[Suggestions] z0mbie's list of wanted features and things

Feedback and general discussion of Slime Rancher

[Suggestions] z0mbie's list of wanted features and things

Postby z0mbiesrock » Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:38 pm

Hello, I got rapidly hooked to those cute gooey slimes, and I would like to say: "This game's got massive potential!"

Just like many other indie games, they are made by independent developers who want to make their dreams a reality.

Minecraft is one example of a successful indie game; From the boxed head of Markus "Notch" Persson, it is a sandbox game that has infinite possibilities, even after Notch gave rights of the game to Microsoft. Plus, the game has support for custom content and mods, making anyone's experience unique.

I have written this topic because I want Slime Rancher to also give players their unique experiences. A prebuilt map eventually becomes quite repetitive once you have seen, discovered, and encountered everything. I, along with the rest of the community, would like more unique experiences and endless encouragement to explore; so I have come up with a documented list of suggestions and features that I would really like to see implemented into the game to make it wonderous and fun.

More Maps
To be honest, once you've explored the whole map, there's not much else to encounter. Even the main map is unfinished, and the Jetpack gives us almost complete access to roam these "developing" yet uninhabited areas. The Far, Far Range is supposed to be on a planet 1000 light-years from Earth, so it's basically an alien world. That also means the slimes are alien life-forms. Hen Hens and their variants are basically alien chickens. Besides, it shouldn't be the only planet to explore. There can be additional planets that each have their own slime inhabitants and unique hazards.

More Slime Species
There are several slime suggestions on the forums, so you might be knowing about that. There should be many more slime species with unique appearances and abilities. Improve the diversity of slimes in the Far, Far Range, and give players encouragement to explore familiar areas for different slime species. Besides, the beginning areas have way too many pink slimes.

More Ranch Plots
There are 17 available plots for structures. That is not enough for the big ranchers. Also, I suggest using teleporters for faster navigation within your ranch, and some more diverse ranch expansions for the more exotic slimes.

More Resources
As there should be more kinds of slimes, there should also be more kinds of resources. Also, try implementing extremely rare resources that are used for extremely rare purposes, such as the Gilded Ginger for taming Gold Slimes, or a rare resource that acts as Tarr repellent. Either way, there is potential improvements and additions.

Improved Player Capabilities
The player (Known in-game as Beatrix LeBeau) has quite simple movement and interaction capabilities. I see some potential improvement here. Jumping is quite gimmicky, as it delays the jetpack for a moment and wastes momentum and energy. The Jetpack could benefit from using a powerful initial burst that functions akin to a double-jump using 20 energy, minus the drawback.

Also, having only four slots of inventory can be quite difficult to manage with, especially when you have to keep some things in your vacpack for emergencies or for collecting many kinds of plorts to sell at once. Also, There should be an easier way to transport batches of items to/from a silo/autofeeder/collector. Shooting them one by one becomes tedious at times, especially for players with lagging computers.

Another topic on Vacpac Upgrades.

Try implementing the ability to add upgrades that increase the number of inventory slots (up to 9, obviously), increasing Silo storage slots, and implementing a mobile "StarMail" upgrade. The vacpack would also benefit from an upgrade that monitors the vitals of a slime you are aiming at, helping you know when it is hungry, or what its current mood is.

Also, FTLoG, also implement crouching! Slimes can fit under that ramp, but I could not. Movement while crouching is slower, and less likely to alert enemies.
Image

Improved Slime Behaviors
Slimes have quite a simple behavior pattern:
Eat; Drop Plort; Wander; Become Hungry; Look For Food; Repeat

They also have a primitive intelligence: They are known to stack with each other to escape a corral or reach food. They react to their environment, and with other creatures; they know that Tarrs are scary and must be avoided; Gold Slimes run away from Ranchers on sight; Tarrs will seek and devour slimes to multiply, and will pursue their favorite food (You) aggressively.

Now, I can see ways to improve on slime AI, and make them much more alive.

Slimes should have more emotion than just being happy, scared, hungry, or angry. They should also get tired and would want to go to sleep, especially at night time (bar the nocturnal Slimes). Sleeping slimes become hungry much slower than awake slimes.

Slimes should have health, like the player, and it slowly starts depleting when they are starving for too long. When a slime's health reaches 0, they perish. Health will also give some slimes endurance to one or two Tarr bites before being eaten. Tarrs should stay with the 3-splash-kill "health". The aforementioned "vitality monitor" upgrade can measure a slime's remaining health, hunger, and mood.

Slimes in a corral are still technically "wild", since they are calm when fed and unruly when hungry. Eventually, feeding and caring for individual slimes enough will allow you to "tame" them, and they are much easier to control. Tame slimes are less likely to revolt when starving, become hungry much slower, and can be fed even if it isn't hungry (The delay between feedings is shorter). You can even assign a single tame slime as a "pet" that will safely roam your Ranch. Also, Tame slimes will not mess with your crops or livestock, and are allowed to willingly enter or exit the Corral they were tamed in. Tame slimes will also never eat a Plort unless it is directly fed the Plort by the player themselves, reducing the risk of becoming a Tarr. (Tame slimes transforming into Tarrs immediately forget you and become hostile!)

Finally, the last thing that really helps make Slime Behavior more natural would be slime breeding. Yes, that's right; Taking two slimes of the same (or similar) species, placing them alone together in a special corral (This special corral should be different from normal ones.), and producing Baby Slimes! An indicator will tell you of the conditions within the breeding corral.

Basically, the bug mentioned in this topic turned into a feature.

If the slimes are:
Not compatible (Such as a Tabby Slime and a Honey Slime, or two Tabby Slimes of the same gender),
Recently bred (Takes 10 in-game days for a freshly-bred slime to breed again),
Hungry (Slimes need to have about a full stomach for breeding),
Rattled (Slimes scared by a Tarr become rattled and skittish; takes 24 in-game hours to recover),
Too young (Baby Slimes take two in-game days to become adult slimes, cannot produce Plorts yet, and become hungry twice as fast. Also, young slimes need 72 in-game hours after becoming adults to become breedable),
Just finished breeding (They finished breeding, and they and the baby/babies should then be taken to normal corrals),
Or related (Slimes will never breed with their parents, children, or siblings),
...then the indicator will show you that the slimes will not be able to breed at all, and even show why.

Icon Concepts for Breeding Conditions:
If the chosen Slimes can breed, only a green "OK" will appear.

    Incompatible Species: a blue triangle and yellow square with a red X crossing them

    Recently Bred: A pink heart crossed with an X, and a clock icon

    Hungry: A bitten apple and chicken leg in a red circle

    Rattled: A simplified Tarr face with a clock icon next to it

    Too Young: A pacifier with a clock icon next to it

    Breeding Pair Finished: A pink heart with the word "DONE" in the middle

    Related: A simple family tree with an X over it.

    Unknown: A Question Mark. Largoes and Slimes with specific breeding behaviors will cause this. None of the above conditions cause this.

Breeding does not happen immediately. It takes 8-72 in-game hours for slimes to breed, depending on the species. Depending on the kind of slime, they may exhibit different behaviors, or require certain additional conditions, as the breeding process occurs. Slimes will very rarely breed in the wild, as well, so it is possible to find wild baby slimes.

Implementing Slime Breeding should coincide with implementing slime genders, too.

More Bad Guys
Since there is obviously a health bar, there needs to be more hazards that make health upgrades even more necessary for harder areas. We already have Tarrs aggressively devouring slimes and ranchers. There are hazards such as Rock Slime spikes or Boom Slime explosions. There are even "Feral" Largo slimes that bite and attack players. The game needs more challenge, such as more kinds of hostile slime that would normally and intentionally attack players.

Storyline Plot
There needs to be a story to the game. Not much I can say about that now...

Custom Content
Many games have support for mods or custom content. Why not Slime Rancher? As you improve the game and ass more content, players can design their own content to make their own individual experiences even more unique!





All right; That's all I want to suggest for now. I'll update this post if needed, and leave some comments. ;)
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z0mbiesrock
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