I realize there are many mods out there and minecraft isn't a finished product either... but i've some suggestions anyway. Some of the mods out there sort of address my suggestions but not quite to my satisfaction.
I see minecraft firstly as a survival game... to that end what i'd like to see would be;
1. a thirst bar... handled in similar fashion to the hunger bar we now have. when talks were made about the hunger bar i was not thrilled... in any other game food requirement becomes quickly oppressive... but the need for food in minecraft was well done and doesn't dominate the game, instead it adds to the survivalist feel.
2. an exhaustion bar... this would mostly be a timed thing... in what i've seen of the survivalism mod the energy bar is depleted by any activity... it seems a little too oppressive to me... something more subtle like just the need to sleep every 24 hours... if you stay up your character would become slower and eventually collapse from exhaustion... falling asleep wherever you happen to be. perhaps the exhaustion bar would have three shades... it empties once for the first day... after it begins to empty again your character moves a bit slower... the third time it begins to empty the lethargy really sets in and you may do less damage etc. and when that third shade runs out of the bar your character drops into unconsciousness to sleep where he is regardless of the danger.
3. sleeping anywhere, any time... sleeping without a bed would be possible but you wouldn't be able to recover the first day's shade in your exhaustion bar... essentially you'd always be really tired until you got a good night's sleep in a bed. so you could just sleep on the ground... you'd still have to worry about sleeping in a safe place though. and you could also sleep at any time... you wouldn't have to wait till sun down or till a thunder storm... (yeah i know there's a mod that does that particular thing too... but i don't like the passage of time thing all that much)
4. along with seasons (which i hope will still be added) there's already temperature and humidity... it makes sense then to make those factors in the game as well... if your character grows too hot he begins to lose his thirst bar faster (rather than just suffering severe damage suddenly in a desert)... if your character grows too cold he begins to freeze (not quite sure how that'd work... i suppose slowing down and also damage)
so travel through really hot areas would require more water... travel through colder areas would require warm clothing (perhaps clothes just made out of wool would suffice as well as leather armor)
getting wet in a freezing climate ought to be dangerous... perhaps your temperature would drop dramatically till you could dry off and warm up... say inside a safe warm house with a fireplace... suddenly fireplaces take on a usefulness rather than just being decorations.
getting wet in hot climates might be beneficial... extending your thirst bar.
i did see a seasons mod which looked pretty neat... i think that was the one which caused massive damage during the summer for being in the desert though... but a lot of it looked really good
i'd suggest, however, that animals don't spawn at all except during the spring when all the foliage is spawning... and during the fall leaves would eventually disappear in time for winter... making saplings almost impossible to come by... unless you happen to have a greenhouse (yeah... how would that work? could you keep the season change out of your base by keeping it warm?
while we're talking about warmth... what about lava? yeah... working near lava/magma ought to drain your thirst bar too... and perhaps being in the nether
but again... it shouldn't be terribly oppressive... just an added flavor like the hunger bar is currently.
did i cover everything?
warmth, coolness, humidity, thirst, exhaustion, seasons... hmmm
edit:
the ability to prospect or figure out where the ore nodes are without referring to some sort of mapping engine would be nice... using them feels a lot like cheating... but is it really unreasonable that a miner would know how to figure out where the ore is?
figuring it out = cool challenge
blindly digging = time consuming task
edit edit:
found this... it isn't an in game mechanism really but it still looks pretty neat
one big thing i don't like about that survivalism mod is the mandatory lives thing... when i'm playing "ironman" mode i delete the game myself when i die... otherwise i like to be able to just keep playing my game
I see minecraft firstly as a survival game... to that end what i'd like to see would be;
1. a thirst bar... handled in similar fashion to the hunger bar we now have. when talks were made about the hunger bar i was not thrilled... in any other game food requirement becomes quickly oppressive... but the need for food in minecraft was well done and doesn't dominate the game, instead it adds to the survivalist feel.
2. an exhaustion bar... this would mostly be a timed thing... in what i've seen of the survivalism mod the energy bar is depleted by any activity... it seems a little too oppressive to me... something more subtle like just the need to sleep every 24 hours... if you stay up your character would become slower and eventually collapse from exhaustion... falling asleep wherever you happen to be. perhaps the exhaustion bar would have three shades... it empties once for the first day... after it begins to empty again your character moves a bit slower... the third time it begins to empty the lethargy really sets in and you may do less damage etc. and when that third shade runs out of the bar your character drops into unconsciousness to sleep where he is regardless of the danger.
3. sleeping anywhere, any time... sleeping without a bed would be possible but you wouldn't be able to recover the first day's shade in your exhaustion bar... essentially you'd always be really tired until you got a good night's sleep in a bed. so you could just sleep on the ground... you'd still have to worry about sleeping in a safe place though. and you could also sleep at any time... you wouldn't have to wait till sun down or till a thunder storm... (yeah i know there's a mod that does that particular thing too... but i don't like the passage of time thing all that much)
4. along with seasons (which i hope will still be added) there's already temperature and humidity... it makes sense then to make those factors in the game as well... if your character grows too hot he begins to lose his thirst bar faster (rather than just suffering severe damage suddenly in a desert)... if your character grows too cold he begins to freeze (not quite sure how that'd work... i suppose slowing down and also damage)
so travel through really hot areas would require more water... travel through colder areas would require warm clothing (perhaps clothes just made out of wool would suffice as well as leather armor)
getting wet in a freezing climate ought to be dangerous... perhaps your temperature would drop dramatically till you could dry off and warm up... say inside a safe warm house with a fireplace... suddenly fireplaces take on a usefulness rather than just being decorations.
getting wet in hot climates might be beneficial... extending your thirst bar.
i did see a seasons mod which looked pretty neat... i think that was the one which caused massive damage during the summer for being in the desert though... but a lot of it looked really good
i'd suggest, however, that animals don't spawn at all except during the spring when all the foliage is spawning... and during the fall leaves would eventually disappear in time for winter... making saplings almost impossible to come by... unless you happen to have a greenhouse (yeah... how would that work? could you keep the season change out of your base by keeping it warm?
while we're talking about warmth... what about lava? yeah... working near lava/magma ought to drain your thirst bar too... and perhaps being in the nether
but again... it shouldn't be terribly oppressive... just an added flavor like the hunger bar is currently.
did i cover everything?
warmth, coolness, humidity, thirst, exhaustion, seasons... hmmm
edit:
the ability to prospect or figure out where the ore nodes are without referring to some sort of mapping engine would be nice... using them feels a lot like cheating... but is it really unreasonable that a miner would know how to figure out where the ore is?
figuring it out = cool challenge
blindly digging = time consuming task
edit edit:
found this... it isn't an in game mechanism really but it still looks pretty neat
http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1032&t=209645#MaterialDetector
also edit:
instead of a sort of "chronometer" for the seasons a calendar that you could hang on the wall inside your house would be neat
Check it. Now click, if you got the balls.