With Regards to Creature Design
ColdSpyder
AZ Join Date: 2016-05-30 Member: 217767Members
AZ Join Date: 2016-05-30 Member: 217767Members
Personally, I find the Reaper Leviathan pretty terrifying. Crazy roar, alien shape, its movements are so inhuman.
My point being, the Sea Dragon and Emperor Leviathans don't instill anywhere near the same amount of fear in me. The humanoid-esque forms bring with it a sense of familiarity ? or something and no matter how big or how loud they are, they aren't so scary. Even Reefbacks bring a sense of fear with them because of how alien they look, despite the fact that they're apparently harmless cuddlebugs who will give you rides. Simply put, the more alien this world strikes us, the more thrilling it is to explore and learn about.
Maybe that's the point. Maybe you aren't trying to make them scary predators. I dunno.
In my experience however, this game is scary and thrilling, daring the depths of our briny new home. The scare factor is a huge reason I enjoy this game so singularly. If the goals is to continue to capitalize on that part of the experience, I highly suggest making your creatures less humanoid.
My 2 cents =]
My point being, the Sea Dragon and Emperor Leviathans don't instill anywhere near the same amount of fear in me. The humanoid-esque forms bring with it a sense of familiarity ? or something and no matter how big or how loud they are, they aren't so scary. Even Reefbacks bring a sense of fear with them because of how alien they look, despite the fact that they're apparently harmless cuddlebugs who will give you rides. Simply put, the more alien this world strikes us, the more thrilling it is to explore and learn about.
Maybe that's the point. Maybe you aren't trying to make them scary predators. I dunno.
In my experience however, this game is scary and thrilling, daring the depths of our briny new home. The scare factor is a huge reason I enjoy this game so singularly. If the goals is to continue to capitalize on that part of the experience, I highly suggest making your creatures less humanoid.
My 2 cents =]
Comments
Although, we are for the most part looking at these two in places where they won't be, with buggy or otherwise not final movements and mechanics. I have a feeling that the Dragon's sounds and location being underground with no escape will add to it's fear factor.
I completely agree with the scare factor part too, tbh Subnautica is the scariest game I've ever played, and it's so enjoyable because of how vulnerable you are on this unknown planet with such unfamiliar creatures (and in experimental, anything new could be lurking around every crevice...).
The emperor looks like an alien bug and personally it's "ram the shit out of you" AI scares me.
What throws me off is that it'll apparently breath fire underwater. It'd make a bit more sense to me if it expelled superheated jets of water.
IMHO, what would make the sea dragon more dread inspiring is if it moved very very slowly towards your base... more of a Godzilla type of creature... it'd also look larger if it moved more slowly.
Really? the reaper just looks kind of dumb to me. That butt chin.....
Also, I just met the sea treader today. A+ stuff! Again it looks more alien like the reaper.
Perhaps I emphasized "scary" a bit too much. I definitely like the "unusual" and "alien" aspect of the designs most of all. The alien-ness brings with it a sense of unknown, which is inherently scary for most (all?) of us.
Love the recent creatures though with the crabsquid and seatreader! Keep it up guys!
Also, your activity in the forums is appreciated Squeal_Like_A_Pig =D I hope to see more interactivity with these amazing creatures in the future!
"GOOD GOSH, creepy spider-legged brain thing!!!! Get away from my boat! What are you?!?"
I do love the more alien creature designs.
Well, the fear of Reaper is more of a "paranoid" kind of fear, as it is quite easy to encounter them in SN.
The fear for the Sea Dragon? It's because of how terrifyingly awesome it is. It doesn't give off that kind of "Reaper fear", but then again, we are not going to see the Sea Dragons being everywhere, so.....
I love how it almost mimics the flora in the reef.
I have similar feelings about the Crabsquid and the Crab Snake. Also about the bleeder the first times I saw it. The Sea Emperor will likely be the same because of the size and the alien look, and probably because I know it is more sentient.
However the Sea Dragon, no, because of how familiar it looks, it does seem like a crocodile and the movement is less natural than the ones I encountered so far. I would have enjoyed the creature more with more alien features. It is not implemented however and we will see how it works out when it is fully in-game.
The Emporer does this wonderfully. It's not a monterous sort of alien (at least not to me) that instills instant horror. Looking at it, I'm on guard, cautios, and wary. The fear won't crop up til it's trying to attack and/or eat me. XD
I'm definitely not going anywhere near the Sea Dragon if I can help it. Fear of death and losing my crap is there, but it just won't have the same feel if that makes sense. The hands and everything don't bother me, just that head. Maybe if the snout were longer and more narrow it wouldn't look so... dorky??? I'm sure what word to use. Props to everyone that worked on it because it looks nice but it doesn't feel like it fits in. Especially when put beside the Emporer.
Yeaaaah, you should have watched my first 30 mins of gameplay... I didn't want to get out of the escape pod lol!
That makes a lot of sense actually, I didn't look close enough to realize that it lacked thumbs >.<
Roasted, toasted, burnt to a crisp
Yes, I also like the somewhat more alien appearance of the sea emperor.
It is actually kindof funny - the biologist in me is busy trying to figure out if I can fit these different animals into clades ...but the skulls are too different between the sea-emperor and the sea-dragon.
I suppose stalkers and reaper leviathans could be related though?
Yeah, if the Sea Dragon had a giant baby face it'd freak me out... I'd probably have nightmares for weeks.
http://subnautica.wikia.com/wiki/Concept_Art
This is one of my favourites though
We could do wit the jellyfish to add uniqueness to a biome.
One of the other things I love about this is that it is sitting on the bottom and starring at the cyclops...
...Could you imagine how creepy it would be if the Sea-Dragon had a mobile neck and tended to stair at you?
...Or lay motionless on the bottom and then didn't attack (but sometimes followed you - perhaps damaging your base if you lead it back to your base...)
So many behavioural possibilities.
It'd be more terrifying if it kept the normal sized eyes and just grew more and more of them in a ring around its head though!
That is freaking terrifying.
Please make this a thing!
It IS a thing, that people that bought the game in alpha get. That picture just makes it look like 1000X bigger than it is.
I believe that there shouldn't just be terrifying creatures but, more than three would Be nice, because that's what makes the ocean great it's mysterious and terrifying and filled with terrifying and normal creatures.