I've been lurking around these forums for quite a while now, looking over the suggestions and some of them are indeed very good. One thing I've been very interested in is suggestions about hunger, and basic needs, as very few games today tackle this gameplay mechanic, or do it in the wrong way. By the right way, I mean implementing hunger in a way that adds challenge and immersion without detracting from the rest of the game's challenges, or being an annoyance. I've noticed that in threads suggesting hunger or basic needs, people generally seem to be against the idea. I feel that this is largely because the idea has been suggested in the wrong way, simply adding annoyance to the game (no intended offense to those thread authors). I've also heard that Notch has stated he's against the idea of hunger, on grounds of it detracting from the gameplay. So let's do it right:
If anyone remembers Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, a game which I believe did hunger right, then you'll notice that my idea is along a similar track as that game's hunger system.
Where are you? You're in Minecraft. You're walking around, punching trees, mining coal, beating cows to death with a piece of meat. After 10 minutes (a day), a small green icon pops up.
OH NO! That means I've gotta frantically find some food and eat or I'll die right? Actually, no. This icon is to tell you that you've just started to feel hungry. If you eat now, the icon will go away, but you don't have to eat. Nothing will happen to your health.
After another 10 minutes (a night) the icon changes.
Oh crap. I'm dead now aren't I? Again, no. This icon is to tell you that you're more hungry. If you eat any food now, the icon will change back to green. If you don't eat, you won't die, and nothing will happen to your health, so don't worry.
Another 10 minutes passes (another day). The icon changes once more.
Uh oh, that doesn't look good. And you're right this time. This icon shows that you are very hungry, even starving. A little bar will appear below the icon, which slowly goes down over 10 minutes (another night). When this bar reaches zero, we have what we call "death by starvation". This bar has nothing to do with your physical health. Wounds and hunger are 2 different things, and not realising this is a big problem in many suggestions about hunger. If you eat now, the bar will go away and the icon will change back to orange. Therefore, if you are very hungry, you should eat any 3 pieces of food to be fully satisfied.
So there we have it. After 2 days and nights, starvation kicks in. In this system, you can eat once a day and be fine. You can even not eat in a day, and chow down more tomorrow and be fine. edit: If 2 days seems too short to you, it could be changed to more depending on difficulty level and balance testing. It shouldn't go too high (say, 7 days or more) even while that's 'realistic', it's not challenging at all.
Oh, and I forgot one of the biggest parts of the idea. One which is added to the options menu:
Hunger mode (ON/OFF)
Ok, let's review:
Does the idea get in the way of gameplay? No, you can eat at your own pace. You'll probably be eating to restore health anyway, which will also satisfy your hunger, and the hunger system does not interfere with the regular health bar in anyway. You can't fall off a cliff and then suddenly die of hunger because you were on low HP.
Is it going to be annoying? I believe not. It will add an extra challenge, especially for those who play on peaceful mode. In any case, people who really don't like having to eat can turn it off.
Does it fit the theme of Minecraft? Most definitely! A big part of Minecraft is survival, is it not? Food already exists in the game. Farms exist in the game. Why not have a reason for them?
What else... will it satisfy everyone? With an on/off option, I don't see how it won't. Will it be hard to implement? I believe it is within Notch's programming abilities.
Ok, I think that's everything. Now that you've heard my suggestion, please tell me, what's wrong with my idea? What's right about it? What could be changed?
edit: If you'd like to support this suggestion, feel free to add this to your signature:
I like this idea, however, I assume that in peaceful mode its auto-disabled?
It could be auto-disabled for peaceful, but I'd like to think that you can still enable it in peaceful. For those people who don't want to have to fight enemies, but still survive against nature.
Possibly the best idea and excellently thought out, well done. Personally i would have it so you had to wait a few minutes after eating food before it effects your hunger rating, or make food take time to eat as to make it more realistic in a sense...meaning you didnt spam food to live.
Both interesting ideas, although I don't think it would make much difference as you wouldn't need to eat much food anyway.
Anyways, I think Notch mentioned something about a realism slider that included hunger and thirst, so lets hope its something similar to this!
Where did Notch mention this? I'd like to see it.
Its been a couple of weeks/months since he last tweeted it, but I'll try to search for it. It may also be a blog post, but I forget.
I know it has been mentioned though.
EDIT: Gah! Too many tweets! It isn't a blog post, so I'm sure its a Tweet. Thing is, Notch tweets A LOT. I'm not going to bother sifting through that. Take my word for it though, Notch did mention a realism slider of some sort. Hunger may not be part of it for all I know, but he did mention it.
I believe that after the red skull comes up your health/hearts should start decreasing instead of a random timer I think this makes more sense in the way that this means you become weaker and more fragile as you become closer to starving
just a thought really like this idea :smile.gif:
for you
Anyways, I think Notch mentioned something about a realism slider that included hunger and thirst, so lets hope its something similar to this!
Where did Notch mention this? I'd like to see it.
Its been a couple of weeks/months since he last tweeted it, but I'll try to search for it. It may also be a blog post, but I forget.
I know it has been mentioned though.
EDIT: Gah! Too many tweets! It isn't a blog post, so I'm sure its a Tweet. Thing is, Notch tweets A LOT. I'm not going to bother sifting through that. Take my word for it though, Notch did mention a realism slider of some sort. Hunger may not be part of it for all I know, but he did mention it.
I believe that after the red skull comes up your health/hearts should start decreasing instead of a random timer I think this makes more sense in the way that this means you become weaker and more fragile as you become closer to starving
just a thought really like this idea :smile.gif:
for you
actually I think you're starving after the hunger bar goes completely down so after that's all the way down you would start losing health.
very good! i like warnings before something screwy happens, and it can fit everyone fine with on/off, but i think itll be a hassle to write that into the game... dont u think?
The human body can go 3 weeks with out food so 2 in game days wouldnt make much sense.
21 in game days with out food would be alot more logical. 210 minutes? Not sure if 210 real minutes for 3 ingame weeks to pass, my math sucks. Along with my English.
The human body can go 3 weeks with out food so 2 in game days wouldnt make much sense.
21 in game days with out food would be alot more logical. 210 minutes? Not sure if 210 real minutes for 3 ingame weeks to pass, my math sucks. Along with my English.
That's true, but when thinking of this idea I was thinking more in terms of fun than realism. 21 game days would not be challenging at all, and so it would not be fun. For a hunger game mechanic to add anything worthwhile to the game, there needs to be a challenge.
If anyone remembers Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, a game which I believe did hunger right, then you'll notice that my idea is along a similar track as that game's hunger system.
Where are you? You're in Minecraft. You're walking around, punching trees, mining coal, beating cows to death with a piece of meat. After 10 minutes (a day), a small green icon pops up.
OH NO! That means I've gotta frantically find some food and eat or I'll die right? Actually, no. This icon is to tell you that you've just started to feel hungry. If you eat now, the icon will go away, but you don't have to eat. Nothing will happen to your health.
After another 10 minutes (a night) the icon changes.
Oh crap. I'm dead now aren't I? Again, no. This icon is to tell you that you're more hungry. If you eat any food now, the icon will change back to green. If you don't eat, you won't die, and nothing will happen to your health, so don't worry.
Another 10 minutes passes (another day). The icon changes once more.
Uh oh, that doesn't look good. And you're right this time. This icon shows that you are very hungry, even starving. A little bar will appear below the icon, which slowly goes down over 10 minutes (another night). When this bar reaches zero, we have what we call "death by starvation". This bar has nothing to do with your physical health. Wounds and hunger are 2 different things, and not realising this is a big problem in many suggestions about hunger. If you eat now, the bar will go away and the icon will change back to orange. Therefore, if you are very hungry, you should eat any 3 pieces of food to be fully satisfied.
So there we have it. After 2 days and nights, starvation kicks in. In this system, you can eat once a day and be fine. You can even not eat in a day, and chow down more tomorrow and be fine.
edit: If 2 days seems too short to you, it could be changed to more depending on difficulty level and balance testing. It shouldn't go too high (say, 7 days or more) even while that's 'realistic', it's not challenging at all.
Oh, and I forgot one of the biggest parts of the idea. One which is added to the options menu:
Hunger mode (ON/OFF)
Ok, let's review:
Does the idea get in the way of gameplay? No, you can eat at your own pace. You'll probably be eating to restore health anyway, which will also satisfy your hunger, and the hunger system does not interfere with the regular health bar in anyway. You can't fall off a cliff and then suddenly die of hunger because you were on low HP.
Is it going to be annoying? I believe not. It will add an extra challenge, especially for those who play on peaceful mode. In any case, people who really don't like having to eat can turn it off.
Does it fit the theme of Minecraft? Most definitely! A big part of Minecraft is survival, is it not? Food already exists in the game. Farms exist in the game. Why not have a reason for them?
What else... will it satisfy everyone? With an on/off option, I don't see how it won't. Will it be hard to implement? I believe it is within Notch's programming abilities.
Ok, I think that's everything. Now that you've heard my suggestion, please tell me, what's wrong with my idea? What's right about it? What could be changed?
edit: If you'd like to support this suggestion, feel free to add this to your signature:
And now a smaller version:
It could be auto-disabled for peaceful, but I'd like to think that you can still enable it in peaceful. For those people who don't want to have to fight enemies, but still survive against nature.
A thirst system similar to this would work pretty well too, but thats getting ahead.
Anyways, I think Notch mentioned something about a realism slider that included hunger and thirst, so lets hope its something similar to this!
Both interesting ideas, although I don't think it would make much difference as you wouldn't need to eat much food anyway.
You, suggester are WIN.
This is the first "needs" thread that I haven't felt that I needed to rebel against.
I like this idea SO MUCH.
Where did Notch mention this? I'd like to see it.
Its been a couple of weeks/months since he last tweeted it, but I'll try to search for it. It may also be a blog post, but I forget.
I know it has been mentioned though.
EDIT: Gah! Too many tweets! It isn't a blog post, so I'm sure its a Tweet. Thing is, Notch tweets A LOT. I'm not going to bother sifting through that. Take my word for it though, Notch did mention a realism slider of some sort. Hunger may not be part of it for all I know, but he did mention it.
just a thought really like this idea :smile.gif:
for you
Heh, I'll take your word for it :smile.gif:
It would be far more challenging to have to eat food.
actually I think you're starving after the hunger bar goes completely down so after that's all the way down you would start losing health.
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Im so proud... -.-
21 in game days with out food would be alot more logical. 210 minutes? Not sure if 210 real minutes for 3 ingame weeks to pass, my math sucks. Along with my English.
dont worry, my english sucks too...
Im so proud... -.-
That's true, but when thinking of this idea I was thinking more in terms of fun than realism. 21 game days would not be challenging at all, and so it would not be fun. For a hunger game mechanic to add anything worthwhile to the game, there needs to be a challenge.
I like it.