Animals and traps

[cptCalavera]

So this is what I have been thinking about the last few nights while working. A new and improved hunting/trapping system (Also including some animals and meat.).

This is an idea I had that started growing in my head until I had to write some of it down. Not everything is remembered and im sure I havent thought about all aspects regarding some of these suggestions and thoughts. But I want to put it out there anyway. To inspire, get cruitiqe and so on. Feel free to contribute, point out flaws or just start a conversation

The basic idea:

To have more kinds of animals that interact with eachother, the player and the world, and to have several kinds of traps and lures to catch and kill these animals. This system would be depending more on exploring and finding animals, or traces of them, and then placing a proper trap to catch and kill them. Rather than stumbling upon a colony of rabbits that you can wipe out with a little patience.

More detailed ideas in a nice and neat list:

Docile creatures that you can easily get close to and kill do not drop meat. To get meat, you have to hunt or trap. (docile creatures at this moment beeing pigs and beefalos) Instead, the beefalo could still be shavable and maybe milkable? And the Pigs could drop something else than meat. They do live in houses after all.

Small animals would still be around and drop meat and be kind of easy to kill, But their meat should not give so much energy. That would be frogs and future animals of the same kind. Snails! (?)

Some creatures can be domesticated and breedable in some sort of cage or fenced area. (breeding rate would be slow, slow, slow) (You would be able to have your very own beefalo that you could shave and milk whenever you wanted to!)

New animals, foods and habitats. Squirrels live in oak trees and eat acorns. Badgers live in holes under trees and eat rabbits. Boar roams around eating mushrooms. And so on... Snails! (?)

Animals beeing more rare and migrating. For example no fixed colonies of rabbits. But rather one or two rabbits here and there. And they move around digging new holes. Which means you can find a rabbit or a badger hole that doesent have a rabbit or a badger in it.

Animals leaving traces. For example, if you see the leftovers from a carrot besides a rabbit hole, or a half eaten acorn under an oak tree, it means the animal is probably close. And it would probably be a good idea to set a trap there.

Animals flee Sooner and are much harder to kill without traps. So you would still see animals running around minding their business. But to catch it you would need to track and trap it. Or chasing it down and cornering it. But beware that taking on animals head on would be more dangerous than before. If you want to take on an animal in hand to paw combat. you can place lures that would attract them, and the try and corner them.

Different traps and bait for different animals. A small animal can be cauth with the standars trap that we have now. Others are stronger and need a snare tied to a tree, and the strongest ones you would have to dig a falling pit for.

Some animals can be attracted to farms and take your crop. This would open up for some kind of scare crow, and would make farms likely trapping spot.

Probably this idea look a lot bigger and is more in depth and complex in my head than it is in text format, but this is what I got in print so far.

Enjoy!

[Toaster Fu]

I would love to milk beefalos, I'm on day 46 and haven't had a need to find beefalo, their just not that useful. I also think there should be a smart animal (like a fox) that would wait for your traps to catch the animal and then steal the meat. And you should get less meat if you kill it with a weapon verses a trap, I mean, if you crush a tiny rabbit with a axe you probably won't get much usable meat.:pSo I hear you like snails.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Toaster Fu

[cptCalavera]

Ooh, yes I do like the idea of other animals looting traps, that way you have to check them from time to time and cant just leave them about for several days and then go collect your loot. Good one.Who doesnt like snails? :)Slow and laid back, with a portable house and goofy eyes

[Lubiniki]

Perhaps we can finally catch those crows that leave seeds!And I'd love to see snails in the game. Man-sized, that hide in their shell whenever they are approached.

[LadyD]

Peaceful creatures in the islands that just plod along!

[juliette]

BABY BEEFALOS!! :DDD I just really want a baby beefalo to raise <3Like, when you come across a herd of beefalos there are maybe one or two babies that follow you around if you feed them a tuft of hay (that way you can bring them home to your camp) but go back to being "wild" once you leave them a day without being fed, or something. No? Just a suggestion!

[LadyD]

I like the idea of being able to tame some of the creatures even if its just a day to day basis. Like forget to feed it? Its gone!I wouldnt mind having a raven. Baby beefalo.Snail... maybe.. if its cute...butterflies! I want butterflies to live in my camp with my fireflies and beefalo herd that like to drop in and sleep.

[burfl]

I like alot of this, cpt, but I really hope animals like beefalo do not lose their food value. I play this game like a nomadic hunter/gatherer (at least right now) and the beefalo are my most important source of food. I haven't eaten any berries or veggies or even rabbits in weeks. I can logsuit up, grab my trusty spear and beefalo hat and kill four of them and eat for nearly two weeks. And I can carry all that meat in one stack in my inventory. Now, I'll admit, with the logsuit they make it a bit too easy to not starve. But rather than take them away from me, perhaps make them harder to kill? Force me to be trickier and dig one of your pit traps, then aggro a beefalo and lure him over it? I don't know what the ideal solution is, but if herd animals lost their food value, it would mostly spoil my current playstyle.I do love your ideas for traps and animals that hide more. I've gotten good enough at hunting rabbits that I can head to a colony and stock up on a half-stack or more of morsels without breaking a sweat. I haven't built a trap since I realized they were entirely unnecessary. And the concept of them leaving clues to there whereabouts is pretty golden, too.

[LadyD]

Look out Burfl beefalo do not respawn.You are going to make the poor fellas extinct and therefore you are going to have a hard time in your future.

[burfl]

Yes, I've recently noticed their population dwindling Not so dapper in my stomach, eh? Today I started rounding up berry bushes to plant near my camp so I can try and save the endangered beefalo. Not very excited about playing farmville, though. I like roaming about in my viking regalia (logsuit and beefalo hat) and living off of whatever is nearby.

[LadyD]

The bunnies come back... as long as you dont destroy the holes.* Evil grin*Also you can get meat from spiders if you trap instead of kill them. The quiet death means you get smooth meat and not monster meat.

[burfl]

I'll hunt rabbits. Trapping is for the weak :)I still love your suggestions, cpt, and would probably trap more if they came to fruition, but currently, I prefer plunging my spear into my food to make it.. you know... food.

[Marvin]

... that follow you around if you feed them a tuft of hay...

I'm in for that, because i set ALWAYS my base camp near a beefalo herd, since we need constant manure for the fields. I thought, when i can lure 1 or 2 in my camp with grass (or a stick with a carrot on it; classy way) back to the camp, i'm more flexible to decide, where i build up my home.

... but currently, I prefer plunging my spear into my food to make it.. you know... food.

Another thing I'm thinking about, that we can hunt the rabbits ONLY with a spear. It's still too easy hunting rabbits with axe/pick/shovel/bare hands (which i prefer). Edited November 6, 2012 by Marvin

[mobius187]

To have more kinds of animals that interact with eachother, the player and the world, and to have several kinds of traps and lures to catch and kill these animals. This system would be depending more on exploring and finding animals, or traces of them, and then placing a proper trap to catch and kill them. Rather than stumbling upon a colony of rabbits that you can wipe out with a little patience.

I'll agree with this much. We certainly need a larger variety of animals to hunt and with different methods/results. As it stands you can simply survive with an axe and the simple "loop around / cut off from hole" tactic for hunting rabbits. Once I learned that I never needed another rabbit trap.

Docile creatures that you can easily get close to and kill do not drop meat.

I would partially disagree with this idea. The beefalos represent a perfect part of the food chain and I've seen the results of what happens when you attack a beefalo unprepared. Rather the ease of hunting them should be addressed to see whether the beefalo's damage needs to be upgraded, additional effect added (i.e. knockdown?), or certain inventions need to be nerfed (i.e. logsuit).

Maybe the real issue here is that the beefalo act too docile. Maybe the problem could be solved if we have the beefalo act docile at a distance, but if a character gets too close they could become hostile as a defensive action, until they scare the character away. Or another solution, have the current beefalos be female, and then add in a new male bull beefalo that acts aggressive to any character who gets too close to the female beefalo or it.

As for the pig men... that's a tough call and I somewhat agree with you with regards to them. Maybe the pig men could still drop meat, but it could be like monster meat and cause health damage when consumed. Or maybe eating it would cause pig men to hate you. Having hostile pig men would certainly be a disadvantage.

To get meat, you have to hunt or trap. (docile creatures at this moment beeing pigs and beefalos) Instead, the beefalo could still be shavable and maybe milkable? And the Pigs could drop something else than meat. They do live in houses after all.

While I disagree with the beefalo not dropping meat, when killed, I do like your idea of milking beefalo. In fact, thinking about milk had me wondering whether or not Kevin would implement a gauge to track thirst, like they did for games like Lost in Blue (DS game). In that regard players would need to find a source of water, like a pond or stream, or maybe drink beefalo milk in addition to eating food.

Small animals would still be around and drop meat and be kind of easy to kill, But their meat should not give so much energy. That would be frogs and future animals of the same kind. Snails! (?)

I agree, the amount of food acquired by hunting smaller animals, like the rabbits, should be less so as to be balanced against successfully applying better hunting practices to capture/kill larger animals. That, or the pathfinding AI for rabbits needs to be upgraded so they don't run straight for their rabbit hole or that they have multiple holes per rabbit (rather than one per rabbit), thus making it harder to determine the hole to which the rabbit will run.

Some creatures can be domesticated and breedable in some sort of cage or fenced area. (breeding rate would be slow, slow, slow) (You would be able to have your very own beefalo that you could shave and milk whenever you wanted to!)

I also agree with this, however I would place some limitations in order to restrict exactly how many animals a character could domesticate. In Minecraft I have massive farms of animals and food is never an issue anymore. One way would be to reduce the breeding rate, as it's very fast in Minecraft. Another might be food... say you need to feed each domesticated beefalo 20 grass each day. That would limit how many you would want to have on your hands.

New animals, foods and habitats. Squirrels live in oak trees and eat acorns. Badgers live in holes under trees and eat rabbits. Boar roams around eating mushrooms. And so on... Snails! (?)

I'm for and against this idea. I agree more animals would be great, but I'm not sure how many "normal" animals should be added. The novelty of the game comes from confronting animals we don't know about and trying to determine the facts about them. However I do like the idea of each animal having its own food source. In fact, I'm surprised beefalo don't eat grass and cause a grass shortage for players... maybe giving them a reason to reduce the beefalo population so as to keep them from poaching their resource.

Animals being more rare and migrating. For example no fixed colonies of rabbits. But rather one or two rabbits here and there. And they move around digging new holes. Which means you can find a rabbit or a badger hole that doesent have a rabbit or a badger in it.

Not sure about migrating animals, but having fewer rabbits would probably be an improvement... that or empty rabbit holes. Maybe if you hunt a rabbit it "empties" that hole for 2-3 days, thus preventing characters from surviving solely from hunting rabbits from day to day.

Animals leaving traces. For example, if you see the leftovers from a carrot besides a rabbit hole, or a half eaten acorn under an oak tree, it means the animal is probably close. And it would probably be a good idea to set a trap there.

Maybe... or it may create clutter on the screen. I want to suggest tracks... but then that makes me think it would be nice if there were an island with snow where you could see rabbit tracks, and they fade over time so you know if they're recent or not. On the topic of traps, I think every trap should require bait. So if you want to catch rabbits you need a carrot. If you want to catch squirrels you need nuts. In this way a player would need to choose between filling their stomach right away with a carrot they found or grew, or trying to catch a rabbit with it and getting more food for the investment. Maybe even allow for a small failure percentage where the food lure for a baited trap is eaten, but no animal is caught.

Animals flee Sooner and are much harder to kill without traps. So you would still see animals running around minding their business.

Agreed. It's too easy right now.

But to catch it you would need to track and trap it. Or chasing it down and cornering it. But beware that taking on animals head on would be more dangerous than before. If you want to take on an animal in hand to paw combat. you can place lures that would attract them, and the try and corner them.

This sounds interesting, and I could certainly see larger animals being dangerous. But how would you suggest cornering them? The current environment doesn't exactly lend itself to that... unless we can build our own walls. Then we could create our own "corners" in which to trap animals.

Different traps and bait for different animals. A small animal can be cauth with the standars trap that we have now. Others are stronger and need a snare tied to a tree, and the strongest ones you would have to dig a falling pit for.

I do like the idea of more traps, like snares (I mean the saplings look perfect for those after you remove their brances). Maybe one aspect of inventing could be the advancement involved in moving from trapping small animals to much larger ones.

Some animals can be attracted to farms and take your crop. This would open up for some kind of scare crow, and would make farms likely trapping spot.

It's funny, but I also kept wondering why scarecrows weren't needed to protect gardens. Birds should snack on plants seeds and rabbits on fully grown vegetables in the gardens unless you have a scarecrow or you're there to scare them off.

In summary, I think you have a lot of good ideas here and I'm glad you shared them, even if I didn't agree with all of them. I hope to hear more of your ideas in the future.

And yes, we should be able to hunt snails... and maybe even bugs... for food. Especially early on in the game.