i thought it would be fun to hear some suggestions on what you would add to the game if you were a designer backer.
designer level lets you add a weapon, animal or plant as well as a pirate king.
so lets hear some cool ideas for weapons, animals, plants and interesting pirates!
I have been playing around with the idea of having a pirate king that doesn't want to be a pirate. he just does it because hes in debt and needs the money.
for an animal it might be cool to have some sort of desert dwelling cephalopod. i'm not sure what good a octopus can do in the desert but it seemed cool.
alcoholic cactus fruit, its better tasting than paste and increases happiness but negatively impacks work
lastly my weapon idea, how about just a plain old taser? that way i can flank a raider and capture them easily for recruitment.
I'm at the mercenary level if that counts.
all levels are welcome, i just want to hear some ideas :)
turnips... reminds me of watching fraggle rock as a kid :P we do need some alternate food choices, great suggestion.
Quote from: salt1219 on October 09, 2013, 07:22:18 PM
lastly my weapon idea, how about just a plain old taser? that way i can flank a raider and capture them easily for recruitment.
I think this is a good idea! I'd like to see weapons that accomplish different goals. Right now it seems like all the weaponry is meant to kill people, and I feel like there could be more depth to armament than that. It would be great if we saw some creative designer ideas that did something different. In case there are any designers reading, here are some different objectives that might give you ideas:
- Stun/Capture Person - electricity, nets, blunt weapons. The tazer salt1219 mentioned is a good example.
- Disable Turrets/Powered Devices - EMPs, microwaves, electricity. These could be used for disabling turrets and electric fences, or against drones/robots and similar.
- Destroy Buildings - fire, shock waves, sonic vibrations. Weapons designed to cause mass damage to structures (which could obviously injure/kill people as well).
That might be focusing too much on weapons though. It's up to the designer to decide whether to do a weapon, animal or plant. In case Tynan sees this thread though, he mentioned an interesting possible event:
Quote from: Tynan on September 17, 2013, 06:49:36 PM
Megabeast: A generated mega-beast attacks the colony.
Could creating a Megabeast count as "designing an animal?"
[/list]
These would also be great for the Cheap Idea thread
http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=174.0
there are three of us out there so far, and you guys have come up with some cool ideas.
i hadn't thought of a megabeast counting as a animal, i hope it does that would be fun.
i do already have a weapon in mind but i want to keep it hush hush for now but i may change my mind.
another cool idea for a animal would be a forgotten rover (like the mars rover, if robots count as animals)
it would just wander around the map looking at rocks and sending off info to people who have long forgot about the little rover.
Quote from: salt1219 on October 09, 2013, 08:40:27 PM
there are three of us out there so far, and you guys have come up with some cool ideas.
i hadn't thought of a megabeast counting as a animal, i hope it does that would be fun.
i do already have a weapon in mind but i want to keep it hush hush for now but i may change my mind.
another cool idea for a animal would be a forgotten rover (like the mars rover, if robots count as animals)
it would just wander around the map looking at rocks and sending off info to people who have long forgot about the little rover.
HAHA that rover idea hilariously awesome.
One guy wants to give his Pirate King a tool that spawns killer spider-bots. Sounded pretty fun to me! Try waiting behind your turrets for that shit.
Quote from: Tynan on October 10, 2013, 12:17:04 AM
One guy wants to give his Pirate King a tool that spawns killer spider-bots. Sounded pretty fun to me! Try waiting behind your turrets for that shit.
lol'd irl.
Like little spider bots from Invisible War, or giant ones from the first Deus Ex? :D
Well there goes my secret... Oh well it was going to come out sometime
I should have told Tynan I was keeping it on the down low :P
Try to act surprised when your colonists all die
I am actually Designer Tier lol, so Tynan please don't take any of these as my actual choice, but...
• [Name] - Sleep-inducing flower.
A plant that makes colonists sleepier the more time they spend around it.
o Could be abused by growing one inside prison cell so that prisoner was essentially confined to coma as he'd regenerate 'Rest' by sleeping at the same rate the plant lowered it.
• Creeper Vine - Heat-seeking vines.
Vines that grow at an extraordinary rate towards the nearest source of heat. In cold conditions or when deprived of heat (sprayed with fire extinguisher) their growth slows down to manageable levels. Be wary of your base becoming overgrown with the barbed vines in the hotter cycles.
• Venus Mantrap - Colonist-eating tree-sized flower.
If a hapless colonist wanders too close to this beauty, then she'll lean down and gobble him up for dinner. They evolved to begin the digestion process right away on such a hostile world and your trapped colonist has a slim chance dependent on his hand-to-hand skill to rip his way out, otherwise the trapped colonist takes periodic damage as he's digested with [time limit] for the others to attack and get him out of there to safety before he dies and becomes plant-food.
• [Name] - Blood-sucking tall grass.
Patches of knotted, wild, tall grass that are coated in very fine hollow needle-like barbs that rip into the skin of animals to draw blood that they use for sustenance. It's important to burn away such grass before it feeds on enough blood to grow beyond waist-height and becomes impassable to your colonists who want to live.
• [Name] - Corrosive fungus.
This strange mossy fungi can be found in caves and living in the nooks and crannies of most mountains, canyons and subterranean burrows. It secretes an enzyme into the surrounding mineral to break down metallic and ferrous materials for consumption, be very careful not to mine into fungus-heavy stone for resources or you might cart back to your base a fungus that will grow all over your walls and slowly corrode them. They reproduce and spread via spores at a fast rate in dark environments but are noticeably slower to spread in light and the fungus slowly dies and crumbles away in direct UV light.
Those sound cool, I hadn't given plants any thought.
So aspenshadow, care to share what you plan to add?
Mine was leaked see above ^^ but my pirate king and his story are still secret for now :). I'm toying with the idea of a pirate that doesn't want to be a pirate. That's the short version anyway without spoiling too many details.
Haha that would be depriving you of the opportunity to find out for yourself ;)
Those above are but a few selections from the Flora category of a Masterlist of Ideas I'm compiling for my addition to the RimWorld universe. If I get the opportunity to add a certified object to the game it's going to be beloved or hated by most players and requires a lot of thought before I decide on it's final state.
Very nice idea with the Spider-Bots btw, Tynan shared your idea with me in PM after I confirmed Designer status for some inspiration. Never would've thought of it, still I'll leave the weapons up to more warmongering-minds I think, while I'm definitely a sadist I prefer organic to cold steel.
Fair enough I look forward to your addition (probably a mega beast?)
Quote from: salt1219 on October 10, 2013, 09:56:10 AM
Fair enough I look forward to your addition (probably a mega beast?)
Mmm I'm really not sure about mega-beasts, I prefer creatures /plants that interact with the environment dynamically so a new addition to the world changes how the player tackles them, it's a bit like evolution in that the creation 'adapts' as it were to new additions to the game (biomes even) long after it's initial creation. But it requires a lot of thought, work and brainstorming to ensure it's not asking too much of Tynan and still fulfils my hopes.
Not to mention in my early years I was a lover of swarm-based organic threats like Warhammer's Tyranids, no I think it's likely I'll end up picking a creation that's used more widespread rather than once or twice as a BIG threat.
Quote from: AspenShadow on October 10, 2013, 09:59:26 AMNot to mention in my early years I was a lover of swarm-based organic threats like Warhammer's Tyranids, no I think it's likely I'll end up picking a creation that's used more widespread rather than once or twice as a BIG threat.
It will be really great to see how all the different Designer ideas come together to create RimWorld! I'm looking forward to AspenShadow's and salt1219's ideas in game.
I hope that the designs won't overwhelm the gameplay though. AspenShadow brought up a good comparison here between how BIG a concept is vs. how widespread it is. If a design is a MegaBeast or super-powerful weapon it should be extraordinary (uncommon), whereas if a design shows up frequently it should have a more subtle effect. If the gameworld was covered in deadly robots or colonist-eating plants every game story would end early with all the colonists killed!
You guys talking about your cool ideas makes it very tempting to pledge at the Designer level, but that is an awful lot of money...
I thought i would go into a bit more detail about the weapon i talked with Tynan about.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l100/saltydog81/spiderbot_zpsd681251c.png) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/saltydog81/media/spiderbot_zpsd681251c.png.html)
this is just a fun concept image, ultimately i'm leaving the look and other details up to Tynan after all the art style of the game isn't finalized.
Weapon:
Salt's SpiderBot Deployer
(backpack/canister carrying 30 spiderbots)
Fluff text:
Survey bots intended for cramped/dangerous areas, Modified for combat use by the pirate William Salt. These things look dangerous.
More info on spiderbots:
spiderbots are re-purposed survey bots for cramped/dangerous areas
they would work like autonomous mobile turrets
this weapon should be both rare and expensive.
- limited to 6 active at a time.
- minor explosion on death (explosion size should be the same as a boomrat)
- above average movement speed, short/medium firing distance with weak ammo.
- you can only have 6 active at a time. To deploy more the spiderbots need to be deactivated and collected or destroyed.
- perhaps they power down like turrets do so you can select them and turn off their power?
if you guys enjoyed this maybe you would like to help me flesh out my pirate king :)
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l100/saltydog81/willsmall_zps45b82124.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/saltydog81/media/willsmall_zps45b82124.jpg.html)
I'm calling him William Salt the reluctant pirate
(the picture above is a commissioned piece by Jack Cayless based on a picture of myself)
Quote from: salt1219 on October 11, 2013, 06:41:38 PM
*awesome stuff!*
Wow, I didn't expect you to have thought of so much detail already! And the commissioned image looks good! The half-concealed gun is a nice touch.
Spiderbots sound very cool! It's good that you're thinking of concepts like balance and their roles in the game. I think the concept image conveys the idea well.
I'm sure the forums would help you flesh out your character! You've mentioned he's a reluctant pirate, but otherwise we haven't heard much about him. What kind of backstory have you thought of so far?
Quote from: SpaceEatingTrex on October 11, 2013, 08:32:20 PM
I'm sure the forums would help you flesh out your character! You've mentioned he's a reluctant pirate, but otherwise we haven't heard much about him. What kind of backstory have you thought of so far?
Well because you asked... not all the details are finalized and I'm open to suggestions.
Long name:
William Salt
Male Human Colonist, age 31.
Short name:
Salt
Childhood:
Midworlder
"Salt grew up with a interest in science, he went to a good school and learned the value of hard work."
Adulthood:
Reluctant Pirate
"Salt was a Geologist till a near fatal collapse left him with artificial legs and deeply in debt. He turned to piracy to get by."
Skills:
Construction 3
Growing 3
Research 13
Mining 10
Shooting 5
Hand to Hand 7
Social 6
(salt's background as a geologist makes him great at research and mining. As a pirate he learned to fight and mining made him a stronger brawler. Leading a band of pirates required him to learn the power of negotiation) -I think the fallowing skills reflect the story i want to tell about him.
Incapable of:
(none)
Traits:
*Artificial legs
*Body scars
^^ I think i should change this to reflect the concept image i have.
Quote from: salt1219 on October 12, 2013, 06:22:51 AM
*details*
Neat to see what you thought of salt1219! I'm glad you did something more creative than just a high-shooting pirate. I hope the system becomes robust enough for him to make use of his Mining and Research.
The artificial legs are interesting! What kind are you thinking of? A futuristic kind of robot legs? What kind of effect do you think they should have in game?
One thing I noticed on the Pirate King Kickstarter tier is that it mentions leading a group of raiders. Would Salt lead a group of raiders, or would the spiderbots be his group?
Quote from: SpaceEatingTrex on October 12, 2013, 04:32:00 PM
Neat to see what you thought of salt1219! I'm glad you did something more creative than just a high-shooting pirate. I hope the system becomes robust enough for him to make use of his Mining and Research.
i hope so too, but if not it at least gives people a good recruit
Quote from: SpaceEatingTrex on October 12, 2013, 04:32:00 PM
The artificial legs are interesting! What kind are you thinking of? A futuristic kind of robot legs? What kind of effect do you think they should have in game?
i had given that a little thought, something like prostetic robot legs.
-artificial legs +1 speed
-body scars -1 social
Quote from: SpaceEatingTrex on October 12, 2013, 04:32:00 PM
One thing I noticed on the Pirate King Kickstarter tier is that it mentions leading a group of raiders. Would Salt lead a group of raiders, or would the spiderbots be his group?
well the spiderbots are spawned by his weapon so i would assume he would lead a party of raiders and spawn the bots.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l100/saltydog81/minimalist_zps19241cc2.png) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/saltydog81/media/minimalist_zps19241cc2.png.html)
a quick and dirty minimalist concept, personally i think colonists should have a little hair and such to make them more identifiable.
apologies for the double post i felt this didn't fit in the last one
I like how you balanced him with what he can't do vs what he's good at. I think we can only have two traits but I may be wrong about that.
So do you have a look in mind for your pk and maybe a weapon he would spawn with?
Nice back stories BTW... So this mad scientist, is he related to the plant or animal your making?... No wait you said you were going more subtle.
I'm watching friday the 13th Jason lives and thinking, it sure would be cool to design a lone unstoppable killing machine.
Not very creative but it would be fun to make. The term "super assassin" is coming to mind. Tynan mention that he was considering adding some.