Mid-Game Threat
Eldeberon
USA Join Date: 2015-09-28 Member: 208204Members
USA Join Date: 2015-09-28 Member: 208204Members
I’m a huge fan of Subnautica and the way in which the game guides players through the events by logic and desire rather than an artificial “do this” to stay in the storyline. That said, on second play through, I noticed a distinct reduction in playing interest resulting at the point where the player has satisfied food, water, and built a basic base. Like in Minecraft this is where the game slows down for lack of a legitimate direction.
Sure, I ought to be interested in investigating the crash, or building the seamoth, but why? The Moth is cool, granted, and there is a curiosity factor in the crash, but neither is at all necessary, and a lack of need I feel hurts the momentum of the game at this point.
Would it be possible to introduce a warning similar to the one that announces the description of the Aurora, that warns of a coming problem—a weather, cosmic, or seismic event would be the easiest, but it could be something else—that threatens the player. The notification would be months in advance of the event. There is no need to rush the player, merely having the threat looming is enough to add that dash of “need”. The computer could suggest that some basic solutions to avoid death (as it does with the explosion of the Aurora.) Possibilities could include such things as: (1) Building a base either below a certain depth, or above the water line (either would pose a significant challenge) (2) Constructing some shielding device that would require finding three or four challenging source items. (3) Finding another source of power, or stocking up food and water in anticipation of a month long solar eclipse. (I think this one would be pretty cool and require little real change in the game beyond making night last much longer for a time.) At the early mid-range of the game this would pose a significant challenge.
Another idea could include: The radiation range of the Aurora begins expanding and killing life in the area. This could provide a greater incentive to move away and make the radiation suit and find a way of sealing the leak in the Aurora.
Survival is one thing, but once accomplished, added challenges should increase the struggle to maintain a sense of accomplishment. Fighting weather to raise crops on the prairie is hard, sure, but just as you get the hang of it, you are faced with locusts, survive those and you have a blight, then a dust bowl. Life is never easy or constant. Adding random environmental challenges could provide a greater sense of a living world, and the wonderment of, "what's going to happen next?"
I suspect maintaining game interest will be a huge factor in Subnautica. Minecraft lacked it, but Terraria had additional threats and challenges that gave that game a longer span of time where the player was invested on a complete immersion level. I suspect the trick with this idea presented here, will be to balance incentive/threat with freedom. I wouldn’t want to get the idea I was being controlled by the game, forced to jump through hoops, but having to deal with random events that I am pre-warned about, I suspect could fill that odd mid-game void and prevent the game from being nothing more than a few hours of novelty followed by boredom through lack of incentive.
Just a thought.
Sure, I ought to be interested in investigating the crash, or building the seamoth, but why? The Moth is cool, granted, and there is a curiosity factor in the crash, but neither is at all necessary, and a lack of need I feel hurts the momentum of the game at this point.
Would it be possible to introduce a warning similar to the one that announces the description of the Aurora, that warns of a coming problem—a weather, cosmic, or seismic event would be the easiest, but it could be something else—that threatens the player. The notification would be months in advance of the event. There is no need to rush the player, merely having the threat looming is enough to add that dash of “need”. The computer could suggest that some basic solutions to avoid death (as it does with the explosion of the Aurora.) Possibilities could include such things as: (1) Building a base either below a certain depth, or above the water line (either would pose a significant challenge) (2) Constructing some shielding device that would require finding three or four challenging source items. (3) Finding another source of power, or stocking up food and water in anticipation of a month long solar eclipse. (I think this one would be pretty cool and require little real change in the game beyond making night last much longer for a time.) At the early mid-range of the game this would pose a significant challenge.
Another idea could include: The radiation range of the Aurora begins expanding and killing life in the area. This could provide a greater incentive to move away and make the radiation suit and find a way of sealing the leak in the Aurora.
Survival is one thing, but once accomplished, added challenges should increase the struggle to maintain a sense of accomplishment. Fighting weather to raise crops on the prairie is hard, sure, but just as you get the hang of it, you are faced with locusts, survive those and you have a blight, then a dust bowl. Life is never easy or constant. Adding random environmental challenges could provide a greater sense of a living world, and the wonderment of, "what's going to happen next?"
I suspect maintaining game interest will be a huge factor in Subnautica. Minecraft lacked it, but Terraria had additional threats and challenges that gave that game a longer span of time where the player was invested on a complete immersion level. I suspect the trick with this idea presented here, will be to balance incentive/threat with freedom. I wouldn’t want to get the idea I was being controlled by the game, forced to jump through hoops, but having to deal with random events that I am pre-warned about, I suspect could fill that odd mid-game void and prevent the game from being nothing more than a few hours of novelty followed by boredom through lack of incentive.
Just a thought.
Comments
The implementation of the Water park was a welcomed addition to the game, giving the player some kind of (limited, i agree) way to repopulate a biome's fishes as well as self-sustaining food supply. Of course, a clearly established task or threat to the player would add another reason to keep playing. Another quest for us players could be the investigation of the dissapearance of previous Alterra employees that came to the planet before us (as the ruins found in the Experimental mode let us believe).
all I can say is: yes.
The idea of a looming threat is great when I think about it.
also what you said about blight and dustbowl intrigues me and probably would intrigue @PeterManize , who was adamant about the need of balancing out the farming mechanic. that mechanic will be introduced in February. (see https://trello.com/b/KbugnSRJ/subnautica-roadmap) to come back to your farm and find it suddenly wiped out... that might be something worth adding if the devs deem the farming mechanic to be too unbalanced.
ooh, what if we combine that idea with your looming event.
imagine a plague of fish-locusts. combine flying fish (an actual species) with the common locust, and you could have a real threat to the player's farm.
on second thought, i don't want to see them destroy any kelp forests, and i think Eldeberon was going for something more substatial like damage to the player directly or his base...
red tide kills many manatees per year, but that got me thinking. gasopods are subnautica's manatees... what if instead of a red tide, it was a green tide. a tide of poison. - let's say that the poison in the gasopod's pod is caused by symbiotic algae, but that a cousin of that algae exists freely in the wild that sometimes blooms (rapidly and sudenly increases in population), resulting in a glowing green sea for a few days.
...perhaps in order to remedy this, one must research the reefback, a filter feeder, to find a technology that combats/takes advantage of this algal bloom, filters it out of the water or protects the player from it.
can anyone think of a way that makes the algal bloom more of a threat? one that you cant avoid by merely hiding in your base?
edit: Maybe the algal bloom could take place on a day when another important event is going to happen, that the player is aware of, but this event requires the player to be out in the open, but he cannot because of the poisonous algae. therefore he must develop a poison-resistant mask by studying reefbacks to be able to be out in the open during the bloom.
just an idea, spitballing...
P.S. algal blooms are caued in nature by the deposition of a large amount of minerals (useually as a result of heavy rains washing mineral rich mud into the sea) the algae feed off the minerals and bloom when the ocean mineral level rises. the crahsing of a large spaceship could arguably be a scource of mineral deposition, stirring up the mineral-rich sand, providing minerals from the ship itself... maybe there could be some science to this!
P.P.S. the algae, having ingested mineral from a radioactive ship, would likeley suffer genetic damage, and contact a kind of cancerous growth cycle (uncontrolled cell division) so as a scientist on another planet, you'd better cure cancer, contain the algae, or die!
is this stupid, does it only sound good to me because it's so late?
That all said, there are still a number of updates scheduled that may address all of this, most notably the "creatures attack" update, which is slated to include creatures which attack your base, as well as some much more advanced creatures, and potentially dangerous creatures, like the warper.