Vampyroteuthis' Big Suggestions and Bug Thread - Part 3: Suggestions Part 2
Vampyroteuthis
Austria Join Date: 2015-06-25 Member: 205777Members
Austria Join Date: 2015-06-25 Member: 205777Members
Dear Unknown Worlds Team;
First things first; I'm very, very glad that I've picked up Subnautica. It speaks to the Science Fiction love as well as the (sadly long dormant) diver in me, a game that has exploration, survival and (to a degree) world-building. It is fun, it is mysterious and eerie - it is fantastic. I look forward to future contents and would like to contribute to the development of this game. What follows is a collection of things that I notice while playing the game, from bugs to niggles to suggestions. It's a big list that is worth the read, specifically aimed at the developers, but I'm open to critique or explaining details to anybody.
Edit: I had to break this into multiple parts as the Forum won't allow for longer posts.
They are in order:
Part One (Bugs/Niggles part1): http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/138022/vampyroteuthis-big-suggestions-and-bug-thread-part-i-bugs-niggles?new=1
The Second (Niggles part2/Suggestions part 1): http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/138023/vampyroteuthis-big-suggestions-and-bug-thread-part-2-niggles-and-suggestions?new=1
The Third (This one) (Suggestions part 2)
====
previously:
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/138023/vampyroteuthis-big-suggestions-and-bug-thread-part-2-niggles-and-suggestions?new=1
========
C) Suggestions: (cont.)
f) Base:
1) Ability to use Items in Lockers attached to Building/Cyclops at Fabricator: This would make it unnecessary to always check all lockers before going to the fabricator - all resources in containers attached to the base can be used from the fabricator. (http://i.imgur.com/FVGOHRq.jpg - Mock-up)
2) Outdoor Floodlights: Install a floodlight on the outside of a corridor or room, then 'sit behind it' like mounting the Seamoth, point it in the direction you want and 'dismount', leaving the floodlight shining in that direction. Uses 1/5th of a Solar Panel per floodlight (or power from an accumulator room or Power generator, see C-g-3)
3) Titanium plating on top of Corridors/X-Corridors: Reinforced plating for structural integrity always comes at the cost of the beautiful sea-view , unless part of the base is built against a cliff. (Which I've done, just for that purpose). A reinforced panel on top/bottom of a tile or the round side of a connector would make it easier to build bases from which to look out of and enjoy the view.
4) Mapping tool based on Beacons: This and the next entry are closely related. A simple mapping tool could be given to the player, who, if equipped (a PDA tab for instance) can see beacons and ships on a basic rectangle, as well as their distance from each other and his current position. The map would zoom out to the furthest beacon and show a grid. (Zoom-inable perhaps.)
5) Mapping room and sonar tool: This would be a dedicated room in a base, or a small version place-able on the Cyclops. A green projected 3-D map, scrollable and moveable, but all the dark spaces need to be filled out. This is where the sonar comes in, beginning with a small sonar pistol, able to scan only a tiny area. The better version can be put on the Seamoth via upgrade (see C-D-2), culminating in the Cyclops or Titan, taking some energy for running the scan and activateable through vehicle tab - PDA (HUD actually). Bringing these scans back to the base when docking automatically updates the map in the maproom with all scans collected.
6) Floorwindows: This is the smallest of the window suggestions. The ability to put a window like the side-windows in the bottom slot of corridors.
7) Double broad window: A bigger version of the window, double the width, 3 glass to build.
8) Building a window on side/top/bottom of Corridor makes the window go all around: As mentioned earlier, looking through windows is a bit problematic as they are very low in comparison to the player. This could be resolved by either the windows joining up if built all around a corridor, or alternatively by introducing reinforced glass corridors that can be built directly and only feature metal at the connector points and maybe a slim strut on 4 'corners'. This would allow to make beautiful walkways akin to some of the seaworlds. I tried to create a whale-observatory close to three Reefbacks that live near my second base, but looking at (and for) them is always fraught with the problem of trying to see past the basic corridor. The environments are the definite strongsuit of this game, they should be brought to the front.
9) Big glass observatories: This is the conclusion of the above suggestions: A big room, maybe a dome or a full sphere, accessable through corridors and allowing the player to stand and watch the Reefbacks swim by, or take his/her time in watching the Stalkers vying for food or status.
10) Farming: This could be small or big farms or Aquariums, allowing the diver to breed, grow, cultivate, cross and culture anything from bacteria to algae to fish to maybe some resources. There could also be an outside-version or a ranch (see C-a-3) using laserbarriers or sound or gravitational barriers to keep animals in check. A lot of possibilities and middle to endgame content.
11) Integrity display for Bases: Next to energy, it'd be nice to have a constant HUD element showing the current bases' integrity.
12) Signs/colouring Base: being able to find your way about bases would be a nice idea, a simple sign attachable to the walls could help with that. Colouring the base is another possibility (f.e. blue-striped corridors leading to the observatory, red to the power generators, green to the farms, etc, etc.)
13) Construction Hangar: A big hangar that takes over for the Builder, a massive hangar that can be used to build submarines and moveable hab-units and similar.
14) Half-platforms 1x2: When creating a framework for a line of corridors to run along, a smaller platform of 1x2 instead of 2x2 would look better.
15) Docking allows transfer of items: Mentioned in C-d-1, this system would allow all docked vessels' storage containers to be accessed while connected and moving items from one to the other. A tab on the PDA or Base/Ship HUD could have the current inventory on the one and the docked inventory on the other hand, a renameable header showing the containers (and filterbuttons allowing to hide full or empty inventories, filter by resource, tools or equipment) and activating them on both sides lets you transfer items. The list could be a the name of the container and the items below, shrunken to 1 line until the container is clicked. (http://i.imgur.com/FVGOHRq.jpg - Mock-up)
16) x/x on storage: On the label of a locker and on its name in the PDA a number on the end could indicate how many slots the storage still has. In the above idea it would be sensible to have a header at the top with the total of used/open slots of the base or ship. (http://i.imgur.com/FVGOHRq.jpg - Mock-up)
17) Rework Base pressure and breaking: This is an awesome feature, it really adds a lot to the game. I'd suggest a few tweaks - the total structural integrity would need to at least the depth the lowest piece of the base is constructed in. The entry of water should take a little longer - enough time to run with a welder and fix the problem or to build one or two reinforcements. at the moment there is barely any warning before the base cracks open like an egg. making a structure free-float too far should probably bear the possibility of it breaking off - especially when built above water. Every 10 or 15 corridors could require a platform (see C-F-14 and A-11 and B-28). There could also be a 'danger zone' that isn't indicated but can lead to a problem later on. Example: The player builds a base at 160 metres depth. He will need special corridors/rooms that take titanium ingots (or if he builds deeper even harder things, like discoverable diamondium corridors that provide enough integrity points) so the total integrity is at least 160. If he builds another window and falls under 160, leaks and cracks open up, the base goes on alert and he has to put in some more plating (like he does at the moment, then repair the base with the welder to drain it). However if he leaves the base between 160 and 180 integrity, the base will degenerate at 1 point of integrity per 20 minutes. Only a proper reinforced base can withstand the high pressures, making it necessary to have a hangover of in this case at least 20 (to a total of 181) points. (Admittedly this would mean there have to be way stronger corridors and rooms then there are now, but a big part of the game is going ever deeper and surviving in ever higher pressure zones. It should however be possible to reach extreme depths and build viable bases down there, even if it takes a lot of farming. The game needs goals, even if they are self-imposed.)
18) Alternative Power: Powering bases by solar panel is all good and well, unless you build one down in a cave where the sun never shines. Maybe a room for power cells or a generator room (see c-i-3) for those bases that will never be able to make use of the sun to power them.
---
g) Vehicles
1) Groundcrawler vehicle: Only a little bigger than the Seamoth, this tracked crawler is slow but has grippers that allow it to pick up stuff, and can withstand even extreme depths.
2) Titan Submarine and Base deployer: The Titan is enormous, can take 2 Seamoths, an Exosuit and deployable Hab-units or a Cyclops (or deep-sea vehicles) at the same time. The original should have been driven out of the bottom of the Aurora but it got crushed when the vessel crashed onto the seafloor. It can be reconstructed with high grade materials (predominately diamond-infused titanium and glass and perverse amounts of computer-parts). It has its own mapping room, six sleeping quarters, a laboratory, two storages and features a dock/observatory that can hold the mentioned subs, perform repairs and has a huge glass bubble. It is capable of reaching a depth of 2.5km. Creating this will be a very late game goal but necessary to reach the deepest parts of the map. It also features a generator (see C-h-3) which takes a lot of materials to build. It is very much a swimming base, with all the comforts and then some, meant to reach the pure blackness and stay there. (http://i.imgur.com/3gEIT87.jpg - Quick sketch of a possible Titan layout)
---
h) Game-Mechanics
1) Coop: Swimming around the ocean and watching beautiful surroundings, meeting strange alien fish and swim in terror from giant alien fish is all well and fun, but you can build a base the size of the Aurora - a survival/world-building game is a lot like a model-train hobby. Spending all that time and effort on building your dreamcastle will have been worth it, if you find one guy that knows how hard it is and applauds your creation. Playing with two or four people (eight at the most) takes a bit from the eeriness and dread of the unknown as you swim out into the blue, but having a couple of friends to build and swim around with would bring its own reward. Something to think about. Also there are two seats on the Escape Pod
2) 6 Slots / additional slots via shift 1-5: An additional slot or maybe switching through slot-sets with shift 1-5 would make going into the inventory to switch the hotkeys of the items carried obsolete. A couple of tools will be the players personal choice he's carrying by default and others he only needs for a short while (which auto-add to the bar which is well done.) - just a bit more space would be nice. Also it might be sensible to switch through them with the mousewheel.
3) Map Generator: Replay value is a bit stifled by a static map. Just a point to think about.
4) Storms: Every couple of days a chance for tropical storms and massive waves could make it very desirable to be in a base deep under the sea. Over the sea and shallow bases shouldn't be destroyed but need a good deal of repairing after being exposed to a storm. Being above 15 metres depth during a storm will whirl the diver around, crashing him into anything in the way and causing damage. This could start occurring one or two in-game weeks after fixing the Aurora to give the players enough time to be prepared for the storm season.
---
i) Game-story
1) Aurora exploration: After the Aurora has cooled down (see B-35), maybe after the first storm (C-g-4) more parts of the ship become accessible - destroyed cryochambers, quarters, laboratories, maybe the cockpit. Exploring the back-part (and maybe the nose with enough air supplies) would make for an intriguing possibility. Finding Log-entries, traces of peoples' lives, PDA's with emails and similar (and probably more than a few bodies/burnt down skeletons) while bumbling through a dark and creaking ship could crank up the creep factor quite a bit. Searching through the nose of the ship (AI telling the diver that a signal emanates from there, maybe including a craftable tracker and a warning message that a lot of air will be sensible to bring. There might be some air-pockets inside to make it possible to get through the nose, but it would be a lot like cave diving.) might offer an even more interesting view of the disaster.
2) More landmarks besides Aurora: When breaking the surface, gasping for air there is usually only one landmark that the player can discern to orient himself around: The Aurora. When you start putting down beacons you start getting a feel for the place, but either the world is meant to remind us of Kevin Costner in Water World or we are just lucky enough to have landed in the biggest ocean of the planet. Being able to glimpse the outline of the floating island or a big black cloud where the volcano castle is going to be might give even early players a need to explore more. And give them the ability to orient themselves better, with more than one point of reference.
3) Alternate Energy Sources: Having to build dozens of power packs for the Cyclops gets old fast, especially with quartz being so rare. Running out of energy while driving along somewhere in the depths is frightening, thus I built a locker on each side of the engine and filled them both up with power packs. A late-game incentive might be to create reactors that run the Cyclops and the bases a lot more efficiently and can be used to recharge batteries and build/sustain the future content (Like fridges, docks and farm-fences ;D). This could include an update system as well - in the beginning upgrading the Cyclops from battery power to nuclear (requires radioactive resource) to hydrogen (requires collector or mining) to darkmatter and similar generatoriums for the bases. Research and improvement from the materials at hand could become a more pronounced part of the game.
*) Survivors or Sentient Aliens: Late, late, late-game content. After having constructed your bases, mined, collected, hunted and survived enough to build the Titan (C-f-2), the AI will tell the player that for some time it has now monitored a strangely regular signal that will require a special module built to track down. As the diver descends into the utter darkness, only illuminated by the floodlights of the Titan, the AI becomes more lively and informs him that the signal is the emergency beacon from an Escape Pod. Then as even the Titan begins to creak, 2 kilometres under the sea, bleeping messages warn of the pressure outside and still the beacon points downwards. Suddenly a strange noise rips through the absolute silence down here, and before the player a valley opens up, bioluminescent light illuminating the endless night. Within minutes bizarre armoured aliens converge around the sub, curiously looking at it, beating a hasty retreat if approached. Shining Eyes blink (gives them expression. Maybe have 'eyebrows' as well. For all six eyes.) as the head-parts tilt slightly while looking at the strange object, long bioluminescent tentacles start carefully touching the surface of the craft, only to quickly retract. If the player starts actively bumping into or shooting stasis/repulsor guns at the aliens, they'll beat a hasty retreat and observe him from a further distance - if he attacks one with a knife they'll start flocking the diver and wrestle the knife from him before grabbing and dragging him into a cell with energy bars. If the player is as curious as the armoured things, they'll start coming closer and finally attempt communication. The communicate by biolumiescent rows of dots along their sides, flashing them in basic, repeating patterns. if the player goes and gets a lamp and tries to turn it on and off a couple times they'll get very excited, bobbing up and down and flashing their side-lines faster. The AI will start analysing and after a while and random flashing of the players' lamp (maybe the AI can instruct the player to flash a certain number of times) it will start translating for the aliens. The call themselves Nuori and will be glad to show the player around their city, hewn into the rock and created from great plants that thrive in the black smoker funnels. They evolved close to the surface and reached a high level of technology, but when the sun expanded to its current size (nice for humans, bad for the Nuori) they had to move deeper and deeper into the pitch black of the abyss. They will tell stories to the traveller and start to trade with him for the precious resources from close to the surface. They can come up to a depth of 500 metres, but rarely do so any more. They did indeed find the other Escape Pod on which one other crewmember survived but is now in a stasis field they erected because they did not know how to treat his wounds. They can show the diver genetic technologies that will allow him to become impervious to pressure and give him dark vision (by settling a colony of bioluminescent bacteria, the same way the Nuoris eyes work). Overall they could be a strange and wonderful people to get to know, akin to some of the strange beings in Outcast - inhuman but interesting in their being. Another option would be for them to be sharing their living space with a second species - looking more like humans but less likeable, the strange and eerie things more human than the beautiful ones. There is a lot of possibilities the Alien/Survivor idea could develop and certainly a very big opportunity for wonderful, strange, beautiful and glowing creatures in the least plausible of places.
========
Here's the link to the album with all Mock-ups and Screenshots of bugs/suggestions/improvements: http://imgur.com/a/8rKeh#0
That's the lot, thanks for reading. Maybe some of the suggestions resonate with you; I'll be adding more as I continue playing the game.
Have a good day and continue on your awesome path!
PS.: Do you have any openings? If you're in need of a creative madman, QA-Tester or Localizer, drop me a PN.
Yours Faithfully;
Vampyroteuthis
First things first; I'm very, very glad that I've picked up Subnautica. It speaks to the Science Fiction love as well as the (sadly long dormant) diver in me, a game that has exploration, survival and (to a degree) world-building. It is fun, it is mysterious and eerie - it is fantastic. I look forward to future contents and would like to contribute to the development of this game. What follows is a collection of things that I notice while playing the game, from bugs to niggles to suggestions. It's a big list that is worth the read, specifically aimed at the developers, but I'm open to critique or explaining details to anybody.
Edit: I had to break this into multiple parts as the Forum won't allow for longer posts.
They are in order:
Part One (Bugs/Niggles part1): http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/138022/vampyroteuthis-big-suggestions-and-bug-thread-part-i-bugs-niggles?new=1
The Second (Niggles part2/Suggestions part 1): http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/138023/vampyroteuthis-big-suggestions-and-bug-thread-part-2-niggles-and-suggestions?new=1
The Third (This one) (Suggestions part 2)
====
previously:
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/138023/vampyroteuthis-big-suggestions-and-bug-thread-part-2-niggles-and-suggestions?new=1
========
C) Suggestions: (cont.)
f) Base:
1) Ability to use Items in Lockers attached to Building/Cyclops at Fabricator: This would make it unnecessary to always check all lockers before going to the fabricator - all resources in containers attached to the base can be used from the fabricator. (http://i.imgur.com/FVGOHRq.jpg - Mock-up)
2) Outdoor Floodlights: Install a floodlight on the outside of a corridor or room, then 'sit behind it' like mounting the Seamoth, point it in the direction you want and 'dismount', leaving the floodlight shining in that direction. Uses 1/5th of a Solar Panel per floodlight (or power from an accumulator room or Power generator, see C-g-3)
3) Titanium plating on top of Corridors/X-Corridors: Reinforced plating for structural integrity always comes at the cost of the beautiful sea-view , unless part of the base is built against a cliff. (Which I've done, just for that purpose). A reinforced panel on top/bottom of a tile or the round side of a connector would make it easier to build bases from which to look out of and enjoy the view.
4) Mapping tool based on Beacons: This and the next entry are closely related. A simple mapping tool could be given to the player, who, if equipped (a PDA tab for instance) can see beacons and ships on a basic rectangle, as well as their distance from each other and his current position. The map would zoom out to the furthest beacon and show a grid. (Zoom-inable perhaps.)
5) Mapping room and sonar tool: This would be a dedicated room in a base, or a small version place-able on the Cyclops. A green projected 3-D map, scrollable and moveable, but all the dark spaces need to be filled out. This is where the sonar comes in, beginning with a small sonar pistol, able to scan only a tiny area. The better version can be put on the Seamoth via upgrade (see C-D-2), culminating in the Cyclops or Titan, taking some energy for running the scan and activateable through vehicle tab - PDA (HUD actually). Bringing these scans back to the base when docking automatically updates the map in the maproom with all scans collected.
6) Floorwindows: This is the smallest of the window suggestions. The ability to put a window like the side-windows in the bottom slot of corridors.
7) Double broad window: A bigger version of the window, double the width, 3 glass to build.
8) Building a window on side/top/bottom of Corridor makes the window go all around: As mentioned earlier, looking through windows is a bit problematic as they are very low in comparison to the player. This could be resolved by either the windows joining up if built all around a corridor, or alternatively by introducing reinforced glass corridors that can be built directly and only feature metal at the connector points and maybe a slim strut on 4 'corners'. This would allow to make beautiful walkways akin to some of the seaworlds. I tried to create a whale-observatory close to three Reefbacks that live near my second base, but looking at (and for) them is always fraught with the problem of trying to see past the basic corridor. The environments are the definite strongsuit of this game, they should be brought to the front.
9) Big glass observatories: This is the conclusion of the above suggestions: A big room, maybe a dome or a full sphere, accessable through corridors and allowing the player to stand and watch the Reefbacks swim by, or take his/her time in watching the Stalkers vying for food or status.
10) Farming: This could be small or big farms or Aquariums, allowing the diver to breed, grow, cultivate, cross and culture anything from bacteria to algae to fish to maybe some resources. There could also be an outside-version or a ranch (see C-a-3) using laserbarriers or sound or gravitational barriers to keep animals in check. A lot of possibilities and middle to endgame content.
11) Integrity display for Bases: Next to energy, it'd be nice to have a constant HUD element showing the current bases' integrity.
12) Signs/colouring Base: being able to find your way about bases would be a nice idea, a simple sign attachable to the walls could help with that. Colouring the base is another possibility (f.e. blue-striped corridors leading to the observatory, red to the power generators, green to the farms, etc, etc.)
13) Construction Hangar: A big hangar that takes over for the Builder, a massive hangar that can be used to build submarines and moveable hab-units and similar.
14) Half-platforms 1x2: When creating a framework for a line of corridors to run along, a smaller platform of 1x2 instead of 2x2 would look better.
15) Docking allows transfer of items: Mentioned in C-d-1, this system would allow all docked vessels' storage containers to be accessed while connected and moving items from one to the other. A tab on the PDA or Base/Ship HUD could have the current inventory on the one and the docked inventory on the other hand, a renameable header showing the containers (and filterbuttons allowing to hide full or empty inventories, filter by resource, tools or equipment) and activating them on both sides lets you transfer items. The list could be a the name of the container and the items below, shrunken to 1 line until the container is clicked. (http://i.imgur.com/FVGOHRq.jpg - Mock-up)
16) x/x on storage: On the label of a locker and on its name in the PDA a number on the end could indicate how many slots the storage still has. In the above idea it would be sensible to have a header at the top with the total of used/open slots of the base or ship. (http://i.imgur.com/FVGOHRq.jpg - Mock-up)
17) Rework Base pressure and breaking: This is an awesome feature, it really adds a lot to the game. I'd suggest a few tweaks - the total structural integrity would need to at least the depth the lowest piece of the base is constructed in. The entry of water should take a little longer - enough time to run with a welder and fix the problem or to build one or two reinforcements. at the moment there is barely any warning before the base cracks open like an egg. making a structure free-float too far should probably bear the possibility of it breaking off - especially when built above water. Every 10 or 15 corridors could require a platform (see C-F-14 and A-11 and B-28). There could also be a 'danger zone' that isn't indicated but can lead to a problem later on. Example: The player builds a base at 160 metres depth. He will need special corridors/rooms that take titanium ingots (or if he builds deeper even harder things, like discoverable diamondium corridors that provide enough integrity points) so the total integrity is at least 160. If he builds another window and falls under 160, leaks and cracks open up, the base goes on alert and he has to put in some more plating (like he does at the moment, then repair the base with the welder to drain it). However if he leaves the base between 160 and 180 integrity, the base will degenerate at 1 point of integrity per 20 minutes. Only a proper reinforced base can withstand the high pressures, making it necessary to have a hangover of in this case at least 20 (to a total of 181) points. (Admittedly this would mean there have to be way stronger corridors and rooms then there are now, but a big part of the game is going ever deeper and surviving in ever higher pressure zones. It should however be possible to reach extreme depths and build viable bases down there, even if it takes a lot of farming. The game needs goals, even if they are self-imposed.)
18) Alternative Power: Powering bases by solar panel is all good and well, unless you build one down in a cave where the sun never shines. Maybe a room for power cells or a generator room (see c-i-3) for those bases that will never be able to make use of the sun to power them.
---
g) Vehicles
1) Groundcrawler vehicle: Only a little bigger than the Seamoth, this tracked crawler is slow but has grippers that allow it to pick up stuff, and can withstand even extreme depths.
2) Titan Submarine and Base deployer: The Titan is enormous, can take 2 Seamoths, an Exosuit and deployable Hab-units or a Cyclops (or deep-sea vehicles) at the same time. The original should have been driven out of the bottom of the Aurora but it got crushed when the vessel crashed onto the seafloor. It can be reconstructed with high grade materials (predominately diamond-infused titanium and glass and perverse amounts of computer-parts). It has its own mapping room, six sleeping quarters, a laboratory, two storages and features a dock/observatory that can hold the mentioned subs, perform repairs and has a huge glass bubble. It is capable of reaching a depth of 2.5km. Creating this will be a very late game goal but necessary to reach the deepest parts of the map. It also features a generator (see C-h-3) which takes a lot of materials to build. It is very much a swimming base, with all the comforts and then some, meant to reach the pure blackness and stay there. (http://i.imgur.com/3gEIT87.jpg - Quick sketch of a possible Titan layout)
---
h) Game-Mechanics
1) Coop: Swimming around the ocean and watching beautiful surroundings, meeting strange alien fish and swim in terror from giant alien fish is all well and fun, but you can build a base the size of the Aurora - a survival/world-building game is a lot like a model-train hobby. Spending all that time and effort on building your dreamcastle will have been worth it, if you find one guy that knows how hard it is and applauds your creation. Playing with two or four people (eight at the most) takes a bit from the eeriness and dread of the unknown as you swim out into the blue, but having a couple of friends to build and swim around with would bring its own reward. Something to think about. Also there are two seats on the Escape Pod
2) 6 Slots / additional slots via shift 1-5: An additional slot or maybe switching through slot-sets with shift 1-5 would make going into the inventory to switch the hotkeys of the items carried obsolete. A couple of tools will be the players personal choice he's carrying by default and others he only needs for a short while (which auto-add to the bar which is well done.) - just a bit more space would be nice. Also it might be sensible to switch through them with the mousewheel.
3) Map Generator: Replay value is a bit stifled by a static map. Just a point to think about.
4) Storms: Every couple of days a chance for tropical storms and massive waves could make it very desirable to be in a base deep under the sea. Over the sea and shallow bases shouldn't be destroyed but need a good deal of repairing after being exposed to a storm. Being above 15 metres depth during a storm will whirl the diver around, crashing him into anything in the way and causing damage. This could start occurring one or two in-game weeks after fixing the Aurora to give the players enough time to be prepared for the storm season.
---
i) Game-story
1) Aurora exploration: After the Aurora has cooled down (see B-35), maybe after the first storm (C-g-4) more parts of the ship become accessible - destroyed cryochambers, quarters, laboratories, maybe the cockpit. Exploring the back-part (and maybe the nose with enough air supplies) would make for an intriguing possibility. Finding Log-entries, traces of peoples' lives, PDA's with emails and similar (and probably more than a few bodies/burnt down skeletons) while bumbling through a dark and creaking ship could crank up the creep factor quite a bit. Searching through the nose of the ship (AI telling the diver that a signal emanates from there, maybe including a craftable tracker and a warning message that a lot of air will be sensible to bring. There might be some air-pockets inside to make it possible to get through the nose, but it would be a lot like cave diving.) might offer an even more interesting view of the disaster.
2) More landmarks besides Aurora: When breaking the surface, gasping for air there is usually only one landmark that the player can discern to orient himself around: The Aurora. When you start putting down beacons you start getting a feel for the place, but either the world is meant to remind us of Kevin Costner in Water World or we are just lucky enough to have landed in the biggest ocean of the planet. Being able to glimpse the outline of the floating island or a big black cloud where the volcano castle is going to be might give even early players a need to explore more. And give them the ability to orient themselves better, with more than one point of reference.
3) Alternate Energy Sources: Having to build dozens of power packs for the Cyclops gets old fast, especially with quartz being so rare. Running out of energy while driving along somewhere in the depths is frightening, thus I built a locker on each side of the engine and filled them both up with power packs. A late-game incentive might be to create reactors that run the Cyclops and the bases a lot more efficiently and can be used to recharge batteries and build/sustain the future content (Like fridges, docks and farm-fences ;D). This could include an update system as well - in the beginning upgrading the Cyclops from battery power to nuclear (requires radioactive resource) to hydrogen (requires collector or mining) to darkmatter and similar generatoriums for the bases. Research and improvement from the materials at hand could become a more pronounced part of the game.
*) Survivors or Sentient Aliens: Late, late, late-game content. After having constructed your bases, mined, collected, hunted and survived enough to build the Titan (C-f-2), the AI will tell the player that for some time it has now monitored a strangely regular signal that will require a special module built to track down. As the diver descends into the utter darkness, only illuminated by the floodlights of the Titan, the AI becomes more lively and informs him that the signal is the emergency beacon from an Escape Pod. Then as even the Titan begins to creak, 2 kilometres under the sea, bleeping messages warn of the pressure outside and still the beacon points downwards. Suddenly a strange noise rips through the absolute silence down here, and before the player a valley opens up, bioluminescent light illuminating the endless night. Within minutes bizarre armoured aliens converge around the sub, curiously looking at it, beating a hasty retreat if approached. Shining Eyes blink (gives them expression. Maybe have 'eyebrows' as well. For all six eyes.) as the head-parts tilt slightly while looking at the strange object, long bioluminescent tentacles start carefully touching the surface of the craft, only to quickly retract. If the player starts actively bumping into or shooting stasis/repulsor guns at the aliens, they'll beat a hasty retreat and observe him from a further distance - if he attacks one with a knife they'll start flocking the diver and wrestle the knife from him before grabbing and dragging him into a cell with energy bars. If the player is as curious as the armoured things, they'll start coming closer and finally attempt communication. The communicate by biolumiescent rows of dots along their sides, flashing them in basic, repeating patterns. if the player goes and gets a lamp and tries to turn it on and off a couple times they'll get very excited, bobbing up and down and flashing their side-lines faster. The AI will start analysing and after a while and random flashing of the players' lamp (maybe the AI can instruct the player to flash a certain number of times) it will start translating for the aliens. The call themselves Nuori and will be glad to show the player around their city, hewn into the rock and created from great plants that thrive in the black smoker funnels. They evolved close to the surface and reached a high level of technology, but when the sun expanded to its current size (nice for humans, bad for the Nuori) they had to move deeper and deeper into the pitch black of the abyss. They will tell stories to the traveller and start to trade with him for the precious resources from close to the surface. They can come up to a depth of 500 metres, but rarely do so any more. They did indeed find the other Escape Pod on which one other crewmember survived but is now in a stasis field they erected because they did not know how to treat his wounds. They can show the diver genetic technologies that will allow him to become impervious to pressure and give him dark vision (by settling a colony of bioluminescent bacteria, the same way the Nuoris eyes work). Overall they could be a strange and wonderful people to get to know, akin to some of the strange beings in Outcast - inhuman but interesting in their being. Another option would be for them to be sharing their living space with a second species - looking more like humans but less likeable, the strange and eerie things more human than the beautiful ones. There is a lot of possibilities the Alien/Survivor idea could develop and certainly a very big opportunity for wonderful, strange, beautiful and glowing creatures in the least plausible of places.
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Here's the link to the album with all Mock-ups and Screenshots of bugs/suggestions/improvements: http://imgur.com/a/8rKeh#0
That's the lot, thanks for reading. Maybe some of the suggestions resonate with you; I'll be adding more as I continue playing the game.
Have a good day and continue on your awesome path!
PS.: Do you have any openings? If you're in need of a creative madman, QA-Tester or Localizer, drop me a PN.
Yours Faithfully;
Vampyroteuthis