New Items/Options mostly for Quality of Life

[Mister Ether]

Options -> Camera
1) The main camera currently has 2 modes: "Always bind to mouse" and "Hold Shift/Mousewheel to bind to mouse". I'd like to suggest two more options:

• "Shift/Mousewheel click toggles bind to mouse" - This would make clicking shift or mousewheel click bind the camera to the mouse movement until it was clicked again. It would make it easy to switch between mouse always moving the camera (useful in combat) and never moving the camera (useful when operating multiple saws/BBQs/etc).
• "Bind camera to direction player is facing" - This is more for people playing with a controller, so they don't have to manipulate the camera with left-stick.

2) Add separate camera config options for the first-person-ish camera (the one ranged weapons use). Default Y behavior should be "Up looks up".


Ranged Weapons
1) The Sling cannot currently kill birds (the flying kind, not the larger walking ones). It is currently undesirable for killing anything except jellyfish (and maybe sharks if you're out on the ocean pearl diving). Possible fixes:

• Alter the Sling damage or bird health (flying birds, not walking birds) so one rock can kill a bird.
• Add new craftable ammo for the sling that do more damage than rocks.
• Add ammo to Ted Selly's crafts for the Sling that do more damage

2) Increase the range you can see before the blur effect starts. I can shoot birds around 3 blocks further than I can see them, and when they are frightened I literally have to shoot at bird-sized blurs because I can't get any closer than that before they flee.

3) Make it so chickens drop feathers.

• This can either be a possible drop when petted or function like pleeps dropping Roo Poo (daily, unrelated to the main harvest item).
• Why is this in Ranged Weapons? Arrows are ridiculously expensive. No, not money-expensive. Time. Hoofing it across the map to find enough Scrub Turkeys to kill to afford 4 arrows (the time-cheapest Ted offers) is going to average out to 20 minutes (less if you have a helicopter). Then, if you run into Ted the 3 days a week he *might* spawn somewhere at random, you'll burn another 4 minutes running back and forth just to buy them. Every 15 damage arrow is 6 minutes of time dedicated solely to creating it that you'll never get back. You can do the same damage repeatedly with a melee weapon that costs you almost nothing in dedicated time.

Functional Accessories - Things you wear that do things, which can be switched on or off. The game already has a couple wearable always-on hats; this expands on that.

1) Add new wear slots dedicated for things that do something but aren't necessarily seen. These may be obscured by clothing items in the same location if they are seen. (I'll be adding these under Franklyn)

2) Update existing clothes to allow functions. Currently, the only one I can think of are Swim Goggles, which should switch you into first-personish mode when underwater.

3) Add a menu that comes up when holding down Control / Left-Stick for a couple seconds, that lets you switch the Accessory/Clothing functions of what you are wearing on and off. (This should also affect existing items like the Miner Helmet and Candlehat, letting you turn them on and off). Equipping something should set it to On to prevent bugs from leaving something unfunctional.


Franklyn Crafts

1) Update all of Franklyn's dialogs when commissioning him to craft something so he explains how they are useful before asking you to confirm paying him. "My blah would be very useful" doesn't get across much. I haven't used everything he makes, so here are my suggestions for the ones I've used:

• Chainsaw - My Chainsaw is twice as fast as an iron axe, and it's great for clearing grass, bushes, and so forth. Don't wear out your arms. Wear out nature.
  
• Charging Station - Power Tools and accessories need power. My Charging Station refills them and even fixes them. You should buy several, but I only have time to make one today.
  
• Helicopter - Want the convenience of air travel without the hassle of proving you're fit to fly? My Helicopter will let you soar over (Island Name) and has a place for you to carry large things while you do it.
  
• Jackhammer - My Jackhammer is twice as fast as an iron pickaxe. Who has time to stand still for mining? Just aim this in front of you and plow through rocks.
  
• Jet Ski - Rowing a boat is a nice way to spend time if you hate efficiency. My Jet Ski will make water travel something you look forward to. It's also good for transporting animal traps.
  
• Lawn Mower - Are you tired of chopping down the same grass day after day? Don't let Nature waste your time. Lawn Mower cuts grass once and it stays level.
  
• Motor Bike: Walking is for chumps. My Motor Bike will have you zipping around, with a rear basket for those Wary Mu eggs that merited you needing a fast getaway.
  
• Quarry - Wandering around looking for things to mine is for suckers. My Quarry makes the rocks come to you. It will dredge things up from the Shifting underground once a day.
  
• Repair Table - My Repair Table lets you hang onto all your old worn out tools and weapons, instead of constantly having to replace them. When you have enough of them, buy a Repair Kit and fix them all at once!
  
• Weather Station - My weather station can tell you tomorrow's weather. Rain is especially useful for farming and fishing. It also tells you today's weather, which is less useful, since today is already happening.

2) New Power Tool: Stun Blaster - This would be a high knockback, high stun-rate weapon that does no health damage. The attack area would be like a hammer, except the delay would be a cool down after the attack instead of a wind-up before the attack. I'd recommend making it a sonic weapon that requires numerous "ear hats" to commission, and its attack noise would be a tinny-distorted version Franklyn's voice "yelling" something with a pronounced echo effect.

I've been working on a Deep Mine guide, due to all the complaints I've seen from new/casual players. The only problem is, there's really nothing I can tell people who just hate combat in general, for what to do when they stop driving a vehicle to actually mine something. I also really hate the idea of the Deep Mine having its difficulty lowered. Adding a stun weapon that lets people who are bad at (or hate) combat just knock something away and give them a few seconds to do whatever would be a good alternative solution to screwing with the difficulty.

Dialog: "Are you tired of being harassed by animals while you're trying to work, but have too much meat lying around as it is? With my Stun Blaster, you can knock them senseless with the power of my booming voice! I would use it to get out of social engagements early if I was invited to any."


3) New Power Tool: Bug Vacuum - Upgrade to a bug net. The bug vacuum allows you to hold down the action button while moving to catch fleeing bugs more easily. (It might even be worth making small birds and frogs catchable with this.)

Dialog: "While it amuses me to watch you flailing about with a net trying to catch bugs, this will make it much easier for you. (If you add frogs and such: "It can even catch things your old net couldn't") Nature abhors a vacuum; show Nature the feeling is mutual."


4) Functional Accessories: These should all have a power meter that drains while they are active, but they should go Empty when used up instead of breaking.

• Friend Finder: Adds trackers to your minimap for Villagers if they are in a block within view-rendering distance.
  Dialog: "My Friend Finder will let you track down or avoid your friends more easily. I don't know who your friends are, so I put trackers on everyone on the island. Why are you looking at me like that?"
  Energy: Goes Empty after being on for 2 days' time in real minutes (not counting Late time)
  
• Treasure Scouter: Upgrade to the Metal Detector; it lights up everything in a 2-square radius from you while you're on foot (while active).
  Dialog: "Finding buried relics is good, but it is tedious walking around scanning the dirt. My Treasure Scouter sends the radiation out from your head in all directions, so you can find treasure on the go!"
  Energy: Goes Empty after being on for 2 days' time in real minutes (not counting Late time)
  
• Item Magnet: Automatically picks up loose items within a 1-square radius of you (if you have the space).
  Dialog: "My Item Magnet is a very useful tool. You cut down the tree or smash the rocks, the wood and ore go right into your bag so you can keep working."
  Energy: Goes Empty after being on for 1 days' time in real minutes (not counting Late time)

5) New Crafting Machine: Polisher - If you decide to add new sling ammo, this device would accept rocks and ore and spit out several polished [material] beads. (It might also be useful for breaking things down into non-combat related components, like ball bearings or jewelry, but I don't know what you have planned.)

Dialog: "A Polisher lets you take something hard, like rocks or ores, breaks them into smaller pieces, and then smooths them out."


Edit: Missed some list-closings