Suggestions for Below Zero Fish that Need Redesigns
Jamescell
American Alpine Biome Join Date: 2015-08-18 Member: 207249Members
American Alpine Biome Join Date: 2015-08-18 Member: 207249Members
The following fish that I personally think lack visual polish compared to most others in Subnautica. These fish stand out because comparably, they are not up to snuff. Any visual rework would suffice, but below are a few specific ideas I had for redesigns. I have ranked the importance of the redesign from first to last, meaning the Bladderfish is the most important while the Spinnerfish is least important.
Fish to Add: The mesmer and crimson ray are very high quality subnautica fauna that I think should be added to below zero just for diversity sake. The crimson ray could appear near the thermal vents as a common complaint about the thermal vents is they aren't "lush" enough.
The Bladderfish: The bladder-fish was, until recently, a very common fish that was very important to catch for early survival. Model wise and texture wise the bladderfish is too basic, with strange colors. I suggest making it a ray-type fish with fins that stick out to its sides, a transparent membrane on its underside, and possibly also its topside (perhaps the two sides could just be combined into one giant chamber at the center of the body). The body itself would, again be shaped like a ray, but bloated as it wraps around the large transparent center chamber. To visually add to the bloated design, perhaps it could have a tail that droops when its moving slowly. There would be intake valves somewhere on the creature, and outtake valves on its fins, or somewhere on the body so that it can eject water when it needs to move more quickly. When fleeing, the fish would use its outtake valves as propulsion, and after a while will look less bloated. Eventually it will run out of expendable water (needs to keep some to stay alive) and slow down. Design wise, the oculus, eye-eye, and spadefish come to mind as comparable. Perhaps an intermediate technology (before the water filter) could allow players to harvest the water from the bladderfish without killing it (it would then have to be released or swim in an aquarium for a while to restore the water). For sight it could have an eye inside the filtration membrane (think crash fish egg)
The Crasher: The crasher is a very cool fish with an interesting mechanic, but it could really use a visual rework. In my opinion, the crashfish should look less complex and more membranous/transparent, filled with chemicals that allow it to explode. Maybe even make the color scheme green, and/or have the new nests look like gasopod tails (a crasher would possibly come out of each node) but only one would be released at a time. Empty nodes would have a chance of having sulfur, as they do now. Location wise I think it would make much more thematic sense to have Crashers in the thermal vent and thermal tree areas than the twisty bridges, but resource/progression wise I suppose they might be necessary in an accessible place early on. Perhaps add them to the thermal vents/trees again to make the areas more "lush" since they would have new models, and the crashfish plant/nest would look more prominent and "lush".
Stalker: The stalker's body is chunky to the point where its fins don't look like fins. Stalkers really need a remodel, and possibly a recolor/re-texture so they blend better with the kelp. Even though there is now an arctic stalker that walks on land, the new swimming staler doesn't need to be exactly the same as it was. Perhaps it's dorsal ridges could be combined with webbing (just like webbing between fingers) to create more of a back fin.
Eye-Eye: I think the eye-eye would benefit greatly from a re-texture to make it more vibrant/arctic looking, even if it doesn't need to look different in the arctic, it needs to be more vibrant so that its details pop more, and should be higher quality in general texture wise.
Boomerang: The boomerang could use a higher quality model. Concept wise, I wouldn't change a thing about them .
Birds: The birds in subnautica look like defective pigeons from earth, I'd replace them with something much more exotic.
Spinnerfish: The spinnerfish should have an eye at the center of its body so it can see while spinning. Would be more in line with eye-eyes and peepers.
Fish to Add: The mesmer and crimson ray are very high quality subnautica fauna that I think should be added to below zero just for diversity sake. The crimson ray could appear near the thermal vents as a common complaint about the thermal vents is they aren't "lush" enough.
The Bladderfish: The bladder-fish was, until recently, a very common fish that was very important to catch for early survival. Model wise and texture wise the bladderfish is too basic, with strange colors. I suggest making it a ray-type fish with fins that stick out to its sides, a transparent membrane on its underside, and possibly also its topside (perhaps the two sides could just be combined into one giant chamber at the center of the body). The body itself would, again be shaped like a ray, but bloated as it wraps around the large transparent center chamber. To visually add to the bloated design, perhaps it could have a tail that droops when its moving slowly. There would be intake valves somewhere on the creature, and outtake valves on its fins, or somewhere on the body so that it can eject water when it needs to move more quickly. When fleeing, the fish would use its outtake valves as propulsion, and after a while will look less bloated. Eventually it will run out of expendable water (needs to keep some to stay alive) and slow down. Design wise, the oculus, eye-eye, and spadefish come to mind as comparable. Perhaps an intermediate technology (before the water filter) could allow players to harvest the water from the bladderfish without killing it (it would then have to be released or swim in an aquarium for a while to restore the water). For sight it could have an eye inside the filtration membrane (think crash fish egg)
The Crasher: The crasher is a very cool fish with an interesting mechanic, but it could really use a visual rework. In my opinion, the crashfish should look less complex and more membranous/transparent, filled with chemicals that allow it to explode. Maybe even make the color scheme green, and/or have the new nests look like gasopod tails (a crasher would possibly come out of each node) but only one would be released at a time. Empty nodes would have a chance of having sulfur, as they do now. Location wise I think it would make much more thematic sense to have Crashers in the thermal vent and thermal tree areas than the twisty bridges, but resource/progression wise I suppose they might be necessary in an accessible place early on. Perhaps add them to the thermal vents/trees again to make the areas more "lush" since they would have new models, and the crashfish plant/nest would look more prominent and "lush".
Stalker: The stalker's body is chunky to the point where its fins don't look like fins. Stalkers really need a remodel, and possibly a recolor/re-texture so they blend better with the kelp. Even though there is now an arctic stalker that walks on land, the new swimming staler doesn't need to be exactly the same as it was. Perhaps it's dorsal ridges could be combined with webbing (just like webbing between fingers) to create more of a back fin.
Eye-Eye: I think the eye-eye would benefit greatly from a re-texture to make it more vibrant/arctic looking, even if it doesn't need to look different in the arctic, it needs to be more vibrant so that its details pop more, and should be higher quality in general texture wise.
Boomerang: The boomerang could use a higher quality model. Concept wise, I wouldn't change a thing about them .
Birds: The birds in subnautica look like defective pigeons from earth, I'd replace them with something much more exotic.
Spinnerfish: The spinnerfish should have an eye at the center of its body so it can see while spinning. Would be more in line with eye-eyes and peepers.