Chris Fitzgibbon

One of my favorite additions to Grounded 2 is the Buggy system, and I would love to see future Buggies continue becoming more specialized rather than each new one simply being stronger than an older one. I think there is a lot of room for future Buggies to fill different traversal, utility, and combat roles, almost loosely resembling the Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and Mage playstyles that already exist elsewhere in the game without actually assigning Buggies official classes. Flying Buggies and Flight Stamina I would love to eventually see flying Buggies, especially Bees, Wasps, and Butterflies. I don’t think flying mounts should have unlimited flight because that could make climbing, ziplines, and other traversal systems much less important. Instead, flying could use a flight stamina meter. Gaining altitude could consume stamina faster, normal forward flight could drain it gradually, while descending or gliding could use much less. Landing would allow the Buggy to recover. Buggy mutations could then improve flight stamina, recovery speed, stamina efficiency, gliding efficiency, or vertical climbing speed. Flying Buggies could also behave differently while unmounted. When called with the whistle, they could spawn already landed and walking around on the ground like other Buggies. They would normally remain grounded while following the player, but could take off during combat when necessary. While fighting without a rider, they should stay relatively close to the ground rather than flying far above the player. When mounted, the player would have full access to normal flight. Bee Buggy I think the Bee would be perfect as the more utility-focused flying Buggy. Bees could carry haulable materials such as Grass Planks and Weed Stems while flying. Ideally, they could also support mounted building. This could make Bees incredibly useful for players who enjoy large or elevated builds. When building a treehouse, tower, zipline station, or structure hanging from the side of something tall, a player could hover beside the structure and build directly from the Bee instead of constantly constructing temporary scaffolding. It would also make high-altitude construction much safer. Anyone who builds tall structures knows how easy it is to accidentally step backward off the edge while trying to line up a wall, floor, or roof piece. Building while mounted on a Bee would give players a stable platform outside the structure without removing normal structural-support requirements. Ziplines would still remain better for permanent long-distance transportation because they are fast, reliable, and don’t consume flight stamina. Bee Eggs could potentially be found inside Beehives if those are added alongside the Buggy. Bees could remain mostly neutral outside their home, but entering their hive or stealing an egg would naturally give players a much more dangerous extraction challenge. Wasp Buggy The Wasp could be the more combat-focused flying Buggy. Its egg should be considerably harder to obtain than a Bee Egg, potentially requiring players to enter a dangerous Wasp nest or fight through Wasps protecting the nesting area. Rather than focusing on hauling and construction, the Wasp could specialize in ranged aerial combat, stinger attacks, Poison or Venom buildup, aerial dodging, and faster combat-oriented movement. This would create an actual choice between the utility of the Bee and the combat abilities of the Wasp instead of making the Wasp simply a stronger Bee. Butterfly Buggy Butterflies could make an excellent Mage-style flying Buggy. Rather than focusing on hauling like the Bee or direct aerial combat like the Wasp, the Butterfly could specialize in elemental attacks, status effects, and support abilities. Its wings could release elemental dust or clouds. These could potentially interact with the existing elemental damage types, such as Fresh effects slowing or chilling enemies, Spicy effects burning them, Sour effects dealing elemental damage or applying debuffs, and Shock effects chaining between nearby targets. The Butterfly could have a lower health pool than more combat-oriented Buggies, encouraging players to stay mobile and use ranged abilities instead of flying directly into melee combat. I also think obtaining the Butterfly Buggy could be a little different while still keeping Grounded 2’s existing Buggy Egg system. Players could discover a specific Butterfly nesting area containing multiple chrysalises. Some could have a distinctive appearance indicating that they contain a Buggy Egg. Knocking one down could reveal or produce one of the game’s small, uniquely designed Butterfly Buggy Eggs. Nearby Butterflies could become hostile while the player is interfering with the chrysalis or carrying the egg away, fitting naturally with the defensive behavior creatures already have toward their young. If Moths are eventually added to Grounded 2, I think they could also fit naturally into this Mage-style Buggy design while having their own abilities or status effects instead of simply copying the Butterfly. Ranged Buggy Combat Behavior If ranged Buggies like Wasps and Butterflies are added, I think there should also be a simple setting controlling how a Buggy fights while the player isn’t mounted. Something like Engage and Keep Distance would work. Engage would allow the Buggy to aggressively approach enemies like current melee-oriented Buggies. Keep Distance would tell it to stay farther away whenever possible and prioritize ranged attacks. Buggies already have their own health pools, so a fragile ranged Buggy flying directly into melee range and getting killed would work against the entire purpose of having a ranged specialist. This option could also be useful for any future ground or aquatic Buggy with ranged abilities. Scorpion Buggy I would love a Scorpion Buggy centered around burrowing, ambushes, Venom, and combat. Rather than allowing players to freely destroy or tunnel through the map, the Scorpion could have a limited Burrow ability that works through valid dirt or soil surfaces. It could disappear underground for a short distance and then resurface, allowing it to escape combat, ambush enemies, uncover buried resources, cross dangerous areas, or potentially access special passages designed for burrowing creatures. The riding position could also be unique. Instead of sitting upright, the player could lie forward across the Scorpion’s armored body in a position similar to riding a sport motorcycle. This would keep the player tucked close against the Scorpion while burrowing and would leave the tail completely free to move and attack with the stinger. The combination of burrowing, repositioning, sudden attacks, and Venom could make the Scorpion an excellent Rogue-style Buggy, especially for players who enjoy setting up ambushes instead of simply charging directly into enemies. Diving Bell Spider Buggy I would also love to see a Diving Bell Spider Buggy as a dedicated aquatic specialist. Spider Buggies should naturally be able to cross the existing web bridges. Spiderlings and Wolf Spiders already use these bridges in the game, so this feels more like a general spider behavior than something that needs to belong to only one species. The Diving Bell Spider could be summoned both on land and underwater. Since its specialty would be aquatic movement, it could be slightly slower while traveling on land. In exchange, it could move extremely well underwater, fight both on land and underwater, walk across the surface of water, and transition directly from running across the surface into diving beneath it. Its special ability could also take inspiration from real diving bell spiders carrying air underwater. The Buggy could release or create an air bubble that refills nearby players’ oxygen meters. This would give multiplayer groups a mobile oxygen source for long underwater expeditions and make the Diving Bell Spider especially valuable for exploring submerged caves and gathering underwater resources. Giving Every Buggy a Purpose What I would really like to see is a future where choosing a Buggy is about choosing the right companion for what you’re planning to do rather than simply choosing whichever Buggy has the best stats. The roles could look something like: Bee: flight, hauling, mounted construction, and utility Wasp: Ranger-style ranged aerial combat Butterfly: Mage-style elemental attacks and support Scorpion: Rogue-style burrowing, Venom, repositioning, and ambushes Diving Bell Spider: underwater traversal, surface-water movement, underwater combat, and oxygen support Each new Buggy would add another useful tool to the player’s collection without making older Buggies obsolete. I would love for Grounded 2 to eventually reach a point where deciding which Buggy to bring on an expedition feels almost as meaningful as choosing your armor, weapons, mutations, and equipment.

I’d love to see small placeable statues or trophies for the Colossi creatures in Grounded 2. Since creatures like the Koi Fish, Garter Snake, Crow, and future Colossi can’t really be treated like normal bugs with stuffed versions or wall mounts, it would be really cool to have miniature versions of them as collectible decorations. Grounded 1 already had a Koi Fish Statue made out of acorns, so I think Grounded 2 could build on that idea and expand it into a full Colossi trophy collection. I’m imagining them being around the same general display size as Axl’s head/talon trophies, so players could make a dedicated Colossi display area in their base. For example: Mini Koi Fish statue Mini Garter Snake statue Mini Crow statue Mini statues for any future Colossi They could potentially unlock from PEEPing the creature, finding a special collectible, completing something related to that Colossus, or using materials associated with it like Koi Scales, Snake Scales, or Crow Feathers. I think it would give collectors and base builders a fun way to physically display the huge creatures they’ve discovered around the park, especially since Creature Cards are currently the main collectible tied to them. I’d personally put them next to my Axl trophies as a little Colossi collection, and I think they’d fit really well with Grounded 2’s existing trophy and decoration systems. Would love to see something like this added eventually!