My 2 Cents

[WarrKing]

First off Obsidian, I would like to say I am loving the game.  Picked it up through Xbox Game Pass day one and instantly fell in love.  I have since purchased it on Steam, so that I can play cross play with my Fiancee, as well as have talked a few friends into picking it up as well. Keep up the great work, and I can't wait to see where the game goes.

That being said, so far there are two thoughts I have on the game, that I wanted to bring up:

The first may be a bit difficult to implement, as it may require a solid rework of the game's main structure, but I had the thought about digging/tunneling/landscaping.  Many bug's including one of the most iconic insects in the world (the ant) are known to burrow and/or tunnel underground, and when I first booted up the game, my very first thought was of the idea of an anthill.  In many sandbox-survival games, the ability to shape not just the plants and animals but the ground itself is fairly iconic, starting way back with Minecraft, and later being seen in titles such as No Man's Sky, Astroneer, and Terraria.  Obviously due to Max, Willow, Pete, and Hoops' new size digging and tunneling may not be as easy as it is in other games, but the ability to use a shovel to dig tunnels, or flatten land would not only bring the possibility of intricate, anthill like bases, but also the ability to flatten land to build upon easier, or to tackle obstacles in new and creative ways.  Balancing may be an issue, but requiring some sort of support structure, possibly built from weed stems, could be a good way to increase the work required to tunnel great distances.

 

The second idea would be easier to implement, and is more so just a small peeve of mine.  Other players may agree or disagree with me, but I have found myself falling from baseballs, grass blades, tall roots, strange machines, and all kinds of other miniature skyscrapers and have taken a considerable amount of damage in doing so.  I am aware of the use of dandelion seeds, and think that is very cute and clever, and would not want to remove that feature, but may bring up the idea of lowering the fall damage (or the scaling of it?)  In 1926, J.B.S. Haldane wrote an essay titled "On Being the Right Size" he explores the idea of the affect of proportions in the natural world, and in it writes a passage: "You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at the bottom it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes".  Ignoring the gruesome image of the poor horse, and focusing instead on eh other end of the spectrum, the smaller an animal is, such as a mouse, the lower their maximum velocity is, and therefore the less damage they would take from falling.  While I would never expect (or want) the complete removal of fall damage, perhaps it should be lessened, to help drive home how small the characters are?  If you were interested in reading the essay yourself, I will link it below.  (I recommend the read, I found it very interesting.)

 

Regardless,  Keep up the great work Obsidian.  I am excited to see what is next in the world of "Grounded"

 

 

http://www.phys.ufl.edu/courses/phy3221/spring10/HaldaneRightSize.pdf - On Being the Right Size, By J.B.S. Haldane