After seeing the amazing bowling alley set by Poetica, I saw two one-tile rugs for the alley itself. That's a great idea, I thought. I wondered if it would be possible to come up with a configurable rug that could change the look based on the shape.
After playing around for WAY too much time, I figured something out.
It was definitely possible. As we all know, my sprite making skills are passable but I wanted to create a pattern so you could see the different looks or configurations. After doing that, I tried to recreate it with something that people would use. It worked, which led me to a set of instructions titled "How to Make A Symmetrical Versatile Rug". After developing it and creating some sprites for a new rug (see below), it took less than 5 minutes to export/import all the sprites. SO MUCH EASIER!!!
This is one of the images in the guide that shows some different configurations and how one tile can change the sprites around it.
Now that you know how it works, here are a few images showing what it can be used for. I would strongly discourage the color combinations though. Poor Sim Turbo is colorblind.
It could be used as a runner to outline any room.
It could be used to go around another rug. Poor Turbo, he's thinking hard to see if the new rug looks good or not. For his sake, we'll say it looks great!
So finally for your enjoyment, the versatile rug.