I bought the Beta last week and have been playing it non-stop, and I have a few suggestions/observations based on my game time. I did read the first few pages of the forum so I apologize if any of these are repeats of other suggestions. Thanks in advance for reading. When I think of more I will add them to this thread.
CARTOGRAPHY
I know there's mods for mapping the game but I think this should be something implemented into the game itself. We already make paper in the game, and we have flowers. The flower's dye could be combined with coal and wood sticks to make a writing utensil. (coal + wood stick = black pencil, but then if you add colored dye, it turns the color of the pencil.) A formula would need to be worked out as far as how many squares are recorded for each piece of paper you have.
As long as you have plenty of blank paper and something to write with, the map automatically gets updated on some global map key binding (probably M), then a screen pops up giving a very rough map of the area. Now the more colored pencils you have on you the more details are revealed on the map. Just a black pencil will reveal a rough area of where you've been. If you have colored pencils, then areas of the map are colored in to show you where water is, ore, sand, etc.
NEW MOB: DUCKS
The biggest difference between this and the chicken is that this one will actually fly around in the sky and the only real way to kill it is with a bow. If you try to approach it it will fly off some distance to get away from you. Gives feathers and lays eggs and possibly food? Hangs around water more than chickens and actually floats on the water instead of flailing around when the chicken is in it.
BEDS: COLORED BLANKETS
Doesn't matter what color wool you use, the bed always turns out red. Would love it if the wool you used is what determines the color of the blanket.
ARTIFACTS
Lets be archeologists! We are constantly digging around and since we're the last person on the planet (in single player survival that is), it would be great to have stuff to find. It would be great if we could dig up artifacts that we could display and have it tell a story about the lost civilization that was there before you. These could be anything from dinosaur bones to alien tech. Not sure if "complete sets" gives you any kind of bonus to anything but at least it'll be something for us to do after we've established ourselves and survive for a while.
The plus with this idea is that new artifacts can be introduced with each update and the devs won't tell us what was added so it's a surprise for all of us when we find them.
AVALANCHES
Oops, I dug in the wrong spot!
If we're digging on a hill or mountain, it would be great if sometimes there's an accidental avalanche where a certain amount of blocks falls down the hill and stops at the bottom. Obviously if you're standing on the part that goes down the hill, you take some damage (and maybe suffocation damage if the blocks remain their normal shape?) Using TNT on top of a hill will also create avalanches in all directions.
MOSAIC FLOORS
Similar to paintings, it would be cool if we could collect different types of colored stones that are only used in making mosaic floors.
BAD GUYS AND ANIMALS
It would be nice if mobs reacted to animals instead of happily living in peace with them. Perhaps Creepers love to eat a specific animal. (or perhaps a Creeper hates a specific animal and goes out of its way to track it down to blow up near it to kill it.) Skeletons wouldn't need to eat so they would still ignore animals overall, same for zombies. This would just add some variety to the game and make it feel less like "the whole world is out to get me" like how it is now.
NEW MOB: WOLF
Basically an above ground mob that travels in packs of 3-4 during the day. It hunts pretty much anything that lives above ground.
DOMESTICATING ANIMALS
It would be cool if we could somehow domesticate animals so they stay around a specific area we designate. Perhaps for cows we can construct one of those curved walking staffs that animal herders use so we can bring them back to the pen. Or for sheep, we get to have a dog that herds them for us. (we can probably find dogs in the wild and tame it by feeding it, but then we have to keep feeding it otherwise it'll go away or turn on us.)
CONCRETE BLOCKS
Mixing sand and gravel together should make some sort of concrete block. It'll be more for aesthetics than anything to give us more building options (since clay seems to be very hard to find from my experience.)
SUNDIAL
In ancient times people used sun dials to tell time before watches were made, would be nice to make one at the very least as another decoration for the yard. Only would work outside where sun shines.
CLOCK
Same exact thing as the watch but this decoration you can hang up on the wall.
VEHICLES
It would be cool to build simple vehicles that have various levels of speed. First level is Flintstones / Gilligan's Island style cars (I'm dating myself with this one), all by foot power and made from sticks and rocks for the wheels. (so it would go slightly faster than walking speed) Then level 2 vehicles use steam power, so you would need a torch and a bucket of water + the materials to make a level 1 car. Then level 3 cars would run off of red stones but not sure of the recipe. Would be cool if you could add a storage box to them as well for portable storage.
BETTER WATER
Won't go into details on this, there's tons of threads on this. I would so love to be able to dig out a hole and have a nearby water source fill it up from the bottom up.
CATAPULTS
I'm sure this has been suggested before but I didn't find anything on it. Would love to combine stone and wood to make a catapult that would then fling anything I put on it and that it does ground damage similar to a creeper exploding but not as huge. Would be a great way to have fun while blasting apart a mountain side so you can get it cleared or mined.
There is a search bar in the forum where you will find roughly half of these ideas have already been proposed somehow. I do, however like the idea of Cartography and Archaeology.
CARTOGRAPHY
I know there's mods for mapping the game but I think this should be something implemented into the game itself. We already make paper in the game, and we have flowers. The flower's dye could be combined with coal and wood sticks to make a writing utensil. (coal + wood stick = black pencil, but then if you add colored dye, it turns the color of the pencil.) A formula would need to be worked out as far as how many squares are recorded for each piece of paper you have.
As long as you have plenty of blank paper and something to write with, the map automatically gets updated on some global map key binding (probably M), then a screen pops up giving a very rough map of the area. Now the more colored pencils you have on you the more details are revealed on the map. Just a black pencil will reveal a rough area of where you've been. If you have colored pencils, then areas of the map are colored in to show you where water is, ore, sand, etc.
NEW MOB: DUCKS
The biggest difference between this and the chicken is that this one will actually fly around in the sky and the only real way to kill it is with a bow. If you try to approach it it will fly off some distance to get away from you. Gives feathers and lays eggs and possibly food? Hangs around water more than chickens and actually floats on the water instead of flailing around when the chicken is in it.
BEDS: COLORED BLANKETS
Doesn't matter what color wool you use, the bed always turns out red. Would love it if the wool you used is what determines the color of the blanket.
ARTIFACTS
Lets be archeologists! We are constantly digging around and since we're the last person on the planet (in single player survival that is), it would be great to have stuff to find. It would be great if we could dig up artifacts that we could display and have it tell a story about the lost civilization that was there before you. These could be anything from dinosaur bones to alien tech. Not sure if "complete sets" gives you any kind of bonus to anything but at least it'll be something for us to do after we've established ourselves and survive for a while.
The plus with this idea is that new artifacts can be introduced with each update and the devs won't tell us what was added so it's a surprise for all of us when we find them.
AVALANCHES
Oops, I dug in the wrong spot!
If we're digging on a hill or mountain, it would be great if sometimes there's an accidental avalanche where a certain amount of blocks falls down the hill and stops at the bottom. Obviously if you're standing on the part that goes down the hill, you take some damage (and maybe suffocation damage if the blocks remain their normal shape?) Using TNT on top of a hill will also create avalanches in all directions.
MOSAIC FLOORS
Similar to paintings, it would be cool if we could collect different types of colored stones that are only used in making mosaic floors.
BAD GUYS AND ANIMALS
It would be nice if mobs reacted to animals instead of happily living in peace with them. Perhaps Creepers love to eat a specific animal. (or perhaps a Creeper hates a specific animal and goes out of its way to track it down to blow up near it to kill it.) Skeletons wouldn't need to eat so they would still ignore animals overall, same for zombies. This would just add some variety to the game and make it feel less like "the whole world is out to get me" like how it is now.
NEW MOB: WOLF
Basically an above ground mob that travels in packs of 3-4 during the day. It hunts pretty much anything that lives above ground.
DOMESTICATING ANIMALS
It would be cool if we could somehow domesticate animals so they stay around a specific area we designate. Perhaps for cows we can construct one of those curved walking staffs that animal herders use so we can bring them back to the pen. Or for sheep, we get to have a dog that herds them for us. (we can probably find dogs in the wild and tame it by feeding it, but then we have to keep feeding it otherwise it'll go away or turn on us.)
CONCRETE BLOCKS
Mixing sand and gravel together should make some sort of concrete block. It'll be more for aesthetics than anything to give us more building options (since clay seems to be very hard to find from my experience.)
SUNDIAL
In ancient times people used sun dials to tell time before watches were made, would be nice to make one at the very least as another decoration for the yard. Only would work outside where sun shines.
CLOCK
Same exact thing as the watch but this decoration you can hang up on the wall.
VEHICLES
It would be cool to build simple vehicles that have various levels of speed. First level is Flintstones / Gilligan's Island style cars (I'm dating myself with this one), all by foot power and made from sticks and rocks for the wheels. (so it would go slightly faster than walking speed) Then level 2 vehicles use steam power, so you would need a torch and a bucket of water + the materials to make a level 1 car. Then level 3 cars would run off of red stones but not sure of the recipe. Would be cool if you could add a storage box to them as well for portable storage.
BETTER WATER
Won't go into details on this, there's tons of threads on this. I would so love to be able to dig out a hole and have a nearby water source fill it up from the bottom up.
CATAPULTS
I'm sure this has been suggested before but I didn't find anything on it. Would love to combine stone and wood to make a catapult that would then fling anything I put on it and that it does ground damage similar to a creeper exploding but not as huge. Would be a great way to have fun while blasting apart a mountain side so you can get it cleared or mined.
Thanks again, the game is fun!
There is a search bar in the forum where you will find roughly half of these ideas have already been proposed somehow. I do, however like the idea of Cartography and Archaeology.