Belly of the Beast - Story Mission / New Creature
ell635
UK Join Date: 2017-04-14 Member: 229642Members
UK Join Date: 2017-04-14 Member: 229642Members
Hello fellow Subnauticans,
I'm very new. I'm brand new to the forums, and only 21 hours deep into my first Subnautica play through on Xbox One. I'm running on Freedom mode since maintaining hunger and hydration proved too intimidating for my first run around.
I'm very inspired by Subnautica, the open game development, and this passionate and devoted community. So I want to get involved and offer feedback and ideas. Get ready because this became quite the novel in the end!
I thought about a little side mission that happens upon the player involuntarily as one progresses even deeper in the ocean. I haven't travelled to the Lost River yet, in fact as an Xbox One player I'm not sure if we have that area to explore yet. Perhaps my idea could be involved with the Lost River, or maybe this could be something even deeper.
It would involve depths only an upgraded pressure compensator Cyclops may travel down to. Too far for a MK3 pressure compensator Seamoth or Prawn suit to roam in (if that's possible, I know the Prawn Suit can go deeper but I would want this cutscene to be triggered whilst travelling via Cyclops). There would be some kind of mission prompting the player to be entering this deep vicinity.
As gliding downwards or forwards into a vast open space, the Cyclops controls are suddenly taken away from the player as a cutscene takes over, if the player was using cameras they are forced back into cockpit view.
A loud, prolonged sound / cry can be heard. Suddenly the Cyclops begins to shudder and creak as a heavy force is occurring in the waters, the Cyclops HUD system indicates the red spot to show the Cyclops is close to an object. The shudders grow so aggressive that this causes the Cyclops system to shut down, the Cyclops cockpit HUD and its interior / exterior lights flicker before blacking out.
Suddenly a huge monster moves across the front of the Cyclops. A creature so large it completely engulfs the Cyclops in size. This visual would be similar to a classic Star Wars movie opening when the giant ship would fly over camera. Or more appropriately, in Modern Warfare 3 when the submarine emerges overhead at the beginning of a certain mission. The desired effect would be witnessing a creature so grand in size and mass that it engulfs your physical presence. Despite the Cyclops normally giving the player that feeling of superiority in size, this role reversal should make for quite a unique experience.
As this creature / monster slowly passes the front view of the cyclops, it's impossible to see it's complete size. The design of this creature is completely open to suggestions and imagination. I think it's inspiration should be drawn from a whale, as there are plenty of sea serpent-shaped creatures. This creature needs to be unique, and different, and overwhelmingly large.
As this creature moves ahead of you a giant tail fin completes our visual of the entire beast as it swims away into the merky darkness ahead. The shuddering of the Cyclops gently begins to settle. Another cry is heard from the beast, and suddenly the shuddering picks up again. In front the Giant creature charges face-on at the Cyclops and its giant mouth opens wide and swallows the cyclops.
Animations could be a pain for developers to execute, so I don't want to be too outrageous and fear I already have been. But once inside the creature, I was hoping the new mission is to escape the Belly of the Beast. This part is where my idea becomes flexible - How does the player escape?
I've considered the Seamoth an interesting factor in this part. It would require the player to be encouraged to bring a Cyclops with a Seamoth docked inside for the original mission. And this would completely depend on whether the player honoured those prompts.
You could enter the depths of the creatures insides with the Seamoth, and eventually find it's heart - again huge in size, its beat slow, steady, and very loud. If the player had brought a Torpedo upgrade on their Seamoth, potentially the means of escape would be using Torpedos. Whether firing a torpedo at numerous arteries leading from the heart would be too graphic / violent is a question I'll save for others. If there's a more family friendly way of escaping this beast, especially without needing to kill it, then fire away with suggestions.
If you're asking "What if the player didn't come prepared with Torpedos?!", I figured the belly of the beast could be littered with resources like Titanium, and conveniently the very items needed for fabricating the Torpedo upgrade. If the player doesn't have a modification system built into their Cyclops already, a Lifepod can be found somewhere in the depths of this belly too. And this Lifepod has a Modification station built inside it behind the ladder, a PDA sitting inside documenting a survivor's efforts. It's amazing what things have been swallowed into this beasts stomach, and how fortunate these resources will be to the players survival, especially if they were not prepared to be using Torpedos!
Once Torpedos have been fired at the heart / body / any effective area inside this beast - dead or alive - this provides a literal opening as the beasts mouth widens. The player will need to return to and pilot the Cyclops to escape the monster. If it was killed, perhaps a pre-determined location can be decided so that players can come back and see the carcus of the monster laying on the sea bed somewhere deep in the ocean. This location would need to be a fair distance from the location of where being swallowed by the beast, so it is clear the monster had been swimming around and wasn't stationery this entire time.
The main idea of this mission - although ambitious in every imaginable way - was also to break the formula of Subnautica missions. The exploration element is wonderful, open to spontaneity, and players can be sidetracked. But generally all the missions point you to a direction, go check this out, scan a few things, unlock some items, enhance your survival.
For this I would still want there to be a mission which has remained unchanged. Perhaps the original mission objective is to find some fragments for a blueprint to the Rocket ship for escaping the planet. And I don't want that to be changed. However just to shake up the formula, this belly of the beast mission happens to be a big scripted sidetrack for the player. Something to shake up the game to its core, whilst the survival element still remaining constant, except this time taking shape inside the belly of a beast.
I think it is probably a little too ambitious and I'm trying my best to pre-empt those type of responses as best I can. But I hope my descriptions above have fed your Subnautican imagination with enough excitement that you're sold and want to see something like this in the game!
If you've read through this far, bless you and please leave me some comments and some feedback. And if you really like this idea then please help me build on it. Maybe I need help sizing down this idea to something realistic for developers to incorporate. Or maybe it's feasible as it is... thanks for your time and consideration. Have fun
I'm very new. I'm brand new to the forums, and only 21 hours deep into my first Subnautica play through on Xbox One. I'm running on Freedom mode since maintaining hunger and hydration proved too intimidating for my first run around.
I'm very inspired by Subnautica, the open game development, and this passionate and devoted community. So I want to get involved and offer feedback and ideas. Get ready because this became quite the novel in the end!
I thought about a little side mission that happens upon the player involuntarily as one progresses even deeper in the ocean. I haven't travelled to the Lost River yet, in fact as an Xbox One player I'm not sure if we have that area to explore yet. Perhaps my idea could be involved with the Lost River, or maybe this could be something even deeper.
It would involve depths only an upgraded pressure compensator Cyclops may travel down to. Too far for a MK3 pressure compensator Seamoth or Prawn suit to roam in (if that's possible, I know the Prawn Suit can go deeper but I would want this cutscene to be triggered whilst travelling via Cyclops). There would be some kind of mission prompting the player to be entering this deep vicinity.
As gliding downwards or forwards into a vast open space, the Cyclops controls are suddenly taken away from the player as a cutscene takes over, if the player was using cameras they are forced back into cockpit view.
A loud, prolonged sound / cry can be heard. Suddenly the Cyclops begins to shudder and creak as a heavy force is occurring in the waters, the Cyclops HUD system indicates the red spot to show the Cyclops is close to an object. The shudders grow so aggressive that this causes the Cyclops system to shut down, the Cyclops cockpit HUD and its interior / exterior lights flicker before blacking out.
Suddenly a huge monster moves across the front of the Cyclops. A creature so large it completely engulfs the Cyclops in size. This visual would be similar to a classic Star Wars movie opening when the giant ship would fly over camera. Or more appropriately, in Modern Warfare 3 when the submarine emerges overhead at the beginning of a certain mission. The desired effect would be witnessing a creature so grand in size and mass that it engulfs your physical presence. Despite the Cyclops normally giving the player that feeling of superiority in size, this role reversal should make for quite a unique experience.
As this creature / monster slowly passes the front view of the cyclops, it's impossible to see it's complete size. The design of this creature is completely open to suggestions and imagination. I think it's inspiration should be drawn from a whale, as there are plenty of sea serpent-shaped creatures. This creature needs to be unique, and different, and overwhelmingly large.
As this creature moves ahead of you a giant tail fin completes our visual of the entire beast as it swims away into the merky darkness ahead. The shuddering of the Cyclops gently begins to settle. Another cry is heard from the beast, and suddenly the shuddering picks up again. In front the Giant creature charges face-on at the Cyclops and its giant mouth opens wide and swallows the cyclops.
Animations could be a pain for developers to execute, so I don't want to be too outrageous and fear I already have been. But once inside the creature, I was hoping the new mission is to escape the Belly of the Beast. This part is where my idea becomes flexible - How does the player escape?
I've considered the Seamoth an interesting factor in this part. It would require the player to be encouraged to bring a Cyclops with a Seamoth docked inside for the original mission. And this would completely depend on whether the player honoured those prompts.
You could enter the depths of the creatures insides with the Seamoth, and eventually find it's heart - again huge in size, its beat slow, steady, and very loud. If the player had brought a Torpedo upgrade on their Seamoth, potentially the means of escape would be using Torpedos. Whether firing a torpedo at numerous arteries leading from the heart would be too graphic / violent is a question I'll save for others. If there's a more family friendly way of escaping this beast, especially without needing to kill it, then fire away with suggestions.
If you're asking "What if the player didn't come prepared with Torpedos?!", I figured the belly of the beast could be littered with resources like Titanium, and conveniently the very items needed for fabricating the Torpedo upgrade. If the player doesn't have a modification system built into their Cyclops already, a Lifepod can be found somewhere in the depths of this belly too. And this Lifepod has a Modification station built inside it behind the ladder, a PDA sitting inside documenting a survivor's efforts. It's amazing what things have been swallowed into this beasts stomach, and how fortunate these resources will be to the players survival, especially if they were not prepared to be using Torpedos!
Once Torpedos have been fired at the heart / body / any effective area inside this beast - dead or alive - this provides a literal opening as the beasts mouth widens. The player will need to return to and pilot the Cyclops to escape the monster. If it was killed, perhaps a pre-determined location can be decided so that players can come back and see the carcus of the monster laying on the sea bed somewhere deep in the ocean. This location would need to be a fair distance from the location of where being swallowed by the beast, so it is clear the monster had been swimming around and wasn't stationery this entire time.
The main idea of this mission - although ambitious in every imaginable way - was also to break the formula of Subnautica missions. The exploration element is wonderful, open to spontaneity, and players can be sidetracked. But generally all the missions point you to a direction, go check this out, scan a few things, unlock some items, enhance your survival.
For this I would still want there to be a mission which has remained unchanged. Perhaps the original mission objective is to find some fragments for a blueprint to the Rocket ship for escaping the planet. And I don't want that to be changed. However just to shake up the formula, this belly of the beast mission happens to be a big scripted sidetrack for the player. Something to shake up the game to its core, whilst the survival element still remaining constant, except this time taking shape inside the belly of a beast.
I think it is probably a little too ambitious and I'm trying my best to pre-empt those type of responses as best I can. But I hope my descriptions above have fed your Subnautican imagination with enough excitement that you're sold and want to see something like this in the game!
If you've read through this far, bless you and please leave me some comments and some feedback. And if you really like this idea then please help me build on it. Maybe I need help sizing down this idea to something realistic for developers to incorporate. Or maybe it's feasible as it is... thanks for your time and consideration. Have fun
Comments
I've been doing some thinking about how to simplify this for developer perspective. The cutscene of encountering this giant creature begins when an invisible tripwire is reached in the location of the encounter.
The cutscene concludes with the Giant creature consuming the Cyclops. At this moment it can fade to black along with some sound effects.
By the time this cutscene finishes and the belly of the beast area surrounding the Cyclops has been revealed by the Cyclops HUD and lights returning, the player has technically been warped into another location where the creature has 'taken' them. Technically the Giant creature is stationery in this different location to where the player was swallowed. But being inside the beast the player will not be aware of this, although on PC I think players can view co-ordinates. I'm unsure how that exposure could be addressed.
I think this would fit really well in Subnautica, and would be such a different type of experience. I hope a developer sees this and thinks it's achieveable!
And you're right in that the whole "shoot the thing in the aorta, blow out its side with torpedoes" angle won't fly with the generally-nonviolent Subnautica. But I can see a few alternatives right off the mark that should fit nicely with the design you've created. Basically, we need to create a situation where the creature doesn't want to keep the sub. So, all we need to do are create circumstances where the right stimuli will prompt the beast to give up its lunch.
Torpedoes, PRAWN or Seamoth - Don't kill, apply more creatively. Fire two gas or vortex torpedoes into its stomach. This prompts the creature to vomit, and you're free.
PRAWN Propulsion Arm - Fire repeatedly to force its jaws open, then flee before they close again.
Seamoth Perimeter Defense - Several discharges near a nerve bundle in the throat prompt it to spit out the Seamoth and Cyclops.
Cyclops Sonar Upgrade - Firing a ping while its its mouth dazes it (how would you react to something doing that in your mouth?), allowing you to escape before it comes to.
Give up - Leave a channel out. A small one. If the player is willing to abandon the Cyclops, let them flee with just the Seamoth (or less) through a blowhole or similar feature. Once you leave that cell, the Cyclops despawns; it's been wrecked by the beast's digestive system.
Now, this isn't V1.0 material, but I can very, very easily see it being the first DLC expansion.
Or - after get-egg, hatch, release... the Sea Dragon swims off and that's that--but then, after an in-game week passes, you've just come back from exploring the lost river or lava zone to your base in the Safe Shallows..... and then you FREAK because WHAT'S THIS F***ING SEA DRAGON DOING HERE?!
He's not hostile, just lazily swimming about your base. Panicked, you honk the Cyclops Horn, and are surprised when he 'calls' back a greeting. He's the Sea Dragon you saved and hatched...
I'm thankful for your kind words. And your various suggestions for how to escape the belly of the beast are terrific!
I haven't unlocked many of the vehicle modifications like Torpedos, so my knowledge of this is quite limited but that's where you have offered some exceptional ideas. You've created numerous methods for escape, including the last resorts of abandoning the Cyclops.
I was visiting the Aurora just yesterday and the shudders when you approach the front of the ship are exactly the effect I have in mind for the Cyclops during that cutscene as the Giant creature passes. It's nice to see this effect is already present in the game and could hopefully be implemented as I described in my original post.
Gives you all the more motivation to try and get it out, now, doesn't it?