Hi there! Let me preface this by saying I adore this game, and believe it is in more than capable hands with the good folks of Chucklefish. I can't wait to see how this game grows and evolves, as I think we all know they have something really special here. That being said, these are simply mechanics that I personally would be ecstatic to see implemented. I know some of them are probably already planned for later development, and others are actually already in the process of being modded in, but I thought I'd mention them anyway. It's.. a rather long list, so I've employed the help of my ingame avatar Ono here to help illustrate some of the points. Thanks for reading! Patch Notes for Ludicrously Hopeful Koala: - Your hunger meter will now influence how quickly you heal. The fuller you are, the more beneficial the healing process. Hunger becomes a beneficial function and less an arbitrary gauge-to-fill. - Inventory auto-sort button added! - Meteor showers now only occur in planet clusters with asteroid fields present. - Bosses now drop loot unrelated to the progression of the game, ideally related to the boss and providing some kind of fun utility or cosmetic trophy. (Perhaps after the boss is beaten the first time, a ‘hard mode’ version could then be made that drops extra loot?) For example, the penguin UFO could drop an item or armor that allows the periodic summoning of armed penguin minions. - Added a comprehensive power system to provide a lateral form of tier progression that rewards the player with utility, efficiency, and automation. Efficiency is an integral part of progression in the survival/sandbox genre. One example of this kind of progression: 1. Players begin the game using rudimentary ‘tech’ like torches and campfire. 2. As the player advances, they are able to make use of modern lighting they scavenge from facilities, housing and other sites. 3. By endgame, players can set up advanced lighting powered by an energy source that not only lights a house, but keeps it warm. Having advanced craftable items require an energy source will provide players with more choices to make in terms of how to spend their hard earned resources. While using ore to craft weapons and armor may advance your ability to fight and survive on harsh planets, progressing through the tiers of energy gathering/production would reward the player with better utility and home-based survival. Examples of what sorts of systems could use energy: Automated systems that assist with smelting, farming and cooking. These systems would require fuel/energy, but offer some improvement over the standard procedures. Coal for example could be condensed and made more efficient for ships at the expense of energy, offering up a mid-tier answer to the issue of the better fuels being only available in the endgame. Is condensed coal a thing? I have no idea. It’s just an example. SCIENCE. Fully animated, automated mining machines that requires a bit of set up from the player and rewards them with a slow, but steady source of resource gathering that can be invested in and improved over time. (Possibly offering sprawling endgame options, like setting up mining colonies on other planets that work even while you're gone, provided they're powered.) Tired of meteors wrecking your base? Power up a shielded energy dome around your house. Bigger domes would require more power. (Want to go a step further? Add upgrades to the dome that regulate weather/heat inside it!) Health dispensers provide faster recharge times. (Beds just don’t do the job by the endgame!) Tool repair stations. Energy/fuel could be gathered through the use of water mills, turbines, solar panels, coal, steam engines, etc. (Progressively more futuristic, ideally.) The whole idea is that power provides safety, productivity and efficiency. The player should CRAVE more power because of the benefits it provides, and always have something that can use more of it, even in the endgame. As you do begin the game as an outcast relegated to primitive tools and survival techniques like campfires and tents, I think the feeling of progression and accomplishment would be astounding if by the endgame you were commanding vast arrays of otherworldly technology to your own ends. - High end mining vehicles added. Ever wanted to float around asteroid fields in a high-tech bathysphere with mounted mining lasers on it? Well now you can! (This would even work extra-well with the aforementioned energy system, wherein you have to station the vehicle at a powering pod in your base to fill it up with enough power to last the trip. That sort of convenience comes at a cost!) - Matter Manipulator Modular upgrade system. Everything from ships, to mechs, to the matter manipulator can be enhanced with modules built by the player, with rare and legendary modules that can be scavenged or found out in the universe. At first players can only utilize a single module, though later on they’ll be able to upgrade to more. Examples: The matter manipulator could have a drill and axe module, allowing it to be switched freely from one behavior type to the other, making it an efficient and spacefarer-worthy omni tool by the endgame. Your ship could have several efficiency modules, to better use fuel, to progressively being able to scan planets for more and more information. (Like at first you can only receive a bit of information about which ore type is most prevalent on the planet, then weather information, then what colonies are living there, perhaps even eventually leading to scanning for anomalies that only ‘unlock’ once you actually have this module.) - More monster types, more rewards unique to monsters. Increased monster varieties to include swimming types, camouflage types, creatures rooted to the ground, others that wait to spring down on the player from trees, monsters unique to dark areas in caves, creatures that materialize from thin air, etc. As it stands in the current game, monsters may look different from planet to planet, but generally all behave the same. It’s essentially like fighting the same monster with a different skin on every planet. To promote a feeling of excitement when encountering something brand new, monsters should drop items used to craft unique items or even gear, perhaps even tied to the type of monster it was dropped from. - Unique, rare bosses found at random throughout the galaxy! While spawning bosses is fun, unexpectedly running into terrifying opposition by surprise could be just as exciting. Just imagine going on a scavenging run with your crew, when suddenly the sky goes dark, the music changes to complete silence, and you hear a massive roar in the distance. Ambience builds character, and memorable encounters. - Passive bonuses added to armor sets that armor sets to behave differently than one another, as opposed to just increasing stats. This will allow players to find a play style that suits them best, rather than simply having one set of endgame armor everyone uses. Examples: Life support system. Set that consumes food / bandages / possibly stims automatically when the player is in need. Berserker system. Set that consumes small bits of health to convert into energy when energy has been depleted. Defense system. At half health or lower the suit begins draining energy to power a shield around your character. - Pixel compression cost lowered to 10%! (Pleeeeeeeease?) - Bounty missions added! Hunt down wanted criminals across the galaxy after being given the solar system coordinates they were last seen fleeing to. After that, you’re on your own! - Advanced items allowing the transport of resources to/from your ship. Craft a special container linked to storage on your ship to send items with ease! Alternatively, need something from your ship but don’t want to be buggered by that TEDIOUS and time-wasting instant teleport? Call down a far cooler DROPSHIP POD with your requested materials in tow! Who needs practicality when you have style? - Scanning/analyzing your planetary finds made more rewarding. An alternate form of utility progression based around research, to make every planet that much more exciting in terms of what you could possibly find and later unlock as a result. Studying creatures could unlock bio-organic technology the player could then use to enhance themselves, make unique items, discover advanced creature capture and leveling techniques, or advancements in working with alien plants/harvests. - Added music equipment for each race allowing music from the soundtrack to be collected and played. (With such an amazing soundtrack, it would be lovely to have the option to play, say, the tentacle planet theme in a mad scientist’s base!) - Beds made from rarer materials now heal better/faster! - Added Space Casinos. You heard that right. ..Whew! That's all for now! Might add more later if any other mechanics come to mind.. thanks for reading!
I like. You also added pictures, which is the only reason I decided to read. You genius bastard, you.
I strongly oppose the inclusion of an energy system. If that were included, I would be unable to play anything but Starbound, at all hours, and my life would be ruined. (seriously though, that would be so rad, DO IT PLEASE)
Love your ideas (and the art work...who's ever it may be). Hopefully some of this stuff will trickle into the game. If I had to pick one of out of all the great ideas you have it would have to be the planet scanning. It'd be such a great thing to have.
I'd love to see it all. That and much much more, such as almost everything in the listed suggestions topic, and the content of many mods. I'd love a Starbound where there really isn't any real incentive to download mods, because the game has already got almost everything you could wish for, sidelining mods to the role of server customization. I love mods. I spend a lot of time modding (Both this and Skyrim), but I'd also love for mods to be unnecessary.
Great ideas (and artwork)! I like all of them very much To this one I would also add a race/faction standing system, where successful completition of bounty missions would lead to more challenging missions with better rewards. (something like bounty missions system in Elite II:Frontier)
The pictures made reading everything much nicer and more appealing to read. In fact, that's one of the main reasons I didn't TL;DR. You have some really good ideas in here, its hard to pick out my favorites. I've actually had the idea of random bosses myself, too. After listening to some of the music on the soundtrack bought from steam, there are some songs on there that could easily be made into a boss battle theme, based on the boss. Scorian Flow and Crystal Battle songs come to mind instantly. I imagine some sort lava form of Wham Bam Rock from kirby super star for Scorian Flow, and maybe some sort of Crystal Cave Spider for those deep, crystal mines.
..You've seen through my diabolical plan. Ahahaha.. I know it was a pretty huge honking textwall, and nobody likes a textwall. So I'm glad the solution worked out all right. :] Thanks very much for reading.
