Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be Co-op

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Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be Co-op

Postby Camychan » Fri Jan 15, 2016 5:30 pm

EDIT: Keep in mind that I'm talking about Minecraft like multiplayer, as this is what I was seeing the most of in early steam comments.

I've seen a TON of people requesting multiplayer for this game, but I don't think it should be. Now before anyone gets on my case, at the very least hear me out.

Sure multiplayer would be a blast, I'm all for playing games with friends, in fact I prefer it that way. But with regards to this game in particular, you have to really think about it. How would multiplayer work? Sure you could have two or more people running around, but the game is centered around one main character because of it's story. If it was multiplayer, even if they made a variety of ranchers, there is no way to not have hundreds of the same exact character running around.

Secondly, take into account the gameplay. I've heard people say that it could be multiplayer in the same way minecraft is, but that's not a very close comparison. If I had to compare this game to anything, it would be more like Harvest moon. In which you play a boy or girl who has taken over an old farm in some way or another (each harvest moon story has a different reason for starting up a farm) and you work to make that farm profitable with it's animals and resources. The game itself is also completely single player.

Lastly, having more than one person on a single farm would just make it to easy. The challenge in the game lies in the fact that your always kept busy, running around and taking care of your slimes and crops. The farm itself is super small and while the devs are working to add new areas and there are expansions they would have to triple/quadruple the amount of space provided (expansions included) to account for another player, which would make it pretty hard for anyone who wanted to play it single player and not have to spend literally an entire in-game day to get from one side of their farm to another. This would result in hungry slimes and rotting crops and I'm sure a lot of complaints from the solo rancher community.

THAT SAID, I really do think this game could benefit from player "interaction." The best way being the trade system that is currently in the game. I think it would be a great way for the community to trade what they have and share it with other players on the net in return for something they might need. Some stuff would be un-tradable of course, such as the slime keys and maybe some hidden slimes and one time only gear and upgrades. Once the game has gotten a lot more content I think trading would be a fun way to make i really seem like there are other ranchers out there instead of just AI that don't really offer fair trades.

Now on to the changes, I don't really have many as I'm sure there are tons of obvious things they already plan on changing. My biggest thing is the puddle slimes, because it's so hard to tell when the water is getting low unless they actually start disappearing. I think they would benifit from both expression changes (as you can tell when the other slimes are hungry by their facial expressions) since the puddle slimes just smile even while evaporating, and maybe a meter next to the ponds so it's easier to tell when you need to fill it and how much you'll need.

Also while on the subject, perhaps a tutorial that pops up when you first run across one of those water spouts. I went through the whole game thinking you have to run all the way back to where you find the puddle slimes to get water, because I thought the water spouts were part of the aesthetic background and not actually things you can use >3>

EDIT: This was also posted on steam http://steamcommunity.com/app/433340/discussions/0/451850849187147955/
Last edited by Camychan on Sat Jan 23, 2016 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be C

Postby FarmerYuuma » Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:03 am

I think you are right.

Multiplayer would be fun and stuff, but there s really no point and the main objective and difficulty would drop completly.
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Re: Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be C

Postby TheMageOfMist » Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:21 am

I wouldn't mind the game being SP, but I feel having a co-op mode would be pretty fun. Nothing crazy with massive multiplayer, but just around 2 or 3 people.
I admit the difficulty would drop greatly, but it does get a little lonely playing the game by oneself.

I feel the Ranch Exchange system could be pretty interesting, as there will be way more slimes and resources in the future.
Say for example you want some Roosteros and the RNG hates you, so you put up some Briar hens (or any other type.) Someone else likely would be having issues with having more Roosteros than hens (it has happened to me) and trade the Roosteros for the hens.

Or if someone can't find the Heartbeet patches, and someone else couldn't find any Mint Mangoes, they could trade the Heartbeets and Mangoes with one-another.

It would make more sense for the Ranch Exchange to have a multiplayer option, as you aren't the only one who has a ranch in the Far Far Range.
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Re: Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be C

Postby MLeonhardt » Thu Jan 21, 2016 12:54 pm

I definitely agree that Multiplayer is absolutely unnecessary.

Monomi Park needs to focus on the single player experience rather than shoehorning in multiplayer for no reason.
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Re: Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be C

Postby glinkBobby » Thu Jan 21, 2016 3:10 pm

Camychan wrote:Sure multiplayer would be a blast, I'm all for playing games with friends, in fact I prefer it that way. But with regards to this game in particular, you have to really think about it. How would multiplayer work? Sure you could have two or more people running around, but the game is centered around one main character because of it's story.
So the game shouldn't have multiplayer because of the game's story? What's the fault in that? The game doesn't even have a story yet, so you, me, none of us know how fun or unfun it would be with multiplayer. It could be amazing. You can easily play single player and ignore every e-mail you get and it's still the same game.

Camychan wrote:If it was multiplayer, even if they made a variety of ranchers, there is no way to not have hundreds of the same exact character running around.
Hundreds? Talk about blowing it out of proportion. So lets say for example they make it 2 player. That just adding a playermodel and a player2 playermodel. If they make is 4 player, just make 2 more playermodels. I doubt that would be extremely difficult for the talented bunch at Monomi Park. Everything else looks nice. If they make it more than 4 player, and they don't want to bother with different character models, just have one playermodel and put the player name above the user. What's the bother? I'm really not seeing a problem with multiplayer yet.
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Camychan wrote:Secondly, take into account the gameplay. I've heard people say that it could be multiplayer in the same way minecraft is, but that's not a very close comparison. If I had to compare this game to anything, it would be more like Harvest moon. In which you play a boy or girl who has taken over an old farm in some way or another (each harvest moon story has a different reason for starting up a farm) and you work to make that farm profitable with it's animals and resources. The game itself is also completely single player.
So your argument here is "It shouldn't be multiplayer because it's not multiplayer"? Not to mention multiplayer harvest moon sounding awesome. Who wouldn't want to run a farm with their friend, goofing around, raising animals and splitting daily chores. One could milk the cows and feed the chickens while the other gardens. That sounds way better than single player. But that is just me.

Camychan wrote:Lastly, having more than one person on a single farm would just make it to easy. The challenge in the game lies in the fact that your always kept busy, running around and taking care of your slimes and crops.
The game in it's current single player form is too easy. The game is still in alpha. It's very very not done.

Camychan wrote:The farm itself is super small and while the devs are working to add new areas and there are expansions they would have to triple/quadruple the amount of space provided (expansions included) to account for another player, which would make it pretty hard for anyone who wanted to play it single player and not have to spend literally an entire in-game day to get from one side of their farm to another. This would result in hungry slimes and rotting crops and I'm sure a lot of complaints from the solo rancher community.
Why do you need the farm to be twice as big just for one more person? The starting farm is fine. The rest of your arguments stem from supersizing the farm and making it uncontrollably massive and things would fall apart, which is weird right after you said the game would be easier, too easy, with multiplayer.

As of right now, multiplayer is not top priority. Finish the single player game first, then maybe multiplayer after. I wouldn't advocate "hundreds of players" as you seem to be worried about, but a 2 player would be sufficient. Just messing around on a farm with a friend would be mighty fun. Now I want multiplayer harvest moon. Does that exist yet?
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Re: Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be C

Postby SpiralRancher » Thu Jan 21, 2016 3:10 pm

I do agree that polishing development on the game's single-player perspective is a greater priority. As TheMageofMist proposed, multiplayer interactivity through the Ranch Exchange system would be a decent, relatively harmless start without detracting from the immersion. Assuming, of course, most people don't put up ridiculously grievious requests/offers.

However, I'm personally more keen on there being a sandbox kind of multiplayer mode eventually. Sure, you could call it pointless by definition of what it would add to the game, but that's not really why people want it, now is it? Not everyone will be content with just single-player mode and options for long-distance interactions in-game, in which case those people will want to have seamless gameplay within an active group of players. And I think that if there could be any way for someone to share the experience of playing Slime Rancher with a friend or more, this is the best way to go.

Still, it's best to leave it to Nick and his team to resolve one issue at a time and see what ultimately would and wouldn't work.
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Re: Future Content Suggestions/why this game should NOT be C

Postby Camychan » Sat Jan 23, 2016 8:54 pm

glinkBobby wrote:As of right now, multiplayer is not top priority. Finish the single player game first, then maybe multiplayer after. I wouldn't advocate "hundreds of players" as you seem to be worried about, but a 2 player would be sufficient. Just messing around on a farm with a friend would be mighty fun. Now I want multiplayer harvest moon. Does that exist yet?


I agree, having a second player would be nice. I was mostly posting this to get people to really think about how it would be done and why it should or shouldn't. It's in early Alpha right now, multiplayer would be nice in the future i just really don't think that is the main thing to focus on right now. I wrote this after reading a lot of the early comments on steam and most of them were like "where is the multiplayer" without much thoughtful commentary.

Also sadly it does not....at least not to my knowledge? Except for maybe animal parade? I think that one has minigames but since I've never played it myself I can't be sure.
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