Content: Slate Blackcurrant Watermelon Strawberry Orange Banana Apple Emerald Chocolate Marble
Background: Slate Blackcurrant Watermelon Strawberry Orange Banana Apple Emerald Chocolate Marble
Pattern: Blank Waves Notes Sharp Wood Rockface Leather Honey Vertical Triangles
Welcome to TerraFirmaCraft Forums

Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to contribute to this site by submitting your own content or replying to existing content. You'll be able to customize your profile, receive reputation points as a reward for submitting content, while also communicating with other members via your own private inbox, plus much more! This message will be removed once you have signed in.

  • Announcements

    • Dries007

      ATTENTION Forum Database Breach   03/04/2019

      There has been a breach of our database. Please make sure you change your password (use a password manager, like Lastpass).
      If you used this password anywhere else, change that too! The passwords themselves are stored hashed, but may old accounts still had old, insecure (by today's standards) hashes from back when they where created. This means they can be "cracked" more easily. Other leaked information includes: email, IP, account name.
      I'm trying my best to find out more and keep everyone up to date. Discord (http://invite.gg/TerraFirmaCraft) is the best option for up to date news and questions. I'm sorry for this, but the damage has been done. All I can do is try to make sure it doesn't happen again.
    • Claycorp

      This forum is now READ ONLY!   01/20/2020

      As of this post and forever into the future this forum has been put into READ ONLY MODE. There will be no new posts! A replacement is coming SoonTM . If you wish to stay up-to-date on whats going on or post your content. Please use the Discord or Sub-Reddit until the new forums are running.

      Any questions or comments can be directed to Claycorp on either platform.
Konlii

Fearsome Critters

27 posts in this topic

How far from real-world animals is TFC2 going to go?  Will it have beasts from mythology, like trolls or unicorns?  Beasts from folklore, like jackalopes or Dwayyo?  Not all mythical creatures would match the flavor of TFC, but some would fit right in.

 

For example, we have here the innocent-looking Drop Bear.  It would spawn only on natural log blocks and hang out in leaf blocks when not aggro'd.  Obviously, its preferred method of attack is to drop onto the player's head and gnaw their face off.

dropbear_1.png

DropBear.MCModel

dropbear.png

1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Trolls that change texture to match the stone type of the island they spawn in?

troll_preview.png

1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think that there will be mythical creatures, because I remember reading that TFC 2 will be more themed towards fantasy than realism. I don't remember where I read it, so don't quote me on that. Getting back to the topic, trolls don't change color according to stone, they change to stone if exposed to sunlight. I do like the idea of chameleon trolls tho :). One gripe I have about the model is that the legs look kinda tiny on that thing imho, but it's obviously that way because you thought that was the best way to make a troll model.

Tbh I don't like the drop bear very much, it just seems out of place imho.

Sorry if use "imho" a lot, but since I'm a newb on this forum I think it's important to make clear that it's just my humble opinion.

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, TheSnarkyKnight said:

 trolls don't change color according to stone, they change to stone if exposed to sunlight.

Tolkienesque trolls maybe (or wherever Tolkien got it from).  There's nothing that says TFC2's version of fantasy has to conform to a certain pre-existing fantasy ouvre.

 

1 hour ago, TheSnarkyKnight said:

Tbh I don't like the drop bear very much, it just seems out of place imho.

I think Konlii's version of a drop bear may have been a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Edited by Darmo
0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
45 minutes ago, Darmo said:

Tolkienesque trolls maybe (or wherever Tolkien got it from).  There's nothing that says TFC2's version of fantasy has to conform to a certain pre-existing fantasy ouvre.

 

I think Konlii's version of a drop bear may have been a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Yeah, I knew where the drop bear came from. That's why I thought it would be out of place. Maybe it would not be so out of place if it spawned on a particular tree (*cough*Eucaliptus*cough*) or in a particular biome.

Also, you're right about Trolls. Sorry.

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I blame Discworld for teaching me that trolls match their local stone types, but really it makes sense. If they are traditional trolls that turn to stone during the day, wouldn't they look out of place otherwise?

 

As for the drop bear, I know it's a little silly, but I was trying to get a discussion on how fantastical is too fantastical for TFC2.  If drop bears go too far, what about jackalopes?  What about the Dwayyo?

Edited by Konlii
1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For me on the other hand - coming from my Dungeons and Dragons background - trolls are lanky terrifying regenerating beasts that you can only kill with fire or acid, and have no special relationship with stone or sunlight.   I didn't mean to say that referencing an existing ouvre is bad - it's actually a good game strategy, because your audience can immediately have familiarity (Orcs are evil pig-nosed humans.  Dragons breath fire and hoard gold.  Dwarves speak with a Scottish accent) which from a roleplaying and immersion standpoint allows them to more easily 'slot in' to the world.  I was just pointing out it doesn't have to be that way, and moreover there are many ouvres to choose from.  

One way the devs could go is just say 'hey modelers, show us what you got'.  And we'd each go with our personal favored stuff, and it could end up rather chaotic and incoherent.

Another way, they could give a setting to pull from.  Tolkien, D&D, Discworld, Classical Greek, etc.  Should give a more coherent experience, though some settings would have an inherently limiting selection.

Or there could be an idea.  'Guys, we're picturing a war between humans, fey, and devils.  Go to work'.  That sort of would allow us to cross several ouvres, but still work toward a coherent theme. 

I guess I'd prefer to see some kind of coherence, if not a theme/story, rather than just whatever enters our heads.  But we'll see.

Edited by Darmo
0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Darmo said:

I guess I'd prefer to see some kind of coherence, if not a theme/story, rather than just whatever enters our heads.  But we'll see.

That's a fair point and probably the smart way to go, but where is the theme in having zombies, bow-wielding animated skeletons, and mutant green explodey-pigs?

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Konlii said:

That's a fair point and probably the smart way to go, but where is the theme in having zombies, bow-wielding animated skeletons, and mutant green explodey-pigs?

That's legacy stuff from vanilla minecraft.  Granted, possibly the most successful, most poorly planned game ever, so I mean, who needs a theme right?  But my own hope is that as TFC2 matures, those things will be much more limited, to logical scenarios.  Though creepers are pretty hard to logic, imo.  Suicidal powder-keg carrying goblins?

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
11 minutes ago, Darmo said:

That's legacy stuff from vanilla minecraft.  Granted, possibly the most successful, most poorly planned game ever, so I mean, who needs a theme right?  But my own hope is that as TFC2 matures, those things will be much more limited, to logical scenarios.  Though creepers are pretty hard to logic, imo.  Suicidal powder-keg carrying goblins?

Yeah, when you look at it with attention Minecraft is cobbled up from many different ideas. It seems more like the devs ask each other "What would be cool to add in this update?" rather than following a theme. Anyway, the creeper was a glitch that occured when Notch was experimenting with the pig model. Notch decided that it would be a shame to throw away the model and kept it (lazy ), later coming up with the idea of a green... thing that explodes. I like the idea of goblins. Maybe you would find small goblin camps on uncharted islands that would occasionally attack the player untile they were wiped out completely?

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm familiar with the origin story of the creeper model.  It's funny to me he didn't want to 'throw away' a model that - at least with proper modeling program - would take about 5 minutes to make.   I'm just saying they make no sense at all.  The best I could rationalize them would be as a necromancer cobbling together corpses with explosives inside.  Though somehow we never do find Zakuro.  I do think it'd be fun to have entire islands controlled by necromancers and their minions.

As for the goblin sappers, that's not my idea of course.  Makes more sense than creepers though, to me.  Goblins and orcs are so ubiquitous in fantasy it's hard for me to imagine them not ending up in TFC2 in one form or another.  As I understand it, from way back when, the idea is that there will be dungeons or strongholds that control different parts of the islands, and you have to defeat the 'boss' in them to unlock the ability to place or destroy blocks in that area.  So ya, enemy camps are pretty much already planned as I understand it.   It would definitely be interesting if they could respawn in a more minor form though, even after the main stronghold is destroyed.

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Darmo said:

I'm familiar with the origin story of the creeper model.  It's funny to me he didn't want to 'throw away' a model that - at least with proper modeling program - would take about 5 minutes to make.   I'm just saying they make no sense at all.  The best I could rationalize them would be as a necromancer cobbling together corpses with explosives inside.  Though somehow we never do find Zakuro.  I do think it'd be fun to have entire islands controlled by necromancers and their minions.

As for the goblin sappers, that's not my idea of course.  Makes more sense than creepers though, to me.  Goblins and orcs are so ubiquitous in fantasy it's hard for me to imagine them not ending up in TFC2 in one form or another.  As I understand it, from way back when, the idea is that there will be dungeons or strongholds that control different parts of the islands, and you have to defeat the 'boss' in them to unlock the ability to place or destroy blocks in that area.  So ya, enemy camps are pretty much already planned as I understand it.   It would definitely be interesting if they could respawn in a more minor form though, even after the main stronghold is destroyed.

As a matter of fact, my opinion of the minecraft devs is the following : lazy bums.H

However, let's talk about the typical fantasy enemies: in most fantasy games the players will start by fighting critters and the now ubiquitous slimes. The first challenge for the player is usually a goblin "infestation" ( a camp in the forest, a cave inhabited by the beasties, a village that has been taken over...) and will then move up to orcs, that are usually were the mid game starts, considering that orcs are (in most fantasy settings) better equipped and far stronger. After that the player has to defeat the obligatory necromancer (don't get me wrong: I love wading through waves of undead, moreso if they are gruesome interesting or at least are different than bog-standard zombies); after these "standard" enemy stages, then the player is up into the high leagues, killing dragons, giants and abominations like they're nothing. So maybe have them on an island based on how far the x axis the island is?

Ahhhh, now I miss NWN and other good DnD games. Legends of the Sword Coast was awful.

Edited by TheSnarkyKnight
0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What are you talking about?

Minecraft without creepers?!

 

Anyway, I was thinking about a mouse with spider legs. 1/5000 mouses spawn with 8 spider legs.

Just a little odd useless idea.

Edited by Diego il Catanico Jr
1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, Diego il Catanico Jr said:

What are you talking about?

Minecraft without creepers?!

 

Anyway, I was thinking about a mouse with spider legs. 1/5000 mouses spawn with 8 spider legs.

Just a little odd useless idea.

Weeeellll, what would that mouse do? What would be its function? His reason to be there? Woukd he be just an ambience mob?

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, TheSnarkyKnight said:

Weeeellll, what would that mouse do? What would be its function? His reason to be there? Woukd he be just an ambience mob?

 

16 hours ago, Diego il Catanico Jr said:

Just a little odd useless idea.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Achievement for killing it?

 

Edited by Diego il Catanico Jr
0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have just skimmed the talk but I saw references to creatures taken out of a combat based fantasies. There's nothing wrong with that and Darmo is correct in that it is instantly recognizable. I want to challenge you to be a bit more creative though. What makes a creature dangerous? Creepers are dangerous because they are silent and you don't always see it coming. Skeletons are dangerous because they have range. Zombies are dangerous because of their numbers. The point I'm trying to make is far too often I see creatures in games that are just health pools that deal straight damage to your health. It's effective but variety is the spice of life.

Imagine for a second you are wondering through TFC 1 with all of it's rocks on the ground and then all of a sudden you take half a heart of damage, are slowed, nauseated, and poisoned and the nearby rock sprouts legs and retreats to a safe distance away. At that point you notice it's colored slightly different. You manage to survive the poison at half a heart and so you go after it. Your copper sword does little damage vs it's shell and it's close enough to finish you off. Dangerous not because it can hit hard but because you didn't see it coming and chased after it.

Again imagine a goblin type creature that when it sees you, shoots a blow dart that hits you for 1 heart and makes you character get very hungry. That goblinoid then retreats a short distance away and a second one is alerted and does the same thing from a different angle. Sure you could probably get to the first one and kill it but then you'd be starved, slowed, and likely to die before you get to the second one. They are dangerous because they lower your hunger, are ranged and use that to their advantage, and spread out around you so it's difficult to take them all out at once. 

Think of a cave. It's narrow and dark. A creature that attacks you in a cave may take advantage of this by snuffing out your light, leaving traps, blocking escape, or filling up the small area with poisonous gas when it dies. A creature with flight might live on cliff sides or high up in trees and attack by pushing you around to try and make you fall off. The creature might not even target you. A worm creature might be living in a pig and after x amount of time kill the pig creating two or three more that then go to infect the nearest pigs. Doesn't hurt you directly but still make living more difficult by killing your food supply. If you look at the mimic or rust monster from DnD they aren't that strong, it's the unique abilities and how they uses them that makes them dangerous. I would like creatures in TFC 2 to all be dangerous but for different reasons and require different tactics. I'd even be willing to code the behaviors. 

As to how each of these creatures look. I'd leave that up to the artists. I think how they look, their size, and animations should help people recognize what they do, where they can be found, help the creatures with their task, and be rememberable.

Edited by Stroam
1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 12/4/2017 at 3:46 AM, Stroam said:

I have just skimmed the talk but I saw references to creatures taken out of a combat based fantasies. There's nothing wrong with that and Darmo is correct in that it is instantly recognizable. I want to challenge you to be a bit more creative though. What makes a creature dangerous? Creepers are dangerous because they are silent and you don't always see it coming. Skeletons are dangerous because they have range. Zombies are dangerous because of their numbers. The point I'm trying to make is far too often I see creatures in games that are just health pools that deal straight damage to your health. It's effective but variety is the spice of life.

Imagine for a second you are wondering through TFC 1 with all of it's rocks on the ground and then all of a sudden you take half a heart of damage, are slowed, nauseated, and poisoned and the nearby rock sprouts legs and retreats to a safe distance away. At that point you notice it's colored slightly different. You manage to survive the poison at half a heart and so you go after it. Your copper sword does little damage vs it's shell and it's close enough to finish you off. Dangerous not because it can hit hard but because you didn't see it coming and chased after it.

Again imagine a goblin type creature that when it sees you, shoots a blow dart that hits you for 1 heart and makes you character get very hungry. That goblinoid then retreats a short distance away and a second one is alerted and does the same thing from a different angle. Sure you could probably get to the first one and kill it but then you'd be starved, slowed, and likely to die before you get to the second one. They are dangerous because they lower your hunger, are ranged and use that to their advantage, and spread out around you so it's difficult to take them all out at once. 

Think of a cave. It's narrow and dark. A creature that attacks you in a cave may take advantage of this by snuffing out your light, leaving traps, blocking escape, or filling up the small area with poisonous gas when it dies. A creature with flight might live on cliff sides or high up in trees and attack by pushing you around to try and make you fall off. The creature might not even target you. A worm creature might be living in a pig and after x amount of time kill the pig creating two or three more that then go to infect the nearest pigs. Doesn't hurt you directly but still make living more difficult by killing your food supply. If you look at the mimic or rust monster from DnD they aren't that strong, it's the unique abilities and how they uses them that makes them dangerous. I would like creatures in TFC 2 to all be dangerous but for different reasons and require different tactics. I'd even be willing to code the behaviors. 

As to how each of these creatures look. I'd leave that up to the artists. I think how they look, their size, and animations should help people recognize what they do, where they can be found, help the creatures with their task, and be rememberable.

While I do love the idea of having different mobs that are dangerous not because of sheer strenght but because of other characteristics, I think that these characteristics should be  different than just applying debuffs, especially in the case of your examples: a poisonous bug/critter is good and all, but it having a venom that powerful would be frustrating; same with the hunger removing goblin, imho that would just get frustrating after the tenth time you die because these guys pop up and, no matter how much you're prepared, armed or skilled, just kill you because they make you starve and slow you down to a crawl. Still an excellent idea though, it's just that I have a bad relation with this type of mob.

Since you seem to know DnD fairly well I'm gonna use an example "trickster" monster from there: cave fishers. Not particulary strong in melee but dangerous because of their other characteristics, ie their tendency to hook weak targets from far away , use paralizing webs and hunt in groups. Or maybe something like a rakshasa, that would use spells based on the situation.

Or maybe something like a griffin, having its nest on a mountain and patrolling the surrounding territory for prey... that prey being animals, thus depriving the player of food, and, if there are no more animals, the player.

Edited by TheSnarkyKnight
1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 4/15/2017 at 8:32 AM, TheSnarkyKnight said:

While I do love the idea of having different mobs that are dangerous not because of sheer strenght but because of other characteristics, I think that these characteristics should be  different than just applying debuffs.

...........................

Or maybe something like a griffin, having its nest on a mountain and patrolling the surrounding territory for prey... that prey being animals, thus depriving the player of food, and, if there are no more animals, the player.

Great examples. They highlight what I'm going for.

Any mob can be frustrating when you don't know the tricks for killing or avoiding them. The goblinoids that behave as I have described would be best countered with some cover and food. If you went into some tree cover you can use their spread to your advantage. Since mobs won't learn unlike players, you always have an advantage you can exploit over and over. Plus it's minecraft. Mobs get tripped up on the things that seem trivial to us like pathing and line of sight. If you are the type of person who is a fan of brute force, like many hack n slash games, this may not be your cup of tea but slapping on some mods that give you speed, flying, powerful ranged attacks, defenses from everything, and you can trivialize any combat. 

One mob that I thought was pretty great is the Lacedon from lycanites mobs. This mob is really easy to kill in the right circumstances but had traits and abilities that made it scary. These traits are, the noise it makes is distinctive and fitting, It lives in water that is deep enough to drown in and when it hits you in the water you get s a sinking debuff, it's rare enough you aren't always expecting it, it swims faster than you(without assistance of boat or gear), found typically in groups of 3 at a time, if it chases you onto land it'll switch to a short range spray from it's mouth. It's weakness were, not a lot of health, if it stay on land too long it starts to take damage, and no range in water. So you could defeat them with a bow, iron sword or better, a way to breath under water, hiding on land and then chasing it when it starts to take damage.

If rats/mice in TFC 2 occasionally stole food from unprotected storage containers or unpicked ripe crops that'd be funny.

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, Stroam said:

Great examples. They highlight what I'm going for.

Any mob can be frustrating when you don't know the tricks for killing or avoiding them. The goblinoids that behave as I have described would be best countered with some cover and food. If you went into some tree cover you can use their spread to your advantage. Since mobs won't learn unlike players, you always have an advantage you can exploit over and over. Plus it's minecraft. Mobs get tripped up on the things that seem the trivial to us like pathing and line of sight. If you are they type of person who is a fan of brute force, like many hack n slash games, this may not be your cup of tea but slapping on some mods that give you speed, flying, powerful ranged attacks, defenses from everything, and you can trivialize any combat. 

One mob that I thought was pretty great is the Lacedon from lycanites mobs. This mob is really easy to kill in the right circumstances but had traits and abilities that made it scary. The traits are, the noise it makes is distinctive and fitting, It lives in water that is deep enough to drown in, when it hits you in the water you get s a sinking debuff, it's rare enough you aren't always expecting it, it swims faster than you(without assistance of boat or gear), found typically in groups of 3 at a time, if it chases you onto land it'll switch to a short range spray from it's mouth. It's weakness was not a lot of health, if it stay on land too long it starts to take damage, and no range in water. So you could defeat them with a bow, iron sword or better, a way to breath under water, hiding on land and then chasing it when it starts to take damage.

If rats/mice in TFC 2 occasionally stole food from unprotected storage containers or unpicked ripe crops that'd be funny.

Thinking about it, dastardly mobs such as those goblins could be fun, even dying to them could be fun, as in !!FUN!!. There's quite nothing like discovering how many things want to kill you and how: will they paralyze you? Will they use ranged attacks? Will they cause a cave-in on your head? Well, there's only one way to find out...

Yes, I remember those guys from LM, they were quite the thing. My coastal town was quite hellish to live in at first, because these guys would just jump out at random from the sea, And when some items fell in the water it was always tense going to pick them up.

Maybe some monsters that work together and are rarely seen alone, like shriekers and violet fungi (still from Dnd)?

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You guys are on the right track.

1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

To further expand upon the concept of territory-based monsters, I would suggest that you all take a gander at this mod: I think that they did an excellent job at introducing a deadly creature that actually flies off from its resting point (every once in a while) and starts hunting animals to eat. I think that this could be a good place to draw inspiration from and to see what is good and what is not. My main gripes with this mod's dragons are two:

  1. While it is true that they interact with the territoy around their roos, dragons rarely ever fly farther than a couple of chunks, and don't do much other than eating animals (this is my main gripe)
  2. Dragons can't be seen from far away, only from around 32-40 blocks away (not really relevant, but wanted to throw this out here anyway)

Overall I think that if Bioxx ever decides to implement monsters that actively patrol their territory, that territory should be quite big, otherwise I think it isn't worth the trouble. At least, that's what I think.

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For warmer islands further along the axis of difficulty the group of monsters controlling a region of the island could be represented by a colony of giant bugs, with each different monster representing a different caste of the community. The colour of these would change to match their island, like Konili's trolls. They wouldn't have to be hostile, but maybe neutral, with the player having to either destroy (by killing the queen) or befriend (by bringing gifts and... I dunno what else) the hive to secure- and thus to be able to modify- the region. The typical layout would be underground corridors wide 5, 7 or 9 blocks that would lead to the different rooms of the hive, which could be:

  • Junctions, ie small square rooms that would work like a crossroad , being the meeting point of two tunnels
  • Storage rooms, that would contain the hive's l00t; this would mostly be foraged food, sticks, wood, leaves and rocks; very rarely one could also find specially farmed Special Mushrooms, that would work as a good food item that rots very slowly and that could only be farmed by the bugs
  • Mushroom farms, where worker bugs could "farm" edible mushrooms on leaves or other plants.
  • Nurseries, where one could find eggs and larvas being cared for by the workers. These would also act as "bedrooms", where the player could find some bugs that aren't doing anything special.
  • Queen's Chamber, a 30x30x30 chamber where the boss fight would happen.

For the actual insects. there could be:

  • Workers, that would be relatively weak and not aggressive until you got close (think of Fallout: New Vegas's Giant Worker Ants:once you got to about 3 meters away they would turn around and "menace" you by repeatedly opening and closing their mouths and screeching; if you then buggered off, they just went back to their business but if you kept approaching they turned hostile and attacked you) or until you intrude the hive. When left at their own devices they could be observed doing work, like building new rooms for the community, or foraging for food, or "farming" in mushroom farms.
  • Warriors, that would be significantly bigger and stronger and characterized by a particular apparatus designed for fighting. like visibly bigger fangs and exoskeletons, or pincers, or a tail with a stinger on top. These too wouldn't attack the player straight away, but would give him/her a warning by "roaring". These could be observed eating from the food stores or "sparring" with each other.
  • Sentinels, that would be quite frail but would throw arrow-like hairs or globs of acid and would also be able to alert soldiers of the location of intruders. When not engaged by the player, these would stay on alert, watching out for intruders and also "scouting" the surroundings of the hive.
  • Praetorians, aka the elite guard; these would have wings, a large head crest (think of a triceratops without the horns) and a variety of different attacks: when damaged enough on land they would fly up and do a dive attack after circling the player, while other times they would charge the player, inflicting heavy damage and knocking the player far back; the first phase of the boss fight would consist of a fight against 4 to 10 of these guys.
  • The Queen, that looks similar to a praetorian but is thrice the size and her wings are scarred, so she is unable to fly correctly; at first just stay there laying eggs, until all of the Praetorians have been defeated, then the second and final phase of the boss fight would start: the queen would get up and start fighting the player: she would fight the player in melee, and would also be able to charge the player occasionally and once he/she gets to far away, but would also be able to start flying up in the air and immediately fall down, because her wings are broken; this "stomp" would deal incredible damage against the player but would also leave the queen stunned for some seconds.  Once the player gets her at half health. she would roar and call some Warriors and, depending on the difficulty of the island, from 1 to 5 praetorians. Once slain, the Queen would drop a nice amount of chitin (more on that later) and her head as a trophy. I guess some kind of useful magic reagent too.

Befriending the Hive would instead grant you access to the hive's resources- especially to the highly nutritive special mushrooms- and protection (in form of warriors and sentinels of that hive attacking mobs that attack you when you're near the hive). Maybe a Praetorian as a mount?

Lastly, I talked about chitin. This special chitin would be dropped rarely by all hive inhabitants, while a substantial quantity would be dropped by the queen. This chitin could be used to make armour as strong as iron splint mail but lighter. The catch is that it's much harder to work with and it breaks easily during the crafting process.

 

There, this took two hours to write and I've written it in just one go, writing as things came to mind. Hope you like it!!!!

PS: Added an example model for the worker bug, along with an example texture for a forested area, as well as an alternate model that is crestless :)

HiveWorker.png

HiveWorker.MCModel

HiveWorkerALT.png

HiveWorkerALT.MCModel

Edited by TheSnarkyKnight
2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I do like the idea of a bug faction controlling the dungeons

  • All the creatures being bugs creates a common theme
  • bugs are something you'd expect to find underground where the dungeons spawn
  • Bugs you can find in every climate the world over
  • Bugs have innate abilities that make them dangerous instead of tools
  • Bugs build their homes out of all sorts of materials so it wouldn't be unexpected to find unknown materials in dungeons that give it that otherworldly feeling
  • Bugs are known to have innate hierarchy societies and classes as seen in ants and termites
  • bugs are known to have centers of operation and create rooms for specific purposes
  • we can use Roughnecks and the Zerg as inspiration for making enemies.
0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Why I didn't notice this thread before...

Anyway. Imagine for a second a swarm of little soft blocks that process food material at almost 100% efficiency. Now imagine that these softy, bouncy blocks duplicates themselves after doubling their starting weight in a similar fashion of that of an amoeba.  They don't breath, they can swim and they like to eat crops (too nutritious). What would happen if one of these little cuties spawn in the lake where your crops are (evil grin)? Sparkling a bit of the creativity that lady evolution has and make some of them being poisonous or have a viscous and acidic skin that love to mimic a grass block or some leafs in a tree waiting for an unsuspecting prey. 

But as any creature, they might have some utility. Some might be too dangerous to keep them, but some other might be the ideal bio trash dispenser; their hard core might be useful as a compact food source and their jelly like flesh basis for some potions. Have some food that are about to expire? What about some organic material left from the harvest? 'Tag' some these creatures and enjoy the best trash can that an explorer might want. Interested?

I present you... the slime.

  • The best friend of any designer... is just a square blob.
  • The newbie best buddy, easy to kill, hard to be killed by it (and maybe the most embarrassing death that you can have, ideal for funny stories).
  • The emergency ration of any explorer1.
  • The most wonderful biodegradable trash collector2.
  • It may come in your favorite color3.

1,2,3 (Conditions apply, poisonous and flesh eating might not be the most suitable of slimes. We are not responsible for any misuse and mishandle that may end in an infestation and a year of crops lost. 'Do not feed after midnight')

Well, after that introduction I may say that slimes are probably one of the less expanded monster in general. I always wondered how this little creatures that even a child can kill survives. I think they behave in a similar fashion of a sea turtle, where the sheer amount of offspring overwhelm the predators ensuring the surviving of at least some. I think the slimes may behave in a similar way, great food processors with a fast reproduction cycle and, in a sense, not strong enough to decimate any monster. Even their nutritious core might be a survivable strategy: filling for several days and hard to eat in quick successions ensuring that the population last enough for them to reproduce.

Any way, I think that slimes would be a great monster for the first and second island with some unique mechanics worth exploring.

 

0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 6/27/2017 at 4:02 AM, chepelink said:

Why I didn't notice this thread before...

Anyway. Imagine for a second a swarm of little soft blocks that process food material at almost 100% efficiency. Now imagine that these softy, bouncy blocks duplicates themselves after doubling their starting weight in a similar fashion of that of an amoeba.  They don't breath, they can swim and they like to eat crops (too nutritious). What would happen if one of these little cuties spawn in the lake where your crops are (evil grin)? Sparkling a bit of the creativity that lady evolution has and make some of them being poisonous or have a viscous and acidic skin that love to mimic a grass block or some leafs in a tree waiting for an unsuspecting prey. 

But as any creature, they might have some utility. Some might be too dangerous to keep them, but some other might be the ideal bio trash dispenser; their hard core might be useful as a compact food source and their jelly like flesh basis for some potions. Have some food that are about to expire? What about some organic material left from the harvest? 'Tag' some these creatures and enjoy the best trash can that an explorer might want. Interested?

I present you... the slime.

  • The best friend of any designer... is just a square blob.
  • The newbie best buddy, easy to kill, hard to be killed by it (and maybe the most embarrassing death that you can have, ideal for funny stories).
  • The emergency ration of any explorer1.
  • The most wonderful biodegradable trash collector2.
  • It may come in your favorite color3.

1,2,3 (Conditions apply, poisonous and flesh eating might not be the most suitable of slimes. We are not responsible for any misuse and mishandle that may end in an infestation and a year of crops lost. 'Do not feed after midnight')

Well, after that introduction I may say that slimes are probably one of the less expanded monster in general. I always wondered how this little creatures that even a child can kill survives. I think they behave in a similar fashion of a sea turtle, where the sheer amount of offspring overwhelm the predators ensuring the surviving of at least some. I think the slimes may behave in a similar way, great food processors with a fast reproduction cycle and, in a sense, not strong enough to decimate any monster. Even their nutritious core might be a survivable strategy: filling for several days and hard to eat in quick successions ensuring that the population last enough for them to reproduce.

Any way, I think that slimes would be a great monster for the first and second island with some unique mechanics worth exploring.

 

 

SLIMES

Yay, slimes!!!! I always tought slimes were cute when I was a kid playing my first video-games, and I still think they are. I think that slimes however should not be able to swim in deep water, while they should be able of "oozing" trough spaces that are smaller than their actual size and down (or through) grates and bars (dunno how hard that would be to implement, probably too much effort for such a small thing). I think also that slimes actively seek out food, incorporating everything smaller than them: this would mean that slimes would actually grow over time and split, making the slime population grow in the process. This would also mean that sometimes you could find slimes with visible undigested items floating inside, such as rocks, coins, or remainders of the slime's last meal, such as bones, skulls, clothes... pretty much anything that isn't organic or easily corroded. About them being edible, I'm okay with that as long as there are different varieties of slime. Otherwise, how would you explain the fact that you're now eating -maybe even without cooking it-  what is essentially a glob of corrosive mucus? I think that either you would have to "treat"  the slime in order to make it edible or there should be different varieties, each one with different characteristics. We could go with the "classic", ie the green slimes that attack by body-slamming you, or we could take a different approach. For instance, in Elona, the role of weak "slime" monsters is occupied by putits, weak slime-like monsters that can be easily be killed en-masse even by low level characters. True slimes are no joke, though, and will easily kill low level characters, and they also leave acid puddles upon attacking or taking damage, damaging the gear of the player. I would personally like slimes to have different varieties, and would like even the weakest to pose at least some kind of threat and not be just cannon- well, sword- fodder. Here are some possible slime varieties

:

  • Green Slime, AKA Corrosive Slime. This slime would be omnivorous  and found in most temperate, cold and hot islands (not in arctic and tropical ones). It would be highly corrosive and attack by slamming against the player, covering him/her in corrosive ooze. It would absorb and try to digest anything that's smaller than it, but would also be quite aggressive against creatures that aren't much bigger than it. It would have a minimum size of 0.5x0.5 blocks and a maximum size of 1.5x1.5 blocks; after it has reached a mass of 1x1 blocks it would be able to split and turn into two separate slimes half the size of the original. At 1.5x1.5 blocks, critical mass is achieved and the slime always splits. Because of its small size, it would use its corrosive power and numbers to overwhelm larger creatures. Its caustic ooze could be harvested and used as a reagent or to coat weapons, giving them bonus acid damage at cost of durability. The jelly, however, is too acid to be eaten, even after many treatments it would still burn through the player's stomach.
  • Red Slime, AKA Jumper Slime. This slime would be carnivorous, actively predatory and found exclusively in hot and tropical islands. It wouldn't have any fancy effects to apply to the player, but would make up for that by being phisically tough and capable of jumping with great force, closing great disances in little time and inflicting great damage. Its minimum size would be 0.5x0.5 blocks with a maximum size of 2x2x2 blocks. Once it has reached its maximum size, critical mass is achieved and the slime splits into 2 smaller slimes of the smallest size. Differently from the other slimes, these would live in a "pack" of max 5 individuals, with all the others breaking off and forming another group. Since its jelly is so tough and elastic it can't be eaten without being treated first by being submerged for a day in saltwater, and even then it isn't that nutritious.
  • Blue Slime, AKA Blossoming Slime. This slime would be carnivorous and photovorous (eats light) and would be found in cold and arctic islands. It would apply weakness and slowness to the player when attacking. You see, the blossoming slime's life would consist of waiting in a place where its presence isn't obvious and wait there. For part of the year- when the temperature is too cold to let it move freely (all year except from april to september)- it waits where it is and produces slimy "blossoms" that produce nutrition from sunlight, that can be used as a powerful reagent in slowing and weakening potions or used directly to make powerful sedatives. In this stage the slime is in a state of lethargy, however attacking the slime will provide an abrupt end to the slime's sleep and often to the attacker's life. This process of photovorism however produces just barely enough nutrients for the slime to survive, and once the weather is hot enough they have to feed themselves with something far more nutritious, i.e. live prey. This means that the slime will lie in waiting and spray passing prey with sedative liquids, causing most creatures to fall over asleep and leaving them to be consumed with impunity by the slime. This of course is not the case for the player, that will receive "only" weakness and slowness. Their minimum size would be 1x1.5x1 blocks, with the maximum size being 1x2x1 blocks. Once they have reached this max size, they will enter a premature blossoming stage and release 2 to 8 "seeds". These slimes would be solitary, and could be worthwhile farming because of the narcotic and weakening properties of their ooze. The ooze could also be used to coat weapons and ammo, giving them a weakness and slowness effect. A concentrated form of this tranquilant extract could be used to make tranquilizer darts. The meat can be eaten but it lacks nutrition, removing thirst instead.
  • Yellow Slime, AKA Boiler Slime. This slime would be herbivorous and could be found in deep caves in all islands near lava sources,where firemoss grows. This special moss requires magmatic heat to grow and is useful itself for potions of fire and heat resistance, or light-but-tough-and-insulating apparel. By feeding on these heat-reliant plants, the slime boils and shakes, with visible steam bubbles inside of its body. This slime attacks if it feels that its food source or itself are menaced. It does so by spraying jets of scalding steam, dealing damage and heating the target, possibly causing heatstroke (if the temperature system gets implemented) and broiling armored opponents. It would also be able of lashing at the enemy with its boiling, rock covered body. The jelly is too hot to be eaten, even days after the slime's death. It's a good combustible however.
  • Purple Slime, AKA Swarm Slime. This slime would be omnivorous and would be similar to the green slime, living in the same kind of islands. It wouldn't be as corrosive (half the damage) but would have another nasty ability: instead of splitting when it has reached maximum size, it would split into two slimes half the size when damaged, making the act of clearing a colony of these slimes quite an hassle. To keep the splitting process going, this slime would have many different phases in its life: rather than min, med and max sizes this slime would have a minimum size of 0.25x0.25 blocks, a tiny size of 0.35x0.35, a small size of 0.5x0.5, a medium size of 0.7x0.7, a big size of 1x1 and a max size of 1.5. Not being as corrosive as its green cousins, the purple slime's jelly can be eaten after being submerged in milk for a day, and is actually comparable to very stretchy meat once its done soaking, while having the same nutrition value as bread. Because of its nutritional value and the great number of slimes found in purple slime colonies, this might be the only reason to risk getting submerged by a swarm of purple slimes.
  • Rainbow Slime, AKA Potion Slime. This slime would be omnivorous and could be found near places that would logically have an ample supply of potions, such as a wizard's tower or a potion distillery. It would have many different colors in its body because of the large amount of potions ingested. It would be the size of a green slime and have the same attack power but less health. Instead of being corrosive, it would have the chance to apply a random debuff to the player. The amount of potions ingested also highened its intelligence to dog-like levels, thus making it able to be tamed by the player. Once tamed, it would be possible for the player to "milk" the slime with a bottle, giving the player mistery potions and reducing the slime's size by 0.5 blocks. If a small potion slime is milked, it is killed. The player would be able to make the slime grow by feeding it. The mistery potion could be drank for a random potion effect or "distilled" into pure potions or used in other ways for magic. They could also be created if the player foolishly (or purposefully) let some green slimes absorb a lot of potions.
  • Pink Slime, AKA Ranch Slime. THis slime would be omnivorous and could be found only in temperate islands. This slime would be basically a green slime, except that it would lack the acidic properties and the aggressive temperament, making it ideal as a (non-combatant) pet. Its "flesh" would also be tasty and nutritious both raw and cooked, and this, along with its friendliness and capability of digesting most organic compounds, would make it a great farm animal, easy to feed and care for while worthwhile to "breed" (they still split once you feed them enough). Its size would be the same as the green slime (both min and max) but it would split into 3 slimes instead of 2. For balance's sake, it would be either really rare or only obtainable through applying magics to a green slime.
  • Giant Slime. More a variant than a species, this slime is the result of a slime (any species) gorging  on a lot of food, far surpassing its critical mass and thus being unable to split. This huge slime would have a minimum size of 2x2x2 blocks and a maximum size of 5x5x5. It would posses all the abilities its normal sized kin has, but because of its mass its base "slam" attack would be really fearsome, causing huge damage because of the great force that it applies. Once such a slime reaches the size of 3x3x3 blocks, it would also be able to completely absorb the player if he/she is against the wall and the slime keeps pushing against the player. These would be rare and would work as a sort of miniboss (man, I would hate having to deal with a 5x5x5 rock-armoured steam-spewing body-slamming behemoth... jk that would be pretty awesome imo).

 

Please let me know what you think of this suggestion, and please suggest more monsters. I think that it's useful to just brainstorm, as one idea from a member can be expanded upon by the community, and beatiful things can be created (well... imagined) like this.

Edited by TheSnarkyKnight
1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites