ARosefromPluto

Wow you have a lot of cool ideas here! I have a suggestion for the fused hindlegs though. Maybe they don't cause damage upon birth? The tail/legs could be based off of seals or walruses, rather than fish. Given nichelings seem mostly mammalian, I think it would make more sense? to me it seems a little harsh to have a penalty for being born

I've seen a few versions of this suggestion, and think it would be a great idea to add challenges and a means of gaining genes

Goat sound fun and challenging for mountains, though I'm not sure about breeding with them, as they are a prey species and ncihelings are predatory. They may scientifically be too far removed for that.

I previously suggested on a forum that maybe mating calls be implemented into the game. I can't find that forum, but, now want to expand the idea? If this isn't allowed I'll try again to dig up the old forum, or just delete this. My idea on mating calls was that if your population is low, you can use a mating call to potentially attract a mate. The possibilities of what could be attracted included, wanderers of the opposite sex, horny males, predators, or nothing at all. What percent chance you had at getting the different options could vary island to island. I posted this on steam a long time ago, and there a user suggested maybe a nose/mouth could be implemented that would allow a creature to imitate the sounds of other creatures! So for example it could imitate a bearyhena sound to attract one or scare away other creatures. To further expand on the idea of vocal communication, maybe our creatures could growl or hiss, as many animals do when threatened. Maybe this vocal option could have a chance of discouraging horny males and predators, causing them to pause or leave. Note, I said chance, which means this will not always work. Maybe creatures with big noses, since those resemble canine snouts, could howl, and wanderers or horny males have a chance of responding. Then you could use hearing to detect them over long distances. Maybe a lion snout could be made, allowing males to roar to scare off predators or rival males.

I've seen this all over the place, the suggestion to add dragons to the game. Honestly, I'd prefer they didn't appear. I love dragons, don't get me wrong, but, I like that Niche has entirely unique creatures featured. Dragons are everywhere right now, and it's getting to be a little, too much. That aside, dragons are extremely powerful mythical beasts, too much so for a game like this I think. Too add them as possible hybrids sounds a bit like cheating to me.

@Jelly I like the idea of different snouts having different levels of effectiveness! Haha imagine calling with a bearyhena snout, you'd get bearyhenas rather than nichelings! It would also be fun to hear the different calls. @MysticTopaz I do agree that there should be a limit to it's use, which I did talk about above. I disagree on the creature limit you prepose though, if the idea of the call having a limited success ratio is in play. What if someone's down to their last creature and ends up with a predator? To limit it strictly to being available only when one creature is around seems a tad harsh in such case.

Ever been in a scenario where you're down to your last nicheling, just hoping to stumble on a wanderer or even a rogue male? Well, what if there was an option to call out to attract wanderers, as real world animals call to attract mates? I suggest we add a mating call aspect to the game. there could be a button off to the side of the screen, or in the menu found on the creature, which activates a mating call. The call would have different percent chances of attracting or spawning different creatures, based on the gender of the creature giving the call and the difficulty of the island it's on. In Females the call could have chance to attract or spawn; A Male Wanderer A Rogue Male A Predators or Nothing at all! In Males the call could trigger: A female Wanderer A Predator or Nothing at all! I imagine being on a more difficult island would increase the rate a negative outcome, such as drawing in a rogue male or predator, occurs. In the same right lower level islands may have a higher chance of attracting a wanderer. Medium level areas could have a higher rating of nothing happening. And maybe other creatures could be added to the lists above. Maybe Dodomingos could come to the call hoping to pilfer a nest! Maybe the Blue birds come hoping to snatch the baby that might be born from the call. Hearing Apes would surely go after any creature crying out. Maybe there's a chance of multiple creatures coming to the call. There also could be a limit as to when the call can be made. For example if your tribe has a population over a certain number, let's say 6, with at least one creature that's the opposite gender from the others, the call cannot be used. And, maybe on small islands, like the first two in the game, no new creatures can spawn, only existing creatures could be drawn to the call. Of course, this ability would also only be available to adult nichelings.

I would really appreciate being able to tell a rogue male to back off. It never made much sense to me when the scrawny fellows managed to breed with my big bodied poisoned fanged girls that attack them. I'm also seeing comments about rogue males attacking males in the tribe or babies. Maybe there could be a variant of rogue males that are bigger, stronger, and overall more aggressive. Heck we could call them "aggressive males" or something similar. They could appear on harder islands, seeking to breed with females and take out any competition for themselves and their young. The only problem I see if programming said males to recognize their own young.

This is an interesting idea, but, not one that I'm too interested in. any people work hard to set up a particular look for their species, and may get upset if their colors suddenly shift because their tribe ate berries. I personally would also be annoyed having to adapt to new berries every island while traveling in story mode if the intolerance occurred. Maybe the idea would be better if there were a specific gene that can be bred in and cause this?

I would love this as a feature. Someone else mentioned having all the genes you already unlocked available from game to game. This mode would be great for people interested in challenges and their own story scenarios. It also can provide players a chance to plan out species they may want to make in story mode. I think to keep Story Mode's appeal strong, Sandbox mode should not provide the home island immunity gene, and thus you cannot bond with Adam's family in Sandbox mode, as things are now. I think overall one should not be able to choose what immunity genes their creature gains either, but the game should ensure the immunity genes do not end up the same between Adam and Eve.

I think I prefer the number of berries already present, as it keeps the game challenging.

This sounds similar to something I'd been saying on the forums for a long time. I was never quite happy with sandbox mode. It never actually felt like a sandbox mode. Sure I could plop my creatures down wherever, but I still had no command over their appearance, and I still had to travel to unlock the genes I needed, like in story mode. This is similar to how the game was in it's earlier stages, but with entirely random creatures, as opposed to Adam and Eve, I didn't feel any attachment to them. I also was slightly frustrated by the need to travel from the place I wanted to be. But if I could customize my creatures from the start, or have all the genes I worked hard in story mode to unlock to play with, I would feel more motivated to play sandbox mode. I would love sculpting a species through it. And yes, I could go through, unlock all genes, and go back to where I wanted to be, but the issue is time. I don't have time to unlock every gene every play through and having my progress on gene unlocking reset every time gets frustrating. I love this game, don't get me wrong, and I think sandbox mode could be balanced out by lacking control over a creature's immunity genes, aside from breeding. The home island immunity gene could be entirely unavailable, to encourage players to continue using story mode.

I'd really appreciate some way to tell which gene unlocked. I never know what I got so I generally just ignore the new genes...