Lunar Spillage [2]

[-Variant]

It's been a bit since the beta has officially launched, and taking the time to ponder it; I still feel that Lunar Spillage would be a fun take on the rift mechanic.
Many people seemed to also be on board with the concept and while many have said to mod it in; I'd much rather it be vanilla since not everyone accepts/has access to mods.

You can find my original thread on the mechanic here: 

 

Same general rules. Although if desired, the entire effect could be optional via world settings. 

Best of both worlds, I figure. Those who enjoy rifts as-is aren't forced into it!

General TLDR:
Lunar rifts will no longer entirely destroy/uproot what over they form over, and will instead Moontate what they rove over.
This effect would revert or optionally stay in place once the rift itself relocates.

A friend created proof-of-concept visual here:

[Baark0]

Rifts imo feel a bit empty rn, mainly cause everything gets uprooted around them, this would defo help make them feel less empty

[Klays.exe]

That would be so cool!

[ADM]

I would say yes as long as there is a way to revert the moonification of plants, cause I wouldn’t necessarily want let’s say a Berry Bush to go Stone Fruit Bush even if the possibility for it to happen sounds good, but default bushes are cool too and I wouldn’t want to end up short on any plant default styles.

Maybe the upcoming shadow rifts could be that candidate ? So we'd be able to convert plants to one type to the other by setting the plants as rifts grow (even if I suppose that other rift type won't mainly interact with plants like the brightshade stuff, still that would be a nice transmuting activity). 

[-Variant]

22 minutes ago, ADM said:

I would say yes as long as there is a way to revert the moonification of plants, cause I wouldn’t necessarily want let’s say a Berry Bush to go Stone Fruit Bush even if the possibility for it to happen sounds good, but default bushes are cool too and I wouldn’t want to end up short on any plant default styles.

In a perfect world there'd be a world setting to toggle it being permanent, otherwise I think it'd be best if it all reverted as the Rift itself relocated/shut!

Although I wouldn't mind new art for Lunar grass/berries.

[Cassielu]

That's pretty cool, but I'm afraid there aren't enough moon mutants in the game to make it happen. It would be strange if some Mobs mutated and others stayed the same. Designing a moon mutant for every surface mobs would take a lot of effort from developers, and due to rift's generative mechanism they might not appear once in 1,000 days. I support it, but I am pessimistic that it will ever happen.

[-Variant]

3 hours ago, Cassielu said:

Designing a moon mutant for every surface mobs would take a lot of effort from developers

That would be an absolutely absurd and taxing amount of work, I don't intend or wish for the devs to go through that.

The idea would simply be that it'd pull from existing Moontated prefabs. Excluding mobs, that is.
There is no reason for them to go and make a new design for each mob when they could be excluded entirely.
The Rifts are more of a destructive environmental threat as is, anyways.

[gamehun20]

What if you dig up the moonformed plants? Will they revert or become permanently the moon variant?

[-Variant]

4 minutes ago, gamehun20 said:

What if you dig up the moonformed plants? Will they revert or become permanently the moon variant?

Digging them up would be a very neat way to obtain extras, I'd imagine they'd be saved in whichever state they're dug up in.
If you don't want them to remain moontated you could leave them alone till the rift reverts.

Ideally Lunar stuff that was lunar before the rift rolled over would stay the same. So you won't have rifts turning your lunar based decor into regular plants. That sorta thing.

[Dextops]

Please Klei I need this

[Fill-Lips]

9 hours ago, -Variant said:

Digging them up would be a very neat way to obtain extras, I'd imagine they'd be saved in whichever state they're dug up in.
If you don't want them to remain moontated you could leave them alone till the rift reverts.

Ideally Lunar stuff that was lunar before the rift rolled over would stay the same. So you won't have rifts turning your lunar based decor into regular plants. That sorta thing.

There's a interesting addition this effect could have.

What if planting lunar stuff in this rifted area could also cause the reverse to happen when the area reverts. It be a great way for lategame renewable berry bushes if you planted stone fruit bushes in the rifted area for reversion.

[Memetan]

Can we also ask them to add this cutie in to the rifts "mutation"?

I know that Klei doesn't like the idea of adding more lunar mutants, but come on!! the most usual lunar enemies are plants and ghosts made of white goop (I'm gonna avoid the joke), and mutants looks more threatening "visually".

Spoiler

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!

 

[Catteflyterpill]

3 hours ago, Memetan said:

Can we also ask them to add this cutie in to the rifts "mutation"?

I know that Klei doesn't like the idea of adding more lunar mutants, but come on!! the most usual lunar enemies are plants and ghosts made of white goop (I'm gonna avoid the joke), and mutants looks more threatening "visually".

  Reveal hidden contents

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!

 

Did Klei actually say they didn't want to add more lunar mutants or is that what people have insinuated? I've heard that before, but it's quite sad if they directly said they're not a fan of that direction.

[Theukon-dos]

1 hour ago, Catteflyterpill said:

Did Klei actually say they didn't want to add more lunar mutants or is that what people have insinuated? I've heard that before, but it's quite sad if they directly said they're not a fan of that direction.

I know they don't want to do any more body-horror mutations because they're cowards a good few players where really off-put by the Moonrock Pengulls and Horror Hounds when Turn of Tides first released. This is also why their color pallets where grey scaled when ToT left beta.  

 

As far as moontations as a whole go, those aren't out the window. They're not as obvious now adays; Sea Weeds and Rockjaws both seem to be caused by lunar influence; but they do still exist. 

[maxwell_winters]

24 minutes ago, Theukon-dos said:

I know they don't want to do any more body-horror mutations because they're cowards a good few players where really off-put by the Moonrock Pengulls and Horror Hounds when Turn of Tides first released

That didn't stop them from making Nurse Spider, though. The hope isn't lost.

[Zeklo]

I've kind of grown to enjoy the Moonblind Crow in that it very much has a peeled back face, but the gore isn't thrown at you

I think that kind of style does fit better than just blood 'n guts, so I hope we'll get more Lunar Mutants in that vein.

[-Variant]

7 hours ago, maxwell_winters said:

That didn't stop them from making Nurse Spider, though. The hope isn't lost.

Nurse Spider was actually made many years back! Originally coined the Wolf Spider.

It was noted during a stream, and from really old leaked files that it stemmed from wayyyy before the Webber rework.

6 hours ago, Zeklo said:

I've kind of grown to enjoy the Moonblind Crow in that it very much has a peeled back face, but the gore isn't thrown at you

 

I LOVE THEM!! I love the Moonblind crows! 

I struggle to actually see the peeled back face. I've seen peeled crow faces before and I can most certainly say that's not what a beak looks like underneath.
Doesn't actually subtract anything from their designs, I love them to death, just don't see it that much.

That aside, I'd love more Moontations in their vein! Stuff you can tell is mutated. Plants always get clean moontations, as evident by all the safe plant moontations, but for meaty animals I'd prefer more Moonblind crows over Naked Molebats. A lot of folks can't even tell those are moontations as-is.

 

EDIT: Still sad the snow bird was cut. 

9 hours ago, Catteflyterpill said:

Did Klei actually say they didn't want to add more lunar mutants or is that what people have insinuated? I've heard that before, but it's quite sad if they directly said they're not a fan of that direction.

Outright said. Twice, notably once after the pushback the initial designs had when they were first introduced and a while after when people kept bringing them up, with them noting it was their decision to move away from the designs as it wasn't what they wanted, the second time.

The exact quotes or details are lost to me, dig enough and you can hoist it up though. I still figure they're not entirely off the table, though!

[Szczuku]

On 5/6/2023 at 5:22 AM, Cassielu said:

That's pretty cool, but I'm afraid there aren't enough moon mutants in the game to make it happen. It would be strange if some Mobs mutated and others stayed the same. Designing a moon mutant for every surface mobs would take a lot of effort from developers, and due to rift's generative mechanism they might not appear once in 1,000 days. I support it, but I am pessimistic that it will ever happen.

That's literally their job though? They introduced the concept of moontations all the way back in 2019. It's their fault for not properly exploring it for over 4 years.

And now they introduce the concept of alien rifts spilling into the world. Once again, it's their job to properly handle it, not say "well it'd take a lot of time and effort so we're not doing that". I do not care how many natural resources Klei adds to the regrowth mechanic. Add setpieces, spiky trees/bushes, stray boulders, add everything all you want. I'll still complain about rifts uprooting stuff rather than moontating it. Because no one wants to constantly have to pick up the uprooted stuff, rot, rocks left by the rift

Sure, they can, should and most likely will mainly reuse the existing stuff. But they should also come up with at least a few new moontations.

2 hours ago, -Variant said:

Stuff you can tell is mutated

This. Klei you can drop the 'oh we decided that we don't want gross mutations in our game' act. Not only did the original fan's complain ask not for the removal/abandonment but for a simple toggle of animal mutations, you've also added those moonstorm birds. Clearly you can make moontations that do get the "this animal shouldn't exist/is in pain" message accross, you also have no trouble marketing your game with them as both Turn of Tides and Eye of the Storm used moontations as the 'look! this is the new mob' segment of the trailer.

Just make more moontations in the vein of the birds and shattered spiders. No gore, no skeletons but they still look gross and unnatural.

That plus plant moontations plus lunar spillage from the rift would be a great qol update. After all I know you guys don't want to release updates that don't have anything new and interesting, why else would you feel the need to add Daywalker to Wilson's rework? PLEASE just make an entire update's theme 'The moon's mutations are spreading'. It'd be easy to market, after all the new creatures are flashy, you can put them in trailer/teaser image. And you could bring a 2nd wave of the moonbound skins

I'm so tired of these barren concepts that go nowhere because the devs want to just introduce new stuff to the game, not expand it.

[sudoku]

i think this fits perfectly for lunar rifts but i wonder how this would work with shadow rifts. Maybe they could create shadow trees, plants, and maybe boulders, and harvesting them drops nightmare fuel instead of the normal resources? 

Hard to say when we dont really know what the gimmick will be for the shadow rifts overall, hmm. 

[bloopah]

3 hours ago, -Variant said:

Outright said. Twice, notably once after the pushback the initial designs had when they were first introduced and a while after when people kept bringing them up, with them noting it was their decision to move away from the designs as it wasn't what they wanted, the second time.

Perhaps, since they said in their latest Rhymes with Play that they would be reworking old content they might look back on this statement?

[Catteflyterpill]

17 hours ago, Zeklo said:

I've kind of grown to enjoy the Moonblind Crow in that it very much has a peeled back face, but the gore isn't thrown at you

I think that kind of style does fit better than just blood 'n guts, so I hope we'll get more Lunar Mutants in that vein.

I think even 'gorey' designs can be made palatable in the right style. Eye of Terror is a perfect example of this. Or at least some designs that are more horrific and interesting, like the  Shadow Knight.

11 hours ago, -Variant said:

Outright said. Twice, notably once after the pushback the initial designs had when they were first introduced and a while after when people kept bringing them up, with them noting it was their decision to move away from the designs as it wasn't what they wanted, the second time.

The exact quotes or details are lost to me, dig enough and you can hoist it up though. I still figure they're not entirely off the table, though!

It still seems weird that there was pushback to the moontants. Just pains me that they've decided to revert on the tone, due to what feels like a small group. Especially because Don't Starve has its roots in Lovecraft. It made the Lunar side actually seem menacing. 

[BezKa]

3 hours ago, Catteflyterpill said:

It still seems weird that there was pushback to the moontants. Just pains me that they've decided to revert on the tone, due to what feels like a small group. Especially because Don't Starve has its roots in Lovecraft. It made the Lunar side actually seem menacing. 

It's all a matter of art. They didn't like that specific direction. People seem to forget about carrats (a crime. Rats are the best and the pun is so good.) and saladmanders a lot. Those are also moontations, and shattered spiders, lunar wobsters? They did not give up on the mutations, as they added the birds. Judging by the concept art for them, they just kept it more in line. I'm absolutely sure we're going to get more stuff with time, because like... We did. The mushtrees in the caves are fantastic. Mushgnomes look vaguely humanoid which puts them somewhere in the uncanny valley (at least for me). The bulbous lighbugs are on par with other mobs that were originally plants.

We might not get more direct body horror for mobs, but it's still implied in some places (the flipped bird, peeling crow) for those to care to look for it. I bet they can make it work for any future additions. 

[goatt]

I want opening rift to mutate plants.

and I want closing rift to revert any mutated plants back to island version.

I want 2 extra things:

1. New mutated grass that will never turn into gekkos. This would be a great way to permanently lock in grass tufts.

2. Spiny bindweed will mutate into anenemys. I want a way to produce more anenemys.

 

[Catteflyterpill]

30 minutes ago, BezKa said:

It's all a matter of art. They didn't like that specific direction. People seem to forget about carrats (a crime. Rats are the best and the pun is so good.) and saladmanders a lot. Those are also moontations, and shattered spiders, lunar wobsters? They did not give up on the mutations, as they added the birds. Judging by the concept art for them, they just kept it more in line. I'm absolutely sure we're going to get more stuff with time, because like... We did. The mushtrees in the caves are fantastic. Mushgnomes look vaguely humanoid which puts them somewhere in the uncanny valley (at least for me). The bulbous lighbugs are on par with other mobs that were originally plants.

We might not get more direct body horror for mobs, but it's still implied in some places (the flipped bird, peeling crow) for those to care to look for it. I bet they can make it work for any future additions. 

Really appreciate you linking the quote, definitely puts me more at ease. I still think more horror-centric designs are really interesting, I really hope the devs consider cooking up some more creatures that make player's skin crawl. When talking about two corruptive, god-like forces I feel that it drives the message home. 

[Neu7ral]

Honestly I want it.

I'm going to grow mad by the fact all the natural resources I don't touch gets ruined by a moon rift.
And I hope they return to the normal or have a 'Lunar Infected tile' that can make it look aesthetically good to look at after the rift vanishes.