Seasonal Food Sources

[CeruleanSilver]

So, as I'm sure you're aware, players will min-max the fun out of any game. Niche is no exception for me, I frequently find myself obsessing over breeding the best traits, rolling the dice and losing repeatedly. In order to minimize this, I often sit on a fairly safe island breeding with a few critters camping out a tree or berry bush. Fishing is sort of engaging, as is hunting rabbits, but the most reliable food sources? Very stationary, pretty boring, click the bush crack the nut, etc. In this way, the game play encourages you to be safe, to be boring.

 

There are many ways to encourage players to not "camp" or min-max their game play to death. You can "punish" safe play, or "reward" adventurous fun play. I think this is what a lot of people are trying to get at by saying "make their lifespans longer" so they can move around more and "make breeding harder" so it's more difficult to camp.

 

I suggest making the core mechanic of "camping" out on stationary food sources more difficult by... making them not stationary.

 

Make stationary food sources seasonal. There are apples in the fall, there are nuts in the spring, there are peppers in the summer, there is clover in the winter. Maybe certain traits are better suited for warm summers where sharp eyes are good at picking out colorful ripe peppers? Maybe nimble fingers and cracker jaws give populations a boost in the spring? We have a little of this with biomes, but the game doesn't make you move around enough. If the sources of food were more varied, even on easier islands, and these sources could be depleted or can cause spring fall migrations it would add depth and realism to game play. Most animals can't sit under the same tree year round and gather nuts. A bear uses their nose to dig up tubers and can get by on grass, but they need salmon to build up the fat food stores to get through a lean winter. Birds migrate so that they can take advantage of the plentiful season in each area. Animals have to move around, even if they stay in a small area, because you cannot eat the same things all year round.

 

Thank you for reading this, I hope you find it helpful. Seasons may be difficult to implement, but I encourage you if the overhaul is too much to maybe consider smaller changes, like making berries depleted after a certain number of uses, or creating "berry" like food sources to add variety. For example, blackberries and raspberries. You can use a blackberry bush 5 times then it needs 4 days of rest, and a raspberry 7 times then it needs 6 days of rest, etc.

 

Also, I know this is a lot of work for a small studio, so if there was a way to open the game up to mods I think it would greatly encourage the community to innovate and do some of the leg work that can be so difficult and taxing for a small group of people.

[~SarcasticCinder~]

I think this is an interesting concept. Well thought-out.

[Redknight910]

I like the idea of adding seasons to make the game more engaging. Could certainly add a bit of variety to the game, and limit the ability to just mass giant food supplies.