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Environment x Infrastructure


Hirnsausen

Suggestion

Environment x Infrastructure

First of all, my deep and sincere congratulation and thanks for developing a game so beautiful and interesting as Ark. I like the prehistoric aspects of it. Not so much those fantasy creatures like "bosses" or robots in animal shape. The following suggestions are a summary of what I feel would be wise and good to add to the game or to change, after I played Ark for over three years now.

Suggestions


01 - Rain: Weather Seasons
Like in real life, there should be "seasons": days and even a week full of rain and grayish weather. No sunshine, or just for brief moments.

02 - Rain: Slippery Slopes During Rain
Like in real life, the ground gets soft and slippery during rain and shortly afterwards. When being on slopes (mountains or hills), there should be moments of uncontrolled sliding: sometimes just a few centimeters, sometimes longer and with the potential risk of gliding over an edge and then falling down. There should also be accidents like just slipping and falling onto the ground, no real injuries here.

03 - Rain: Health Risks
Being for too long at a time in the rain, or a lack of having been enough brief times in the rain to train the immune system, should increase the risk of bronchitis.

04 - Rain: Rain Gear
Out of polymer, oil and hide (or other resources), there could be the option to create rain gear (shoes, pants, shirt or rain anorak, rain hood, gloves). Being fully protected, continuous rain or a non-trained immune system cannot cause bronchitis during rain.

05 - Storms
Like in real life, we want to have hurricanes, thunder storms with flashes that can hit high-flying beings (wild animals, humans on tamed animals) or things that are above ground (tall trees, buildings, animals or humans on a wide opening of the forest or on top of mountains). Hurricanes can lift up unprotected (without roof above the head) humans and animals (tamed or wild), transport them in low or high attitude over short or long distances, and have them falling down from a few meters or from kilometers above ground at the end of their "journey" on land or over waters, hurting or killing them. Hurricanes also hurt thatch buildings a lot, and wooden buildings to some extend. Stone and metal buildings are not affected. Glass has slight damage, like wood.

06 - Storms: Defense
Like in real life, tall metallic player-erected lightning rod can protect buildings or openings in the forest. They can be mounted on buildings or on the ground (soil, rock), but not on flying animals.

07 - Waves
Waves should be increasingly higher with increasing distance to the coast.

08 - Waves. Raft Movement
Currently, all rafts on the water go up and down in a synchronized way: all go up at the same time, and all go down at the same time. but that is not only unrealistic, but also looks poor in the game. Each raft should have its own times when "the waves move it up and down", this could technically (programming) be done probably based on when it was launched into water. And you will see: a scenery ingame with some rafts beside each other will now look much more interesting! And it will be more realistic. it also might spice up how to walk from one raft onto the next one, maybe.

09 - Waves: Danger for Rafts
Higher waves should threaten rafts to capsize IF certain conditions are met: raft width or length (including mounted foundations) is too narrow in relation to raft height. Before a raft capsizes fully, there are indications, and players can decide not to take the risk and leave the high-waves zone. Capsized rafts will slowly start to sink, soon after, so the player has to hurry to salvage whatever is to be salvaged, if (s)he can. This capsize-feature will see a new way of how to build rafts for those who intend to explore or attack further away from the coast. Storms also make waves higher, though only temporary.

10 - Berries: Identical Plants
Reporting a glitch: at the moment, the plants that produce the five different berries, look all the same when farming on crop plots. This needs to be corrected, we want to see different plant shapes.

11 - Berries & Co: Variety
Please add thousands of new berries, fruits, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, and other natural resources to the game, but keep them undocumented. Let players have to find out by themselves what they are, where they grow, how to harvest them, if they have any culinary or other use or cause some sorts of problems now or later, and if and how they can be combined. Even if many of those natural resources can be used for concoctions (potions), some might not do anything, some others might harm, some others might have to be mixed with other potions, some might have unexpected (maybe even funny or threatening)effects, and so on. A potion might even make the drinking person hallucinating things around him or her, or seeing himself/herself as something different (a living flame? a dangerous monster or animal?) and if they act like this, reality (damage though automated bad action without gamer's control) will soon get them back to reality! All those new resources should be on the ground, growing in caves, on trees (fruits or mushrooms on the stem), or under water (algae types, other aquatic plants).

12 - Aquarium Crop Plot
To farm aquatic plants, there could be an aquarium that serves as crop plot for water plants.

13 - Dye Colors
With help of all these new berries and fruits, it finally should be possible to mix dye of many more colors, we're longing for more, MANY MORE, colors!

14 - Dye: Paint Effects
With help of additional ingredients, like some powderized minerals or rock types, dye paint can attain special attributes: metallic, glossy, flat, mirrorish, 50% translucent, and so on.

15 - Maps: Involve Voxel Areas
To open up many more game-play options, many areas of the regular maps should be replaced with voxel regions. A terrain made of voxels, allows the player8s) to make changes to that area: digging hide-out holes, hidden storage holes, digging caves, doing underground mining, and so on. Those areas should be randomly distributed over the map, be of different sizes, depth, and shape, and even of different material (hard rock, clay soil, soft soil, etc.). Some resources can be found underground in such areas, too.

16 - Voxels: Cave Dangers
Dependent on material of the voxel area (rock, soil, sand, etc.), some larger dig-outs might need wooden or stone beams to stabilize them, to prevent them to bury the player alive or killing the player. Continuous rain over several days can increase the risk of flooding of lower cave areas.

17 - Voxels: Don't Dig Too Deep
If you dig unintentionally too deep, you will hit one of the ground water adders. Could be beneficial, but could also cause the lower areas of your cave to be flooded. So look out for the indicators that you're nearing one of those water adders, like moist glossy rock with occasional falling water drops. Also avoid getting too close to the ocean or rivers, same indicators, same risks.

18 - Game Crash in Mid-Air: Why Always Dead - SERIOUS / IMPORTANT
When a game crashes while the player is flying on an animal, too often the player finds himself/herself dead upon restart of the game or the computer. Why? The game needs to have code implemented that protects an offline player from harm, not to make him/her suddenly falling from the animal's back like he had pressed the key-binding to leave the animal's back. I suggest, in case of a game crash or Internet disconnection, the gamer and his animal should remain motionless "sleeping" in the air, not to make them falling down. After all, gamers are "sleeping" and cannot be harmed when being offline on the ground. Why not mid-air?

19 - More Fashion Wanted
Please add many more hairstyles, also including many of the ethnic hair-styles. Also wanted: Hawaii shirts and shorts and sandals and straw hat ("the 1960s US Hawaii tourist who found himself suddenly in the distant past").

20 - New Animal Behavior Command: Attack until Own Health Level at 25-50-75%
Such a command would allow tamed animals to attack a target and continue, until the tamed animal has reached an own damage level that makes it fleeing or keeping safe distance.

21 - New Animal Behavior Command: Added Safespot
There should be a command that defines a "safespot" to an animal, and when fleeing or the gamer gets suddenly offline and a certain time has past since that, the animal would reach to that safesport and wait there. The player can also make the animal moving to that pre-defined safesport with a direct command.

22 - Pets on the Run
It happens, that tamed animals get missing despite closed doors and closed windows (support ticket 1312177 ). As there is already a GPS ingame, there should be a related item that can be crafted. a GPS neckless that can be worn by animals, this way allowing the owner to always being able to pinpoint their locations on the map or some special pet map (required for the pet GPS necklace to have), and find them

23 - Triangular Ceiling: Hatchframe
I believe, a hatchframe opening can fit into a triangular ceiling. And it would be useful, too.  It's time that triangular ceilings share some of the same key attributes square ceilings offer.

24 - Triangular Ceilings: Snap Points
Please add one more snap point to the pointed end of triangular ceilings. This would allow to use a pillar and on top of the pillar, with their pointed ends on the pillar's top, to build triangular ceilings in a circle (a hexagon).

25 - Animals: Mutated Meganeura
Same shape as a regular meganeura, but 2 to 3 meters (yards) long. Can be tamed. Relatively low fighting values due its low health points (since its body is so slender and easily breakable by brute force during attack)). But its ability to hover and to be controlled with one hand, makes it to an excellent flyer for building structures and/or painting them. Other attributes: regular flight speed extremely low, but high flying speed is very high. High stamina. Medium melee. Low or medium weight. Taming: meats.

 

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Thanks very much for the reply.  There are amazing suggestions that your reply includes. Also, it is a good feeling to see, that my suggestions find a positive resonance within the evolved community. ?

I did not even think yet about seasons, but you are right, they are needed, too. Still , as the days in Ark are short, I would go for shorter seasons that those mentioned 60 days. Maybe 10 to 15 days for each season. But that is my own opinion, I am looking forward to see more feedback from other players. I want to know, what they think about all this here.

I also agree with all your other suggestions. And here's one more from my side:


25 - Animals: Mutated Meganeura
Same shape as a regular meganeura, but 2 to 3 meters (yards) long. Can be tamed. Relatively low fighting values due its low health points (since its body is so slender and easily breakable by brute force during attack)). But its ability to hover and to be controlled with one hand, makes it to an excellent flyer for building structures and/or painting them. Other attributes: regular flight speed extremely low, but high flying speed is very high. High stamina. Medium melee. Low or medium weight. Taming: meats.

Everyone: what do you think about all these suggestions in the previous two postings above? Please add your feedback! ?

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Personally, I do like a large majority of the suggestions listed, but there are so many, it is a little difficult to address them individually as is - so I copied the items listed down to comment on a few.

  • 01 - Rain: Weather Seasons - 
    • I would suggest on expanding on this one and to go as far as having in-game seasons. I think it would be a nice mix. Such as 60 in-game days = One season. Then you would have a rotation of the 4 season. Spring - Summer - Fall - Winter.  It could be set to follow the patterns of the year, or simply have its own seasonal system in game with adjustable settings for Unofficial Servers/Cluster. Each season could have its own - more likely weather issues such as heat waves, heavy rains, and possibly extend to the falling of leaves or the color of the grass on the ground. 
  • 02 - Rain: Slippery Slopes During Rain - Like it. 
  • 03 - Rain: Health Risks - Like it. 
  • 04 - Rain: Rain Gear -
    • I am always for new gear to wear. We have very few options as is, and most of the clothing skins sets we have seem incomplete or out of character. Having another option to mix in would be nice.
  • 05 - Storms -
    • I like the idea of have a few more weather patterns added, and that they would have a bit more of an effect on the map itself besides blinding us with seemingly non-stop lightning flashes (The Center). Even simply things such as lightning hitting a tree and turning it into a charcoal tree, damaging structures that are taller than the tree line, or possibly knocking flyers off of birds that fly higher than the tree line. The water issues I would be interested in seeing as well, but I think I wait to see what the manage to do with water going forward prior to making any notes.
  • 06 - Storms: Defense - Like it. 
  • 07 - Waves - If they could make it happen - I would be all for it. 
  • 08 - Waves. Raft Movement -
    • The concept sounds simply enough - but I do not know enough about coding to say if this is truly "simple" or not. As is, I am good with the way things are unless they are able to make it work easily enough. 
  • 09 - Waves: Danger for Rafts -
    • Much like those above - this is one where if they went that route - I would be all for it, but if it came down to this or new items/gameplay because of the complexity of the coding - I would probably place my vote with the other items. 
  • 10 - Berries: Identical Plants - Agreed
  • 11 - Berries & Co: Variety - 
    • I agree with the idea that they should add more harvestable, plantable, and usable plantlife. Whether this is a prehistoric game, or simply Arks by Wildcards design - it never made much sense to me that the berry selection is so small. The Primitive Plus version of the game certainly stepped up this portion including grains and other items you could cook/craft. But there are still things that seemed to fall a bit short. There should be a large variety of bush, vine, and even tree harvestables that could be gathered/grown and harvested along with many other food items that could be crafted with them. 
  • 12 - Aquarium Crop Plot - Agreed. Even today we have uses for crops grown underwater or at the very least, grown surrounded by it. 
  • 13 - Dye Colors - Agreed. The colors we have are becoming somewhat stale and it would be nice to have some new ones to work with. 
  • 14 - Dye: Paint Effects -
    • This is another point that would be awesome to see in game. In fact, on another post someone was asking about having some fluorescent glowing colors that we could use to paint items. Similar to the glow that you see in aberration. My suggestion then had been to mix Angergel with the colors to create the glow. It would give another use to the resource and a way to simplify the process. 
  • 15 - Maps: Involve Voxel Areas, 16 - Voxels: Cave Dangers,  and 17 - Voxels: Don't Dig Too Deep  -
    • These seem to involve actually adjusting the map, and while I would be alright with some minor alterations, such as placing a foundation on the ground and allowing it to cut into the ground for placement to avoid clipping - even that is more than Ark seems to allow. As such I am going to have to pass. I only see this a possible meshing issue in the future. We already have enough problems with the ground layer of the map - messing with it further just seems to be asking for trouble. 
  • 18 - Game Crash in Mid-Air: Why Always Dead - SERIOUS / IMPORTANT - 
    • Having been one to experience this more times than not - I would agree that something should be done. In the meantime, I have taken to flying over laggy map areas low to the ground with a creature on neutral - follow to protect me from that which would kill me and some tek boots. If not locking characters mid-air on the creature, then at the very least, they should spawn on the ground below where they where they were flying to avoid the fall damage. 
  • 19 - More Fashion Wanted -
    • This is something I have been requesting for the last few months, and have commented on nearly every suggestion I have seen with the concept brought up. A few of the situations I have come across are;
      • New Skin Sets. We have a lot of skins that are basically random and some incomplete. Have you noticed the large number of hats in comparison to other clothing pieces? Or how some only apply to one or two clothing items and not the full suit? Having a few more that we can place on top of existing clothing/armor sets would be nice. Such as a Pirate set, Ranger set, Explorer set, Knight set, etc... Each having a Hat, Chest Piece, Pant, Glove, and boot skin included so the sets could be complete. 
      • New Hairstyles. As you mentioned, a variety of hairstyles that reach out to other nationalities and time periods would be a start. 
      • New Theme Sets
      • New Clothing/Armor Sets. Cloth - Hide - Ghillie - Chitin - Scuba - Fur - Hazard - Flak - Riot - Tek. That is pretty much all we have. And in order to stay alive in game - more often than not we have to ditch the lower level items, even if they are at an ascension level, because they simply cannot match up to the higher level items. Which means that without skins, the only thing we can do is color the sets to create a slight amount of individuality. Personally, I would suggestion that each clothing set style be given an evolved form, like a cloth 2.0 that has a different look, better stats, and possibly better buffs in one area or another. By providing the same to the others - they could essentially double the number of clothing styles available. They too would have their own journeyman, mastercraft and ascension levels. It would give a bit of variety. 
  • 20 - New Animal Behavior Command: Attack until Own Health Level at 25-50-75% - 
    • It would be nice to have them only attack up to a point. Whistling passive works if you are in range, but if not, this would give us a way to make better the chances of your creatures survival. 
  • 21 - New Animal Behavior Command: Added Safespot - Neutral. Interesting idea, but not something I would use based on how I play the game. 
  • 22 - Pets on the Run -  They do have the trackers in game already - they do look a little on on some of the creatures though based on their size and placement. Personally I wouldn't mind a second version that may resemble a collar with a charm of sorts for some of the creatures. 
  • 23 - Triangular Ceiling: Hatchframe - I don't tend to build with them - but I know those who do who would appreciate this 
  • 24 - Triangular Ceilings: Snap Points - Ditto to the above. 

And if you are wanting to expand on building items further, I would like suggest the following;

  • 25 - Large Foundations - Arranged as either 2x2 or 3x3, they would allow us to cut down on lag in game. They would could only be placed in areas where foundations could normally sit - meaning they could not be placed to stick out over the edge of a cliff ( leave that to the cliff platforms), they would have to snap to the ground. 
  • 26 - Large Ceiling Tiles - Arranged as either 2x2 or 3x3, they would allow us to cut down on lag in the game. They too would follow the rules of their singular counterparts. A 2x2 tile segment could hang over the edge, but a 3x3 would require additional support such as foundations placed below or columns
  • 27 - Square Wall Segments - the 4x1 large walls have been great, but it would be nice to be able to cut down on lag without having to build something that is so high. Having a 2x2 segment would allow us to do so. 
  • 28 - Small, Medium, and Large Columns - If you consider the standard column - just that - a standard. Then the Small column could be a 2 high, Medium a 3 high, and Large a 4 high. They would allow for columns to be placed in a way that would allow for us to dramatically cut down on lag when in use. 
  • 29 - Double Wide Spiral Stairs - The spiral staircases are pretty, and they fit neatly in a tight area, but I cannot tell you how many times I have fallen over the edge because of how narrow they are. It would be nice to have a spiral staircase that takes up a little more room - but at least would be safer to walk. 
  • 30 - Double Wide Tek Bridges or Connectable Tek Bridges - The Tek Bridges are nice, being that they are one of the few (only) bridge options we have. And they are narrow. If we could have wider bridges, or at the very least, be able to widen the bridge by placing more than one next to the other so that they would like together - that would be an awesome use. 
  • 31 - Large Cliff Platforms and Tree Platforms - Essentially large platforms to build with. Right now they are a decent size and having a larger variety could add to the type of structures you are able to build. 

And if you are wanting to expand on personalization options, I would suggest the following;

  • 32 - Additional saddle types for different creatures. Currently most have one - or two saddles if they have a tek option - and regardless of how durable it is, they all look the same unless there is a skin. My suggestion would be to add new saddles for some of the creatures with different craft costs that would do different things when worn. Light saddles to add to speed, saddles that cut weight of certain items, saddles that will allow a second passenger, saddles that would act as a traveling refrigerator, saddles that would act as a traveling trough for other animals in the party, etc. Each with a different look. 
  • 33 - Additional saddle skins. We have a few that can wear a skin to change the saddle or the look of the creature. And we have some silly hats they can wear. But there are many that don't have an alternate skin to use. I mean, how fun would it be to have a Thyla skin that resembled a Lion or a Tiger for example? It would change thing up to have some fun. 

That is all I have time for for now. Again, love the list and hope I do not come across as too demanding or pushy with this - I simply enjoy adding to those suggestions which I enjoy. ? 

 

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So, first, things I like! I won't comment too much on them, since for most of them, you've got some pretty solid ideas.

I really like most of these. Weather, particularly, I LOVE your ideas for. More in depth and challenging weather/environments, where you actually have to plan for the weather, consider it and play around it, is something I've really wanted for a LONG time. 

Same for the wider variety of dye colours, and I like the idea of added effects. Tbh, I feel like the dye system needs a little bit of reworking as it anyway, so.

I like the idea of aquariums. We could put fish in them for extra effect, and then they'd be nice ornaments too! :D 

MORE SKINS!! Yes please! I'd love that variety, and is another thing I reeeeally want.

I like the idea of the animal commands. Very useful. As for the tracking device though- while I've never used one myself, I'm pretty sure that's the Transponder already in game. I've heard it is very buggy and has a tendency to just stop working though, so a bit of TLC for that is probably warranted.

I'd like to expand on the dismounting midair for singleplayer. Game autosaves in midair, then crashes. You load in, and boom, you're falling and you're dead. I have my autosave turned off for that exact reason; but it's still a HUGE QoL for anyone who has autosave on.

 

Now, things that I'm not as keen on.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of adding a variety more plants. Ark already has quite a few (albeit with somewhat limited different applications), and I feel that adding too many new ones would lead to lots of clutter- Imagine what sort of storage you would need for 3 dozen different berries, particularly for people such as myself who like having one or a few storage boxes dedicated to any one resource for neatness. Additionally, there would have to be a unique use for them all to justify adding them, which I could see being difficult to think of. Like, can you name 2 dozen different effects? Or, they only have effects when combined in a certain way; but then it'd feel like you'd collect them just as parts for a whole, and on their own, you'd have loads of different things that just don't do anything. A little bit of stuff that exists just as crafting materials is fine; but there's a point where it just feels very redundant. Like, it's fine with having 3 berries that exist essentially only as dye outside of food, but that's because there's only 3 of them. If you get 30 of them that just don't do anything most of the time (or at all if you're someone who's not into 'potion making') it just starts to feel odd and redundant and make you wonder why they're here at all, as well as clutter up your inventory.

Then there's also the matter of collecting. I can see it going one of two ways- Either getting their own nodes for any specific plant (and you can see how that could be an issue with so many- lots of clutter and it would be difficult to narrow down whichever one or two you may be looking for), as well as just not feeling like ARK (gathering super specifically). Or, you can make them like the current system. But then, how many bushes will you have to go through, just to find one or two berries? How much 'trash' will you have to sort through? It's either cluttered if it's too specific, or too difficult to find specific plants if it's condensed.

THAT BEING SAID. A bit more variety would be nice. A couple more unique effects, expending on how Aberration's mushrooms work perhaps. And- I think this could work well with dyes- what about some new coloured berries? Red, Blue, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, or something like that. Then, with that solid baseline of colours, you can create new colours in between with much less hassle. And then, this would be nice- since at the moment, plants are somewhat repetitive, they all look like another in the same environment- perhaps they could have 'berries' on them, like little dots in whatever colour range of berries they'd give you (eg, a berry bush that has orange dots would give you berries in the red-yellow region of colours); with stimberries and narcoberries dropping from any. That way, there's more variety, but without sorting through 2 dozen berries you don't need for just that one; and it's still 'like' ARK's current system.

Essentially, it has potential, but if added, it should be in serious moderation.

 

I don't really think that digging fits either. In ARK, caves are generally established as artifact gathering locations. That is, when you think cave, you think 'artifact', you think 'progression'- That's what the idea of a cave is in ARK, so it'd just feel out of place. Additionally, anti-mesh hell. In fact, meshing hell in general. There are loads of problems even with pre-defined mesh; imagine how it'd be with dynamic meshes. Either they put anti mesh around the general area- Meaning meshing within the area- or you'd be facing wildly unpredictable killzones if you touch a wall. Additionally, the ability to shape the terrain? I imagine meshers would exploit this that to no end. And how would it work visually? ARK's maps are visually all very much of the pre-built sort, so I don't know how well textures would work for that.

 

And honestly, I just don't really see any use or niche in the ecosystem for the giant dragonfly.

 

Some very cool ideas though. I hope WC takes consideration. Support. :) 

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On 10/8/2019 at 11:53 PM, Hirnsausen said:

Please add thousands of new berries, fruits, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, and other natural resources to the game

Can't wait to swing my Bronto's tail and crash the game as I collect two hundred different kinds of berries, all with absolutely no use

On 10/8/2019 at 11:53 PM, Hirnsausen said:

25 - Animals: Mutated Meganeura

Tapejara

On 10/8/2019 at 11:53 PM, Hirnsausen said:

15 - Maps: Involve Voxel Areas

If people thought Ark was laggy now, just wait till this becomes a thing. 

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