Below zero creature concept thread
Cire555
bend Join Date: 2018-01-02 Member: 234752Members
bend Join Date: 2018-01-02 Member: 234752Members
Let’s be honest the Dev team probably isn’t going to add any more creatures but it’s still fun to come up with ideas right, so instead of creating countless threads with different creature ideas let’s use this one to consolidate and improve upon one another’s ideas in the hopes that maybe the devs will change their minds. Anyway here are some of my Below zero creature ideas (organized by biome) Feel free to edit them, add your own ideas, or come up with your own creatures, let’s have fun with it.
Lily pads
The lillypads are a beautiful biome but I personally believe they suffer from not having their own unique fauna, especially since the glow whales were moved out as it became more cluttered and the lillypadlers seem to have been relocated to the tree spires biome, thus my idea for the lillypads biome is
The Crab-Turtle, a large herbivore class leviathan that feeds on the lillypads, it would fairly passive and be slow moving, likely looking very similar The “giant turtle” Concept art they released for the original subnautica but never implemented, I think this would be a great addition to the Lillypad biome and would fit It a lot better than the glow whales.
The Thermal spires
Honestly I think this biome need the most work, being fairly bland and only being home to a couple of rock punchers It lacks the unique feel of the other biomes and I honestly hope they update it to include more volcanic activity And a wider variety of fauna maybe including one of the following Ideas
Scorch-beetles, a larger relative of the rock grubs, these beetles would feed on the volcanic silt pushed to the surface by the thermal spires, and would, like the ice worm be capable of producing volatile exothermic compounds that let them heat up parts of their body to incredible temperatures, however unlike the ice worm that uses this ability for burrowing through the ice and hunting, the Scorch-beetle would use it defensively, superheating it’s shell and the water around it as a defensive mechanism to ward off predators.
Ribbon fish, a small yet beautiful prey fish with long trailing ribbon like fins, this idea is a bit less developed than the others but I think the sparseness of the thermal
Spires biome could be a great opportunity to show off some less traditional creatures that would normally be confined by a tight space in the other biomes. I think Having a reddish fish with long trailing ribbon-like fins that drift behind it as it swims would add some beauty to what is otherwise a fairly bland biome
The Arctic kelp zone
A relatively small biome it doesn’t suffer from the same lack of unique fauna the as the other biomes, being home to the seamonkeys and having been fairly well developed in the previous game, however I’ve always though the creepvine areas were a missed opportunity to implement some kind of camouflaged creature That loses among them similar to the “leafy sea dragon seahorse“ thus I had the idea for
The vine-squid, a squid like creature with long leafy tendrils that resemble creepvine leaves, it would hide among the thick clusters at the top of the creepvines waiting for unsuspecting prey to wrap in its leafy tendrils. This could be a great opportunity for a midsized ambush predator or if they expanded the kelp zone They could make it a larger and more dangerous entity, though that might be a bit much for the early game.
The purple vents
This is rapidly becoming my favorite biome, the idea of a somewhat volcanic zone creating chemical tide pools for Chemophagic life forms is fascinating to me, I feel like it should be a biome that looks sparse at a glance but hides a huge amount of biodiversity as such I have two ideas for this area
Sponge worms, long worm-like creatures full of holes that filter feed on the chemical rich water of the purple vent zone, they could extend from the termite mound looking structures found all over the purple vent biome swaying about in the current only to retract suddenly when the player gets to close. Maybe they could even be constantly releasing clouds of purple gas/spores as they feed, thus lowering the visibility and making the whole biome seem more alien and eerie, like the cloudy water behind the Aurora in the first game, this could also serve to hide the chelicerate a bit and thus give it a bit more of a much needed terror factor
Building on this idea of lower visibility I also came up with
The Stunstar, a starfish like creature that feeds off the tide pools in the purple vents biome, this fairly stationary creature has developed a rather unique defense mechanism, taking a common trait found in many creatures on 4546B and weaponizing this creature has evolved to its bioluminescence to the extreme, when startled it will release a blinding flash of light to disorient and blind potential predators, luckily this flash requires a bit of a build up, And the stunstar will glow brighter as you approach it to Dissuade You from coming closer, only releasing its blinding flash should you get too close, And once the flash is used it takes it a while to build up its bioluminescent chemicals before it can use it again. I think this would be a fairly simple and uniquely terrifying mechanic in subnautica as losing your vision for a short while, especially in a dangerous biome could be disastrous
The Tree spires biome
The tree spires is a beautiful biome that I think needs little improvement, however looking at it always reminds me of the cove tree in the lost river and I miss the etherealness of the ghost rays there, I always loved the more ethereal creatures in subnautica with the jelly rays being one of my favorite, and I feel like below zero has yet to have any similarly beautiful creatures. looking at the tree spires biome I just cant help but think it’d be the perfect place to put such a creature, as such I present
The Star-Ray, larger than most of Ray species on 4546B the Star-ray is unique in that the bioluminescent patters along its body are not static like the majority of species on 4546B instead the bioluminescent patterns on its body change and shift In a vivid display of color, the purpose of this display is unknown though it is theorized that this may be its way of communicating with other members of its species. The Star-Ray could blend in with the water of the tree-spires biome and be adorned with a changing pattern of bioluminescent lights and trail light behind it like the peepers that carry enzyme 42, I think this would be a beautiful addition to the game, And would give the tree spires that etherealness some biomes of the first game had, even if had no relevance to gameplay
The glacial basin
The glacial basin looks amazing to me especially with all the recent updates, but it still feels kind of barren only being inhabited by snow stalkers and the ice worm, so I’ve given some thought to what kind of fauna could be implemented there to improve the biodiversity, And make it feel as alive as the other biomes, this is what I’ve come up with so far.
The ice crawler, an arctic relative of the cave crawler, it has adapted cling to icey surfaces with its clawed spider-like legs, this would be an easy reskin on the part of the devs (likely they could take inspiration from the yeti crab) and would go a long with with improving the biodiversity of the area, of all my ideas I think this one would be the easiest to implement.
The snow skipper, a distant cousin of the hoverfish, it retains the hoverfish’s unique ionizing footpads, however Instead of using its ionizing pads to move it through the water the Snow skipper instead use its pads to ionize the uppermost layer of snow creating a repelling force that allows it to slide effortlessly across the landscape. This creature would serve as a good source of food other than the heat-fruit when exploring the glacial basin and would likely be fun to watch slide around, it could also be a prey animal for the snow stalkers.
The iceback, a slow moving terrestrial relative of The Reefback, this creature accumulates an icy shell on its back to protect it from opportunistic predators, harmless and docile these lumbering giants are one of the rarest species in 4546B. I think this creature would be an amazing callback to the original subnautica while still being unique, and could give people the same sense of Quiet majesty as the original Reefbacks.
Misc. (creatures that could go anywhere)
The Echofish, a small herbivore with the unique adaptation to mimic sounds, it would be used to confuse or Scare the player by mimicking the calls of various leviathans or other dangerous fauna
The jelly snake, a small sized leech like predator in its larval stage, it poisons it’s victims as It clings to them disorienting them and making it very difficult to remove, at larger sizes it’s poison becomes much more deadly and has been known to swallow creatures many times it’s size. I feel this creature could be a good replacement for bleeders at the small size serving as a minor annoyance in the twisty bridges or deep
Twisty bridges, and could be placed in the void as a deterrent at a large size or implemented as a replacement for the squid sharks in the lillypad biome.
The Sea-mist leviathan, smaller than most leviathans it cultivates a unique form of phytoplankton that covers its hunting grounds in thick clouds of silt, making it very difficult to see. This ambush predator hides until something wanders into its domain, then strikes without warning. This could be a good way to solve the void problem, by covering it in a cloud of silt, it could create a realistic border to the world while also giving you a good reason to stay away from it.
Anyway those are my ideas so far, let me know what you guys think.
Lily pads
The lillypads are a beautiful biome but I personally believe they suffer from not having their own unique fauna, especially since the glow whales were moved out as it became more cluttered and the lillypadlers seem to have been relocated to the tree spires biome, thus my idea for the lillypads biome is
The Crab-Turtle, a large herbivore class leviathan that feeds on the lillypads, it would fairly passive and be slow moving, likely looking very similar The “giant turtle” Concept art they released for the original subnautica but never implemented, I think this would be a great addition to the Lillypad biome and would fit It a lot better than the glow whales.
The Thermal spires
Honestly I think this biome need the most work, being fairly bland and only being home to a couple of rock punchers It lacks the unique feel of the other biomes and I honestly hope they update it to include more volcanic activity And a wider variety of fauna maybe including one of the following Ideas
Scorch-beetles, a larger relative of the rock grubs, these beetles would feed on the volcanic silt pushed to the surface by the thermal spires, and would, like the ice worm be capable of producing volatile exothermic compounds that let them heat up parts of their body to incredible temperatures, however unlike the ice worm that uses this ability for burrowing through the ice and hunting, the Scorch-beetle would use it defensively, superheating it’s shell and the water around it as a defensive mechanism to ward off predators.
Ribbon fish, a small yet beautiful prey fish with long trailing ribbon like fins, this idea is a bit less developed than the others but I think the sparseness of the thermal
Spires biome could be a great opportunity to show off some less traditional creatures that would normally be confined by a tight space in the other biomes. I think Having a reddish fish with long trailing ribbon-like fins that drift behind it as it swims would add some beauty to what is otherwise a fairly bland biome
The Arctic kelp zone
A relatively small biome it doesn’t suffer from the same lack of unique fauna the as the other biomes, being home to the seamonkeys and having been fairly well developed in the previous game, however I’ve always though the creepvine areas were a missed opportunity to implement some kind of camouflaged creature That loses among them similar to the “leafy sea dragon seahorse“ thus I had the idea for
The vine-squid, a squid like creature with long leafy tendrils that resemble creepvine leaves, it would hide among the thick clusters at the top of the creepvines waiting for unsuspecting prey to wrap in its leafy tendrils. This could be a great opportunity for a midsized ambush predator or if they expanded the kelp zone They could make it a larger and more dangerous entity, though that might be a bit much for the early game.
The purple vents
This is rapidly becoming my favorite biome, the idea of a somewhat volcanic zone creating chemical tide pools for Chemophagic life forms is fascinating to me, I feel like it should be a biome that looks sparse at a glance but hides a huge amount of biodiversity as such I have two ideas for this area
Sponge worms, long worm-like creatures full of holes that filter feed on the chemical rich water of the purple vent zone, they could extend from the termite mound looking structures found all over the purple vent biome swaying about in the current only to retract suddenly when the player gets to close. Maybe they could even be constantly releasing clouds of purple gas/spores as they feed, thus lowering the visibility and making the whole biome seem more alien and eerie, like the cloudy water behind the Aurora in the first game, this could also serve to hide the chelicerate a bit and thus give it a bit more of a much needed terror factor
Building on this idea of lower visibility I also came up with
The Stunstar, a starfish like creature that feeds off the tide pools in the purple vents biome, this fairly stationary creature has developed a rather unique defense mechanism, taking a common trait found in many creatures on 4546B and weaponizing this creature has evolved to its bioluminescence to the extreme, when startled it will release a blinding flash of light to disorient and blind potential predators, luckily this flash requires a bit of a build up, And the stunstar will glow brighter as you approach it to Dissuade You from coming closer, only releasing its blinding flash should you get too close, And once the flash is used it takes it a while to build up its bioluminescent chemicals before it can use it again. I think this would be a fairly simple and uniquely terrifying mechanic in subnautica as losing your vision for a short while, especially in a dangerous biome could be disastrous
The Tree spires biome
The tree spires is a beautiful biome that I think needs little improvement, however looking at it always reminds me of the cove tree in the lost river and I miss the etherealness of the ghost rays there, I always loved the more ethereal creatures in subnautica with the jelly rays being one of my favorite, and I feel like below zero has yet to have any similarly beautiful creatures. looking at the tree spires biome I just cant help but think it’d be the perfect place to put such a creature, as such I present
The Star-Ray, larger than most of Ray species on 4546B the Star-ray is unique in that the bioluminescent patters along its body are not static like the majority of species on 4546B instead the bioluminescent patterns on its body change and shift In a vivid display of color, the purpose of this display is unknown though it is theorized that this may be its way of communicating with other members of its species. The Star-Ray could blend in with the water of the tree-spires biome and be adorned with a changing pattern of bioluminescent lights and trail light behind it like the peepers that carry enzyme 42, I think this would be a beautiful addition to the game, And would give the tree spires that etherealness some biomes of the first game had, even if had no relevance to gameplay
The glacial basin
The glacial basin looks amazing to me especially with all the recent updates, but it still feels kind of barren only being inhabited by snow stalkers and the ice worm, so I’ve given some thought to what kind of fauna could be implemented there to improve the biodiversity, And make it feel as alive as the other biomes, this is what I’ve come up with so far.
The ice crawler, an arctic relative of the cave crawler, it has adapted cling to icey surfaces with its clawed spider-like legs, this would be an easy reskin on the part of the devs (likely they could take inspiration from the yeti crab) and would go a long with with improving the biodiversity of the area, of all my ideas I think this one would be the easiest to implement.
The snow skipper, a distant cousin of the hoverfish, it retains the hoverfish’s unique ionizing footpads, however Instead of using its ionizing pads to move it through the water the Snow skipper instead use its pads to ionize the uppermost layer of snow creating a repelling force that allows it to slide effortlessly across the landscape. This creature would serve as a good source of food other than the heat-fruit when exploring the glacial basin and would likely be fun to watch slide around, it could also be a prey animal for the snow stalkers.
The iceback, a slow moving terrestrial relative of The Reefback, this creature accumulates an icy shell on its back to protect it from opportunistic predators, harmless and docile these lumbering giants are one of the rarest species in 4546B. I think this creature would be an amazing callback to the original subnautica while still being unique, and could give people the same sense of Quiet majesty as the original Reefbacks.
Misc. (creatures that could go anywhere)
The Echofish, a small herbivore with the unique adaptation to mimic sounds, it would be used to confuse or Scare the player by mimicking the calls of various leviathans or other dangerous fauna
The jelly snake, a small sized leech like predator in its larval stage, it poisons it’s victims as It clings to them disorienting them and making it very difficult to remove, at larger sizes it’s poison becomes much more deadly and has been known to swallow creatures many times it’s size. I feel this creature could be a good replacement for bleeders at the small size serving as a minor annoyance in the twisty bridges or deep
Twisty bridges, and could be placed in the void as a deterrent at a large size or implemented as a replacement for the squid sharks in the lillypad biome.
The Sea-mist leviathan, smaller than most leviathans it cultivates a unique form of phytoplankton that covers its hunting grounds in thick clouds of silt, making it very difficult to see. This ambush predator hides until something wanders into its domain, then strikes without warning. This could be a good way to solve the void problem, by covering it in a cloud of silt, it could create a realistic border to the world while also giving you a good reason to stay away from it.
Anyway those are my ideas so far, let me know what you guys think.
Comments
For me, the area is too sparse. That's because most lilies only have a single leaf per stem, there's only a single stem per bolder and bolders are too far away from the seabed. Furthermore, the stem being blue doesn't fit in my opinion and the purple luminescence gives me the impression that the lilies are infected. The green filter and the swimming spores kind of ruin it for me completely. This should be a lovely place, not a creepy one! And once again, an area is ruined because there has to be a story-related base in the middle of the unreasonable large & hollow 'mountain'.
All in all, I find the area inferior to the mushroom forest (although that biome was too deep and the muhrooms weren't semi-translucent to create cool light effects).
What I would do:
First, I would remove the filter effect. Then, I'd reduce the max depth and introduce lilies of different sizes (rather than having smaller leaves connected to the major ones) in order to have stems of different lengths and therefore bolders on different horizontal levels. I'd also skip the concept of deep sea flowers in favor for swimming lily flowers.
That's because building a base on the leaves is currently quite lame, since there isn't anything of interest up there. If the lily flowers would then have collectable pedals, it would be just great!!!
I'd also add some bulbs to the stem, especially right below the leaves to increase the impression that this helps to make them float. That's necessary because I would increase the size of the bolders and make them hollow (similar to the floating island rocks) in order to make it possible to build a base on these bolders. I for one would love to only create vertical connectors that reach the sea level and thereby mimic the stem. But with the small rocks and large leaves it's almost impossible. With (hopefully improved) wall-foundations and slope compartments (I already requested them), I would be able build an underwater treehouse or a whole 'elven city'.
I might even replace the deep flower caves with the monkey caves. The latter feel more like a mid-game concept.
Fauna:
I would stick to small & medium sized fish with only a few or no schools of fish. The cheeky creature concept (a triops with legs) would be great, especially if it could attach itself to the stem or upside down (e.g. like a bat) to the lily leaves. Other fish could build their nests in the hollow bolders (maybe the monkeys).
Furthermore, I would go with rays, e.g. ghostrays, jellyrays or (underwater) skyrays, some hoverfish and/or some bluish bladderfish. If a predator is needed, I'd go with a lava lizard like shape, that uses the tongue to snatch fish like a frog does?
The giant turtle idea would work for me as well, if it's only a single creature and more or less stationary to avoid graphical glitches (which is the case with glow whales).
Thermal Spires
The biggest concern that I have is that this region lowers my impression of the rocket island tremendously. I hate to leave the island just to be surrounded by black smokers, dead canyons and cryptosuchus. I'd be glad if this region would be moved elsewhere (maybe behind the island)!
I would design this biome to be a sparse region on purpose. There shouldn't be any plants, fish, large predators or even resources. The only remaining creatures would be ground-dwelling ones, like rock punchers.
Rock punchers should copy the concept of the sea treaders, spawning outcrops from time to time whenever they punch the seabed. Maybe they actually eat these rocks to live from the microscopic life in there (that feeds on the coal/oil stored in these rocks). Payers might be competitors of rock punchers or be forced to pick up the leftovers for undigested raw materials.
The idea is also that players have to mimic the way of life there. And that means to force them to the ground. This means this biome should be ideal for the PRAWN suit (which mimics a rock puncher) and ideal for deployable drills (if that thing havests minerals slowly but constantly, just like a filtration machine creates salt & water)
Bases should be modest, but also self-sufficient and technologically advanced. To support this, I would use a black filter here to symbol that the smoke blocks the sunlight. Without any fish as well, neither solar power nor bio-reactors should be a viable option here. I would even reduce the solar efficiency and plant/fish grow rate for this biome (because even the water lacks resources).
The black smokers should be larger, the seabed rough but without larger canyons (better for the Prawn). If you want caves, uses thin & deep cuts, harldy wide enough for the player. Maybe limit some of these cuts to camera drones only or that players have to use a repulsion cannon to fetch otherwise unreachable resources.
All in all, there shouldn't be enough space for foundations, wall-foundations, moonpools or large MPRs. Only a few spots for a control room or a small MPR.
Furthermore, I'd probably try out bubbles of black smoke slowly rising up [color](similar to air bubbles in Subnautica).[/color] This could add a 'smoke' gameplay to BZ as these smoke bubbles might deal acidic damage and even pull the player downwards. This supports the concept to force the player near the seabed to avoid these 'clouds'.
The reason to build a base there is to experience isolation, scarcity and a slower game pace (and it's a cool place to use a dark base color).
Fauna:
The concept that rockgrubs are the favorite meal of rock punchers doesn't really fit. The size & luminescence of the rockgrubs make them ideal for even the tiniest caves and whenever they swim near to the cave ceiling, they're out of reach for the heavy punchers anyways.
So I'd probably go with a lava larva concept, maybe a variant that disguise itself or spawn black clouds (like a gasopod would spawn yellow clouds). But maybe they still love to suck away energy and therefore suck of energy from thermal reactors or deployable drills, attack power transmitters or attach to base pieces they weren't deactivated via the control room.
Artic kelp
I don't see a reason why to place huge caves here... just play a bit with different heights, niches and normal caves.
Fauna:
I agree that camouflage enemies would work best here.
If this is an early biome however, I highly recommend to consider to place a creature like a gasopod there (maybe a hollowfish). In Subnautica, the tail of a gasopod almost matched the color & appearance of a yellow kelp seed cluster. An unexperienced player might mistake one for the other, especially If it's a dense forest.
But more importantly, to have only a harmless, defensive creature there lowers the reluctance of some players to enter this biome.
In subnautica, I also loved to place lava lizard in the kelp forest because their skin color matched perfectly. This could work in BZ as well. The lizards could have scales on their back rather than lava, and they might lose these scales whenever they fight eachother. The scales could then be picked up by the player as an early resource (just like stalker teeth).
But as it stands now, this biome is way too small to require a unique fauna there.
Purple Vents
First and foremost, I wouldn't use 'round' vents here. I'd rather go with line-shaped cuts. And they should come in different sizes and forms. Using only round ones is too lame.
Due to the fact that the vents prevent an overly vertical layout, this biome has to be 'interesting' by other means. So it could be a biome with a lot of large resource nodes to be mined by a Prawn Suit. Contrary to the Thermal Spires however, you don't want to stick to the seabed for long.
The overall biome design could consist of unnatural looking, huge, cubic crystal structures (like
The vents & crystals could be so magnetic that the compass and HUD icons don't work properly here. Maybe triple as much energy is drained here per second. So tools, cameras, submersibles or bases have to be checked more often and deactivating compartments via the control room becomes a relevant step.
Personally, I'd also love if the vents would create the source of light similar to a flare, i.e. they should creating long and even moving shadows. In addition, the vents could also fire rocks or crystal shards upwards that can damage the player or sea truck (like huge, unaimed tiger plant spikes) but also reflect the light in different ways/colors, further adding to the otherworldly atmosphere.
This would also create a remarkable view if a base is build here. It would cause varying light effects in your base (like a small, natural firework would). Thanks to the rather flat layout of the biome, huge bases could be build here (as long as the vents are avoided) and due to light sources close to the seabed, each floor of your base would be illuminated differently.
But for such a biome to work, it shouldn't be something you stumble upon early.
Fauna:
I'd try to support the otherworldly theme here, like eyeyes, blood crawlers, bleeders or upright floating predators similar to warpers. Heck, even a crashfish would be cool.
And yes, maybe this would also be a cool place for leviathan predators like the chelicerate.
Due to the stationary effect of the vents, I don't think that stationary creatures like a star fish would be a good idea.
The Tree Spires
It's kind of cool already with the different cliff lantern plants and bubble mushrooms, but it has some major flaws.
The biggest downside is the unnecessary blue filter. It would look much better with a permanent night theme here or if the filter would be limited to the caves below for some extra creepiness.
Second, it's sad that the height differences are so huge and third, that I can't build a base on top of the large tree. Would be cool to see my MPRs 'held' by this 'hand'.
Fauna:
Placing the jellyfish here would be a too obvious fit as their moving luminescence would add some motion to the otherwise static biome. And their upward oriented eyes make more sense here than under an ice shelf, because there is nothing to fear from below. So creatures like a spatefish would fit as well.
It could also be a place for some leviathan predator. Probably the squidshark would work, if the color scheme is adjusted a bit.
The glacial basin
Well, I don't like it at all. It feels artificial and nowhere do I get the feeling of an open space like it's shown on every concept art.
The snow stalker add a significant problem as well. It's first huge land animal we see, the first one with real legs, the first one with fur and and probably the first one that doesn't lay eggs.
So it's hard to find another animal it could hunt. Some large skyrays would work because we usually don't see the upper side of the ice cliffs. Another idea could be that they feed on the frozen remains of long-extinct corpses.
Ice oculus: a cave adapted creature that is quite similar to its cousin the peeper. It has the same backstory as the oculus, and it would add a little more life to the caves. And, I know this is off topic, but how do you get images on?