Forget the Aquatic and Aviary DLC ideas and all the things we know Frontier can't easily implement. Some of the ideas I have been saying since last year are now so close that Frontier only needs to implement them. Everyone wants customization, right? We know the summer DLC is going to provide some of it, but it also sets the foundation for the perfect in-game system to maximize everything JWE has been built upon. Are you ready for the top of my best ideas to SAVE JWE from losing re-playability?? Let's do it!
1. Simple idea first to get us into a segway; randomized dig-sites and available initial fossil sets. Playing the challenge modes or restarting islands can be kind of monotonous in the early stages. Let's alter the singularity of the experience by creating randomized first four dinosaurs available. Instead of just Edmontosaurus, how about the potential for either that or Corythosaurus/Tsintaosaurus? Dinosaurs with roughly the same rating and habitat needs anyway, which are all included as part of the base game. An alternative to Struthiomimus, such as Gallimimus is another easy one. Additionally, the triceratops should have two random alternatives as well, perhaps as one of the early armored herbivores in another group such as Sauropelta and Kentrosaurus. And then the last being an alternative large carnivore such as Metriacanthosaurus or Carnotaurus. These randomizations would make each gameplay feel so more more unique. Like that idea? The next one is huge!
2. Habitat that influences the entire gameplay experience! ROCKS AND TREES! Good Lord, we are getting some habitat additions this summer! BUT, BIG BUT-- They can be SOOO much more. How?? By integrating them with some of the existing game mechanics. Let me explain. Individual trees and rocks? Awesome! New shrubbery? Fantastic! But let's make them a more integral part of the game. You know how trees count as forested area for the dinosaurs habitat needs? And we've heard that individual trees will as well. Rocks should, too! But the "Forest" should be changed to "Cover". This is to say that rocks should count towards a dinosaurs "cover" needs, providing hiding habitat. Perhaps rocks will count only half as much of a contribution as trees, but imagine the possibilities! You could build rocky desert formations to provide for your large carnivores, or even lessen some of the foliage needs of those pesky sauropods (You know, so we can actually see them in the exhibit!) By adding some large rocks (maybe boulders count as the same value as trees, but smaller rocks are less cover value?), the sauropods would be content with having large rocks to feel more secure. Do you like that idea? I sure do! But there's more!
2.b. Shrubs. SHRUBS! Not shrubs- BIOMES! I for one, love the alternative types of flora on each island, but we are not getting the most out of it. We've heard about "vivid" shrubs coming, but hold up- let's make the biggest change that the game needs. If we have individual rocks and trees, we also need individual shrubs. Why? Who cares? You will, when you want to create that perfect habitat and decorate your park the way you've wanted. Here's the other part about shrubs- they should count as a half value for grassland AND a half value for cover. Something more than just aesthetic. If they were a functioning part of the biome, a dinosaur could in theory meet its cover AND grassland needs if it was provided with enough (double the normal respective amounts) shrubbery. This would also help balancing those exhibits where two dinosaurs have conflicting habitat requirements. We are getting towards the good part. If you have been nodding you're head saying, "yeah, this guy get's it. I would love these inclusions for my more complex gameplay and strategic habitat construction," - keep reading. A bomb is about to drop!
2.c. Skins, camouflage, cryptic phenotypes-- Say what?? The genetics system in JWE is not how genes really work at all, but I get what they are trying to do with it. (DEVs: if you want to contact me, I won't spoil my ideas here with an improved genetics system for JWE2 or another JWE update if you want input. I have literally spent my whole life in genetics research and hybrid creation based on the life-changing event called Jurassic Park). So, yes, a skinned dinosaur adds slightly higher star value, but DAYYYUM, it could actually be the mechanic that changes the game. And I think it coincides with what everyone is crying out for. Skins, based on animals that produce certain cryptic phenotypes from specific biomes (that means they look like they belong in a certain ecosystem they match). What are we missing? THE MATCHING BIOMES for them to inhabit! How can we do it?? SKINS! Glorious skins! "More skins? Is this guy delirious??" No, no. Not more dinosaur skins- Shrubbery and cover skins.
Do you see where I'm headed yet? And DEVs, I'm sorry for dumping a workload on you, but I promise I'll help! So let's make an outline real quick of dinosaur cosmetic genes (cryptic phenotypes) Null/base, Tundra, Alpine, Arid, Coastal, Taiga, Woodland, Steppe, Jungle, Rainforest, Vivid, Wetland. Why did I list them like that? To make it a little more manageable. So we can combine two biome types into one more generalized. Null/base phenotype is correspondent to the default island forest and various shrubbery. These guys appreciate the typical environment they are in. Now Tundra and Alpine like a more mossy and lichen-covered environment of low dry shrubs and small conifers. So they blend in with the dull green and grays of these habitats. Let's call this "arctic". Arid and Coastal areas are pretty void of vegetation and moreso are covered with rocky outcrops and succulent vegetation. So perhaps we see lots of dark stones, some sandy areas, small cacti and other succulents requiring less moisture. Cover for this combination could be a mix of rocky outcrops and something like acacia trees. Let's combine these two biomes into "drought". Taiga, being a coniferous swampy woodland (as is the habitat I reside in) could be very easily joined with woodland. We see a combination of medium-size mixed conifers and deciduous trees. These "forest" biomes would blend dark greens and browns evenly, perhaps with the shrubbery of this zone would be plants like blueberries, rhododendrons, alders etc. Steppe and Jungle could be combined as "warm" biomes, producing an area as seen in Southern Africa and India where there are enough stony outcrops, large canopy trees and a generally orange-brown feel to them. Now, Rainforest and Vivid could be conjoined into a "tropical" biome in which the general tropical trees have a slight bluish cast and we see an array of brightly-colored ground shrubs as well as orchids in the trees. The last biome, which is kind of stand-alone is Wetland, in which we could add some very mossy deciduous trees and the shrubbery would be reeds and cattails. So this gives us a listing of Base, Arctic, Drought, Forest, Warm, Tropical and Wetland environments. Now, while I think the various base shrubs from the different islands should be available at the start of the game, I think these environments should need to be unlocked via research or island completion. Why? Because they will be more than just skins to make it look pretty. It needs function, too. And boy, do I have the function it needs! So now we have dinosaurs that we have unlocked skins for and have unlocked their correspondent environment types which we can seed our parks with. What next? Isn't this whole game about animal welfare and management?? What happens when a dinosaur is comfortable in its environment? What happens when it isn't? Picture having a cool exhibit with patches of Warm Jungle/steppe cover areas with surrounding Dry habitat and adding some sand and rocks to it. It would look great, something right out of Mongolia! Drop some Arid-skinned raptors and perhaps a Jungle Spinosaurus in there! They'd love it. But what If we dropped a Rainforest Brachiosaurus into the mix? Well, she'd feel vulnerable. She doesn't blend into her surroundings, which makes for a rather uneasy sauropod.
2.d. Habitat-dinosaur relationship. We can meddle with social and stress genes. (So the mechanism is already in place to initiate my next part). So why not also adjust these features not only internally, but externally? If the Spinosaurus and Velociraptors are in a habitat that makes them feel comfortable, I would think it would raise their threshold on comfort level so that they feel less stressed within this environment. Likewise, it would probably allow them to tolerate perhaps one more in the total social group they belong to if stress levels are low. So if dinosaurs are within the proximity of the environment they match, stress is reduced and social capacity is increased. This promotes players to construct themed exhibits of dinosaurs from the same environment. However, that Brachiosaurus with the blue skin is really going to feel uneasy in this environment it doesn't match. So its comfort will drop and it will be stressed by even some of its own social group. Uh-oh! Chaos ensues (Cue Malcolm). But wait! While the Spinosaurus and Velociraptors do have SOME of their habitat type, what if the Arid raptors enter the Jungle/steppe areas? Panic! Until they wander back into their habitat. So the player must very carefully plan and balance habitats. While the social and comfort benefits could be great, so could the devastating effects of a poorly planned habitat! An entirely new way to make JWE a real challenge for players! (Sandbox mode, however, would be a huge benefit just to make parks LOOK customized as players want, without having the added stresses of the actual working mechanics.)
ALRIGHT FOLKS, what do you think?? I do have some more ideas, maybe I will post them here, too so its all in one thread. But can you imagine the possibilities of habitat construction if it functions with all the existing mechanic systems currently in the game? And oh, that start-game randomization of beginner dinos would really help re-playability.
Two more quick ideas:
3. Hotels- they need a change! They take-up a lot of space and in some more difficult maps can be intrusive when trying to achieve five stars. I think this should be an upgradable building. It should keep the same footprint, but start as a lodge- a single-level occupancy with lower capacity value. This lodge should be cheaper, like $500,000 for base construction. After island/research unlock, an upgrade is available for Inn/Motel (two-story building with high capacity value). This upgrade should cost an additional $500,000 so its as if you were paying for another single-story, but not wasting footprint space. Last upgrade for $1,000,000 finalizes the hotel with a capacity that stands about double its current value. So by the time you have a hotel upgraded to the three-story size, its double the capacity that the current game's hotel value is, but it has cost $2 mil to achieve it, yet not wasted footprint space on the map. You down?
4. Frontier, let's face it- skins. Skins. Dinosaur skins. You know some people hate them. Cough, Best in Slot, raptors. Cough. We know you don't want modding. BUT, hear me out. There's no way you guys haven't seen some fan-made skins and thought how well they'd look in-game. So why not use it to your advantage? Cash-in and give the people what they want at the same time. Allow fan-made renderings of alterative skins (must be a version of a current cosmetic gene) and let us - THE PLAYERS - vote publicly on new skin inclusions! So say we open up a raptor skin contest- let people submit renderings of fan-made skins. Let us vote on the best new skin and then make it a tiny (so tiny) DLC. By doing this, say we have a new Velociraptor Jungle skin (the orange tiger skin from Sorna) that wins the new raptor skin contest. Then players buy it as a DLC for $1.00. The DLC replaces only one skin for one dinosaur. So if we eventually get upgrade skins individual DLCs, people can pick and choose which individual DLC they add to their game. This way, if someone is a major fan of the Coastal Indominus Rex, and they never want to change it, they don't have to. But if we get a cool new alternative version, we can add it to our own game and replace the default Coastal skin for just this one dinosaur. It opens up unlimited customization sets of dinosaurs and also allows Frontier to bank some cash while maintaining game longevity. Guys, Frontier is a business. They want our money. Frontier, face it- we need some more customization. Take our money.
That wraps it up for me, ladies and gents. I sure hope to get enough feedback here that Frontier considers some of these things that would ABSOLUTELY SAVE JWE and make every player want to jump back into the game for brand-new exciting experiences for years to come. Thanks for reading,
-Dana
1. Simple idea first to get us into a segway; randomized dig-sites and available initial fossil sets. Playing the challenge modes or restarting islands can be kind of monotonous in the early stages. Let's alter the singularity of the experience by creating randomized first four dinosaurs available. Instead of just Edmontosaurus, how about the potential for either that or Corythosaurus/Tsintaosaurus? Dinosaurs with roughly the same rating and habitat needs anyway, which are all included as part of the base game. An alternative to Struthiomimus, such as Gallimimus is another easy one. Additionally, the triceratops should have two random alternatives as well, perhaps as one of the early armored herbivores in another group such as Sauropelta and Kentrosaurus. And then the last being an alternative large carnivore such as Metriacanthosaurus or Carnotaurus. These randomizations would make each gameplay feel so more more unique. Like that idea? The next one is huge!
2. Habitat that influences the entire gameplay experience! ROCKS AND TREES! Good Lord, we are getting some habitat additions this summer! BUT, BIG BUT-- They can be SOOO much more. How?? By integrating them with some of the existing game mechanics. Let me explain. Individual trees and rocks? Awesome! New shrubbery? Fantastic! But let's make them a more integral part of the game. You know how trees count as forested area for the dinosaurs habitat needs? And we've heard that individual trees will as well. Rocks should, too! But the "Forest" should be changed to "Cover". This is to say that rocks should count towards a dinosaurs "cover" needs, providing hiding habitat. Perhaps rocks will count only half as much of a contribution as trees, but imagine the possibilities! You could build rocky desert formations to provide for your large carnivores, or even lessen some of the foliage needs of those pesky sauropods (You know, so we can actually see them in the exhibit!) By adding some large rocks (maybe boulders count as the same value as trees, but smaller rocks are less cover value?), the sauropods would be content with having large rocks to feel more secure. Do you like that idea? I sure do! But there's more!
2.b. Shrubs. SHRUBS! Not shrubs- BIOMES! I for one, love the alternative types of flora on each island, but we are not getting the most out of it. We've heard about "vivid" shrubs coming, but hold up- let's make the biggest change that the game needs. If we have individual rocks and trees, we also need individual shrubs. Why? Who cares? You will, when you want to create that perfect habitat and decorate your park the way you've wanted. Here's the other part about shrubs- they should count as a half value for grassland AND a half value for cover. Something more than just aesthetic. If they were a functioning part of the biome, a dinosaur could in theory meet its cover AND grassland needs if it was provided with enough (double the normal respective amounts) shrubbery. This would also help balancing those exhibits where two dinosaurs have conflicting habitat requirements. We are getting towards the good part. If you have been nodding you're head saying, "yeah, this guy get's it. I would love these inclusions for my more complex gameplay and strategic habitat construction," - keep reading. A bomb is about to drop!
2.c. Skins, camouflage, cryptic phenotypes-- Say what?? The genetics system in JWE is not how genes really work at all, but I get what they are trying to do with it. (DEVs: if you want to contact me, I won't spoil my ideas here with an improved genetics system for JWE2 or another JWE update if you want input. I have literally spent my whole life in genetics research and hybrid creation based on the life-changing event called Jurassic Park). So, yes, a skinned dinosaur adds slightly higher star value, but DAYYYUM, it could actually be the mechanic that changes the game. And I think it coincides with what everyone is crying out for. Skins, based on animals that produce certain cryptic phenotypes from specific biomes (that means they look like they belong in a certain ecosystem they match). What are we missing? THE MATCHING BIOMES for them to inhabit! How can we do it?? SKINS! Glorious skins! "More skins? Is this guy delirious??" No, no. Not more dinosaur skins- Shrubbery and cover skins.
Do you see where I'm headed yet? And DEVs, I'm sorry for dumping a workload on you, but I promise I'll help! So let's make an outline real quick of dinosaur cosmetic genes (cryptic phenotypes) Null/base, Tundra, Alpine, Arid, Coastal, Taiga, Woodland, Steppe, Jungle, Rainforest, Vivid, Wetland. Why did I list them like that? To make it a little more manageable. So we can combine two biome types into one more generalized. Null/base phenotype is correspondent to the default island forest and various shrubbery. These guys appreciate the typical environment they are in. Now Tundra and Alpine like a more mossy and lichen-covered environment of low dry shrubs and small conifers. So they blend in with the dull green and grays of these habitats. Let's call this "arctic". Arid and Coastal areas are pretty void of vegetation and moreso are covered with rocky outcrops and succulent vegetation. So perhaps we see lots of dark stones, some sandy areas, small cacti and other succulents requiring less moisture. Cover for this combination could be a mix of rocky outcrops and something like acacia trees. Let's combine these two biomes into "drought". Taiga, being a coniferous swampy woodland (as is the habitat I reside in) could be very easily joined with woodland. We see a combination of medium-size mixed conifers and deciduous trees. These "forest" biomes would blend dark greens and browns evenly, perhaps with the shrubbery of this zone would be plants like blueberries, rhododendrons, alders etc. Steppe and Jungle could be combined as "warm" biomes, producing an area as seen in Southern Africa and India where there are enough stony outcrops, large canopy trees and a generally orange-brown feel to them. Now, Rainforest and Vivid could be conjoined into a "tropical" biome in which the general tropical trees have a slight bluish cast and we see an array of brightly-colored ground shrubs as well as orchids in the trees. The last biome, which is kind of stand-alone is Wetland, in which we could add some very mossy deciduous trees and the shrubbery would be reeds and cattails. So this gives us a listing of Base, Arctic, Drought, Forest, Warm, Tropical and Wetland environments. Now, while I think the various base shrubs from the different islands should be available at the start of the game, I think these environments should need to be unlocked via research or island completion. Why? Because they will be more than just skins to make it look pretty. It needs function, too. And boy, do I have the function it needs! So now we have dinosaurs that we have unlocked skins for and have unlocked their correspondent environment types which we can seed our parks with. What next? Isn't this whole game about animal welfare and management?? What happens when a dinosaur is comfortable in its environment? What happens when it isn't? Picture having a cool exhibit with patches of Warm Jungle/steppe cover areas with surrounding Dry habitat and adding some sand and rocks to it. It would look great, something right out of Mongolia! Drop some Arid-skinned raptors and perhaps a Jungle Spinosaurus in there! They'd love it. But what If we dropped a Rainforest Brachiosaurus into the mix? Well, she'd feel vulnerable. She doesn't blend into her surroundings, which makes for a rather uneasy sauropod. 2.d. Habitat-dinosaur relationship. We can meddle with social and stress genes. (So the mechanism is already in place to initiate my next part). So why not also adjust these features not only internally, but externally? If the Spinosaurus and Velociraptors are in a habitat that makes them feel comfortable, I would think it would raise their threshold on comfort level so that they feel less stressed within this environment. Likewise, it would probably allow them to tolerate perhaps one more in the total social group they belong to if stress levels are low. So if dinosaurs are within the proximity of the environment they match, stress is reduced and social capacity is increased. This promotes players to construct themed exhibits of dinosaurs from the same environment. However, that Brachiosaurus with the blue skin is really going to feel uneasy in this environment it doesn't match. So its comfort will drop and it will be stressed by even some of its own social group. Uh-oh! Chaos ensues (Cue Malcolm). But wait! While the Spinosaurus and Velociraptors do have SOME of their habitat type, what if the Arid raptors enter the Jungle/steppe areas? Panic! Until they wander back into their habitat. So the player must very carefully plan and balance habitats. While the social and comfort benefits could be great, so could the devastating effects of a poorly planned habitat! An entirely new way to make JWE a real challenge for players! (Sandbox mode, however, would be a huge benefit just to make parks LOOK customized as players want, without having the added stresses of the actual working mechanics.)
ALRIGHT FOLKS, what do you think?? I do have some more ideas, maybe I will post them here, too so its all in one thread. But can you imagine the possibilities of habitat construction if it functions with all the existing mechanic systems currently in the game? And oh, that start-game randomization of beginner dinos would really help re-playability.
Two more quick ideas:
3. Hotels- they need a change! They take-up a lot of space and in some more difficult maps can be intrusive when trying to achieve five stars. I think this should be an upgradable building. It should keep the same footprint, but start as a lodge- a single-level occupancy with lower capacity value. This lodge should be cheaper, like $500,000 for base construction. After island/research unlock, an upgrade is available for Inn/Motel (two-story building with high capacity value). This upgrade should cost an additional $500,000 so its as if you were paying for another single-story, but not wasting footprint space. Last upgrade for $1,000,000 finalizes the hotel with a capacity that stands about double its current value. So by the time you have a hotel upgraded to the three-story size, its double the capacity that the current game's hotel value is, but it has cost $2 mil to achieve it, yet not wasted footprint space on the map. You down?
4. Frontier, let's face it- skins. Skins. Dinosaur skins. You know some people hate them. Cough, Best in Slot, raptors. Cough. We know you don't want modding. BUT, hear me out. There's no way you guys haven't seen some fan-made skins and thought how well they'd look in-game. So why not use it to your advantage? Cash-in and give the people what they want at the same time. Allow fan-made renderings of alterative skins (must be a version of a current cosmetic gene) and let us - THE PLAYERS - vote publicly on new skin inclusions! So say we open up a raptor skin contest- let people submit renderings of fan-made skins. Let us vote on the best new skin and then make it a tiny (so tiny) DLC. By doing this, say we have a new Velociraptor Jungle skin (the orange tiger skin from Sorna) that wins the new raptor skin contest. Then players buy it as a DLC for $1.00. The DLC replaces only one skin for one dinosaur. So if we eventually get upgrade skins individual DLCs, people can pick and choose which individual DLC they add to their game. This way, if someone is a major fan of the Coastal Indominus Rex, and they never want to change it, they don't have to. But if we get a cool new alternative version, we can add it to our own game and replace the default Coastal skin for just this one dinosaur. It opens up unlimited customization sets of dinosaurs and also allows Frontier to bank some cash while maintaining game longevity. Guys, Frontier is a business. They want our money. Frontier, face it- we need some more customization. Take our money.
That wraps it up for me, ladies and gents. I sure hope to get enough feedback here that Frontier considers some of these things that would ABSOLUTELY SAVE JWE and make every player want to jump back into the game for brand-new exciting experiences for years to come. Thanks for reading,
-Dana
