DLC, Ideas and Quality of Life

[Adranus1984]

Intro
After having played Grounded only just 7 days (game time) since the 1.0 release I've loved every single minute of it. I played Solo on survival (Medium difficulty I think) and when watching some YouTube videos from other players (Mediocre Milton, JadeCraft, Sir Sim-slot etc) there have been a few things I think the game needs. I have completed the main campaign and currently collecting gold creature cards and building bases around the yard for when we get some new DLC.  

Now to the Juicy stuff...

Ideas

Bugs
The variety of bugs in the game is awesome and after seeing some of the potential cut content there are a couple of bugs that I think would work really well.

Stick Insects - They could be a nice addition to the lower or upper yard, since the size of them could be large in comparison to the player they could be menacing and could hide on the branches or plants and get agro when you're near.

Wasps - This was something that looked like it was cut and understandably since they can be aggressive but could be cool as a hidden dungeon type area with a next being put on the tree or up on the blue tarpaulin. The issue would be the amount of them and them flying around but could be cool to have a nest.

Frogs - Now these might not be creatures we can kill but similar to the Koi fish they could be leaping around the pond and potentially cause havoc on bases or get agro if you go near any of them. If we can kill them it would be cool to get some new armour that improves jumping height or swimming.

Caterpillar - Again similar to the frog this could be something just around the garden to give it some extra. If we can kill it then again we could have some sort of mutation like the caterpillar does when turning into a butterfly.

Butterflies - Just something else to be flying around the air that doesn't want to stab you like the mosquito

Grasshoppers - These could be a cool addition and like the frogs when killing we could get some unique armour that lets us jump higher making the game have more verticality meaning the game doesn't have to stay in the one back yard but more on that later  

Beetles - I guess depending on where the garden is set you can have a whole range of beetles but something different to kill and with a whole range of unique colours.

Quality of Life
The game does a great job in guiding players through the garden but for those that are familiar with survival, games that have RPG elements where different builds offer different things we're used to seeing certain things and here are some suggestions.

Mutation Phase Info - Right now when you unlock a mutation some have 3 phases, each phase obviously gives you a different value with that mutation but there is no indication on the percentage or dp it gives. Having a small bit of info at the bottom that says...

Mutation Name
Phase 1 - 10% buff
Kill 20 more (bug name) for Phase 2

or something like that.

Damage Numbers - In most RPGs you see the amount of damage you're doing to the enemy so we could have this as an option for players who actually want to see the damage being dealt like traditional RPGs.

Map Markers - When you discover landmarks or key areas on the map the icon is shown on the map, for me this should be similar to Milk Molars, SCA.B's and Raw Science. Once you've found the location it can show up on the map until you collect it then it's gone. Reason for this is that there is no way to actually track which molars you've collected.

Bug Attack Info - Currently and I could be wrong because I don't have access to the game when writing this but I don't think the creature cards tell you what types of damage the bugs do once you scan them. They tell you weaknesses and resistance but knowing what damage they deal will also allow those players who do go to certain areas with certain gear to better prepare  

Some New Things
The game as mentioned has a lot of variety in what you can do with the game when it comes to base building parts, armour and weapons but I've got some other ideas.

Weather - We already know that weather effects are going to be added at some point as it's been on the feature board but I want to go a little deeper with this.

Snow
1. The pond could freeze over and we can break the ice to get through, once inside the water is colder so we also need to worry about temp as well as air.
2. The garden itself will be harder as ice will form on certain plants, the snow can cover a lot of it if it's a thick snow layer meaning traversal could be fun trying to work your way through the snow. You might not get as many bugs flying out in the snow or travelling but being out in it could allow other materials to be farmed like Frozen items 

Rain/Storms
1. The garden could have more flooded areas until the rain dries out, also if your base isn't elevated it could start taking damage from the mud and things moving in the garden through the rain. With this we could fashion little boats to travel to perhaps new areas that could be added.
2. If it's a storm you'd obviously have lightning that could strike your base or even you as a player. The field of view could also be reduced due to the storm being so bad which adds another dynamic to the game.

Hail
1. hailstorms could just be another weather effect that can cause a lot of damage to not only you but bugs also considering the hail will be considerably bigger.

Armour Customisation - We're in the back garden and it's super colourful, it would be cool to be able to perhaps go collect certain things that we can then make dye and recolour our armour. It's a simple thing and doesn't really offer any game value except it looks cool and for those in multi-player doing challenges and Whoa they could all look the same with cool coloured gear based on the builds and sets they like. Almost like a transmog for your armour but colour also.

Base Building Free Cam- Right now base building is sooo much fun, after playing No Mans Sky for over 450 hours the one thing I think Grounded needs is a free cam base build. If you have the materials also then instead of having to climb to the top of that tower you're creating you can actually build from within free cam.  Even if the base part needs stems or grass you can hold them on your character and still build in free cam. Now this might change the immersion a little because it was funny trying to build a tower and your parkour skills failed and you fell to your death or into a bunch of spiders but would make building easier.

Underground Base Building- So a lot of the labs are underground, it would be cool if there was a way we could do similar and build these cool bases underground. With that we could introduce the worry of the weather above or worms causing damage but this is just a crazy idea and not something I'd do a lot of as there is soo much to see up top. 

Base Blueprints - So this is going into more of what I think would be cool for DLC but for those who have completed the game and really ventured into the labs they have cool shrunken down beds, cooler workbenches etc Obviously this tech is from Ominent but would be cool if there was a way we could make similar or get similar by perhaps stealing materials from the other labs or something along those lines.

Mounts and Flight - So traversal is fun in the game, getting around can be great but once you're in the end game and building bases you want to get to sides of the garden to farm materials quicker.  I think it would be cool to have perhaps an Ant as a mount, if Ominent have the little beeping thing on its head to control it then why can't we hack that and then control the ant? I know there was talk of pheromones and being able to control the ants that way which would be awesome.

Other things for better traversal would be a more solid version of the Tuft, I know there was like a clover glider or something like that from the stuff I have seen but why not build like a wing suit from the moth wings and allow you to glide? this would mean you need to be high up to take full advantage of being able to travel the whole garden but it's a faster glider than the tuft and something cool.

DLC Ideas and How it Could Work
So the whole idea of the game is to survive the backyard and grow big and go home. Now once this Is done people might be wondering how could DLC or more content be added to the game, I have some ideas of my own

New Garden - During the game it mentions that other kids have gone missing, with the main 4 kids being shrunk down against their own will we could make it that in the DLC they choose to be shrunk again and therefor more prepared as they're working alongside Wendell to try and stop Ominent. I won't spoil the good ending or bad ending but those who know both will know how this could work.

If we're more prepared and we know that Ominent are up to no good like all evil organisations then it could mean we venture into a whole new garden because we know they've been kidnapping kids again meaning a whole new area even if it's the neighbours garden. We could have more tech since we're working alongside Wendell meaning cooler armour, similar base building options like the labs as well as cool tech suits and abilities that make building, traversing different.

Another way we could introduce a new garden is to have the kids similar to above shrink down because there was something lost in the undershed, when they go down and into the sinkhole, a rain storm hits and flushes them away down the pipes and they end up elsewhere. Yeah it would be a little convenient if they managed to end up somewhere that happened to have shrunken labs but the pipes could have been how Ominent transported things from Garden to Garden.

The Shed - I know there was a leak of the shed but as some of the content creators I mentioned above have stated in their videos this could just have been a dumping ground for all the assets but I think actually going into the shed is a cool idea for easy DLC for now until a new Garden or area is opened with story content.

The shed could be introduced as Wendell may have a different version or an earlier model of the SPAC.R in there and he was using that with limited resources. Or we could just make it that Ominent knew what he was doing and took full advantage and setup base in the shed without him knowing. A whole world of possibilities in that shed.


There are tonnes more things I have ideas for but this is a massive read for anyone that does chose to do so so thank you if you've got this far haha.

Might see you in game 
Cheers

[guijurgensen]

In addition to the awesome bug choices you have listed, I would like to bring up a Dragonfly as an option as well. Dragonflies have one of the highest kill rates in the animal kingdom (something upwards of 90% success rate), meaning this would be a serious fight. It could even work as a roaming enemy like a dragon in fantasy games, fitting its name really well.
Other bugs (well not actual bugs I suppose) that could be very scary but cool to fight would be scorpions and centipedes!

[Adranus1984]

16 hours ago, guijurgensen said:

In addition to the awesome bug choices you have listed, I would like to bring up a Dragonfly as an option as well. Dragonflies have one of the highest kill rates in the animal kingdom (something upwards of 90% success rate), meaning this would be a serious fight. It could even work as a roaming enemy like a dragon in fantasy games, fitting its name really well.
Other bugs (well not actual bugs I suppose) that could be very scary but cool to fight would be scorpions and centipedes!

Yeah Centipedes and Dragonflies would be so cool. Scorpions maybe not since of the location of hte garden and them maybe not being so common but I guess it depends on where in the world the Garden is.

I was thinking about it a couple of nights ago but Grass Hoppers would be cool also or Crickets.

I am looking forward to seeing what else comes in and I've been gathering soo much resources to build my central tower and base ready for reaching the whole garden.