A bad dream about Subnautica (Idea for the void biome)

taroseertaroseer Ohio Join Date: 2017-03-14 Member: 228919Members
edited March 2017 in Ideas and Suggestions
I had been clinging to a floating object about the size of a car with two other's, who seemed unphased by the experience, floating over the dunes biome. This might seem fairly tame for a bad dream, however I have a pretty strong phobia of deep cant-see-the-bottom water (yet love subnautica, go figure). Either way, I noticed that we were being pushed further and further out by currents, until we had left the dunes and were floating out over the void now. When I saw something in the distance moving through the water.

Best way to describe it would have been as the owner of one of the largest lost river skulls. Gargantuan sea serpent, moving through the deep waters and getting more and more interested the further we were pushed out. Until eventually swimming in for a taste. Needless to say it just ate the raft whole, and I woke up rather stressed out.

But made me think about the void and all that, and how its currently more just an artifact of 'this is a game world, and we dont want to have invisible walls.' and was thinking perhaps making it something more.

Rather than being a sheer drop off, was thinking it could be a more fluid, bumpy slope inwards at about a 20 degree incline or something, some types of flora clinging to the side like the edges of the floating islands. Keep the creepy 'null' music of course, and dark empty background. perhaps some reefbacks floating out in the deep water of the void. But basically, have this Gargantuan class predator out there. Rather than spawning them all over the place, give it a chance to spawn while the player is in the void, that chance increasing more, the further away from the edge of the world the player moves, either outwards or downwards, until it inevitably does spawn. Could add currents in the void that push the player and vehicles out from the edge, gaining in strength the lower you go, like the undertow of some upwards force keeping this 'island(?)' floating in the void. For the sake of not letting the creature either swim out of the void into the map, or go glitching through walls, just set a hard limit on its AI from swimming within an invisible radius of the center of the world. Meaning those who manage to cling to the edge could still experience the excitement of getting deep enough to just crush to death.

TLDR:
  • Edge of the map is rounded off as the lower half of an ellipse rather than a cylinder with hard edges.
  • The void is an actual biome, much like it is now but with some flora/fauna clinging to the edge of the world.
  • Reefbacks at their normal height within/up to a couple hundred meters of world's edge.
  • Predator based off lost river skulls, with increasing chance to spawn as player goes deeper / further into the void. Despawns after killing player / vehicles / player exits the void.
  • Currents that get stronger the deeper you go into the void, to push player / vehicles out into open water for the above predator to hunt.
  • Idea basically turns the void from an invisible 'there's nothing to see beyond here' wall, to a 'there be dragon's here' invisible wall.

Interesting idea? bad idea? Might defeat its own purpose by making the brave / insane want to venture down there. Although I get a feeling every player has at some point saved, then gone into the void to see how deep they can go. I guess the biggest thing is, is it worth sinking what would probably be a fair amount of dev time into a biome whose sole purpose is to act as a wall to prevent the player from entering :| on the flipside, beyond the model for the predator, could probably just give it the reaper's AI / animations, and stick the extra 'spawn when' 'despawn when' and 'never swim within X Radius of 0,0,0' bits into its code?

Comments

  • Darwin-EvolutionDarwin-Evolution France Join Date: 2015-06-07 Member: 205310Members
    taroseer wrote: »
    The void is an actual biome, much like it is now but with some flora/fauna clinging to the edge of the world.

    So like Bloody Bay Wall? I'd like that!



  • TorseTorse Join Date: 2017-03-28 Member: 229254Members
    I like this idea. I've played several other games with similar mechanics for "out of bounds" areas, and I think it's a great way to both restrict the player and explain why the map suddenly ends.

    I love all of the creatures in Subnautica thus far, but if this were to be implemented, I'd rather the OOB creature be something totally new. Not related to the reapers or emperor.
    Maybe something based on a whale shark?
    something 10x the size of existing big baddies that can open it's mouth to suck trespassers right on in. It's unique compared to the existing critters and I think it'd be terrifying. To start getting pulled into a direction and realizing that the growing dark spot in your vision is actually the gaping maw of a creature pulling you in.
  • DrownedOutDrownedOut Habitat Join Date: 2016-05-26 Member: 217559Members
    Any creature I wouldn't be able to scan I am against.
  • CoonMc2001CoonMc2001 Join Date: 2017-03-25 Member: 229170Members
    I always thought of it as we were on a big volcano considering all the magma vents and how you can find lava only 1 mile down.
  • ShuttleBugShuttleBug USA Join Date: 2017-03-15 Member: 228943Members
    edited April 2017
    I always thought of the subnautica world as a spire of life in an infinite void with creatures that dwarf the reaper leviathan lurking in the inky darkness. Kind of depressing now that I think about it but it makes sense in a weird and twisted way
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