This is just a few hopefuls with respect to the recent progress with /indev/. This thread is also to address the questions Notch recently posted on the dev blog [on Jan. 29].
(yes, I know it's technically a wish list, but I'm going to keep this concise and on topic)
Thematically, alot of ideas can be taken from Shipwrecked 2 and Lost in Blue (DS).
Arrows - we need fire arrows. I saw another thread suggest them being made with coal. I think that tipping them with cotton is also a viable blueprint. Along those lines, different classes of arrows would also be a good idea. Depending on what you tipped the arrow with, the strength and speed would change. This allows a player to make arrows form anything in their inventory on the fly should they run low. When crafting arrows and spears in Lost in Blue, the game even allowed the player to simply make sharpened sticks. Naturally, these were not as good as actual arrows.
TNT Arrows - the ability to launch an explosive (although it would be a fraction of the strength of normal TNT) would provide a whole new angle to the game. Assume that the tnt has a regulation length fuse that starts when the arrow is fired. I also fully acknowledge that this could very well break the game. Just a thought.
Auxiliary Tools - the notion of a crafting table makes sense in that logic suggests building something requires tools and space. While a player would be able to build anything at a crafting station, the most sensible solution for building things on the go is for players to be able to build things that, while entirely useless on their own, facilitate remote construction. Ex. Obsidian and metal could be forged into an obsidian knife at a crafting table. While the player carried it, they could cut/sharpen things in the wild. Along these lines, a player could make a wide variety of tools (saw, hammer, knife). These tools, by extension, could be made from different materials, and would allow the player to use them on anything weaker than them. This means that eventually, the player could turn themself into a mobile workstation, but even at best, the strongest material would require a proper crafting table to work with. I think these should also break after 1 use (but as a tradeoff, you could build 10 units for the cost of one). This would mean a player could become well prepared, but could never become a MacGyver. Eventually, they'd get worn down and need to return to camp. Lastly, I think that remote crafting would require a remote table. You could build it at a normal crafting table, and would have to place it to build. You could destroy it, pick up the drop, and bring it along with you, but the player would have to stop to build.
Consumable crafted items - if the player needs something that runs out, but is renewable with some difficulty, it will give them a continuing goal. Aside from arrows, things like health packs (of varying strengths) work. Crafting could also require composition materials (rope/twine, adhesive, dowels, etc.) that are required for crafting but don't directly become a part of the finished product. Either way, the player needs a mix of errands in with their primary goal progression to mix things up or the game becomes too formulaic. This also contributes to a theoretical "economy".
Finite fluid transportation - playing around with water/lava spawning blocks has taught me that being able to place fluids above sea level has obvious advantages (filling wells/fountains, quenching lava, making traps). If players could carry limited volumes of fluids, this would create a scaled building atmosphere. If the player could increase their storage capacity, possibly by building bigger containers, that would be even better. I'm not entirely sure what a good way to do this is yet, but it's a seed of an idea.
Rain interaction - a torch in rain should be extinguished after a short time, same for a fire. If something that was rained on but no longer is gets set on fire, it should be considered dry, and shouldn't "stay wet" as that just lags gameplay. If TNT is exposed to rain, it should be disarmed, the same as if it's in water.
Atmospheric effects - while the rain effect looks good, it should also come with reduced ambient light and some fogging. This forces players to make more use of lighting and build camps. Sound effects would also be a nice aesthetic touch. If these effects were variable, that would be even better. Making the player uncertain of their future keeps them on edge (to clarify, if a player understands what is happening, but doesn't know the time duration or if it will get worse, they can react without feeling confused or betrayed by the game).
Top half tile - a sibling to the half-step. Often, I've found myself musing that having a top-half only tile would allow me to build awnings or window sills. It would also allow you to build ceilings that are sloped proportionately to stairs.
Final thoughts: the advent of object manipulation and item crafting brings two notions to the table. If you read nothing else in this post, consider these two points the only important parts.
1) Because multiplayer servers will inevitably be the heaviest use of the final product, crafting could be designed with an economy in mind. Making it so players would have to cooperate in teams, or trade resources to efficiently advance would encourage cooperation and discourage soloing in a server. However the final product is made, if a player can easily become a god in their own right, it's just going to turn every server into a FFA with the eldest players curb stomping new players. For soloplay, this would also help pace the game so it takes more than 10 minutes to get the best everything.
2) Non-essential objects. If players can build decorative things such as furniture and signs, then it creates a motive for trade (there are so many things, a player can open up shop and sell things they make for things other players make). This also means that players will have continuing goals because even with the best weapon, armor, tools, and infinite supplies of every material, they can continually upgrade their settlement. A server should NEVER have a point where the players say "now what?" or Minecraft becomes a one trick pony.
Good ideas, but please don't get confused between /indev/ (discussion about stuff that Notch is currently working on) with Suggestions (discussion about stuff we want Notch to work on).
You say "with respect to the recent progress with /indev/, but nothing here is really feedback. It's as you say, a wishlist; wishlists go in the Suggestions forum.
this is in order from what you suggested, and what i thought about it.
arrow types...
normal- normal everything
long arrows- more damage, faster, more materials to create
fire arrows, either tipped with coal or cotton, either could work. lights area it hits on fire, could catch wooden buildings or forests on fire from long range.
tnt arrows- a normal arrow, but a tnt block beside the wooden shaft of it. (tied on, in the graphic) once fired, immedietly explodes on impact. only a 3x3x3 area, supposing the point [2x2x2] is where the tnt arrow hit.
auxilarry tools, just like an axe gathers wood blocks, using a knife could turn the 'manufactured' wood blocks into wooden arrows when harvested.
consumable crafted items, could turn one mushroom, mixed with some wood or glass, into 4 healing salves. these salves heal just as much as a single mushroom.
i realy like all of your atmospheric effects.
and i have alwyas like the idea of a small 'economy' in the game.
and also i would love horses to be added to the game, and once you get off, it wanders, so you'd have to build a fence around it. and it jumps so the fence'd have to be tall.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
wow, a signature.
Pulsusego, Drill Sergeant 3rd Battalion, Engineer of the RMM. Glory to her!
(yes, I know it's technically a wish list, but I'm going to keep this concise and on topic)
Thematically, alot of ideas can be taken from Shipwrecked 2 and Lost in Blue (DS).
Arrows - we need fire arrows. I saw another thread suggest them being made with coal. I think that tipping them with cotton is also a viable blueprint. Along those lines, different classes of arrows would also be a good idea. Depending on what you tipped the arrow with, the strength and speed would change. This allows a player to make arrows form anything in their inventory on the fly should they run low. When crafting arrows and spears in Lost in Blue, the game even allowed the player to simply make sharpened sticks. Naturally, these were not as good as actual arrows.
TNT Arrows - the ability to launch an explosive (although it would be a fraction of the strength of normal TNT) would provide a whole new angle to the game. Assume that the tnt has a regulation length fuse that starts when the arrow is fired. I also fully acknowledge that this could very well break the game. Just a thought.
Auxiliary Tools - the notion of a crafting table makes sense in that logic suggests building something requires tools and space. While a player would be able to build anything at a crafting station, the most sensible solution for building things on the go is for players to be able to build things that, while entirely useless on their own, facilitate remote construction. Ex. Obsidian and metal could be forged into an obsidian knife at a crafting table. While the player carried it, they could cut/sharpen things in the wild. Along these lines, a player could make a wide variety of tools (saw, hammer, knife). These tools, by extension, could be made from different materials, and would allow the player to use them on anything weaker than them. This means that eventually, the player could turn themself into a mobile workstation, but even at best, the strongest material would require a proper crafting table to work with. I think these should also break after 1 use (but as a tradeoff, you could build 10 units for the cost of one). This would mean a player could become well prepared, but could never become a MacGyver. Eventually, they'd get worn down and need to return to camp. Lastly, I think that remote crafting would require a remote table. You could build it at a normal crafting table, and would have to place it to build. You could destroy it, pick up the drop, and bring it along with you, but the player would have to stop to build.
Consumable crafted items - if the player needs something that runs out, but is renewable with some difficulty, it will give them a continuing goal. Aside from arrows, things like health packs (of varying strengths) work. Crafting could also require composition materials (rope/twine, adhesive, dowels, etc.) that are required for crafting but don't directly become a part of the finished product. Either way, the player needs a mix of errands in with their primary goal progression to mix things up or the game becomes too formulaic. This also contributes to a theoretical "economy".
Finite fluid transportation - playing around with water/lava spawning blocks has taught me that being able to place fluids above sea level has obvious advantages (filling wells/fountains, quenching lava, making traps). If players could carry limited volumes of fluids, this would create a scaled building atmosphere. If the player could increase their storage capacity, possibly by building bigger containers, that would be even better. I'm not entirely sure what a good way to do this is yet, but it's a seed of an idea.
Rain interaction - a torch in rain should be extinguished after a short time, same for a fire. If something that was rained on but no longer is gets set on fire, it should be considered dry, and shouldn't "stay wet" as that just lags gameplay. If TNT is exposed to rain, it should be disarmed, the same as if it's in water.
Atmospheric effects - while the rain effect looks good, it should also come with reduced ambient light and some fogging. This forces players to make more use of lighting and build camps. Sound effects would also be a nice aesthetic touch. If these effects were variable, that would be even better. Making the player uncertain of their future keeps them on edge (to clarify, if a player understands what is happening, but doesn't know the time duration or if it will get worse, they can react without feeling confused or betrayed by the game).
Top half tile - a sibling to the half-step. Often, I've found myself musing that having a top-half only tile would allow me to build awnings or window sills. It would also allow you to build ceilings that are sloped proportionately to stairs.
Final thoughts: the advent of object manipulation and item crafting brings two notions to the table. If you read nothing else in this post, consider these two points the only important parts.
1) Because multiplayer servers will inevitably be the heaviest use of the final product, crafting could be designed with an economy in mind. Making it so players would have to cooperate in teams, or trade resources to efficiently advance would encourage cooperation and discourage soloing in a server. However the final product is made, if a player can easily become a god in their own right, it's just going to turn every server into a FFA with the eldest players curb stomping new players. For soloplay, this would also help pace the game so it takes more than 10 minutes to get the best everything.
2) Non-essential objects. If players can build decorative things such as furniture and signs, then it creates a motive for trade (there are so many things, a player can open up shop and sell things they make for things other players make). This also means that players will have continuing goals because even with the best weapon, armor, tools, and infinite supplies of every material, they can continually upgrade their settlement. A server should NEVER have a point where the players say "now what?" or Minecraft becomes a one trick pony.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
Retired StaffYou say "with respect to the recent progress with /indev/, but nothing here is really feedback. It's as you say, a wishlist; wishlists go in the Suggestions forum.
Voyager of the Seas WIP ~~~~~ Big Book of Alchemy ~ Crafting Tech Tree
arrow types...
normal- normal everything
long arrows- more damage, faster, more materials to create
fire arrows, either tipped with coal or cotton, either could work. lights area it hits on fire, could catch wooden buildings or forests on fire from long range.
tnt arrows- a normal arrow, but a tnt block beside the wooden shaft of it. (tied on, in the graphic) once fired, immedietly explodes on impact. only a 3x3x3 area, supposing the point [2x2x2] is where the tnt arrow hit.
auxilarry tools, just like an axe gathers wood blocks, using a knife could turn the 'manufactured' wood blocks into wooden arrows when harvested.
consumable crafted items, could turn one mushroom, mixed with some wood or glass, into 4 healing salves. these salves heal just as much as a single mushroom.
i realy like all of your atmospheric effects.
and i have alwyas like the idea of a small 'economy' in the game.
and also i would love horses to be added to the game, and once you get off, it wanders, so you'd have to build a fence around it. and it jumps so the fence'd have to be tall.
Pulsusego, Drill Sergeant 3rd Battalion, Engineer of the RMM. Glory to her!