Block shape manipulation

An interface that allows for the manipulation of block shapes that does not include sifting and spinning of blocks.

A cube block has six faces, eight vertices, and twelve edges. Imagine putting a midpoint on every edge, including the center. Manipulate the cube's vertices along those outer corners and midpoints. Allow the reduction in vertices by pulling two or more of them to a point where they overlap. Allow the creation of new vertices any time a midpoint is available. With a minimum of 4 and a max of 10 vertices, you end up with every version of the straight-edged armor block and a few currently unavailable blocks.

Give the players a mechanic to manipulate the vertices, edges, or sides of a freshly placed straight-edged armor block. With each move, the game looks for matches to the current configuration with an existing block ID. When a match is found it shows the resources required to build that block. If the current configuration is invalid, no resources are shown, resources can't be added, and an error is displayed when they attempt to build with an invalid block ID. When the Block ID matches and the player is happy with the shape, the player locks in the block by pressing a key, a button on the interface, or by starting to place the remainder of the components.

This process should be an alternate block placement option to the current interface of sifting and spinning blocks. It could include any block type, including panels and glass, where you have a multitude of available shapes with the same function.