Content, building and action suggestions. + minor building issues

[Daedro]

Ok, so before anything else, loving the game so far. I've spent a majority of my in-game time building and testing the mechanics/physics of the game. Although I have enjoyed the story and game as a whole too, I think its far more important at the early stages of development to do this in any game where the developers have asked for our input (Thanks). I know a lot of people may have already made these suggestions (I've seen some mentioned) but its worth saying again anyway even if its just to give another thumbs up to the idea. This post may be a little long as its my first real one (culmination of a few weeks of ideas). Anyway, it would be nice to hear what the community itself thinks of the following:

 

First, I have a few suggestions for building components or actions which are currently unavailable:

1) Building component orientations - Building components that currently only have 4 orientations should be changed to 8 (triangle walls, floors, doors, stairs, scaffolds, roof sections). For example, its annoying to not be able to put a door on a diagonally placed wall/opening (or even place two inverted triangle walls as a door alternative). It is this same mechanic which hinders any attempt to build entire structures that are orientated diagonally. On this note - I would also like to see an angled scaffold , shaped like the roof section or stairs ( / ), so you can support platforms, like balconies, to buildings without having to build straight down. Or support a platform to the tree/ rock. Its more about the aesthetics and making something look genuinely supported, rather than having floating floors or messy scaffolding (You could also use them to neaten up any existing scaffolding).

2) Half walls - When snapping a wall onto a floor, it can be snapped along the edge of a square or, can be snapped halfway across to span half of two squares. The issue is that if you incorporate both methods into a build, you can never get the walls to connect/ build how you envisioned. The introduction of half walls would solve this and allow you to build more elaborately. You would also need a half roof section though (this could get problematic to implement if you consider 8 possible orientations or having half corner roof sections etc, unless they just altered their size like the wall sections do when snapped diagonally). 

3) Bounce Web Trajectories - I personally hate having long or bulky staircases so tend to create bounce web elevator systems to get up to any platform that I make. I successfully made an automated version (27 webs) where you only had to jump on the first one and the physics would take you to the top of the tower. However, apart from 3 occasions, my path was interrupted by a floor/wall, getting caught on the next bounce web too early (way up), or just the slightest deviation in how you have placed or jumped on the previous webs. Therefore, elevators can actually be really difficult to use. I would love to see the bounce webs have the option to set a trajectory.  That way, no matter how or where you jump on a bounce web (or what direction you are facing), you will always travel on the same path and will always land in the same place. I have fallen to my death so many times from unintentional bounces that lead to, well...anywhere but a safe landing zone . I still think this should only be optional. it just makes bouncing on them more efficient. I also believe that the bounce web should be resized so it can fit within 1 square. 

4) A pulley elevator - Bounce web elevator systems (and stairs) can take up a lot of space and resources depending on how you build them. As an alternative, I think you should be able to build a very simple pulley elevator. The basket itself could be made out of acorn tops/shells, with weed stems and woven fibre for the basket support. (maybe have bee fuzz or something inside for comfort). The idea is that you set up a pulley at ceiling height (made from animal parts - I don't know) with no floor below, and attach a rope made out of spider silk to the basket (1/2 spider silk for each level to the ground). You get in and can lower/raise the basket by pulling on the silk by directionally holding up or down. As it would only need to take up 1 square section, 1 or even 4 lifts wouldn't be problematic. Its a space-saving and resource-saving way of getting back down to the floor from a pre-existing platform. You could even add a skip action to this so you are just getting out of the basket at the end. 2 minute stair climbs are rarely fun.   

5) Palisade and Palisade gate height customisation -  As someone with experience building on uneven ground (such as across/over a rock), palisades are a particular annoyance to me. I love the artwork of the palisade itself but you can't always stack them. (even when you can they look ghastly .)  When placing on uneven ground they look messy and can actually just be impractical (i jumped over my single height palisade from the panel beside it because of the height difference). If you could independently alter the size of the left or right palisade post (extending the artwork) then you could match the height of the palisade either side of it, regardless of their ground positioning. Would look more like an effective defensive wall in my opinion. 

6) Potted plants and wall planter decorations - As a scientist, I can say that some of the most impressive and beautiful structures in the microscopic world are those of fungi. Obviously with the concept of you being small, it doesn't leave a lot of scope for plants and potted versions due to a scarcity of tiny flora in the natural world (unless we could somehow take a cutting of the different flowers that currently exist in game for novel mini versions). You can get around this problem with fungi. The variety, colour and shape of fungi could become great ways to implement new decorations and could also be used as ingredients for smoothies (basically just a content update to the simple mushroom). Even adding 4 extra mushroom types or something and allowing us to grow them in the mushroom gardens would be cool. 

7) A Raft/ Boat/ Canoe and paddle - This one is a little self-explanatory. Some sort of weed stem raft or something that you can control/move and haul objects across the top of water. Could also be an interesting way of attracting fish or pond creatures (dropping bits of food into the water from the boat).

 

Secondly, I am experiencing issues with the following: 

- Triangle floors blocking ascent on staircases (if they are orientated a certain way). This is the same issue as when walls behind staircases would block you from walking up. I still try to avoid placing walls behind stairs though (even though it looks better) because you essentially jump over it and the action isn't smooth.  

- When you recycle zip line anchors, the zip line itself is not deleted and floats in the air. You are unable to click on it or perform any actions/are forced to reload a previous save.

- I have broken the game again since the 26th August update in terms of building capacity and loading big builds (sorry!), I had nearly finished my creative build but it was taking 10 -15 seconds to place any panel and now I'm back to 1 - 2 hour unsuccessful load times (oops ).  

 

Finally, just two last points on what I think could be good considerations for future content or updates that have already been hinted at.

Tames (Bees in particular)- There seems to be a big debate about tames, particularly bees and riding them. Even as someone who likes to take the long route for experience (run through the grass) and not have a fast track flight from the shed to the berry bush, I can see the appeal. I would be interested to be able to ride a bee the way only a grounded player could, however, I'm really struggling to see a need for other tames in the game at all (even ladybug haulers etc). Bees are something that could easily be implemented (such as having a flight bar that you recharge with nectar which has been mentioned). There is a problem with this. If the stuffed bee is anything to go by, they are way too small (proportionally the size of the stuffed ants), to ride, or just to BEE a BEElievable-sized BEE  (sorry, couldn't help myself).  I think they should be scaled up to around bombardier size. Basically, I only think there is use in the bee but the way to get a bee tame should be difficult. For example, Have to gather level 3 resources to make a harness. That way, you at least have to spend a lot of time running through the grass and experiencing the game as it should be played before you upgrade to a bee to avoid the monotony of running the same routes everyday later in the game.  (the bee is therefore more of a reward for putting a lot of time and effort into the game).  

Weather - This is an absolute must for me and it opens up so many possibilities for new landscapes/environments, crafting materials/ weapons, and additions to the storyline. I think the weather should be randomised so, for example, there is a 1% chance of snow (which would remain on the ground for a few days and slowly melt away) 4% chance of lightning and a 20% chance of rain on any given day. Wind could be constant but alter in its strength. This give a huge element of surprise (unless we have a weather detector) and makes each player's experience unique. For lightning in particular, I thought that maybe there could be a toy or something in the sandbox which has been modified (by a previous explorer or scientist) so that every time that there is a lightning storm lightning strikes the sand and creates glass shards. Glass shards could be used to create panes for windows (or new types of window and doors), could create glass floors so that you could watch the bugs running around under your base. Glass could be also be used for decoration such as mirrors, advanced cutting tools, or burn traps (like we see with the magnifying glass). I'm excited to see what they do with weather but I hope they make a spectacle and a storyline of certain aspects. (First time you get to the sandbox, you get a cutscene with a brewing lightning storm and a side quest to visit the sandbox lab).

That's all I have for suggestions right now, but thanks for reading 

[McSquirl Nugget]

Love the ideas. many have been mentioned, so hopefully they're added before release.   just a few comments i have

36 minutes ago, Daedro said:

5) Palisade and Palisade gate height customisation -  As someone with experience building on uneven ground (such as across/over a rock), palisades are a particular annoyance to me. I love the artwork of the palisade itself but you can't always stack them. (even when you can they look ghastly .)  When placing on uneven ground they look messy and can actually just be impractical (i jumped over my single height palisade from the panel beside it because of the height difference). If you could independently alter the size of the left or right palisade post (extending the artwork) then you could match the height of the palisade either side of it, regardless of their ground positioning. Would look more like an effective defensive wall in my opinion. 

What if they had it so if the wall section beside the one being built was taller, it would make the top of that one and the one being built angled to match each other, if they're close enough in height for that.  I have a wall built unevenly like this, and some pieces are just shy of matching up, so i think angling those would make it look better.  

42 minutes ago, Daedro said:

- When you recycle zip line anchors, the zip line itself is not deleted and floats in the air.

We have zip lines?  where'd i miss those?

 

42 minutes ago, Daedro said:

Tames (Bees in particular)-

#NoTaming  

[Daedro]

23 minutes ago, McSquirl Nugget said:

1 hour ago, Daedro said:

5) Palisade and Palisade gate height customisation -  As someone with experience building on uneven ground (such as across/over a rock), palisades are a particular annoyance to me. I love the artwork of the palisade itself but you can't always stack them. (even when you can they look ghastly .)  When placing on uneven ground they look messy and can actually just be impractical (i jumped over my single height palisade from the panel beside it because of the height difference). If you could independently alter the size of the left or right palisade post (extending the artwork) then you could match the height of the palisade either side of it, regardless of their ground positioning. Would look more like an effective defensive wall in my opinion. 

What if they had it so if the wall section beside the one being built was taller, it would make the top of that one and the one being built angled to match each other, if they're close enough in height for that.  I have a wall built unevenly like this, and some pieces are just shy of matching up, so i think angling those would make it look better. 

Yes, exactly! I mean, I kind of explained the prehistoric version (manually altering the height rather than it automatically changing the size when snapping) but the end result is exactly the same. As long as you can have a nice looking palisade that is say, 2 squares high all the way round, and angled to compensate for the ground terrain, I would tend to use them more. 

 

23 minutes ago, McSquirl Nugget said:

We have zip lines?  where'd i miss those?

well I know for sure that they are in creative mode but I actually haven't played the other game modes since the update. I placed in 1 zip line anchor but didn't understand how they would work, so added 1 next to it. When you connect them it generates the line but, It made a horrible bendy line (corkscrew) and when I deleted both the anchors, I was left with the line. I actually haven't tried anything else with them or don't know if you can even use them yet. Didn't get round to it but still want to test the physics. 

 

23 minutes ago, McSquirl Nugget said:

#NoTaming  

Yeah yeah! Lol. I knew you'd have something to say about that bit . I'm more leaning towards #NoTaming rather than #Taming, but I felt this is somewhat of a compromise for everyone. #BeesOnly

[McSquirl Nugget]

2 minutes ago, Daedro said:

well I know for sure that they are in creative mode but I actually haven't played the other game modes since the update. I placed in 1 zip line anchor but didn't understand how they would work, so added 1 next to it. When you connect them it generates the line but, It made a horrible bendy line (corkscrew) and when I deleted both the anchors, I was left with the line. I actually haven't tried anything else with them or don't know if you can even use them yet. Didn't get round to it but still want to test the physics. 

that explains it.  i've not done much with creative mode.