I know there's a lot of threads with suggestions and lists and all the things people are wishing to see in the game. But hey, I love the game too, and I've been thinking also of the things I would like to see in the game sometime. Some of these might have been suggested already, but if I mention them, I'd like it to be as a +1 to those ideas, and also as a way to keep my own suggestions in a place where I can check them in order to maybe add to them as I keep playing the game and getting new ideas.
Mechanics-wise:
Sleep: I'm pretty sure I've seen this one before. But yeah, considering the level of detail this game is going for, it makes sense that we should get characters that get tired. In real life, people can't go on more than a few days without sleep. In fact, the need of sleep can easily be a survival thing, with having to sleep in some kind of safe shelter, lest some wild thing attacks (perhaps a sped-up time simulation, rather than just skipping it all when sleep happens, and an interruption puts it back on normal speed?). Sleep, however, shouldn't be confined to a bed. People can sleep elsewhere, though a bed should definitely at least "buff" the sleep quality. Perhaps sleeping without a bed doesn't heal anywhere near as much because the improper floor leaves one achy? But yeah, sleep should be as much a need as thirst and hunger, and naps should be a thing people can take (maybe time doesn't speed up when sleeping unless it's night because you don't tend to sleep as deeply?). It doesn't have to be as realistic as having to sleep every single night, but I think it's an important mechanic to consider.
Seasons: I noticed that there's an internal calendar in the game when you press F3. I also know temperature exists and will eventually be a survival thing. I think that seasons would add an extra dimension to player temperature, what with using the warm months to prepare for a harsh winter (especially in snowy biomes!) and deserts being especially dangerous during summer. Some crops may not grow (or at least not as well) during different seasons. Or maybe there's a chance they might die with harsh weather conditions. Cosmetically, of course, grass and trees would change colors in the seasons. And speaking of seasons advancing and changing...
Calendar: If seasons are going to advance, it would be useful to know the date in order to plan for survival tasks. If crops are season-dependent, then a calendar is vital to be able to know what season/month you're in. Calendars can work like posters, and it would give more use to paper. And hey, since technology advancement will be a thing, maybe we can have an electronic calendar eventually.
Local Weather: Right now, the weather is set to be the same in all the world, just like in vanilla minecraft. While the weather still doesn't have an effect and can be considered some kind of placeholder for now, if temperature will become a game mechanic, then weather needs to become a more integral part of the gameplay. Preferably, it needs to be something to battle against. Yes, high and low temperatures are a great survival obstacle, but nature throws a lot more at us than just that. Storms are one of nature's most deadly obstacles and I think Rising World would benefit a lot from such a thing. But not just lightning, like vanilla minecraft. I think a much wider variety of storms and weathers should be included, like hail and hurricanes and tornados. There's actually a mod in minecraft that implements this in a great way. It's the Local Weather mod, and it works with particle-based clouds that form, and storms that spawn based on the player's location. The weather is local and confined to the particle-based clouds. It can spawn hurricanes and tornados (and they can be configured to be quite destructive, too, aside from just blowing you a long way away!) and storms can come with winds, lightning and/or hail. Having to also survive against deadly storms and watching the distance for incoming bad weather could be a great benefit to the game, I think.
Dynamic, Useful Grass: Let's face it. Grass grows. It's why people mow lawns. The grass in Rising World is lovely, but in the end, if it's gone, it's gone. You have to manually replace it, and it'll never be quite the same. And dirt will keep being dirt forever without your intervention. And sure, there's use for that, but I think that it'd be even better if grass could regrow. Even if it's slowly (or configurable), I think it'd be great. It'd be even better if grass got a use, such as, say, making hay clumps and blocks (we really need hay blocks), and being used for animal husbandry. If grass regrows, then the rake can continue making grass into dirt with no problems. And, of course, replanting grass the way it works can still be a thing. It would also be a good idea if flowery grasses could become accessible out of creative mode, perhaps by crafting, or simply making the grass completely different, so that you may obtain it in its native biome, but grow it elsewhere.
Block Recycling: Sometimes things just seemed like a good idea at the time. You go and make these blocks with a certain material. And then you realize it just isn't what you really wanted. But then you're stuck with these now-useless blocks and there's nothing you can do about it. I think it should be possible to toss them into the grinder to get back the original materials used to craft them so you can make new ones (or terraform with your now-freed rock/dirt clumps). Even if you lose a bit of the resources, it sure beats sitting in a chest never to be used again. I do believe not all servers allow texture-changing console commands, so it's not always possible to do it that way. Using the grinder gives yet another use to said crafting station, and allows for resources to be better used!
Half-Block and Part-Block stacking: Part-blocks (slabs, ramps and such other blocks) that naturally should be able to fit into a single block if stacked should be able to stack, essentially allowing such thing as a block that looks like this:
0 7 7 7
0 0 7 7
0 0 0 7
where 0's are one block (in this case a ramp) and 7's are another. This would be wonderful for creating sloped roofs and things of the sort. Applying it to the slab kind of blocks would allow for trims in the build and other great decoration options.
Fire: Like storms, fire is one of nature's deadly challenges. Spreading, dangerous fire would be an addition to survival, and perhaps even combat. There's little that needs to be said about this, I think.
Ovens: I understand that eventually we will have a sort of "cooking update" and we'll be able to make all sorts of foods. I'm assuming this includes bread. I've heard people assume that we'll be using our furnaces to smelt ores and bake bread. I really hope this is not the case, though! It'd be wonderful if we could get ovens... first stone ones and then modern ones. It'd fit the progression theme and it's way better than cooking your bread in the same spot you just took out that iron bar from!
Dynamic Towns: In Minecraft, there's little towns with little NPC traders that hide from the zombies at night. Aside from having access to emeralds and a few enchanted items and maybe saddles and whatnot, and, of course, crops other than wheat, there's little use to these towns. But once upon a time there was a very ambitious mod that fixed this. It was called Millenaire and it added towns based on different cultures. These towns had a market where you'd buy crops and blocks and items specific to the culture, and sell tools and materials, which the townspeople would use to fight off enemies or build/rebuild/upgrade their town. NPCs had names and homes and there were buildings they'd do things in. Each culture also had its own language, which you'd "learn" by interacting with the culture (selling stuff, doing quests, etc). This would work by having the entire sentence in the original language, then translating a word or two to english, then translating a bit more, until you learned it and then everything was translated. The money system was the typical copper -> silver -> gold and it was only used to sell/buy things to the NPCs. With enough reputation(because you had a reputation per town), you could even buy a house eventually! As for the enemies, just like towns would spawn in the world generation, so would bandit camps. And every so often there'd be a notification that a raid was planned and in a couple days, it'd take place and the bandits would come to attack the town. You could help defend it. And if the bandits won, they'd steal all the treasure from the town. You could also raid the bandit camp yourself and get their treasure. Dead villagers/bandits would eventually respawn. The treasure didn't, though, and I think that it'd be a great idea if it could. Like... treasure generates in the bandit camp based on how long it's been since it was raided, and if bandits steal tools/weapons, they use them. But yeah. Millenaire was amazing. I think an idea more like that, rather than traditional Minecraft-like towns would serve the game better. Having different cultures(maybe biome-based?) and items to find and whatnot would also help the exploration part of the game.
Crop Care: Right now, you plant a crop and then forget about it. You leave and then come back to find it. This happens regardless of what the weather is like. So you can have a dry weather in the desert and then, well, you'll have crops, no water needed. I propose that crops require water, even if it's via a watering can. Proximity to water (canals, etc) should also water the crops. Crops should die without water, or at least grow very slowly. Having to work a little more for your food should be a survival thing.
Cosmetics-wise:
Model gender characteristics and customization: Changing the colors and hairstyles of the player models seems to be at least what we're getting. And that's pretty good, considering clothing is going to further allow customization. I think, however, that things could be taken just a bit further. I know someone apparently suggested an option for androgynous characters. I think that's a great idea! But not as in adding a third character model. I think it might be a good idea to at least eventually have appearance sliders. Then one could pick a male or female model and use the sliders to make them more feminine/masculine by adjusting things like shoulder size and curve size and whatnot. The great thing is that it'd give a huge amount of control to the character's appearance. And for those that may want an androgynous character, they have that option too.
Wet Rain: When it rains, it'd be lovely if, aside from the raindrops, the ground and plants and blocks and all looked wet. Of course, I know that calculating actual puddles of water and filling holes with it might be beyond what can be realistically done now, but puddles can just be a rendered illusion. I know shaders in minecraft can do it, so I think that might be something that could enhance the looks of the world and its dynamic feel.
Emoting: When interacting with other players, there's very little our characters can do, aside from turning about and maybe jumping. I've seen other games (like World of Warcraft and such) implement emoting, in which a /me command will initiate the emote's animation and/or sound. I think that could be a great addition to the game eventually, allowing a visual for sitting, dancing, lying down, kneeling, etc. I think roleplaying servers would be especially benefitted, but it'd be fun for everyone.
Plant Life: Though beautiful, the worlds of Rising World have a similar problem to vanilla minecraft: they feel a bit empty. In nature, there are millions upon millions of plants and fungi and all sorts of things making the world colorful and beautiful. Of course we can't have that, but I think eventually we should at least have a couple hundred plant/tree/bush/flower varieties, as well as kelp, coral and some things to make the underwater beautiful (and seaweed is edible, so it can be a source of food). Berry bushes and mushrooms can also eventually add to the food options in the game, and many plants can become medicinal additions. And the worlds would look much more alive.
Hanging and Decorative Plants: If we want to make a garden, right now we have very few options. Sure, we have flowery grasses in creative mode. But other than that, we have a few trees and that's all. We have vases and pots, but nothing to put in them. I think it'd be a really nice thing to add decorative plants that can be placed in pots, and hanging plants (they're very decorative!) as well as ivies that can be placed in walls and blocks in general.
Candles and Other Lighting Options: Right now we have a variety of torches, lamps and modern lights to bring light to our builds. But the humble candle is conspicuously missing! Especially since progression in technology is expected, a candle can be the a sort of middle ground between the torch and the lantern. But speaking of lanterns, the typical gas lantern can be a thing, too, much better than a candle, but still not as good as a lamp. And maybe we can have street lamps too. These things can be made to some degree with blueprints, but they'd still miss the benefit of being placeable in the way a torch is.
More Ruins and Dungeons: This would go into game mechanics except for the fact that we already have ruins and dungeons in the game. Having more options with them really only makes it more of a cosmetics thing. A few more types of shacks would help atmosphere-wise. But also, finding things like old abandoned towers, or barns or other buildings would be great. And if we also had ghost towns and ghost ships and surface-accessible dungeons... I think it'd bring a lot to the exploration side of the game, honestly.
Turning Lights On and Off: Because darkness doesn't really do much more than cosmetically alter the surroundings (and I hope it stays that way. I don't always want super bright lights in my builds to avoid death by mob), this really is a cosmetic thing. But I think it'd be neat if you could "use" lights to turn them on and off.
Random bugs and nitpicks:
- When consuming a sugar beet, it's mis-spelled as beat.
- Grass doesn't drop dirt (or even grass) when mined with a pickaxe.
Closing:
I guess it's kind of long. But I hope at least some of this may be considered! Thanks for your time reading this.
