Three Pages of Stuff

bluesy22

Understanding that scarcity is what drives exploration, and exploration drives the wonder/terror factor, many of these ideas would ruin that balance. That said, there is a point in the game at which the player grows comfortable and bold enough to strike out on their own, so some of the silliness below could be the player thriving (mid-to-late game), rather than just surviving (early game).

Gameplay/quality of life:

• Surfing/windsurfing/parasailing
• Riding leviathans (or surfing or parasailing off their backs with a hook and line!)
• Fishing (because why not?)
• Make it easier to turn off the Seaglide’s topography feature…or tone it down
• Idle animations with equipment/“looking around”
• Build a base onto a Reefback…add equipment to control it, maybe?
• Achievements for scanning everything
• Character creator (pick which actual pre-made crew member to play as, or be the “stowaway” [create your own character])
• Ability to make board shorts/Hawaiian shirts/straw hats/sunglasses (maybe “loom”/“dye vat” modules to make custom clothing)
• Weather! Storms with huge, choppy seas; rogue waves; seismic events; aurorae; fog/algae blooms; meteor showers; occasional “green flash” at sunset (I love that you guys included eclipses…this game is beautiful). Maybe the occasional meteorite for a super-rare material?
• Ability to carry full carry-all bags (though they encumber you, occupy both hands, and sink if you drop them in water)
• Empty batteries/power cells greyed out in inventory to differentiate them from full ones
• More GladOS-like encouragement from Alexa and PRAWNman
• “Read all” option for encyclopedia
• Multi-module rooms (i.e. four observatories arranged in a square form a large observatory…more room for activities!)
• Angle-snap, or some other way to deal with the anxiety generated by rotating grow beds and wall lockers for 45 minutes before placing them one pixel off…
• Ability to eat creature eggs (maybe buffs or debuffs as a result?) E.g. if psychological state is implemented, eating a Cuddlefish egg could boost sanity (or have the opposite effect…how could you destroy something so cute?!).

Story mode:

• I love the cold intro, but maybe have a tutorial segment aboard the Aurora with character interactions before the crash.
  - Other survivors:
  - Maintain their psychological health (they act erratically and endanger themselves and you if this falls too low…maybe also the Kharaa spreads more quickly due to stress)
  - If they have emotionally “shut down,” you have to bring them food/water/comfort items
  - Recruit survivors as crew in the Cyclops (leviathan attacks, hull damage, and range from main base damage their psychological health)
  - Send them on errands to gather certain materials/keep them occupied (simple tasks build confidence, but sending them somewhere dangerous raises their terror meter…meter also builds if/as they take damage)
  - Cuddlefish lowers stress levels and improves mood
• Multiplayer!
  - If this includes psych health, make it so that gifts from other players boost mood far more greatly than comfort objects the player merely found.
• Fish fights (more than just predators eating smaller fish…leviathans fight each other?)
• Prequel involving the Degasi crew, or other castaways in the present

Species:

• Leviathan-class crustaceans (decapod?)
• Leviathan-class giant squid
• Nautilus (the geometry of the Precursor architecture is beautiful; another nod to golden ratios and mathematical perfection in this game would be complementary)
• Mollusks for eatin’ (or to harvest pearls to give that Cyclops a real shimmery paint job)
• Flying fish (would be cool to windsurf/ride on one)
• Dolphins

Alternate endings:

• Last Resort: Detonate the doomsday device, eradicating the Kharaa bacteria (oh, and killing you)
• Quick Finish: cure the Kharaa in time to shut down the QEP, ride out on the Sunbeam (imagine the GDQ marathon incentive battle between saving the frames and nuking the planet). Could you do this by making the science equipment “décor” functional and making a “science route” to curing Kharaa, as opposed to the standard “adventure/story route?”
• Bridge into new content/playable area: drive through the planet’s core, or teleport to other side of the planet (or the arctic zone!)
  - Obligatory Arctic Expansion conspiracy theory…the arctic player was sent by Alterra to steal some Kharaa (or the cure) to weaponize it (and own the only cure).

Vehicles:

• Mobile base with two Cyclops subs as “pontoons”? Or another surface vessel.
• Ability to build mobile bases in general (separate foundation piece in the hab builder).
• “SeaBee” hovercraft/helicopter (or ground effect vehicle, to keep it from being able to fly too high)…styling similar to mobile vehicle bay drones’ vertical lift element.
• Jetpack (balanced by being useful only to climb up short slopes and keep you from getting impossibly stuck)

Equipment:

• Electrolyzer suit (end-game equipment that separates hydrogen and oxygen with electric current from a nuclear power cell or ion cell)
• Wingsuit (made with skyray parts)
• Mechanism for making long-shelf-life food like nutrient bars

More “comfort items” to calm the player (or just be there for RP):

• Find a “VR Suite” game aboard the Aurora (or see one pre-crash?)
• In-game books
• Hammock

Base elements:

• Water slides
• Indoor water features
• “Flexible” glass swimways/walkways (you select start and end points, and the hab builder connects the dots…inspired by the tubes in the PCF)
• Make the lab equipment functional (make a science route to curing Kharaa?)
• Precursor-style furniture/base modules

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.

-bluesy22

LeeTwentyThree

I see what you're trying to do. However, most of these are things for fun that aren't really needed. Remember, the player is trying to survive and leave as quickly as possible, not waste time on water slides.

Also, riding on leviathans is very unrealistic. And with the intro to the game, that doesn't really make sense because the crash was sudden and would've killed everyone in seconds. Also, they will not do that much voice acting. With the large mobile base with two cyclops, how is it going to go through shallower biomes? With the squid leviathans, we already have crabsquids. And also Planet 4656B is on another planet. Not Earth. There aren't dolphins.

Do you know how many times the devs have said "No Multiplayer"?
https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/144802/coop-or-multiplayer-in-subnautica-im-afraid-not#latest
https://unknownworlds.com/subnautica/subnautica-multiplayer-when-if-how-and-why/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/264710/discussions/0/2592234299547179552/

Okay with the endings, we only need one. The doomsday device is broken, the sunbeam one does exist (but they say that they can't pick you up with all the debris) and finally, the player would be dead in the planet core. Going to the planet core isn't really an ending anyway, other than you dying.

A lot of the other stuff you mentioned might be coming in the DLC. Oh also I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just telling you what you should work on.

bluesy22

No sweat! I see your point--most of these suggestions are either for a different kind of game, or wouldn't work with the existing mechanics. It's tough to take a game I really enjoy playing and not project pipe dreams onto it. Thank you for your feedback!

reveraster

bluesy22 wrote: »

Understanding that scarcity is what drives exploration, and exploration drives the wonder/terror factor, many of these ideas would ruin that balance. That said, there is a point in the game at which the player grows comfortable and bold enough to strike out on their own, so some of the silliness below could be the player thriving (mid-to-late game), rather than just surviving (early game).

Gameplay/quality of life:

• Surfing/windsurfing/parasailing
  on what waves and what wind? This would need a weather system and would be a lot more work than it sounds. Besides, what would it accomplish that the seaglide doesn't?
• Riding leviathans (or surfing or parasailing off their backs with a hook and line!)
  These things eat you for fun and can rend through solid titanium - not to mention they stalk shit for a lifestyle. 'Nuff said.
• Fishing (because why not?)
  The "why not" is that you can catch all of them by hand already. Why sit and wait when you can go grab em 40 times faster?
• Make it easier to turn off the Seaglide’s topography feature…or tone it down
  Isn't it just a single button already...?
• Idle animations with equipment/“looking around”
  Alright I like this one.
• Build a base onto a Reefback…add equipment to control it, maybe?
  If you could control a reefback the game would be very short, considering you'd be invincible on it. That said, it'll never happen because games portraying animal abuse get terrible ratings. That's just the sad reality of the world we live in.
• Achievements for scanning everything
  I like this one.
• Character creator (pick which actual pre-made crew member to play as, or be the “stowaway” [create your own character])
  Believe it or not, much harder than you would think on unity. I'm impressed they have a character model at all.
• Ability to make board shorts/Hawaiian shirts/straw hats/sunglasses (maybe “loom”/“dye vat” modules to make custom clothing)
  Impractical for survival, considering you're dying of disease and wouldn't want to accelerate it with additional exposure - plus you have hypothermia to consider, cuts, infections, etc.
• Weather! Storms with huge, choppy seas; rogue waves; seismic events; aurorae; fog/algae blooms; meteor showers; occasional “green flash” at sunset (I love that you guys included eclipses…this game is beautiful). Maybe the occasional meteorite for a super-rare material?
  Won't happen. Wayyyy too much work.
• Ability to carry full carry-all bags (though they encumber you, occupy both hands, and sink if you drop them in water)
  Considering weight isn't a mechanic right now this would also be a ton of work for something that would be minimally beneficial.
• Empty batteries/power cells greyed out in inventory to differentiate them from full ones
  Like.
• More GladOS-like encouragement from Alexa and PRAWNman
  Like.
• “Read all” option for encyclopedia
  Good. Idea.
• Multi-module rooms (i.e. four observatories arranged in a square form a large observatory…more room for activities!)
  This would be a lot of work as it would require a certain amount of procedural code.
• Angle-snap, or some other way to deal with the anxiety generated by rotating grow beds and wall lockers for 45 minutes before placing them one pixel off…
  Good idea.
• Ability to eat creature eggs (maybe buffs or debuffs as a result?) E.g. if psychological state is implemented, eating a Cuddlefish egg could boost sanity (or have the opposite effect…how could you destroy something so cute?!).
  I return to my animal abuse argument from above.

Story mode:

• I love the cold intro, but maybe have a tutorial segment aboard the Aurora with character interactions before the crash.
  - Other survivors:
  - Maintain their psychological health (they act erratically and endanger themselves and you if this falls too low…maybe also the Kharaa spreads more quickly due to stress)
  - If they have emotionally “shut down,” you have to bring them food/water/comfort items
  - Recruit survivors as crew in the Cyclops (leviathan attacks, hull damage, and range from main base damage their psychological health)
  - Send them on errands to gather certain materials/keep them occupied (simple tasks build confidence, but sending them somewhere dangerous raises their terror meter…meter also builds if/as they take damage)
  - Cuddlefish lowers stress levels and improves mood
  
  The alone-ness is a core part of the game.
  
• Multiplayer!
  - If this includes psych health, make it so that gifts from other players boost mood far more greatly than comfort objects the player merely found.
  
  Others have touched on this but it will never happen. Has been announced.
  
• Fish fights (more than just predators eating smaller fish…leviathans fight each other?)
• Prequel involving the Degasi crew, or other castaways in the present
  There's another reason we don't see NPCs and it's because they can be a bitch to program.

Species:

• Leviathan-class crustaceans (decapod?)
• Leviathan-class giant squid
• Nautilus (the geometry of the Precursor architecture is beautiful; another nod to golden ratios and mathematical perfection in this game would be complementary)
• Mollusks for eatin’ (or to harvest pearls to give that Cyclops a real shimmery paint job)
• Flying fish (would be cool to windsurf/ride on one)
  Liked all suggestions except this one. Animal abuse again/wind surfing won't happen/it would never support your weight anyway/flight would be waaayy too easy.
• Dolphins

Alternate endings:

• Last Resort: Detonate the doomsday device, eradicating the Kharaa bacteria (oh, and killing you)
• Quick Finish: cure the Kharaa in time to shut down the QEP, ride out on the Sunbeam (imagine the GDQ marathon incentive battle between saving the frames and nuking the planet). Could you do this by making the science equipment “décor” functional and making a “science route” to curing Kharaa, as opposed to the standard “adventure/story route?”
• Bridge into new content/playable area: drive through the planet’s core, or teleport to other side of the planet (or the arctic zone!)
  - Obligatory Arctic Expansion conspiracy theory…the arctic player was sent by Alterra to steal some Kharaa (or the cure) to weaponize it (and own the only cure).

Vehicles:

• Mobile base with two Cyclops subs as “pontoons”? Or another surface vessel.
  virtually programmatically impossible.
• Ability to build mobile bases in general (separate foundation piece in the hab builder).
  virtually programmatically impossible.
• “SeaBee” hovercraft/helicopter (or ground effect vehicle, to keep it from being able to fly too high)…styling similar to mobile vehicle bay drones’ vertical lift element.
  Flight won't happen. Too easy.
• Jetpack (balanced by being useful only to climb up short slopes and keep you from getting impossibly stuck)
  Flight won't happen. Too easy.

Equipment:

• Electrolyzer suit (end-game equipment that separates hydrogen and oxygen with electric current from a nuclear power cell or ion cell)
• Wingsuit (made with skyray parts)
  Flight won't happen. Too easy.
• Mechanism for making long-shelf-life food like nutrient bars
  We have one? Salt the food. We also have fish tanks. Or store the fish live.

More “comfort items” to calm the player (or just be there for RP):

• Find a “VR Suite” game aboard the Aurora (or see one pre-crash?)
  If it isn't functional sure.
• In-game books
  good idea
• Hammock
  good idea

Base elements:

• Water slides
  Water slides on an all water planet...? Why?
• Indoor water features
  Go outside. Lol. It's ALL water.
• “Flexible” glass swimways/walkways (you select start and end points, and the hab builder connects the dots…inspired by the tubes in the PCF)
  make a walkway or just...swim there. Why make a swimway in water?
• Make the lab equipment functional (make a science route to curing Kharaa?)
  pretty much programmatically impossible.
• Precursor-style furniture/base modules
  If the fabricator doesn't know a thing in advance or doesn't have a scanned version it cant create the thing. This makes sense - so where would this furniture be, considering the aurora crew clearly didn't know about the precurors (or they wouldn't have been blown out of the sky?)

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.

-bluesy22

cool lit, but a lot of it doesn't work. a few good ideas though.

Slider

Weather would be great

jamescoolcrafter15

I have a few suggestiosn of my own.

1. Being able to scan grue clusters.
2. Being able to scan treespawn.
3. A land alien containment, can hold cave crawlers or sky rays (sky ray nests with eggs on mountain island), being able to plant land plants in it, and land trees if it is two things high.
4. Being able to eat animals you kill.
5. Eggs for most creatures.
6. Scanning eggs tells you what species they are for next time you find eggs of those types.
7. Being able to pick up bighters and blighters.
8. Seeds or spores for more plants, if not most.
9. Ability to put the drooping stingers to hang off your base, cool for observatories.
10. Environmental scans for each biome you discover, not just for the planet itself and the dead zone.
11. Precursor ion mining facility in the meteor crater.
12. More diversity in the Primary Containment Facility.
13. Terraforming back in game, selecting what material you want to use.
14. More easy to build on terrain on the floater island.
15. Large bird.
16. Admin command for the toy car.
17. Youtuber doll blueprints pre-unlocked in creative mode.
18. Admin command pannel in creative, with most useful commands.
19. Algea growth or sea grass or even plant growth on bases over long periods of time, along with algea scrubber.
20. A large herbivore added to the jellyshroom caves.
21. Admin command spawn for landtrees.
22. Not as deep sea floor in the dead zone.