Scientists play Subnautica/world size comments

GlowfishGlowfish Miami, FL Join Date: 2015-09-29 Member: 208222Members
New user here; my partner and I discovered the game a week ago and are huge fans. She actually got so excited she got a whole new computer just to play it. She's a field biologist, and she loves the work put into the game environments. She's always complaining about the lack of variety of plants and animals in games, how they have one kind of fish and one kind of tree. It makes it really boring to explore because you quickly run out of surprises.

I wanted to put in a few words in favor of world size—both in the sense of having more biomes, and putting more of them farther apart so you have to explore farther to reach them.

Both of us are much more excited about the "exploration" element than the "building" element. We built an initial base and stuff, but just wanted to find enough resources to keep exploring. (Which is a great gameplay motivation!) We were kind of disappointed when we hit the edges of the Subnautica map and realized how easy it was to crisscross the whole world. We were really expecting the scale of the world would be larger. Even if the biomes were repetitive, or we had to cross long abyssal plains to reach a new area, we wanted to feel like there was a chance of finding something new if we took longer and longer trips out across the sea.

I've read some of the discussion of the world size, and I understand the tradeoffs between hand-crafting and procedural generation. I've played a lot of Minecraft, and even though it's a procedurally-generated world, I loved the feeling of exploring a long distance from home. I had a lot more fun exploring than I did building elaborate redstone mechanisms.

I wouldn't be surprised if early-access players, who are probably more active and serious gamers, might skew toward the "building/crafting" types, or the weapons-and-tools types. So I wanted to put in a few words in favor of larger worlds and more exploration. If our house is any indication, this game is hugely appealing to a demographic that might not be the usual one! And the things we'd most love to see are a larger map, more long trips, and more weird stuff to stumble across.

In any case, thank you for an amazing game! We're so excited to see where it goes next :smile:

Comments

  • x1Alpha2014x1Alpha2014 Germany Join Date: 2015-05-16 Member: 204528Members
    The whole game is an early-access, it means that it is not ready, there will be much, much more, but pls, give the Devs Time for this. ;)
  • GlowfishGlowfish Miami, FL Join Date: 2015-09-29 Member: 208222Members
    Oh, I understand! I just saw a lot of discussion of what the future development should focus on, and wanted to put in a few words in favor of what we'd most like to see and why.
  • crane476crane476 United States, Tx Join Date: 2015-08-07 Member: 206850Members
    The map is only 50%-60% complete from what I've read. We still have yet to see the Arctic, Inactive lava zone, Lost River, Twisty Bridges, etc. biomes. Not to mention the other side of the Aurora will eventually contain biomes instead of an empty void.
  • En9a9eEn9a9e USA Join Date: 2015-02-17 Member: 201408Members, Subnautica Playtester
    I don't think we're going to see a larger map, but they most certainly will have the "want to have more weird stuff to stumble across" covered. As far as custom base building and "science" themed exploration, I want both in equal parts, as I enjoy them each immensely. I do wish, as you expressed @Glowfish, that SN could have done procedural and pulled off a No Man's Sky underwater with endless environments to explore that still looked believable and compelling, but then we have yet to see if No Man's Sky can actually pull off No Man's Sky. :)
  • SeldkamSeldkam Join Date: 2014-01-01 Member: 191213Members
    En9a9e wrote: »
    I don't think we're going to see a larger map, but they most certainly will have the "want to have more weird stuff to stumble across" covered. As far as custom base building and "science" themed exploration, I want both in equal parts, as I enjoy them each immensely. I do wish, as you expressed @Glowfish, that SN could have done procedural and pulled off a No Man's Sky underwater with endless environments to explore that still looked believable and compelling, but then we have yet to see if No Man's Sky can actually pull off No Man's Sky. :)

    Spoiler, imo it looks like a complete my overhyped game

    On topic, I agree entirely with the post, my most wanted stuff for SN right now is to work on the biomes and animals

    Crafting to me is just too repetitive in this day and age of gaming
  • njs7t3njs7t3 Austria Join Date: 2015-09-21 Member: 208070Members
    I've decided to do some cave-diving to scratch that exploration itch. Found quite a large one inside one of the Floating Islands.
  • 04Leonhardt04Leonhardt I came here to laugh at you Join Date: 2015-08-01 Member: 206618Members
    The game is in alpha. The world will be gradually expanded as they add more biomes.
  • JacaraJacara Washington Join Date: 2015-06-11 Member: 205391Members
    While that would be amazing you got to remember that this is still a game. Thus there is:
    1) Limited time to make new models
    2) They have to take into account a wide range of computers when making the game.
    3) Size of the game is a huge concern, as well as stability.
    4) More creatures means more attributes and behaviors to program, and the number of complications on them interacting with the environment and each other increases exponentially with each new creature.
    Plus a ton of other factors.
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