I was discussing the 360 version's limited map with a friend and the topic came up about finite resources that are mined such as iron, gold, etc. While the 1024x1024 limited map is large it places a limit on materials that once used are gone forever. Unlike the PC version where you can simply load another area to gather resources, on the 360 version you could potentially have no method of ever finding a finite resource again. so how do you solve this problem? The solution would need to be unique to the 360 as it uses different rules.
The only plausible answer is to give players a way to refine already used materials. This would also require having items become broken (read: unusable) once their durability was depleted instead of having them disappear. When the repair option is added, it would simply transfer the health to one of the two items and leave one of them as broken instead of combining the two. Lava would be another issue entirely however; one that will not be discussed in this post.
In order to refine a 'broken' item you would need a catalyst. Once crafted this catalyst would allow a broken item to be turned into its basic components. This catalyst could require a combination of materials or even a new rare drop but nothing that is finite in nature. This means that save for dying in lava or having items despawn after death you would be able to recraft items by breaking them down into their base components using this catalyst.
Given that the furnace does not support this type of interface (read: only 1 item output), a new refinery item would need to be added to the furnace selection. This refinery would have you insert the catalyst and broken item and over time produce the base components for the item. In this manner you could reclaim or repurpose items over time given enough catalyst material. This would at least provide a viable solution to having a finite number of resources for the 360 version save for the few exceptions mentioned previously.
I bet by the time you even get slightly close to running out of resources, the newer updates will be released. With the introduction of new biomes, I am willing to bet the world size will be increased. If I had to guess, I would say it will at least double in size.
The only plausible answer is to give players a way to refine already used materials. This would also require having items become broken (read: unusable) once their durability was depleted instead of having them disappear. When the repair option is added, it would simply transfer the health to one of the two items and leave one of them as broken instead of combining the two. Lava would be another issue entirely however; one that will not be discussed in this post.
In order to refine a 'broken' item you would need a catalyst. Once crafted this catalyst would allow a broken item to be turned into its basic components. This catalyst could require a combination of materials or even a new rare drop but nothing that is finite in nature. This means that save for dying in lava or having items despawn after death you would be able to recraft items by breaking them down into their base components using this catalyst.
Given that the furnace does not support this type of interface (read: only 1 item output), a new refinery item would need to be added to the furnace selection. This refinery would have you insert the catalyst and broken item and over time produce the base components for the item. In this manner you could reclaim or repurpose items over time given enough catalyst material. This would at least provide a viable solution to having a finite number of resources for the 360 version save for the few exceptions mentioned previously.
Thoughts or feedback?