🍃Take a leaf out of No Mans Sky's book🔎

[random comet]

(I've attached a text file of some of the changes I'd like to see in the overworld if you'd like to skip straight to my main points) I've played a dozen plus hours of the overworld private beta 2 now and I've noticed a couple key areas in which the successful "No Man's Sky" game crosses over with it, but NMS avoids feeling monotonous and empty over time. One aspect would be due to PB2's lack of progression but I'm sure that's something the team are working on so I can give the PB2 the benefit of doubt in that regard. So far I'm enjoying it for what it is but I'd like for the overworld to expound on a couple of NMS's features that feed into replay-ability and doesn't restrict the illuvium genre/target audience. I think my ideas for the direction of the game coincide with the muli-game aspirations of illuvium if done right. If you're like me you like games that do exploring, collecting, crafting and capturing well, plus make that experience especially rewarding. Improvements on all four of those key aspects I believe are needed for the overworld to not become monotonous, especially for gen Z like myself (2001). I believe there's nothing wrong with copying good innovation so I'd like to see these features of No Man's Sky and some of my own personal ideas below integrated into illuvium overworld someway someday:

[gritty harness]

Great ideas here. I especially like the illuvial companion, loot boxes and the building of a base.
Agree regarding the jet pack and the hover board. Also is a little weird the glider uses so much energy, maybe it could use less?
Maybe we could have a space to build in Sanctum mesa
Put pictures up of your illuvials ect.
I see the building mechanic a lot further along. Yet I like these ideas.

[sharp chasm]

I'd like for the glider to use less energy and move slower. Similar to breath of the wild.

[gritty harness]

ohh nice, maybe both, slow maybe would use a bit more energy as its going against the dynamics of falling, or the wings get bigger?

[sharp chasm]

I just want a way to enjoy the scenery a little more. Gliding is so chill

[gritty harness]

agreed

[random comet]

Thank you, appreciate it. Yes sanctum mesa would be ideal for building, I think it an important part of the overworld experience that would make the feeling of coming back home from the different regions more personal and add an aspect of fun especially for free to play players.

Also maybe the whole concept of tools is a bit extra but it's really just different armaments. Would make scanning and interacting with the environments to be less repetitive, with more fluid animations so you don't need to go right up to resources, loot boxes or encounters to interact/get information from it like in NMS for example.

[random comet]

an armament you get from grinding teir 0 resourses that suspends/hovers you mid air at no energy cost? you wouldn't be able to move again without using energy but you could get to some nice spots and enjoy the view

[lilac lotus]

awesome ideas

[fiery widget]

As a long time player of No Man's sky the game 100% seems monotonous and empty very early in. Their use of procedural generation and very similar planetary features leads to planets that seem copy pasted.

This isn't meant to be negative but this is a sort of "fan boy" opinion you see posted on No Man Sky forums often, that the game is suuuuuuuuuper innovative, and full of life, before it is quickly pointed out by the entire community that the game is pretty repetitive. Fun yes, but because of it's simple gameplay loop, not because it is full of diversity.

To be clear I love NMS and play it off and on, but it is a very repetitive sandbox, without a ton of actual diversity, especially when it comes to planets.

[sharp chasm]

This is dope

Gimme a camera too. Pokémon snap vibes

[random comet]

Idk why you’ve decided to critique NMS here my overall point is that illuvium could take inspiration from the simple gameplay loop you say is fun/good and build on it in illuvium overworld. Because realistically overworld runs are going to replayed again and again so what makes you keep coming back to the game is what I want illuvium to copy in some way or another, instead of just playing a bunch of run till they get completely bored, it’s all about the feeling of progression and reaching that next attainable goal. Which I think illuvium could improve upon for that replay value.

[random comet]

Defo

[fiery widget]

I critiqued it because it was a central point of your statement.

[random comet]

Central or not, illuvium is the focus here. And as for your critique I personally don’t think nms are trying not to be monotonous, it’s a space exploration game that you can’t realistically finish. And has been received more positively than negatively overall

That’s success and what we want from illuvium

[random comet]

So basically yes nms is repetitive (which the devs have constantly been working since release to make it not so) but the repetitive nature of flying to a new planet and starting a fresh is sort of the point of that game, unlike illuvium

@gritty harness @sharp chasm @lilac lotus leave a like if you did like the ideas so we can get more eyes on em

[lilac lotus]

how do we do that?

[random comet]

Should be able to react to the post, there’s a thumbs up and down button somewhere

[lilac lotus]

i see the thumbs now, but i tried to like before when there were none and didn't find it

[random comet]

Nice, ty

[wicked jungle]

I definitely think the feedback has grounds in the sense of making any overworld gameplay more dynamic and interesting. You have given this quite a bit of thought from an open world type of look but there are a few things that I think won't fit well into the game, and other things are already in the books to be created at a later date.

Let me touch on them 1 by 1:
Buildings: I think this could definitely be added to the game at some point. Resources to be used to create a personalised base in sanctum Mesa sounds pretty awesome to me at least.
Tools: Do you need a way to display the stats of Illuvials outside of the interface in the menu?
#💥〕leaks-discussion message

Machinery and Vehicles: This would make sense in an RPG overworld type of game like No Man's Sky, but for the foreseeable future, the overworld will be the place to gain illuvials/materials to play arena. It's questionable whether it makes the game qualitatively better after adding machinery and such to farm resources.

Movement mechanics: With the current area that you can traverse, the power of movement mechanics are subjective. A grappling hook was stated in multiple AMA's to be a cool feature that may be added to the game at a later date, though.

Multiplayer has been proposed a few times and will definitely come in some shape or form at a later date. Sanctum mesa could become the main hub. The overworld may even become a multiplayer experience similar to Monster hunter, but that would require an overhaul of the terrain. Currently there are not enough flat or workable areas. (Monster Hunter, Dark Souls etc. all have big, flat areas to fight boss monsters. It'll be important to have that in Illuvium as well when they intend to explore that avenue.)

Companions: The community suggested riding illuvials and other ways of using Illuvials, but with the current, very difficult to traverse regions, it may be difficult to allow for viable pathing. Aside from that, I think that mozart Chips fill in the role of giving specific bonusses, and the Illuvials themselves are a sense of progression. If you have Illuvials of a higher level, you will be able to win fights more easily.

Loot boxes: There has been an idea floating around about lore elements being scattered around in the overworld. If you find these things, you may unlock a new region or other element of the game. Doing so would award you a 1/1 NFT. If this idea is actually fleshed out and added to the open beta, that would make up for this point as well.

A battle royale mode of game is a completely different game from what the overworld currently is. The team has been creating a library of assets to be able to increase the scope towards other games with the same high-quality assets. So this may likely be a future game mode if requested by the community. For now, new gamemodes will have to wait until the Overworld, Arena and IZ are in an Open Beta and more polished state.

Overall It's great to see input like this. It would make building the next game-projects simpler for the team if they have guidelines given by the community! I think it's super valuable to go over these ideas and reinforce what is already being built and what has been given less attention towards the public eye. Also future games could be ideated upon: What about a battle royale with custom structures and vehicles? I would enjoy seeing that come to life, but it will probably have to wait a while longer!

[random comet]

I appreciate you enlightening me on what has already been talked about and projected to be apart of the game in the future. //As for seeing illuvials stats outside of the menu, maybe not, but I think something to reduce the switching back and forth between the menu and overworld gameplay or just more visible information on our screens in runs. //Like i personally would like to use the visor to mark resources, encounters or loot boxes so u don’t have to just use the compass, the map or go right up close to be able to locate or see some of that information to the quality of your findings, like in nms where you can scan things from afar and a lil description etc will show up if you focus on that point. //I do still think companions would be a welcome feature even in sanctum mesa, future social hubs or other modes down the line. //As for new game modes I know they’re likely to be more feasible far into the future but I think also would be welcome, not just for more in-your-face action in the game (battle Royale), but to be able to utilise buildings more and raise the stakes in a survival type mode(I’ll prob write up new ideas in the discord to really flesh them out) but yes as u said, ideas like it will need patience to come to fruition.

[wicked jungle]

Marking an extractable within your nether-sight could be an interesting feature expanding upon the single pin that you can place on the map.
I do think that seeing information from a distance takes away the need to actually go places. If you can see what type of rock something is from a mile away, you may just fly by and not have to get into the little crampy places that could kill you (like the small caves on the way to soka's garden in Crimson Waste). I think it could be too big of a QoL improvement and take away from the player experience.

For sure companions would be a cool feature. Showing off your rhamphyre in Sanctum Mesa, and walking around with your Illuvial by your side in the overworld is something I think everyone would enjoy. We saw this in Pokemon Yellow and it made a comeback in pokemon heart gold if i remember correctly. It's a fun little gimmick to interact with and brag about your assets. I'm a big proponent of an Illuvium Amii type of game: Petting, feeding and taking care of your Illuvials could create a bond between player and asset and allow players to be happy about owning the assets regardless of price fluctuations.

I'm looking forward to seeing a more fleshed out survival type idea as it's something I've been eager to see created as well! (Naturally it will have to come after Arena and a polished version of the overworld, but it's always enjoyable to work on ideas like these 🙂 )

[gritty harness]

Brilliant 😊