Building off of og’s post, some other feedback:
Animals:
While wild animals do a lot of damage, I’m all for it. Reason being the player can currently outrun any animal in-game, and can take down even neutral/aggressive animals with primitive stone tools without taking damage by staying behind them (turn is slow). Some animals that could defend themselves don’t (or don’t defend babies/herdmates), and willingly let players get close enough to attack. However, some food for thought:
1. Untamed (non-aggressive) animals should be skittish around players, moving away if the player gets too close. This also means that wild sheep cannot be shorn and wild cows/goats/sheep cannot be milked (which is more realistic if we have taming).
2. Adult animals should be faster than the player. Not only does it add a sense of danger for larger animals (although you can use terrain advantages to escape), but it encourages the realistic use of ranged weapons for hunting. Animals, with the exception of babies and maybe chickens, should be able to outrun any melee combat.
3. Animals turn speed should be adjusted and/or faster to prevent cheesing.
4. Most animals should defend themselves, their baby, and/or a herdmate if attacked (cows and pigs are very dangerous irl).
(Red already responded to this)
5. Add visual gender differences for animals missing them, like chickens (rooster vs hen), pigs (boar vs sow), and horses (stallion vs mare). Will really benefit from this in future breeding.
Can’t wait for the taming update!
Food:
Food is too easy to obtain. Between easy hunting, frequent (and very filling) apples, and crops found practically everywhere, my character doesn’t need to put in any effort to find / obtain food.
1. More challenging hunting. Animals move away from the player if too close, requiring ranged weapons and crouching to get within range of a hit. Currently swimming in meat due to easy hunting.
2. Wild crops should be harder to come by, so harvesting by hand could give you a seed, a crop, or a rotten crop, rather than guaranteed food. Certain crops can’t be eaten uncooked anyways (ex: potatoes).
3. Reduce number of fruit trees. Apples fill up way too much food/water, and should be greatly reduced in value to encourage other sources of nourishment (ex: 1 food, 2 water). However, the value is better when in recipes such as apple pie (when cooking update comes out).
4. Add seasons that certain crops (or trees) can grow in, so apples and wild crops aren’t available (or found in the wild) year round.
5. Increased food/water drain, especially in hot/cold climates, when low health (uses to recover health), or when recovering stamina after being completely used up.
Gameplay Extension:
Currently the gamplay is very quick, going from primitive stone to metal tier as soon as you find an ore node.
1. Extend primitive tier. Start with no tools, tiers being more so wood —> stone —> copper / iron —> steel (not iron), etc. Bone and antler tools could also be a possibility before iron tier. Each tier can only harvest the materials for the tiers below it (if any) and the one directly above it.
2. Tools can only harvest particular resources. The beginning tool (if kept) could be a primitive axe that only harvests wood, but shouldn’t be an all-in-one. Loose stone is found on the ground as is (possibly sticks too if added) and can be used to obtain stone tools.
3. Use stamina when using tools, and reduce stamina usage while running. Chopping trees and mining ore take no stamina, but running takes a lot.
4. Other ways to extend the game length between tiers. Hoping to make the beginning more challenging and increase length of play. 😄