The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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Suggestions on Expanding the Options Menu
To me, for the short time I've been utterly addicted to it, Minecraft has been all about a game where the player is more or less in control of everything around him. From building towering phallic symbols to building models of famous skyscrapers, all the way to building a plaque with an uncanny resemblance to Mario, to building just barely a mining shack and delving the depths of the earth in search of that hard to find obsidian or diamonds... Minecraft is about the experience YOU want to have.
Right now, the only options for the difficulty of the game is Easy, Normal, Hard, and of course, Peaceful. Peaceful is a great option for people who just want to build without worry of the monsters wrecking their day. It's a simple, easy solution. But in my opinion, it's not *quite* enough. My solution for this is an option panel that allows for much more control over the game and its difficulty.
Here are some of the things that I would add and take away from the options:
MONSTERS
I like that peaceful mode completely eliminates monsters. While I would definitely keep this on the table, I would recommend a list of check boxes for each mob type as to if they spawn or not... Or maybe even a drop down tab to govern HOW often they spawn. While most people would turn Creepers off or on low, I could imagine someone turning everything ELSE off and just having creepers be the big bad.
ITEM SPAWN RATES
I've been trolling these forums for a little less than I've been playing, which is a week now, and from what I've seen in the suggestion forums, there are two MAJOR camps. One loves the rarity system as it is, and is quick to FLAME anyone who suggests a method of making diamond gathering faster and easier. The other camp is quickly and easily frustrated at how hard it is to get diamonds and gold. Well... here's a way to make both happy. For each mineral... and I mean coal, iron, redstone, gold, and diamond, there could be a set rarity rate. That way, the hard core nitty gritty types can have all the low spawn rates their hearts desire, whereas the more casual players can kick back, relax, and make an entire diamond city much faster.
Well these are the two suggestions I can think of. Anyone else have ideas? Anyone have comments or concerns about my suggestion?
And folks, please, let's try to be mature in this thread. No flaming.
It would be kind of hard to implement, it would have to be a one time option (eg, at the start). Because as the world generates, their would be different spawn rates.. soooo yah.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Location:
Redding
Join Date:
3/3/2011
Posts:
44
Member Details
I actually don't think that would be too difficult... Although my programming experience is admittedly limited, I believe the monster spawn rate would be governed by either a single number or multiple numbers, both of which could be replaced by variables dictated by the option menu. But again, I haven't cracked open the game's code so I'm not sure.
And it wouldn't have to be an "at startup" option, because just like the difficulty of the game, the spawn rate is a dynamic thing... IE the monsters don't spawn all at once, so the variable, being constantly working, would be able to change on the fly.
The one difficulty I do see is setting different spawn rates for each monster, but that's probably an hour or two of coding tops.
And it wouldn't have to be an "at startup" option, because just like the difficulty of the game, the spawn rate is a dynamic thing... IE the monsters don't spawn all at once, so the variable, being constantly working, would be able to change on the fly.
*The monster spawn rate works fine that way but ore spawn rates would only matter once -when a given chunk is generated and the ore is generated along with it. I suppose you could still adjust it mid-game but it would only affect newly generated chunks (kind of like how when lapis and sandstone were implemented they wouldn't naturally appear in areas you had already explored)
Fire Damage: Will you burn? For how long? Never, A few seconds, or until you put the flames out yourself?
Fall Damage: Will you take fall damage, or not?
Mob Damage: Will explosions, creeper arrows, spider divebombs, ghast fireballs, or bumrushes from zombies or pigmen hurt you? How much?
Regeneration: On or Off at your convenience.
To me, for the short time I've been utterly addicted to it, Minecraft has been all about a game where the player is more or less in control of everything around him. From building towering phallic symbols to building models of famous skyscrapers, all the way to building a plaque with an uncanny resemblance to Mario, to building just barely a mining shack and delving the depths of the earth in search of that hard to find obsidian or diamonds... Minecraft is about the experience YOU want to have.
Right now, the only options for the difficulty of the game is Easy, Normal, Hard, and of course, Peaceful. Peaceful is a great option for people who just want to build without worry of the monsters wrecking their day. It's a simple, easy solution. But in my opinion, it's not *quite* enough. My solution for this is an option panel that allows for much more control over the game and its difficulty.
Here are some of the things that I would add and take away from the options:
MONSTERS
I like that peaceful mode completely eliminates monsters. While I would definitely keep this on the table, I would recommend a list of check boxes for each mob type as to if they spawn or not... Or maybe even a drop down tab to govern HOW often they spawn. While most people would turn Creepers off or on low, I could imagine someone turning everything ELSE off and just having creepers be the big bad.
ITEM SPAWN RATES
I've been trolling these forums for a little less than I've been playing, which is a week now, and from what I've seen in the suggestion forums, there are two MAJOR camps. One loves the rarity system as it is, and is quick to
Well these are the two suggestions I can think of. Anyone else have ideas? Anyone have comments or concerns about my suggestion?
And folks, please, let's try to be mature in this thread. No flaming.
~~Phoenix
And it wouldn't have to be an "at startup" option, because just like the difficulty of the game, the spawn rate is a dynamic thing... IE the monsters don't spawn all at once, so the variable, being constantly working, would be able to change on the fly.
The one difficulty I do see is setting different spawn rates for each monster, but that's probably an hour or two of coding tops.
*The monster spawn rate works fine that way but ore spawn rates would only matter once -when a given chunk is generated and the ore is generated along with it. I suppose you could still adjust it mid-game but it would only affect newly generated chunks (kind of like how when lapis and sandstone were implemented they wouldn't naturally appear in areas you had already explored)
Fire Damage: Will you burn? For how long? Never, A few seconds, or until you put the flames out yourself?
Fall Damage: Will you take fall damage, or not?
Mob Damage: Will explosions, creeper arrows, spider divebombs, ghast fireballs, or bumrushes from zombies or pigmen hurt you? How much?
Regeneration: On or Off at your convenience.
Ah, the magic of the suggestion forum working as intended
I wonder how much of the suggestions forum even reaches Notch's eyes?