Balance the Day, Night, and Skybox.
MycroftCanadaNS
Halifax Join Date: 2014-11-01 Member: 199263Members
Halifax Join Date: 2014-11-01 Member: 199263Members
Hi.
I was wondering two things...
#1: Would you folks be willing to change the settings for the length of the night? Reason being I don't think it lasts long enough to suit me. Maybe making night equal the daytime.
#2: Would also consider on changing the skybox? Maybe making much more alien in nature for instance adding in a planet which has rings around it, or adding in something that just would look interesting instead of the generic sort which it is now?
Just thinking guys.
I was wondering two things...
#1: Would you folks be willing to change the settings for the length of the night? Reason being I don't think it lasts long enough to suit me. Maybe making night equal the daytime.
#2: Would also consider on changing the skybox? Maybe making much more alien in nature for instance adding in a planet which has rings around it, or adding in something that just would look interesting instead of the generic sort which it is now?
Just thinking guys.
Comments
Not sure if the length of the current night cycle is going to change but I agree with you that it seems kind of short at the moment. The values for day / night are easy to adjust, so I'm sure we'll play around more with those settings. I do think that daytime should last longer then the night, though, whatever we end up with for the final lengths.
If you put sleep into the game, the player could just sleep to progress to his favorite day stage. Problem gone, allowing 10min day and 10min night.
Some space games use different time speeds for obvious reasons. Subnautica could do that to allow players diving all time at night or day (slow progression setting with 1 hour a day). A hotkey or button to switch the time progression. You could gather statistics of how many players like each progression or sleep to progress to a certain timeframe. I wonder which daytime and progression players would prefer if they had the choice.
EDIT:
I also would like to see creature behaviour change with nighttime.
I'd suggest half the timespan of day to be night and having a long sunset and sunrise period.
The problem with night is how much "night" do you want to have? The twilight is never really a good idea as "performance" players will just circumvent it via gamma / brightness - making the darkness itself obsolete.
That means the best way to implement it is to make it interesting. For example: rewarding.
As for players who do not want to have darkness:
This let's the player choose between stealth, defensive and offensive gameplay mechanics
Believe me making the night longer would push people to get their work done during the day, and have the night be something you just do not want to face without being in the cyclops, and even then it's a 50/50 chance of something not going quite right because of some unknown creature you haven't seen yet only comes out at night to feed.
Also by having the night cycle it would far more dangerous, and would have people scrambling when they see the "night is approaching", and they know they do not have all that much time to get back to their sub, or life boat.
It's all about fear of the unknown. Take the Movie Jaws, what scared me the most were the moments at night, man that terrified me to death not knowing whats is under the water, and you couldn't see what may just be lurking ten feet away in the dark.
I suggest that the dev team use this, and not squander the opportunity to turn this dream landscape into a nightmare at night.
Take the Humboldt Squid (Red Devil), they come at night, and they are the most terrifying bunch I have ever come across. These dang things will grab you, and pull down to have a good snack...Just the thought freaks me out.
Link: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/humbolt_squid
Cheers.
Thanks!
I feel I already covered your point with the squid by "•Let some deep sea creatures ascend during the night.", however, it shouldn't be too brutal. Yes, there are people out there that like the Amnesia type of mind boggling horror - but it doesn't contribute to the overall feel of the game - which is rather relaxing.
And I bet many will go home from work and find themselves actually relaxing with playing Subnautica.
I'd thus suggest to not generalize these mechanics to all biomes. Also I do not find it believable. What could a predator gain by simply attacking the player or the sub without them even being in the same food chain.
I'd love to see a lot of the life forms having defensive capabilities but not being after the player like a horde of zombies.
Hi.
My point being is that you don't want this game to be a Walt Disney experience, and this game can be heading in that direction if there is no fear to be had.
As far as it being Horror, real life is a horror, and beauty all in one package, same as in the game.
Now what I am speaking about is if you take a person who is not into camping, and you place them in that environment, and then when it reaches nightfall any noise it being a simple twig breaking or hearing a small shuffle will make their mind run wild of what it could be simply because you are now in a landscape your not familiar with which is why I think the developers need to do this otherwise all we will end up with is a game made for Walt Disney fans.
Also, I am a fan of military submarine simulators, and movies, and having noises such as creatures bumping into your cyclops, and having kelp slap the sides, and accidentally bumping into those floating rocks would scared the bejeepers out of me.
I think of the greatest sounds for immersion I have ever heard to help peak a persons imagination was in the movie Jaws when Squint, Brody, and Hooper were on the Orca, and just after squint finished telling his story a whale started to sing... Man that was a very memorable moment. One moment your taken into Quints WW2 story, then having it set in by the whale song, then wham.... It's all about immersion for me, and that right there says it all (for me).
Just my opinion.
I really like the nights in subnautica so far
Is that 20 minutes in game time or real time?
Cheers!