Spotlight Creature Behavior Ideas

[reef nexus]

A giant outside monster with a huge spotlight emitting over the player.

To preface I know nothing about how to mod or how difficult things are to implement, I just want to get this idea out there since I didn't see any other post about this kind of entity. It's an idea that takes parts from that one suggestion in Moonsneer's thread and Daszombes' video where there's a gigantic creature that hunts with a spotlight. The image used of the creature is Trevor Henderson's Light Head.
I've always thought this type of thing was cool as hell ever since In Sound Mind, and seeing both the video and the message I wanted to give it a go to flesh out the creature a bit.

The 3 behavior ideas are taking different aspects from the game (and the thread/video) and remixing them for the outside.
-Radar is stalking, surprising, and scaring the shit out of the player suddenly with a beam of light.
The idea of a radar is based on the spotlight creature being a mechanical being like the coil-heads rather than a living breathing being, so having a radar over its hunched back was the initial premise of this whole thing.
-Constant Search is more basic enemy pathing and being a constant threat similar to forest giants.
-Lighthouse is just area denial and being a nuisance when trying to travel back and forth for loot

The video is my meh attempt to showcase what the hell I'm talking about. I'm not the best when it comes to video editing so it's mostly an amalgamation of stock sound effects and raising contrast but hopefully it should get the idea across.

[thorny shell]

This looks really cool! Though, if I can make a recommendation, I'd love to see this creature be more of a support enemy, rather than another one that kills you. It would be much scarier if the light blinded you and raised a "call" or an alarm that caused enemies outside to run to its location. Think of it as a symbiotic relationship! The spotlights are protected by the creatures of the surface and in return, the spotlights help the creatures hunt.

[reef nexus]

that's a great suggestion since it fixes it being too similar to the forest giant and adds to the outside variety. Blinding might be a bit too much since escaping might feel a bit more frustrating. I think having an initial camera-flash blindness that fades away into its regular spotlight would feel more fair when you're not in sprinting distance of the ship. But otherwise I love the idea of a loud ass siren alerting all the other players outside of its existence

[main smelt]

What if this enemy was moon/weather specific enemy ?
On some moons, instead of giants or baboons, you have him.

[reef nexus]

It'd most likely be eclipse/higher tier moons like the jester or ghost girl. since the giants and dogs are the only real threat rn outside, without either of them it would diminish its purpose of calling attention to players. So on planets like experimentation it'd be a bit awkward to have this beaming light come down with no consequences

[thorny shell]

By blinding, I mean like an initial flashbang, but then a mechanic similar to DBD, where if you look in the direction of its spotlight, your screen will start to fade to a bright pic until you look away.

For example, this is what dbd does.

[thorny shell]

You can make it so the baboon-hawks will attack whatever the spotlight "attacks". Considering baboon-hawks are opportunists and won't attack if outnumbered, blinding their prey may make the baboon-hawks more comfortable, and less cautious, with attacking the players.

[violet wolf]

This would absolutely awesome for rend and dine, since the long path back to the ship and open forest areas would be great places for them to spawn in replacement of dogs/giants

[white wadi]

I remember back when DbD blinds worked just like the blind effect in LC, where it was just a solid white screen

[thorny shell]

I don't have to remember... I played it yesterday lol. It was a welcome change.

Honestly, if anyone picks up this creature, I highly recommend it being a support/scout enemy, rather than another lethal one. Otherwise I'll keep drawing comparisons to these:

[white wadi]

I could see it being lethal but bad at killing you

like it'll kinda slowly come after you and try to smack you but you can outrun it really easily

[thorny shell]

Yeah, that's probably the easiest option. Though I feel that's the same gameplay loop for 90% of the enemies.

[white wadi]

as an outdoor enemy that'd be fairly unique

since most outdoor threats just one-tap you

[thorny shell]

The way I see it working extremely well would for it to be a watchtower scout and when it sees the player it starts making a bunch of noise so that other monsters attack and overpower you. It would be funny if the counter to these creatures would to run at them and make as much noise as possible to scare them.

[thorny shell]

Fair.

My only concern is that they'd be too easy to ignore. If they're just a forest giant that can only melee you, people would treat it as a forest giant that only melees you.

If you want to, lore-wise we can make this a male/female version of the forest giant. While the forest giants are hunter-gatherers, these things are more skittish. Both are tall and guard the forest, both are heavily vision based. Regardless, I think it would be interesting if these tall, overwhelming creatures are actually cowardly than their muscular, brutish counterparts. If I were to make this a mod, I'd make them scout around and make a bunch of noise, blinding their prey if it spots anything. When it initially spots/locks on to the player, it should blind them like a flash bang, and continuously blind the player if they stare into the spotlight. If you're being watched, the creature sends a raycast to your location and tells enemies to investigate that area. If there are baboon-hawks nearby, they'll become far more aggressive. Lastly, the counter would be the opposite of what your intuition is: run towards the light and make a bunch of noise. Overwhelm the creature and it will freak out and walk backwards, dimming its light, making less and less noise, then turn and flee. It's kinda what you'd do with a blackbear.

[white wadi]

Oh no no no, don't get it twisted, they would still also serve the purpose of spotlighting you and causing enemy aggro

I'm just saying they would also be able to smack your ass

[thorny shell]

It gives them extra uses~

Yeah but I get it. Maybe we can make it so that in scaring it, it will nip at you. Kinda like the spore lizard.

[violet wolf]

what if it pointed the spotlight at certain players and blinded them?

so other players have to work together to guide the player with their voices

[white wadi]

Yes that's the whole idea is that if you look in the light it starts to blind you

And makes you SUPER visible to other beasties while also making a noise that draws dogs nearer to the general area

[thorny shell]

It can be both. If you close to it, you can try and make a bunch of noise to scare it off. If you're far, your team can guide you. Similar to how they can guide you to the entrance if you've been face-hugged.

[reef nexus]

After combing through the ideas I came up with an improved behavior pattern that is entirely based on energy expenditure and hopefully allows for a more dynamic creature. Although it can kill the player, the usage of energy is to justify its more supportive/timid behavior so it'll only do it when being overly aggressive w/ it like staring at the bracken. It's main focus is to just attract other monsters, with that chase behavior only really being a last resort. The logic map is just to display some of the thought process behind the energy mechanic and some context. I didn't mention the flashing/blinding effect in the infographics but I do understand now and its def good to have more to factor in when attempting to chase the thing off.

The creature used is The Flash from In Sound Mind, thought it fit a lot better than light head

[main smelt]

What if it spawn when you take the apparatus ?
He would search for the apparatus and kill crew mates.
In the dark hallways, you would see his light, which could trick you into thinking it's a player with a flashlight.

[thorny shell]

He's too big :(

[main smelt]

Yeah, that's the trade off, but he could still be taller than the bracken (It's okay if they clip through the doors frame, they already do anyway).
It's that it may be cool to have an interior enemy like that (though, there are more indoors enemies than outdoors).
Upon taking the apparatus, you could have this thing stomping in the corridors and looking everywhere.
It could even attack others indoors creatures, like how babbons and dogs fight each other.