Ever since I bought MC back in its Alpha days, caves have been the utter most excitement for me for various reasons.
(And keep in mind, my suggestions are merely suggestions, not written-in-stone necessities. This is not my game nor do I hold myself to any sort of entitlement just because I bought it.)
The imminent danger of zombies, skeletons, spiders and creepers lurking behind every corner created tension.
If you wanted minerals, exploration was a necessity.
Every new unexplored branch re-vitalized my interests and kept me playing for hours upon hours.
Now it seems, at least in my own experiences, that caves need more danger. Most if not all of my suggestions will not include more mobs but rather more natural instances that will give the average spelunker more reasons to be cautious while trying to find the treasures that caves hold.
Gases
Now realism is not something I'm insanely fond of especially in video games, but caves are bland especially if played on peaceful difficulty. Excitement rarely occurs and without creepers there's no "OH SHI-" moments upon a death. The introduction of fatal gases could add to "dangers" of exploring.
Spelunking in real life does have its dangers and one very fatal danger is invisible gases (carbon dioxide, methane, sulfure dioxide, etc) that suffocate spelunkers upon contact. Upon contact of said gas(s), Steve could be inflicted with a poisoned hunger bar initiating immediate heart loss (similar to drowning, just above ground) and the oxygen bar would be the warning sign of potentially fatal gases in the area.
Not sure how gases would spread, maybe similar to water yet it would replace air blocks with gas. Movement at the same rate as spreading lava. Think of a gas leaking, but slowly.
Deep mines could also have generated areas of poisonous gas that have abundance of minerals and or chests/rewards (like a dungeon) as you explore deeper.
Gasmasks?
With the introduction of gas, masks would need to be made in order to avoid, explore and conquer gas since it could have plenty of rewards due to the risk of being in it.
Masks could be made like so:
S S
W Where "S" is string, and "W" is wool. Similar to those masks they wear in China due to the pollution.
Now these wool masks wouldn't last long (Maybe 1 use, per 1 second in gas) and have up to 30 uses (30 seconds). More complicated masks could be created with leather and glass (for the eyes) and a filter, (wool, iron, diamond).
Lava Traps
Thinking of lava flows if on the surface or magma below, walking on maybe a hardened lava flow carries the chance of falling in, since it still is soft. Think of that in game. A molten area on the floor of a cave, smooth stone having a weird hint of orange. Once on top, Steve becomes slower (similar to cobwebs), and soon breaks through the cooling stone into a fiery death.
The cooling smooth stone could be darker, giving a warning off to a spelunker saying tread lightly, could break.
Introduction of basalt? A darker rock used maybe for decor purposes.
Possibility: holding shift would increase the chance of the cooling rock to not crumble beneath the player's feet.
Land Slides/Loose Rock
Imagine finding a ravine, or maybe a random pitfall and as the player steps onto what he/she thinks is smooth stone edge overlooking their newly found vantage point, the ground breaks underneath causing the player to tumble into darkness.
The stone could look like cobble, but act like gravel/sand once the player has walked over the rock.
TL;DR
1. Poisonous invisible gas that randomly generates in caves. Springs leaks and/or acts like a dungeon holding goodies if conquered.
2. Gaskmasks: newly crafted item out of wool, more complicated/better crafted out of leather. Avoids poisonous gassy death.
3. Cooling stone- lava underneath, still not solid. Falls through. Death.
4.Loose Stone/landslides: Gravity wins.
IMPORTANT! Any if not all of these suggestions could be ass-backwards, unnecessary and impossible to incorporate in MC. They are after all, just mere suggestions. If any of my ideas are repeats, I am sorry. Hate, criticism, likes, dislikes and approvals are all welcome. Just sharing my thoughts.
These things would be nice, but only if somewhat rare.
Yeah exactly what I had in mind. Gas leaks would be as common as mining into a wall, or ceiling, or floor and hitting lava/water. Gas areas however, that hold more minerals since they've never been touched would be as rare as dungeons.
- Gases could hold a back-story to why certain mines were abandoned, instead of just having random, insignificant abandoned mines just for aesthetic appeal.
(And keep in mind, my suggestions are merely suggestions, not written-in-stone necessities. This is not my game nor do I hold myself to any sort of entitlement just because I bought it.)
Now it seems, at least in my own experiences, that caves need more danger. Most if not all of my suggestions will not include more mobs but rather more natural instances that will give the average spelunker more reasons to be cautious while trying to find the treasures that caves hold.
Gases
Now realism is not something I'm insanely fond of especially in video games, but caves are bland especially if played on peaceful difficulty. Excitement rarely occurs and without creepers there's no "OH SHI-" moments upon a death. The introduction of fatal gases could add to "dangers" of exploring.
Gasmasks?
With the introduction of gas, masks would need to be made in order to avoid, explore and conquer gas since it could have plenty of rewards due to the risk of being in it.
Masks could be made like so:
S S
W
Where "S" is string, and "W" is wool. Similar to those masks they wear in China due to the pollution.
Now these wool masks wouldn't last long (Maybe 1 use, per 1 second in gas) and have up to 30 uses (30 seconds). More complicated masks could be created with leather and glass (for the eyes) and a filter, (wool, iron, diamond).
Wool Filter = 60 uses
Iron Filter = 120 uses
Diamond Filter = 240 uses
Lava Traps
Thinking of lava flows if on the surface or magma below, walking on maybe a hardened lava flow carries the chance of falling in, since it still is soft. Think of that in game. A molten area on the floor of a cave, smooth stone having a weird hint of orange. Once on top, Steve becomes slower (similar to cobwebs), and soon breaks through the cooling stone into a fiery death.
The cooling smooth stone could be darker, giving a warning off to a spelunker saying tread lightly, could break.
- Introduction of basalt? A darker rock used maybe for decor purposes.
Possibility: holding shift would increase the chance of the cooling rock to not crumble beneath the player's feet.Land Slides/Loose Rock
Imagine finding a ravine, or maybe a random pitfall and as the player steps onto what he/she thinks is smooth stone edge overlooking their newly found vantage point, the ground breaks underneath causing the player to tumble into darkness.
The stone could look like cobble, but act like gravel/sand once the player has walked over the rock.
TL;DR
1. Poisonous invisible gas that randomly generates in caves. Springs leaks and/or acts like a dungeon holding goodies if conquered.
2. Gaskmasks: newly crafted item out of wool, more complicated/better crafted out of leather. Avoids poisonous gassy death.
3. Cooling stone- lava underneath, still not solid. Falls through. Death.
4.Loose Stone/landslides: Gravity wins.
IMPORTANT! Any if not all of these suggestions could be ass-backwards, unnecessary and impossible to incorporate in MC. They are after all, just mere suggestions. If any of my ideas are repeats, I am sorry. Hate, criticism, likes, dislikes and approvals are all welcome. Just sharing my thoughts.
Thanks.
Yeah exactly what I had in mind. Gas leaks would be as common as mining into a wall, or ceiling, or floor and hitting lava/water. Gas areas however, that hold more minerals since they've never been touched would be as rare as dungeons.
- Gases could hold a back-story to why certain mines were abandoned, instead of just having random, insignificant abandoned mines just for aesthetic appeal.