That doesn't mean that the PC version can't learn from what the Xbox version is doing right. I did already proposed something very similar to fix the dependence on the wiki and community instead of his book idea which could be easily lost/stolen/destroyed...
Yeah, but there's more things you can do than in the 360. You're not limited by a controller, and such. It might be "re-inventing the wheel", but it's probably the better approach than just "Well it worked for the 360, uh, let's copy that". Especially since crafting is quite different there.
Yeah, but there's more things you can do than in the 360. You're not limited by a controller, and such. It might be "re-inventing the wheel", but it's probably the better approach than just "Well it worked for the 360, uh, let's copy that". Especially since crafting is quite different there.
That wasn't, my point. So what if you're more limited in the Xbox version? It doesn't mean that you should ignore something it did right, especially if that thing it did right would be a good fix to one of the game's problems you've outlined earlier. It doesn't have to be copied, merely used as an inspiration.
That wasn't, my point. So what if you're more limited in the Xbox version? It doesn't mean that you should ignore something it did right, especially if that thing it did right would be a good fix to one of the game's problems you've outlined earlier. It doesn't have to be copied, merely used as an inspiration.
True, but I don't feel it's the best way to go about it. I haven't played the 360 version, though, so what's the tutorial play like? If it's actually pretty solid, yeah, I don't see why it shouldn't be put into the PC version.
Okay, I've been mulling this over for a little while, and I think this would be a good compromise:
How about instead of updating the current Survival gamemode to make fighting mobs more difficult, there could be a new gamemode dedicated to a more challenging Survival experience? That way, the Minecraft players who enjoy the more relaxing and sandboxy feel of the current flavor of Survival won't have to worry about renovating all their bases to protect them from the new proposed mobs and not have to struggle to defend themselves when collecting monster drops, exploring caves, et cetra. And the Minecraft players who want more grit and challenge in their Survival experience will get that fear factor and sense of accomplishment that they've been craving for. I could honestly picture myself playing either gamemode depending on my mood.
Okay, I've been mulling this over for a little while, and I think this would be a good compromise: How about instead of updating the current Survival gamemode to make fighting mobs more difficult, there could be a new gamemode dedicated to a more challenging Survival experience? That way, the Minecraft players who enjoy the more relaxing and sandboxy feel of the current flavor of Survival won't have to worry about renovating all their bases to protect them from the new proposed mobs and not have to struggle to defend themselves when collecting monster drops, exploring caves, et cetra. And the Minecraft players who want more grit and challenge in their Survival experience will get that fear factor and sense of accomplishment that they've been craving for. I could honestly picture myself playing either gamemode depending on my mood. What do you guys think?
Well, the three difficulties (easy, medium, & hard) more or less tried to do that. The only differences, though, are starvation penalties, mob strength, and whether zombies can break down doors or not. While I wouldn't mind mob strength being increased, as Insurrection said, there needs to be more differences than just those three.
I've got some ideas for them.
-Zombies will not bang on doors on Easy.
-If a Zombie finds an iron door on Hard, they will bang on it (but not destroy it).
-If a mob hears (sees) a Zombie banging on a door, they will go to that location.
-If a Zombie hears (once again, sees) a Spider that has noticed the player, they will go to it's location. If, when it is close to the spider, it notices a door, it will bang on it. (Normal+ Only)
-If a Creeper notices a spider that has found the player, they will get as close as possible to the spider. If they cannot reach the spider after a minute, they lose interest. If they reach the spider, they will back off a little (so they don't hurt the spider) and explode. (Hard only)
-If a hostile Enderman notices a zombie banging on a door, they will place whatever block they have (if they have one) then teleport over and pick up the door. This includes iron doors. (Normal+)
-If a Creeper notices the player and they cannot reach them after thirty seconds, they will explode (unless other mobs are around them). (All)
-If any mob is close to a creeper and it starts to detonate, they will run away. (All)
-Zombies will rarely attack cows (not pigs). (Hard only, just a little thing to balance cows and pigs.)
-Zombies will have a 1/8th chance of spawning with a piece of armor on them (per slot) on Normal. This armor is functional, and is based on the depth you find the zombie (Leather from 256 to 64, Chainmail from 64 to 32, Iron from 32 to 16, Diamond from 16 to 0). The chance is 1/16 on Easy and 1/4 on Hard. Once again, it is a 1/[X] chance per slot; a 1/[x] chance for a helmet, a 1/[x] chance for a chestplate, etc. How you determine functionality is up to you.
-Skeletons and Creepers will spawn with a helmet according to depth, just like zombies. They can only spawn with helmets. The helmets are functional.
And a few new mobs, too, that are just variations of the existing mobs:
-Stalking Spiders, which are the same color as stone (with the spider texture). They can only spawn under layer 64. They do not suffer fall damage. They will climb upside down and hang from the ceiling when they cannot see the player. If the player walks under them, they will drop down and attack the player.
-Hyperactive Creepers, which are a slightly paler shade of green. They can sprint like the player and tend to not like waiting on harder difficulties (as in, if there is a time check for something the time check is lower for the hyper creeper).
-Decaying Zombies, which have only 8 hearts and move at the same speed as skeletons. Otherwise they follow the normal zombie AI.
-Maggots, which are similar to silverfish without the spikes. They inhabit blocks which generate sort of like dungeons do, but only on the edges of caves (basically, the walls, floors, ceilings, etc). When they see the player, they jump out of the block and attack. They don't re-enter the block once they come out, and they drop "maggot slime" which could be used as a potion ingredient.
-Charred Skeletons, which only spawn below layer 24 (or 16). They are immune to fire and lava, and are also faster than the player. They drop ash instead of bones, which could be used for potions.
Comments and thoughts and stuff?
Also, he isn't a "complainer" because he backs up his opinions with solutions for (what he thinks are) problems. Therefore, he is not complaining, but constructively criticizing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Did something happen to you in your childhood to give you this unreasonable fear of rutabaga?
A lot of your complaints seem to be about a lack of variety (but not all of them), and I agree with you that Minecraft, after a while, becomes very predictable with very little challenge. This post as a whole is about those complaints. I think that the best way to change the predictability and difficulty, rather than tacking abilities on to certain mobs, would be to randomize the properties of mobs, so that it's not a case of 'Yeah, I know how to deal with these guys', which makes it more difficult.
So get a list of properties:
- Speedy
- Defensive
- Aggresive
- Long-sighted
- Strong
And get a list of mobs:
- Zombie
- Skeleton
- Spider
- Creeper
And mix n' match, and you've got defensive creepers, speedy zombies and strong spiders.
Suddenly you've got a whole variety of mobs, and it's not a case of hack n' slash or 'x strategy for zombies, y for creepers' but a bit more than that, with mobs suddenly becoming dangerous, as they're not predictable. You don't know whether the skeleton will keep shooting at you from a distance or whether it charge at you. Obviously this could be expanded to include more abilities, etc. but the concept remains the same. The difficulty level could become more dynamic, as the difficulty level might determine what the pool of abilities are, or even how many abilities each mob gets.
The same idea can be applied to a variety of things, the first of which I can think of would be biomes. If there's not enough variety, you can get two lists:
- Hilly
- Bushy
- Flat
- Overgrown
- Stony
And:
- Tundra
- Grassland
- Desert
- Jungle
- Archipelago
You've suddenly got a lot of variety when it comes to biomes, having hilly deserts, bushy grasslands and the like. You could even add a third list, dictating what kind of stone the bulk of the biome was made of. The game then becomes a lot more unpredictable, and hence difficult, with a lot of variety in things.
This is just my opinion, feel free to disagree, or even better, suggest improvements.
True, but I don't feel it's the best way to go about it. I haven't played the 360 version, though, so what's the tutorial play like? If it's actually pretty solid, yeah, I don't see why it shouldn't be put into the PC version.
The tutorial consists of an infobox popping up when you move the "cursor" over a newly discovered item (ie: a flower infobox might say "Flower: These can be harvested with merely a punch, and can be turned into <yellow/red> dyes in the crafting table."), as well as the crafting format being "select item you want to craft -> hit <confirm button> -> gain item into your inventory" (sort of like Terraria's system, except less bad); there's no learning recipes because it shows you what you need to craft a given item.
Also, he isn't a "complainer" because he backs up his opinions with solutions for (what he thinks are) problems. Therefore, he is not complaining, but constructively criticizing.
I've said this a couple of times now. I don't see a problem. There you have my opinion all backed up. My solution? Don't fix what ain't broken.
I won't go in discussion with you, because that leads to nowhere as I've already discussed this with the OP over PM. It's ok to give 'advice' for a game but don't just overdo it.
Hmm, this is a nice discussion, definitely thought provoking.
There are some things I agree with yes, and some I don't, though I do agree with your overall point in that the game could benefit from some changes. I'll try to keep this short as possible~
First thing, about a tutorial/introduction type thing:
I'd like to see a tutorial implemented as an optional thing. Then you would have a choice on whether or not you would like to try and learn everything on your own (and in the very likely veent you fail at this, you could still go back to the tutorial)
I don't really like the idea of an "Introduction", I don't believe the game is meant to have one (coincidentally I hate that they added the credits too as I don't think the game needs an end either buuuut what can you do).
Part of the appeal of minecraft, to me at least, is there is no story set in stone. It's your own adventure and you make up your own as you play, which I think is kinda negated by having intro/ending type things.
Biomes, ah biomes, this is what I agree with you most on. Yes they need a major overhaul.
Especially oceans They are useless and a waste of space right now.
And new biomes would be nice too, yes. There was a really neat thread I remember that had some nice suggestions for new biomes, and I'm sure plenty more could be thought up too.
The difficulty, ah this one I'm not so sure about. I somewhat like the ability to still switch to peaceful. It's a really good thing for newbies to have, if I hadn't had the ability to switch to peaceful every now and then when I was but a fresh player I probably would have ragequit. And playing only on peaceful doesnt allow you the ability to get mob drops. I don't think new players should be punished for wanting to play peaceful yet wanting to switch to something else to get items or practice. As a compromise, I think that you should be able to toggle between peaceful/easy, while normal + difficulties are locked difficulties (as in once you choose, them you can never go back)
Weapons, this is another one I could go either way on. I personally don't mind having only a sword to fight with, though the options to make more weapons could be cool, especially if each weapon had it's own type of advantage (for example, spears having longer range, axes hitting harder, swords being quicker). It's something that could be neat, just something I personally could live with or without.
Also, the concept of tiered items isn't necessarily a broken concept, its just that, in this game it's WAY too easy to level up your items. Like, I honestly can't remember the last time I've crafted leather armour simply because of the fact iron is so easy to get quickly that leather is essentially useless most of the time. The only way I could think to fix this is to make things harder to get or just leave them be. I'm not sure how I feel about lower tiered items having advantage type things, er, which Im not sure I understood your idea on completely anyways.
The smart moving idea isn't an I'm super fond of, because I don't see this sort of movement as really a necessary addition to the game, though this is just me as I prefer to keep things really simple. I understand where you're coming from in why you might want it, but I think thats something best left as a mod, so it can be an optional thing you can add.
Graphic design..eh, I disagree with. Minecraft has a particular FEEL to it with the way it looks. Even though you disagree I guess, I often find it quite pretty. I don't think that it should stray from the blocky feel, thats part of what makes minecraft..well, minecraft.
Texture packs are plenty easy to install and use, if you dislike the way default textures look.
Last point, the community.....no yeah you've hit this point perfectly I really don't have anything to add that you haven't said.
*Sigh* I know this wasn't suppost to be a long post, but I promise I've kept it as short as I could manage while still fitting my thoughts on the ideas presented, hope I was clear enough. :3
Giant Ants would be 'the' best option but they would be the size of silverfish, I'd imagine...
...and as it pertains to BiomeBosses I would simply put one BiomeBoss in each biome and have different methods of unlocking Biomebosses.
1.) Killing off all of the Minions.
2.) Sacrificing a particular item.
3.) The Biomeboss is just waiting for you.
4.) Bringing the 'trophy' of one Biomeboss to another.
5.) Destroying/Placing blocks of its biome.
6.) Im sure there are more unlocking methods that could be thought of....
After the Biomeboss is defeated any number of triggers can be implemented...
1.) Mobs get stronger/weaken
2.) Biome is transformed... (i don't know if this is possible coding-wise)
3.) Brings about an apocolyptic event that the Player must save lest the entire world is nearly destroyed.. (think grey goo wiping out a specific block type, water/lava source blocks 'rising/falling', random meteors....)
4.) Opens a portal...
5.) Allows players to craft new items to represent an 'upgrade'
6.) and there are more.
To answer your question of multiple biomebosses of the same order.... make redundant biomebosses tougher by some factor. You did kill off its spawn/sibling. Now it is engraged. Of course not all BiomeBosses are evil.
The implimentation of this is complex and I would be doing this myself. I'm going to use these ideas specifically for my Paper and Pen RPG that I am creating. Hopefully the minecraft community can find some use in them.
and If one is to create new items I believe they should require a VAST amount of resources... with the highest 'tier' of items being nearly impossible without cheating/massive luck/or travelling through overworlds.
Some of the items I like in Equivilent Exchange are simply brilliant... if not broken and should not be immediately available without sniping out a few BiomeBosses.
The things in Buildercraft....
or IndustrialCraft are pretty freaking amazing. The mods out there are insane. I recent viewed Yogscast lists of mods and I exploded. Wizardry Craft... RuneCraft? Not only can they be included but add to the Story of a World.
I can think of some other Plot-related things to add... someday.
The community is quickly expanding far more rapidly than any one person/company can handle. Hence why a mojang modloader is needed.
and as I said before I would be implimenting these things into Minecraft so freaking hard if I could. I'm making an attempt to learn coffee java, and get my own account so I don't have to worry about borrowing someone elses computer and/or account.
A lot of your complaints seem to be about a lack of variety (but not all of them), and I agree with you that Minecraft, after a while, becomes very predictable with very little challenge. This post as a whole is about those complaints. I think that the best way to change the predictability and difficulty, rather than tacking abilities on to certain mobs, would be to randomize the properties of mobs, so that it's not a case of 'Yeah, I know how to deal with these guys', which makes it more difficult.
So get a list of properties:
- Speedy
- Defensive
- Aggresive
- Long-sighted
- Strong
And get a list of mobs:
- Zombie
- Skeleton
- Spider
- Creeper
And mix n' match, and you've got defensive creepers, speedy zombies and strong spiders.
Suddenly you've got a whole variety of mobs, and it's not a case of hack n' slash or 'x strategy for zombies, y for creepers' but a bit more than that, with mobs suddenly becoming dangerous, as they're not predictable. You don't know whether the skeleton will keep shooting at you from a distance or whether it charge at you. Obviously this could be expanded to include more abilities, etc. but the concept remains the same. The difficulty level could become more dynamic, as the difficulty level might determine what the pool of abilities are, or even how many abilities each mob gets.
The same idea can be applied to a variety of things, the first of which I can think of would be biomes. If there's not enough variety, you can get two lists:
- Hilly
- Bushy
- Flat
- Overgrown
- Stony
And:
- Tundra
- Grassland
- Desert
- Jungle
- Archipelago
You've suddenly got a lot of variety when it comes to biomes, having hilly deserts, bushy grasslands and the like. You could even add a third list, dictating what kind of stone the bulk of the biome was made of. The game then becomes a lot more unpredictable, and hence difficult, with a lot of variety in things.
This is just my opinion, feel free to disagree, or even better, suggest improvements.
Once upon a time Mobs were going to have prefixes and suffixes that change abilities... size... element... et cetera. I wonder if that is still on the table.
first of all, wow, how long did it take you to write this?? But I liked your ideas, especially about the mobs. Even though I freak out when I see them, I freak out less and less. I liked all your ideas, except the endermen. I think the whole 'encasing you in obsidian' thing is kinda weird. I do, however, like the idea that they should be more scary. not amnesia scary, but more like S.S. Lithuanias enderman video, or like an idea I had, where you look at them, they slowly turn, then warp behind you, do a LOT of damage (like 8 hearts), and run very fast. That way you're more scared of them, and try to avoid them.
How about instead of updating the current Survival gamemode to make fighting mobs more difficult, there could be a new gamemode dedicated to a more challenging Survival experience? That way, the Minecraft players who enjoy the more relaxing and sandboxy feel of the current flavor of Survival won't have to worry about renovating all their bases to protect them from the new proposed mobs and not have to struggle to defend themselves when collecting monster drops, exploring caves, et cetra.
As I've already stated, survival would actually be changed to be more relaxing unless you went into a cave or the like. There wouldn't be a sudden swarm of xenomorphs raiding your safehouse with my suggestions.
-If a Zombie finds an iron door on Hard, they will bang on it (but not destroy it).
Sounds fine. It'd be a little more of what you'd expect out of a zombie. It reminds me of this one book I read where these group of survivors holed up in a missile silo, and they heard zombies constantly pounding on the metallic doors all night. On that note, I'd love to see a revamp of Minecraft's sound system so that sounds play differently when farther away...
-If a Zombie hears (once again, sees) a Spider that has noticed the player, they will go to it's location. If, when it is close to the spider, it notices a door, it will bang on it. (Normal+ Only)
Probably doable, but I don't think it'd make as much of a difference, given that zombies would have longer sight range than spiders. Same goes for creepers.
-If a hostile Enderman notices a zombie banging on a door, they will place whatever block they have (if they have one) then teleport over and pick up the door. This includes iron doors. (Normal+)
Makes sense- if the zombies can break down the door anyway, might as well have the process sped up by Endermen.
-If a Creeper notices the player and they cannot reach them after thirty seconds, they will explode (unless other mobs are around them). (All)
Would probably be overpowered- nowhere would really be safe, etc. I like the idea of letting them see through walls better- still has the effect of "being too close to a wall where a creeper is would be a bad idea", but not as much of an absolute "They will destroy everything unless you kill them". Although, given that they'd be primarily underground, I suppose it wouldn't be THAT destructive.
-Zombies will rarely attack cows (not pigs). (Hard only, just a little thing to balance cows and pigs.)
I have other plans for balancing out cows and pigs, actually. Basically, I'd re-balance food, then make it so porkchops and steak are balanced with one another. Milk wouldn't be AS big of a deal, and leather... well, yeah, there'd still be that. Maybe make it so pigs grow up faster? That'd probably balance it out.
-Zombies will have a 1/8th chance of spawning with a piece of armor on them (per slot) on Normal. This armor is functional, and is based on the depth you find the zombie (Leather from 256 to 64, Chainmail from 64 to 32, Iron from 32 to 16, Diamond from 16 to 0). The chance is 1/16 on Easy and 1/4 on Hard. Once again, it is a 1/[X] chance per slot; a 1/[x] chance for a helmet, a 1/[x] chance for a chestplate, etc. How you determine functionality is up to you.
-Skeletons and Creepers will spawn with a helmet according to depth, just like zombies. They can only spawn with helmets. The helmets are functional.
-Stalking Spiders, which are the same color as stone (with the spider texture). They can only spawn under layer 64. They do not suffer fall damage. They will climb upside down and hang from the ceiling when they cannot see the player. If the player walks under them, they will drop down and attack the player.
Minus the "stone camoflauge", I always felt that spiders should function like this anyway. Still, coincidentally, I planned to have a "stone" prefix'd mob, haha.
-Hyperactive Creepers, which are a slightly paler shade of green. They can sprint like the player and tend to not like waiting on harder difficulties (as in, if there is a time check for something the time check is lower for the hyper creeper).
A bit... I don't know, it feels too much like "Same thing but better!", y'know?
-Charred Skeletons, which only spawn below layer 24 (or 16). They are immune to fire and lava, and are also faster than the player. They drop ash instead of bones, which could be used for potions.
Or a "flaming" prefix that can be applied to most mobs with similar effects.
I really like the overall idea of mob prefixes, though. It adds some needed variation.
I definitely like this idea, and I agree, having a variety of prefixes that can be applied to mobs that add certain abilities and such would be fantastic.
Especially if MULTIPLE prefixes can be (but aren't always) applied at once. Awww yeeah.
The same idea can be applied to a variety of things, the first of which I can think of would be biomes. If there's not enough variety, you can get two lists:
- Hilly
- Bushy
- Flat
- Overgrown
- Stony
And:
- Tundra
- Grassland
- Desert
- Jungle
- Archipelago
Ooh, this could work well I like multi-facted variables being used to form a singular entity (in this case, biomes). You still have some control over what happens, but there's enough possible combinations to make it enjoyably varied (without needing to individually work on a crapton of things).
I don't really like the idea of an "Introduction", I don't believe the game is meant to have one
Oh, when I say "introduction", I mean in the technical sense. Not a "Welcome to Minecraft! You are set on this world to..." and then some long winded speech nobody will read. I mean a sort of "first stage" kinda thing- a "Green Hill Zone Act 1" sorta deal where there's very little threats but it gets you used to the idea of how the game flows, and the rest of the game is progressively more difficult.
Part of the appeal of minecraft, to me at least, is there is no story set in stone. It's your own adventure and you make up your own as you play, which I think is kinda negated by having intro/ending type things.
Yeah- I'd love to add in more types of things that can really change the face of how the game works, so there'd basically be dynamic quests you can embark upon. Not an NPC that goes "Hi! Get me 10 beef, please!"- I mean it's made up solely within the game, due to randomized content being created and such. Things like "events" (Mob sieges, etc) can help with this a lot.
The difficulty, ah this one I'm not so sure about. I somewhat like the ability to still switch to peaceful. It's a really good thing for newbies to have, if I hadn't had the ability to switch to peaceful every now and then when I was but a fresh player I probably would have ragequit.
Yeah, but that's due to how the game's currently set up- if set up properly, you wouldn't rage quit nearly as often, y'know? Again, if someone honestly expects to be able to glide through a stronghold/etc without consequence, I think they should be playing creative mode.
And playing only on peaceful doesnt allow you the ability to get mob drops. I don't think new players should be punished for wanting to play peaceful yet wanting to switch to something else to get items or practice. As a compromise, I think that you should be able to toggle between peaceful/easy, while normal + difficulties are locked difficulties (as in once you choose, them you can never go back)
Well, if the game is properly set up to have an actual learning curve with proper progression, this won't really be necessary. Especially since, ideally, you wouldn't need to progress past wherever you're comfortable with- you can still build and have fun without needing to go past a certain stage, y'know? There'd be enough content to make it still very enjoyable to just wander around the landscape endlessly, and never have to explore a cave until you're ready.
It's something that could be neat, just something I personally could live with or without.
I think that things you can live with or without are generally the types of things you know are alright to add- they don't interrupt your game, so it's sort've a "why not?" situation. Especially since they'd add to combat, and not be lazily re-colored variations of existing things.
Also, the concept of tiered items isn't necessarily a broken concept,
It can be done in such a way as to not be broken, sure- Fire Emblem, for example, does it pretty well (Iron weapons are lighter, which actually is important). I'm talking about the "same thing but better in virtually every single way" kind of tiered stuff. Before someone pipes up about "enchantability", no- that's even less useful now that the enchanting cap will be incredibly easy to hit (come 1.3). Besides, wood stuff is still entirely useless.
And again- you don't need to do a tier system, either. Other methods aren't inherently worse, so why not make a better system?
The only way I could think to fix this is to make things harder to get or just leave them be. I'm not sure how I feel about lower tiered items having advantage type things, er, which Im not sure I understood your idea on completely anyways.
It's pretty simple- again, I bring up Fire Emblem. There, Iron Swords had better durability and were lighter than Silver Swords- which, item weight played a pretty important part in deciding your attack speed. Your attack speed decided whether or not you could get 2 hits or 1 in a single turn- which was invaluable in the Fire Emblem series. It also affected your accuracy and I believe even your avoid rate. Because of this, it was still very viable to use iron or steel weapons even if you had access to silver.
TL;DR: Pros and cons to having "higher tier" items. Not just pros.
The smart moving idea isn't an I'm super fond of, because I don't see this sort of movement as really a necessary addition to the game, though this is just me as I prefer to keep things really simple. I understand where you're coming from in why you might want it, but I think thats something best left as a mod, so it can be an optional thing you can add.
Typically I'd agree, but it changes the game in such a way that it massively changes how things like adventure maps would play. Not in a bad way- in a very good way. An adventure map creator suddenly has a ton of possible things they can do to make their map's gameplay much more varied. They can give the player multiple choices on how to approach a given situation- choices you just can't give the player without the mod. It expands the gameplay so much, really. And it all makes sense- the climbing/grabbing onto ledge thing is one of those features I always felt every game should have. It feels weird playing a game without it, now, honestly. It's like... I don't know, jumping. It just gives you a lot of freedom that should have always been there in other games.
Graphic design..eh, I disagree with. Minecraft has a particular FEEL to it with the way it looks. Even though you disagree I guess, I often find it quite pretty.
Oh, I know- it's basically the "simplicity" of it all. I really dislike how a lot of texture packs make the colors more pastel and such- it feels so bland. The thing is, it can have this simplicity be done better- Notch is not an artist, at all. He's a programmer. The current "art" in the game, even if unintentionally enjoyable, can still be done better. This might seem like something no one can agree on since art is a really subjective thing, but you'd be surprised what a good art team can do. Especially since, again, Dock was planned to do art- but then got fired due to Notch not wanting his particular art. It's obvious Notch, at some point, wanted the game to look better. But he stopped trying, because he never needed to try once Minecraft caught on.
I don't think that it should stray from the blocky feel, thats part of what makes minecraft..well, minecraft.
Agreed- it's kinda impossible to stray from it, given the way the game is generated. It'd likely need to be massively re-coded to properly make use of other shapes.
Still, again- models can employ the "Cuboid" art style and still look better.
I'd rather see Mojang respond to what the main figures in the community want added such as the map makers and modders
Who decides which map makers and modders should be listened to, though? The ones who have the most popularity? Surely, you can't be using that as an argument.
...and as it pertains to BiomeBosses I would simply put one BiomeBoss in each biome and have different methods of unlocking Biomebosses.
Oh, well, I guess that works. It should require a choice to unlock them, though- otherwise, they become annoying and would likely decimate you the second you walk into a biome if they just auto-spawn.
After the Biomeboss is defeated any number of triggers can be implemented...
Yeah, like I said- I like this general idea. It makes it feel like you're actually doing something instead of just having the Final Fantasy fanfare play in your head and that's about it.
To answer your question of multiple biomebosses of the same order.... make redundant biomebosses tougher by some factor. You did kill off its spawn/sibling. Now it is engraged. Of course not all BiomeBosses are evil.
I guess this works- it'd make it more replayable for beating the same boss. As long as it's actually more difficult each time around, and not just "hurf durf more bloated health and damage durr".
and If one is to create new items I believe they should require a VAST amount of resources... with the highest 'tier' of items being nearly impossible without cheating/massive luck/or travelling through overworlds.
I like the idea of needing a huge amount of resources to get something for "endgame"- past a certain point, there's just a huge excess of basically wasted items that you have. It'd be nice to have a use for mass iron, etc.
I liked this video a lot. It was basically Weeping Angels, but- wait, why don't we have Weeping Angels in? Or at least the SCP that is basically the same thing as them.
Yeah, but there's more things you can do than in the 360. You're not limited by a controller, and such. It might be "re-inventing the wheel", but it's probably the better approach than just "Well it worked for the 360, uh, let's copy that". Especially since crafting is quite different there.
True, but I don't feel it's the best way to go about it. I haven't played the 360 version, though, so what's the tutorial play like? If it's actually pretty solid, yeah, I don't see why it shouldn't be put into the PC version.
+1'd.
How about instead of updating the current Survival gamemode to make fighting mobs more difficult, there could be a new gamemode dedicated to a more challenging Survival experience? That way, the Minecraft players who enjoy the more relaxing and sandboxy feel of the current flavor of Survival won't have to worry about renovating all their bases to protect them from the new proposed mobs and not have to struggle to defend themselves when collecting monster drops, exploring caves, et cetra. And the Minecraft players who want more grit and challenge in their Survival experience will get that fear factor and sense of accomplishment that they've been craving for. I could honestly picture myself playing either gamemode depending on my mood.
What do you guys think?
Well, the three difficulties (easy, medium, & hard) more or less tried to do that. The only differences, though, are starvation penalties, mob strength, and whether zombies can break down doors or not. While I wouldn't mind mob strength being increased, as Insurrection said, there needs to be more differences than just those three.
I've got some ideas for them.
-Zombies will not bang on doors on Easy.
-If a Zombie finds an iron door on Hard, they will bang on it (but not destroy it).
-If a mob hears (sees) a Zombie banging on a door, they will go to that location.
-If a Zombie hears (once again, sees) a Spider that has noticed the player, they will go to it's location. If, when it is close to the spider, it notices a door, it will bang on it. (Normal+ Only)
-If a Creeper notices a spider that has found the player, they will get as close as possible to the spider. If they cannot reach the spider after a minute, they lose interest. If they reach the spider, they will back off a little (so they don't hurt the spider) and explode. (Hard only)
-If a hostile Enderman notices a zombie banging on a door, they will place whatever block they have (if they have one) then teleport over and pick up the door. This includes iron doors. (Normal+)
-If a Creeper notices the player and they cannot reach them after thirty seconds, they will explode (unless other mobs are around them). (All)
-If any mob is close to a creeper and it starts to detonate, they will run away. (All)
-Zombies will rarely attack cows (not pigs). (Hard only, just a little thing to balance cows and pigs.)
-Zombies will have a 1/8th chance of spawning with a piece of armor on them (per slot) on Normal. This armor is functional, and is based on the depth you find the zombie (Leather from 256 to 64, Chainmail from 64 to 32, Iron from 32 to 16, Diamond from 16 to 0). The chance is 1/16 on Easy and 1/4 on Hard. Once again, it is a 1/[X] chance per slot; a 1/[x] chance for a helmet, a 1/[x] chance for a chestplate, etc. How you determine functionality is up to you.
-Skeletons and Creepers will spawn with a helmet according to depth, just like zombies. They can only spawn with helmets. The helmets are functional.
And a few new mobs, too, that are just variations of the existing mobs:
-Stalking Spiders, which are the same color as stone (with the spider texture). They can only spawn under layer 64. They do not suffer fall damage. They will climb upside down and hang from the ceiling when they cannot see the player. If the player walks under them, they will drop down and attack the player.
-Hyperactive Creepers, which are a slightly paler shade of green. They can sprint like the player and tend to not like waiting on harder difficulties (as in, if there is a time check for something the time check is lower for the hyper creeper).
-Decaying Zombies, which have only 8 hearts and move at the same speed as skeletons. Otherwise they follow the normal zombie AI.
-Maggots, which are similar to silverfish without the spikes. They inhabit blocks which generate sort of like dungeons do, but only on the edges of caves (basically, the walls, floors, ceilings, etc). When they see the player, they jump out of the block and attack. They don't re-enter the block once they come out, and they drop "maggot slime" which could be used as a potion ingredient.
-Charred Skeletons, which only spawn below layer 24 (or 16). They are immune to fire and lava, and are also faster than the player. They drop ash instead of bones, which could be used for potions.
Comments and thoughts and stuff?
Also, he isn't a "complainer" because he backs up his opinions with solutions for (what he thinks are) problems. Therefore, he is not complaining, but constructively criticizing.
I still like creative mode more anyways.
Because, you know, only your opinion matters, therefore making his entire post invalid.
Super Hostile maps I've completed: Spellbound Caves (Yeah, I pretty much suck.)
So get a list of properties:
- Speedy
- Defensive
- Aggresive
- Long-sighted
- Strong
And get a list of mobs:
- Zombie
- Skeleton
- Spider
- Creeper
And mix n' match, and you've got defensive creepers, speedy zombies and strong spiders.
Suddenly you've got a whole variety of mobs, and it's not a case of hack n' slash or 'x strategy for zombies, y for creepers' but a bit more than that, with mobs suddenly becoming dangerous, as they're not predictable. You don't know whether the skeleton will keep shooting at you from a distance or whether it charge at you. Obviously this could be expanded to include more abilities, etc. but the concept remains the same. The difficulty level could become more dynamic, as the difficulty level might determine what the pool of abilities are, or even how many abilities each mob gets.
The same idea can be applied to a variety of things, the first of which I can think of would be biomes. If there's not enough variety, you can get two lists:
- Hilly
- Bushy
- Flat
- Overgrown
- Stony
And:
- Tundra
- Grassland
- Desert
- Jungle
- Archipelago
You've suddenly got a lot of variety when it comes to biomes, having hilly deserts, bushy grasslands and the like. You could even add a third list, dictating what kind of stone the bulk of the biome was made of. The game then becomes a lot more unpredictable, and hence difficult, with a lot of variety in things.
This is just my opinion, feel free to disagree, or even better, suggest improvements.
I've said this a couple of times now. I don't see a problem. There you have my opinion all backed up. My solution? Don't fix what ain't broken.
It's not that Minecraft is a broken and bad game. Minecraft is a good game. But, as always, anything can be improved. Minecraft is no exception.
There are some things I agree with yes, and some I don't, though I do agree with your overall point in that the game could benefit from some changes. I'll try to keep this short as possible~
First thing, about a tutorial/introduction type thing:
I'd like to see a tutorial implemented as an optional thing. Then you would have a choice on whether or not you would like to try and learn everything on your own (and in the very likely veent you fail at this, you could still go back to the tutorial)
I don't really like the idea of an "Introduction", I don't believe the game is meant to have one (coincidentally I hate that they added the credits too as I don't think the game needs an end either buuuut what can you do).
Part of the appeal of minecraft, to me at least, is there is no story set in stone. It's your own adventure and you make up your own as you play, which I think is kinda negated by having intro/ending type things.
Biomes, ah biomes, this is what I agree with you most on. Yes they need a major overhaul.
Especially oceans They are useless and a waste of space right now.
And new biomes would be nice too, yes. There was a really neat thread I remember that had some nice suggestions for new biomes, and I'm sure plenty more could be thought up too.
The difficulty, ah this one I'm not so sure about. I somewhat like the ability to still switch to peaceful. It's a really good thing for newbies to have, if I hadn't had the ability to switch to peaceful every now and then when I was but a fresh player I probably would have ragequit. And playing only on peaceful doesnt allow you the ability to get mob drops. I don't think new players should be punished for wanting to play peaceful yet wanting to switch to something else to get items or practice. As a compromise, I think that you should be able to toggle between peaceful/easy, while normal + difficulties are locked difficulties (as in once you choose, them you can never go back)
Weapons, this is another one I could go either way on. I personally don't mind having only a sword to fight with, though the options to make more weapons could be cool, especially if each weapon had it's own type of advantage (for example, spears having longer range, axes hitting harder, swords being quicker). It's something that could be neat, just something I personally could live with or without.
Also, the concept of tiered items isn't necessarily a broken concept, its just that, in this game it's WAY too easy to level up your items. Like, I honestly can't remember the last time I've crafted leather armour simply because of the fact iron is so easy to get quickly that leather is essentially useless most of the time. The only way I could think to fix this is to make things harder to get or just leave them be. I'm not sure how I feel about lower tiered items having advantage type things, er, which Im not sure I understood your idea on completely anyways.
The smart moving idea isn't an I'm super fond of, because I don't see this sort of movement as really a necessary addition to the game, though this is just me as I prefer to keep things really simple. I understand where you're coming from in why you might want it, but I think thats something best left as a mod, so it can be an optional thing you can add.
Graphic design..eh, I disagree with. Minecraft has a particular FEEL to it with the way it looks. Even though you disagree I guess, I often find it quite pretty. I don't think that it should stray from the blocky feel, thats part of what makes minecraft..well, minecraft.
Texture packs are plenty easy to install and use, if you dislike the way default textures look.
Last point, the community.....no yeah you've hit this point perfectly I really don't have anything to add that you haven't said.
*Sigh* I know this wasn't suppost to be a long post, but I promise I've kept it as short as I could manage while still fitting my thoughts on the ideas presented, hope I was clear enough. :3
...and as it pertains to BiomeBosses I would simply put one BiomeBoss in each biome and have different methods of unlocking Biomebosses.
1.) Killing off all of the Minions.
2.) Sacrificing a particular item.
3.) The Biomeboss is just waiting for you.
4.) Bringing the 'trophy' of one Biomeboss to another.
5.) Destroying/Placing blocks of its biome.
6.) Im sure there are more unlocking methods that could be thought of....
After the Biomeboss is defeated any number of triggers can be implemented...
1.) Mobs get stronger/weaken
2.) Biome is transformed... (i don't know if this is possible coding-wise)
3.) Brings about an apocolyptic event that the Player must save lest the entire world is nearly destroyed.. (think grey goo wiping out a specific block type, water/lava source blocks 'rising/falling', random meteors....)
4.) Opens a portal...
5.) Allows players to craft new items to represent an 'upgrade'
6.) and there are more.
To answer your question of multiple biomebosses of the same order.... make redundant biomebosses tougher by some factor. You did kill off its spawn/sibling. Now it is engraged. Of course not all BiomeBosses are evil.
The implimentation of this is complex and I would be doing this myself. I'm going to use these ideas specifically for my Paper and Pen RPG that I am creating. Hopefully the minecraft community can find some use in them.
and If one is to create new items I believe they should require a VAST amount of resources... with the highest 'tier' of items being nearly impossible without cheating/massive luck/or travelling through overworlds.
Some of the items I like in Equivilent Exchange are simply brilliant... if not broken and should not be immediately available without sniping out a few BiomeBosses.
The things in Buildercraft....
or IndustrialCraft are pretty freaking amazing. The mods out there are insane. I recent viewed Yogscast lists of mods and I exploded. Wizardry Craft... RuneCraft? Not only can they be included but add to the Story of a World.
I can think of some other Plot-related things to add... someday.
The community is quickly expanding far more rapidly than any one person/company can handle. Hence why a mojang modloader is needed.
and as I said before I would be implimenting these things into Minecraft so freaking hard if I could. I'm making an attempt to learn
coffeejava, and get my own account so I don't have to worry about borrowing someone elses computer and/or account.Once upon a time Mobs were going to have prefixes and suffixes that change abilities... size... element... et cetera. I wonder if that is still on the table.
As I've already stated, survival would actually be changed to be more relaxing unless you went into a cave or the like. There wouldn't be a sudden swarm of xenomorphs raiding your safehouse with my suggestions.
Yeah, this is really annoying.
Sounds fine. It'd be a little more of what you'd expect out of a zombie. It reminds me of this one book I read where these group of survivors holed up in a missile silo, and they heard zombies constantly pounding on the metallic doors all night. On that note, I'd love to see a revamp of Minecraft's sound system so that sounds play differently when farther away...
Hm, yeah. This makes sense as well. I like it.
Probably doable, but I don't think it'd make as much of a difference, given that zombies would have longer sight range than spiders. Same goes for creepers.
Makes sense- if the zombies can break down the door anyway, might as well have the process sped up by Endermen.
Would probably be overpowered- nowhere would really be safe, etc. I like the idea of letting them see through walls better- still has the effect of "being too close to a wall where a creeper is would be a bad idea", but not as much of an absolute "They will destroy everything unless you kill them". Although, given that they'd be primarily underground, I suppose it wouldn't be THAT destructive.
This also makes sense. I don't know why it's not like that already- small things like this make the AI just feel more alive.
I have other plans for balancing out cows and pigs, actually. Basically, I'd re-balance food, then make it so porkchops and steak are balanced with one another. Milk wouldn't be AS big of a deal, and leather... well, yeah, there'd still be that. Maybe make it so pigs grow up faster? That'd probably balance it out.
Alternatively, Chupacabras.
I'd like something similar to this as well.
Minus the "stone camoflauge", I always felt that spiders should function like this anyway. Still, coincidentally, I planned to have a "stone" prefix'd mob, haha.
A bit... I don't know, it feels too much like "Same thing but better!", y'know?
Or, proper shambler zombies.
After using the Painterly Texturepack that changes Silverfish into Maggots, I don't know why they weren't Maggots in the first place.
Or a "flaming" prefix that can be applied to most mobs with similar effects.
I really like the overall idea of mob prefixes, though. It adds some needed variation.
I definitely like this idea, and I agree, having a variety of prefixes that can be applied to mobs that add certain abilities and such would be fantastic.
Especially if MULTIPLE prefixes can be (but aren't always) applied at once. Awww yeeah.
Ooh, this could work well I like multi-facted variables being used to form a singular entity (in this case, biomes). You still have some control over what happens, but there's enough possible combinations to make it enjoyably varied (without needing to individually work on a crapton of things).
Like I said earlier, I really like the idea of using randomized stone. I know Terrafirma Craft did this, and it's really nice.
That's not a backed up opinion, though. It's just being contradictory.
Naturally. Forcing tutorials on players is incredibly annoying.
Oh, when I say "introduction", I mean in the technical sense. Not a "Welcome to Minecraft! You are set on this world to..." and then some long winded speech nobody will read. I mean a sort of "first stage" kinda thing- a "Green Hill Zone Act 1" sorta deal where there's very little threats but it gets you used to the idea of how the game flows, and the rest of the game is progressively more difficult.
Yeah- I'd love to add in more types of things that can really change the face of how the game works, so there'd basically be dynamic quests you can embark upon. Not an NPC that goes "Hi! Get me 10 beef, please!"- I mean it's made up solely within the game, due to randomized content being created and such. Things like "events" (Mob sieges, etc) can help with this a lot.
Yeah, but that's due to how the game's currently set up- if set up properly, you wouldn't rage quit nearly as often, y'know? Again, if someone honestly expects to be able to glide through a stronghold/etc without consequence, I think they should be playing creative mode.
Well, if the game is properly set up to have an actual learning curve with proper progression, this won't really be necessary. Especially since, ideally, you wouldn't need to progress past wherever you're comfortable with- you can still build and have fun without needing to go past a certain stage, y'know? There'd be enough content to make it still very enjoyable to just wander around the landscape endlessly, and never have to explore a cave until you're ready.
I think that things you can live with or without are generally the types of things you know are alright to add- they don't interrupt your game, so it's sort've a "why not?" situation. Especially since they'd add to combat, and not be lazily re-colored variations of existing things.
It can be done in such a way as to not be broken, sure- Fire Emblem, for example, does it pretty well (Iron weapons are lighter, which actually is important). I'm talking about the "same thing but better in virtually every single way" kind of tiered stuff. Before someone pipes up about "enchantability", no- that's even less useful now that the enchanting cap will be incredibly easy to hit (come 1.3). Besides, wood stuff is still entirely useless.
And again- you don't need to do a tier system, either. Other methods aren't inherently worse, so why not make a better system?
It's pretty simple- again, I bring up Fire Emblem. There, Iron Swords had better durability and were lighter than Silver Swords- which, item weight played a pretty important part in deciding your attack speed. Your attack speed decided whether or not you could get 2 hits or 1 in a single turn- which was invaluable in the Fire Emblem series. It also affected your accuracy and I believe even your avoid rate. Because of this, it was still very viable to use iron or steel weapons even if you had access to silver.
TL;DR: Pros and cons to having "higher tier" items. Not just pros.
Typically I'd agree, but it changes the game in such a way that it massively changes how things like adventure maps would play. Not in a bad way- in a very good way. An adventure map creator suddenly has a ton of possible things they can do to make their map's gameplay much more varied. They can give the player multiple choices on how to approach a given situation- choices you just can't give the player without the mod. It expands the gameplay so much, really. And it all makes sense- the climbing/grabbing onto ledge thing is one of those features I always felt every game should have. It feels weird playing a game without it, now, honestly. It's like... I don't know, jumping. It just gives you a lot of freedom that should have always been there in other games.
Oh, I know- it's basically the "simplicity" of it all. I really dislike how a lot of texture packs make the colors more pastel and such- it feels so bland. The thing is, it can have this simplicity be done better- Notch is not an artist, at all. He's a programmer. The current "art" in the game, even if unintentionally enjoyable, can still be done better. This might seem like something no one can agree on since art is a really subjective thing, but you'd be surprised what a good art team can do. Especially since, again, Dock was planned to do art- but then got fired due to Notch not wanting his particular art. It's obvious Notch, at some point, wanted the game to look better. But he stopped trying, because he never needed to try once Minecraft caught on.
Agreed- it's kinda impossible to stray from it, given the way the game is generated. It'd likely need to be massively re-coded to properly make use of other shapes.
Still, again- models can employ the "Cuboid" art style and still look better.
The same can be applied to anyone who'd dislike the new looks, though.
Who decides which map makers and modders should be listened to, though? The ones who have the most popularity? Surely, you can't be using that as an argument.
I think they'd be fine if they were around the size of cows.
Oh, well, I guess that works. It should require a choice to unlock them, though- otherwise, they become annoying and would likely decimate you the second you walk into a biome if they just auto-spawn.
Yeah, like I said- I like this general idea. It makes it feel like you're actually doing something instead of just having the Final Fantasy fanfare play in your head and that's about it.
I guess this works- it'd make it more replayable for beating the same boss. As long as it's actually more difficult each time around, and not just "hurf durf more bloated health and damage durr".
I like the idea of needing a huge amount of resources to get something for "endgame"- past a certain point, there's just a huge excess of basically wasted items that you have. It'd be nice to have a use for mass iron, etc.
I grew several beards just by writing the first half.
I liked this video a lot. It was basically Weeping Angels, but- wait, why don't we have Weeping Angels in? Or at least the SCP that is basically the same thing as them.