Minecraft as it is has many great things going for it, but I get the feeling it doesn't use everything that it has to its full potential. These are just random thoughts I've had for fleshing out a few things.
MUSIC:
PROBLEM
The soundtrack creates a great mood for the outside world when the sun is shining, but it feels out of place when the suns falls, or if it raining, or when you are deep underground, or the complete lack of music while in the Nether.
SOLUTION
I think that the current soundtrack ought to be only used while above ground during the day. There ought be a separate sets of songs for each above ground setting: rain, snow, night, day.
I also think that there ought to be different song selections as you get deeper underground. So when you're only a few blocks underground it will play elusive, mysterious exploration sort of music and when you get near bed rock the music becomes more sinister and heavy.
REASONING
Music can be a great tool to create mood, which is why is has such a prominent place in video games and film. Minecraft is terrifying as it is, but using the music effectively could increase the fear factor even more.
ARMOR:
PROBLEM
The games armor system has no depth at all. You create armor for a set amount of protection and that's all there is to it. There is nothing interesting or inventive about the current armor system at all.
SOLUTION
I think there ought to be different "special" armor that can be crafted for different purposes. For example, you could create boots that let you jump two blocks instead of one, a special helmet that works like a flashlight and lights the path in front of you, or a special chest piece that makes you lighter thus allowing you to jump from higher heights. These aren't the only things and they aren't necessarily good ideas, but this is the sort of thing I mean.
REASONING
The armor system is bland and uneventful. Having special armor pieces would increase customization and let you decide how you want to play. Perhaps you should only be allowed to have up to 2 special pieces to limit overpowering the player. And even if you are overpowered, this could lead to deaths being that much more harsh: if you lose a hard to craft headpiece then it becomes that much more of a hit.
WATER:
PROBLEM
The water in Minecraft has limited purposes. The only thing it really does is look cool and get in the way.
EDIT
Point taken: water does have other uses such as putting out burning, creating cobblestone, and getting rid of lava. But I am not referring to its technical uses but rather its environmental aspects. So I am talking about its function in the adventure/action part of game play, not the technical aspect.
SOLUTION
Minecraft has a very large terror factor about it, and there have been entire horror movies based on just water and creatures in it. I think that there ought be different water "biomes" that spawn depending on the area. Different plants grow in different areas. There also ought to be underwater cave systems. Having an entire submerged area underground would also add to the terror factor: people are naturally afraid of drowning. You could even have a special armor headpiece that increases how much underwater time you have, like scuba gear. But still there would be that constant fear of drowning. But this would require some sort of underwater light, either some natural luminous plant or stone, like Glow Stone, or a special armor piece or item like a flashlight of some kind.
There also ought to be special mobs for underwater. And I don't just mean squid or fish. I mean scary stuff, like sharks, giant angler fish (they would create light, but would not stop other mobs from spawning), or other made up freakish monsters.
REASONING
Right now water is either just a lake to slow you down or a waterfall to make things hard, but I think it could be both a terror factor and a useful game play element. You could be going through a cavern and you find that half of it is flooded and the only option left to continue is to swim down into the cavern, but you would constantly be trying to find a place to breath before drowning and would be on a lookout for sea monsters.
BIOMES:
PROBLEM
Most biomes as it is are pretty bland to my mind. The only cool feature of the land are the strange mountain structures that occasionally form but those are rare. As it is, the only reason I look for certain biomes is because they might have sugar cane or more pigs.
SOLUTION
Create special bioms with unique challenges or rewards. I saw someone on here post an idea for an frozen biome that has a constant blizzard, has fog, and hurts you if it is not light enough (heat) and are not in shelter. You could also have volcanic biomes with a huge volcano in the center. Or a haunted forest with fog, werewolves, and graveyards.
Each of these could have some sort of reward in the center, like a chest with a unique item found only in that biome. This would give incentive for venturing inside them, but it would have to be a very large biome and be very difficult to traverse.
REASONING
This would give some reason to explore the surface. As it is there isn't much reason to explore unless you are looking for livestock, which will be fixed when you can breed them, or sugar cane which once you find one you can just plant a whole garden and never need look again. As it is the only place to explore where there is any fear is underground. I think that above ground should be just as adventurous and dangerous, even in the day sometimes.
EDIT
Biome generation should create a clean slate for the player.
One person made this point, which I agree with. The world needs to be a clean slate which the player messes with and blows up and the like. When I suggest unique biomes with special features I intend for these to be rare, like dungeons are rare. These wouldn't happen very often but would just provide something to find while exploring. I even suggested in another post of mine to have these unique biomes as optional.
NIGHT:
PROBLEM
Night is terrifying. As the sun goes down you try to scramble to get everything done and race back to your shelter. But that's all anyone ever does: run back to the house and then sleep and BAM: no more night! I think the game could do more with the night time aspect.
SOLUTION
Create events or some sort of incentive to go out in the dark. You could have events happen in some special biome or just randomly that only happens at night that gives out rewards, or have a special enemy spawn only on the surface that drops special rewards that only spawns at night, like Werewolves or something. This would force the more adventurous players to brave the otherwise avoided night for their precious special items.
REASONING
Night is avoided and only provides fear and suspense if you are trapped a long way home. But how twisted would it be to tempt a player out into the night and face their fear if they want the rewards?
MOBS:
PROBLEM
The same mobs exist everywhere: on the surface to bedrock. There is no extra fear as you descend other than making it harder to get your stuff after you die. Having cave spiders only in the mine shafts partially fixes this, but not quite.
SOLUTION
Make certain mobs appear only at certain depths. So if you are near the surface you will see the usual zombies and skeletons, but if you get near bedrock you might see some more freakish monsters, like some sort of large insect or mutant creature. I don't really care what, but something that makes you even more afraid as you get deeper.
REASONING
The Nether is terrifying partially because of the unique mobs found there. I think this same idea could be applied to the descending layers of the ground.
UNDERGROUND:
PROBLEM
While the biomes up above at least look different from each other everything under ground looks... the same. All the time. It gets sort of boring. They have helped this by having canyons.
SOLUTION
Create underground biomes. Have a biome where there may be moss growing off rocks and vines hanging from the ceiling and water dripping, and another one volcanic rock and lava and some sort of fiery mob, or maybe one that gets foggy, has Enderman more than usual and has blocks that crumble when you step on them, making it difficult to navigate.
Every biome could have its own special enemies and effects and maybe offer different resources in varying abundance. There could be a biome known for its redstone, or one known for diamond or iron.
REASONING
The abandoned mine shaft thing is sort of what I'm thinking of but on a larger scale. With this you could have an abandoned mine going THROUGH a misty, crumbling biome or anything like that. This would create interest in the terrain... and maybe help when navigation gets difficult.
Well, these are all of the ideas I can think of right now and I have studying to do. Let me know what you think: agree, disagree, see things you want to change. Stuff like that. Maybe even suggest things that you see that Minecraft could do more with that I may not have noticed or thought of.
I like all of these, except your idea to change the biomes. Biome generation should create a clean slate for the player. Besides, we've got upcoming additions that will add trekky-climby-searchy-findy-looty-WAHEY.
The biome changes sound neat, I like the idea of various 'objectives' around the world. Like the ocean having sunken treasure, desert having a mummy tomb, that sort of thing. Making them really hard but fun and rewarding would ad more "adventure" and purpose to minecraft.* The underground biomes especially sound cool.
*-Which isn't to say our builders can't still build! The addition of something like that would not hinder those who didn't want to pursue it.
I like all of these, except your idea to change the biomes. Biome generation should create a clean slate for the player. Besides, we've got upcoming additions that will add trekky-climby-searchy-findy-looty-WAHEY.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I didn't mean that every single biome would have to be some weird theme park, but that every now and then you could bump into a more unique biome with some sort of special challenging terrain or feature, such as the frozen biome doing damage when it gets darker and colder. These would be rare, but would just provide an interesting break in the otherwise normal terrain.
And for you and other people who prefer having no special biomes there could even be an option in world creation to have them in your world or not and how frequently. (Obviously the highest frequency still couldn't be TOO high because then it would just get weird.)
Well, I didn't think this was a "wishlist" per se because I'm not just listing off features that I think would be cool, but simply a series of basic updates to various parts of the game that would add to the basic philosophy of what I think the game should, or could, be. Everything that I listed contributes to the same idea in different ways.
If this is not an adequate excuse for my list-like post then I don't mind having it taken down and just listing each idea as a separate topic, but I just thought that it would be more efficient to list them all in one place rather than having many small topics.
(For example, if I had an idea that was just a completely separate add on to the game without any connection to anything else in the game then I would make it in a separate topic.)
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MUSIC:
The soundtrack creates a great mood for the outside world when the sun is shining, but it feels out of place when the suns falls, or if it raining, or when you are deep underground, or the complete lack of music while in the Nether.
SOLUTION
I think that the current soundtrack ought to be only used while above ground during the day. There ought be a separate sets of songs for each above ground setting: rain, snow, night, day.
I also think that there ought to be different song selections as you get deeper underground. So when you're only a few blocks underground it will play elusive, mysterious exploration sort of music and when you get near bed rock the music becomes more sinister and heavy.
REASONING
Music can be a great tool to create mood, which is why is has such a prominent place in video games and film. Minecraft is terrifying as it is, but using the music effectively could increase the fear factor even more.
The games armor system has no depth at all. You create armor for a set amount of protection and that's all there is to it. There is nothing interesting or inventive about the current armor system at all.
SOLUTION
I think there ought to be different "special" armor that can be crafted for different purposes. For example, you could create boots that let you jump two blocks instead of one, a special helmet that works like a flashlight and lights the path in front of you, or a special chest piece that makes you lighter thus allowing you to jump from higher heights. These aren't the only things and they aren't necessarily good ideas, but this is the sort of thing I mean.
REASONING
The armor system is bland and uneventful. Having special armor pieces would increase customization and let you decide how you want to play. Perhaps you should only be allowed to have up to 2 special pieces to limit overpowering the player. And even if you are overpowered, this could lead to deaths being that much more harsh: if you lose a hard to craft headpiece then it becomes that much more of a hit.
The water in Minecraft has limited purposes. The only thing it really does is look cool and get in the way.
EDIT
Point taken: water does have other uses such as putting out burning, creating cobblestone, and getting rid of lava. But I am not referring to its technical uses but rather its environmental aspects. So I am talking about its function in the adventure/action part of game play, not the technical aspect.
SOLUTION
Minecraft has a very large terror factor about it, and there have been entire horror movies based on just water and creatures in it. I think that there ought be different water "biomes" that spawn depending on the area. Different plants grow in different areas. There also ought to be underwater cave systems. Having an entire submerged area underground would also add to the terror factor: people are naturally afraid of drowning. You could even have a special armor headpiece that increases how much underwater time you have, like scuba gear. But still there would be that constant fear of drowning. But this would require some sort of underwater light, either some natural luminous plant or stone, like Glow Stone, or a special armor piece or item like a flashlight of some kind.
There also ought to be special mobs for underwater. And I don't just mean squid or fish. I mean scary stuff, like sharks, giant angler fish (they would create light, but would not stop other mobs from spawning), or other made up freakish monsters.
REASONING
Right now water is either just a lake to slow you down or a waterfall to make things hard, but I think it could be both a terror factor and a useful game play element. You could be going through a cavern and you find that half of it is flooded and the only option left to continue is to swim down into the cavern, but you would constantly be trying to find a place to breath before drowning and would be on a lookout for sea monsters.
Most biomes as it is are pretty bland to my mind. The only cool feature of the land are the strange mountain structures that occasionally form but those are rare. As it is, the only reason I look for certain biomes is because they might have sugar cane or more pigs.
SOLUTION
Create special bioms with unique challenges or rewards. I saw someone on here post an idea for an frozen biome that has a constant blizzard, has fog, and hurts you if it is not light enough (heat) and are not in shelter. You could also have volcanic biomes with a huge volcano in the center. Or a haunted forest with fog, werewolves, and graveyards.
Each of these could have some sort of reward in the center, like a chest with a unique item found only in that biome. This would give incentive for venturing inside them, but it would have to be a very large biome and be very difficult to traverse.
REASONING
This would give some reason to explore the surface. As it is there isn't much reason to explore unless you are looking for livestock, which will be fixed when you can breed them, or sugar cane which once you find one you can just plant a whole garden and never need look again. As it is the only place to explore where there is any fear is underground. I think that above ground should be just as adventurous and dangerous, even in the day sometimes.
EDIT
One person made this point, which I agree with. The world needs to be a clean slate which the player messes with and blows up and the like. When I suggest unique biomes with special features I intend for these to be rare, like dungeons are rare. These wouldn't happen very often but would just provide something to find while exploring. I even suggested in another post of mine to have these unique biomes as optional.
Night is terrifying. As the sun goes down you try to scramble to get everything done and race back to your shelter. But that's all anyone ever does: run back to the house and then sleep and BAM: no more night! I think the game could do more with the night time aspect.
SOLUTION
Create events or some sort of incentive to go out in the dark. You could have events happen in some special biome or just randomly that only happens at night that gives out rewards, or have a special enemy spawn only on the surface that drops special rewards that only spawns at night, like Werewolves or something. This would force the more adventurous players to brave the otherwise avoided night for their precious special items.
REASONING
Night is avoided and only provides fear and suspense if you are trapped a long way home. But how twisted would it be to tempt a player out into the night and face their fear if they want the rewards?
The same mobs exist everywhere: on the surface to bedrock. There is no extra fear as you descend other than making it harder to get your stuff after you die. Having cave spiders only in the mine shafts partially fixes this, but not quite.
SOLUTION
Make certain mobs appear only at certain depths. So if you are near the surface you will see the usual zombies and skeletons, but if you get near bedrock you might see some more freakish monsters, like some sort of large insect or mutant creature. I don't really care what, but something that makes you even more afraid as you get deeper.
REASONING
The Nether is terrifying partially because of the unique mobs found there. I think this same idea could be applied to the descending layers of the ground.
While the biomes up above at least look different from each other everything under ground looks... the same. All the time. It gets sort of boring. They have helped this by having canyons.
SOLUTION
Create underground biomes. Have a biome where there may be moss growing off rocks and vines hanging from the ceiling and water dripping, and another one volcanic rock and lava and some sort of fiery mob, or maybe one that gets foggy, has Enderman more than usual and has blocks that crumble when you step on them, making it difficult to navigate.
Every biome could have its own special enemies and effects and maybe offer different resources in varying abundance. There could be a biome known for its redstone, or one known for diamond or iron.
REASONING
The abandoned mine shaft thing is sort of what I'm thinking of but on a larger scale. With this you could have an abandoned mine going THROUGH a misty, crumbling biome or anything like that. This would create interest in the terrain... and maybe help when navigation gets difficult.
Well, these are all of the ideas I can think of right now and I have studying to do. Let me know what you think: agree, disagree, see things you want to change. Stuff like that. Maybe even suggest things that you see that Minecraft could do more with that I may not have noticed or thought of.
The biome changes sound neat, I like the idea of various 'objectives' around the world. Like the ocean having sunken treasure, desert having a mummy tomb, that sort of thing. Making them really hard but fun and rewarding would ad more "adventure" and purpose to minecraft.* The underground biomes especially sound cool.
*-Which isn't to say our builders can't still build! The addition of something like that would not hinder those who didn't want to pursue it.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I didn't mean that every single biome would have to be some weird theme park, but that every now and then you could bump into a more unique biome with some sort of special challenging terrain or feature, such as the frozen biome doing damage when it gets darker and colder. These would be rare, but would just provide an interesting break in the otherwise normal terrain.
And for you and other people who prefer having no special biomes there could even be an option in world creation to have them in your world or not and how frequently. (Obviously the highest frequency still couldn't be TOO high because then it would just get weird.)
Water + Lava = obsidian.
Flowing water + Lava = infinite cobblestone
Water + Burning Steve = Living and now-happy Steve
Water is now extremely useful.
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Well, I didn't think this was a "wishlist" per se because I'm not just listing off features that I think would be cool, but simply a series of basic updates to various parts of the game that would add to the basic philosophy of what I think the game should, or could, be. Everything that I listed contributes to the same idea in different ways.
If this is not an adequate excuse for my list-like post then I don't mind having it taken down and just listing each idea as a separate topic, but I just thought that it would be more efficient to list them all in one place rather than having many small topics.
(For example, if I had an idea that was just a completely separate add on to the game without any connection to anything else in the game then I would make it in a separate topic.)