Shell shards are not a particularly interesting mechanic. If you use tools a lot, they're an annoying limit that you need to grind for, and if you don't use tools much, they barely matter and just stockpile up.
What if you didn't need to use shell shards to craft tools, but instead had some more interesting things to spend them on?
I'm not sure what exactly you should be able to spend them on - you could make them an additional gate for mask/spool upgrades and crest slots, or you could have vendors sell goodies like silkeaters or rosary strings for them, but none of those feel quite right to me? Would love to hear any ideas, might try actually make this if I find something interesting enough
#Shell Shard rework/more uses
sharp parrot
Just letting you buy extra mask shards/nail upgrades/etc. is technically an option, but imo this would be best if it actually fit with vanilla balance
molten bobcat
I think having it work as a emergency money since you don't lose them
keen turret
would be great if you could go into Items and hold [ DASH ] on Rosaries (like you do with the rosary cannon) to craft them 1 : 2 from shell shards. That makes sense, rosaries are beads carved from various materials.
Why can Hornet craft flying robots out of random broken shells, but not simple spheres?