress allows you to CRUSH items using a "bridge" or "crusher". You would not need to code a whole "bridge" system into the game .... You could create a special DUMPING AREA, where you can use a colonist to activate it's "crushing" ability (similar to operating the COMMS CONSOLE). This special dumping area could be researched as a new technology to investigate. 

7. Upgradable Turrets
     I'd like to see more turrets and "traps".  The turret are very limited, have a short life and cause explosions when destroyed.  It would be good to be able to create a few kinds of turrets. Some would be made with different kinds of resources [see above] ... some would have extra armor.  Initial turrets would require ammo (which colonists would need to be told to reload ... similar to directing a user to operate the COMMS CONSOLE). Secondary turrets would be lasers, requiring no ammo. Tertiary turrets would be missile-based ... requiring loading, but being very strong.
     This could be handled several ways. Either, the user can build each type whenever they want (as long as the research has been done to achieve each level). Or, the user creates the initial design, and UPGRADES the turret with more metal when they want to make it stronger.
     a). A) Iron Machine Gun Turret
          B) Iron Armored Turret
          C) Iron Laser Turret
          D) Iron Missile Turret
     b). A) Steel Machine Gun Turret
          B) Steel Armored Turret
          C) Steel Laser Turret
          D) Steel Missile Turret
     c). A) Ludeonium Machine Gun Turret
          B) Ludeonium Armored Turret
          C) Ludeonium Laser Turret
          D) Ludeonium Missile Turret

8. Traps
     The Blasting Charges are nice little things ... but it would be great to have some more advanced mechanisms.
     a) Net / Cage / Pits - Traps for capturing enemies
     b) Automatically exploding Mines - Similar to blasting charges, but with less of a blast radius, and they are activated when an enemy steps on them.
     c) Spike Traps or Weapon Traps - Traps that cause damage
     d) Door Traps - Traps that you could place on doors, causing damage when they are destroyed.

9. Pits / Bridge - One problem I noticed was ... if you had multiple entrances, you were much more vulnerable to attack (you needed security setup as each entrance ... and that's costly with a bunch of turrets). So, it would be good to have pits or bridges that were activated on ALERT, or when raiders were attacking, to "block" or "hide" certain entrances.
     Rather than create a whole bunch of code to "dig pit and build bridge", you could create a new construction for a PIT BRIDGE (2x3). And, when a colonist activates it (similar to a COMMS CONSOLE), the bridge would recede (making it act like a wall). If a colonist activates it again, the bridge would appear again.

10. Farm Fields - Crop options (potatoes, berries, tomatoes, alien fruit)
     Right now the player can just farm potatoes from their farms (note: you can "pick" other food from bushes, but they all end up as generic "food"). It would be good to offer a variety of options for each "farm field", each with good/bad features.
     So, a user would click the farm, and see a radio button list of options. The user would click the option they want to farm. And, next "season," the field would product that crop.
     For examples, potatoes may be a strong food source (i.e. make 30 food per serving), but it takes longer to grow and harvest than other items. Grapes would yield less food (i.e. 10 food per bush), but make the colonists happy. Or, you could have alien crops, that only grow when it rains.
[This item may be excessive, as I think other items would have priority ... but it could add some diversity to the game. And, if you have some other crops, players can always MOD more easily]

11. More Enemies
This one speaks for itself. Raiders are fun and all ... but they get tired after awhile.
     a) Alien Natives - They don't like intruder on their planet.  There could be several "species" / "races" / types
     b) Rare Alien Animals - Boomrats and Muffalos are ok... but what about an Alien Bear. Or a Beholder-type creature. Or maybe a Stone Golem-like creature. There are tons of options.
     c) Thiefs - Creatures that sneak into a colony (with a chance of getting seen when they pass near each colonist), and steal weapons, food and resources.
     d) Robots - Maybe some technology was left by an ancient civilization, and you activated it. Maybe they are robot servants of an alien tribe.

12. Change Levels / Dig Up & Down
     This would obviously require some work. It would be great to build up and down, creating levels. This could let you streamline your colony, find more resources, and give a larger area to explore.  Even if you were only allowed to go up and down ONE LEVEL, that would be cool.

13. A WorldGen would be cool. My maps all look very similar.  Maybe even some different planet art (i.e. instead of green grass and dirt, make it red like mars). Maybe everything is a blue and purple pallete.

14. Better Military - Right now, when you assign a colonist to be a soldier ... he will only do that. If you do not issue any orders, they will just stand there. If issued an order, they will do the order and then just stand their... even if they "go crazy" because their desires are not met.  If a soldier hasn't received an order in a minute, the soldier should eat and sleep if they need it.
     Also, it would be good to have patrols (like in PRISON ARCHITECT).

15. Other items
     a) Harvest animals for food (I heard this was being worked on)
     b) Ability to change colonists names. I notice that women in my colony have male names. And would like to change names according to what they do...  "Mike the Miner"
     c) Workshops to Building weapons, armor, items.
     d) Room Assignments - Which colonist owns which room?  It would be good to know, in order to manage happiness of specific colonists.
     e) Fix Dead Body - Happiness Issue - For a precaution, I have one main entrance to my colony. That colony has several fear cages in front. Whenever a colonist walks by, I get a negative penalty because my colonist saw a dead body. I understand death can be "tramatizing" ... but thing the colonist shouldn't be penalized when it is a strangers body (since the base is more secure). There will probably be a mod to fix this (if the programmers don't see it as important), but it's an issue I'm having.

16. End Game goals
     I saw that "getting off the planet" and building a ship is an end goal ... what about an alternative end goal of "staying on the planet" by completing several goals (these are examples) ...
     a) Must have several key "buildings" built.
     b) Must have a stockpile of 5000 food
     c) Must have a happiness of 80%
     d) Must have 20 colonists
And, most important ... if the user reaches the end goal, the player can CHOOSE to KEEP PLAYING if they want.