UE5 Community Developer Suggestions

[LittleBoBleat]

Top suggestions made by folks in the Discord and collected here for easier visibility. Some are direct quotes to maintain thought integrity. Credit goes to all the players who helped bring so many great ideas to light!

QOL CHANGES & BALANCING

Colorblind Accessibility:

• General Font: Ability to adjust font color.
  
• Repaint: Ability to paint certain objects (ex: gas can).
  
• Windmill/Granary: Ability to change range color and pattern (ex: stripes).

Settings - Graphics & Audio:

• Increased Optimization - Priority
  
• Lighting:
  
  • Keep light settings from previous saves (lights turned on stay on).
    
  • Have an automatic lighting option set to certain times (turn on at 8pm, turn off at 8am).
• Sounds:
  
  • Add an Irish radio station.
    
  • Add sound when milking animals.
    
  • Add sound when reloading weapons.
    
  • Add environmental sounds like birds, insects, wind, etc.

Hosting & Setup

• Game Difficulties:
  
  • Easy / Sandbox Mode: Resource-free building, animals don't starve, etc.
    
  • Normal Mode: Play game as currently intended.
    
  • Hard Mode: Introduces more challenges such as player stats (hunger/thirst/tiredness), starting in debt, longer animal gestation, prices more expensive, food spoilage, pests (mice/crows) eat crops/feed, etc.

• Customized Experience: Adjust aspects of gameplay as desired such as:
  
  • Weather type and frequency (rain off/on, snow off/on, rain x days per season, etc)
    
  • Length of seasons
    
  • Growth rates multiplier
    
  • Gestation length slider per species or species “weight” (ex: 1-10 days for goats or medium size animals)
    
  • Debt or no debt
    
  • Resource-free building
    
  • Player stats (skills on/off, eating on/off, tiredness on/off, etc)
    
  • Wild animal spawn types and frequency (bears on/off, animal spawning None/Few/Standard/Abundant)

• Servers & Hosting:
  
  • Add multiplayer stabilization.
    
  • Add permanent session ids and a list of online servers.
    
  • Can rent a server to host a game with multiple player ranches on the same map.

Seasons & Weather:

• Option to limit and/or disable rain, storms, cloudy days, etc.
  
• Rain auto-waters crops, as well as garden beds exposed to the sky. Can also fill water troughs.
  
• Dynamic weather and seasons that affects crops and potentially the player and animals.
  
• Affects growth speed of crops depending on their ideal season. Ex: Corn grows fastest in summer.
  
• Weather forecast for the week can be seen in newspaper form or on the computer. If at a rancher's house, the individual can predict the weather for the day (ex: "My knee is acting up, looks like a storm's a brewin'").

Map Related

• Visible ranch boundary line on the map and when next to/crossing the boundary.
  
• Make other players visible on the compass.
  
• Add placeable permanent map markers with different symbols, colors, and/or names with the option to add or hide them from the compass. Option to share with other players in multiplayer.
  
• Include map toggles to show visibility of markers for different assets around the map (quests, oil rigs, vehicles, etc).
  
• Option to either choose between a variety of maps of differing sizes or have random map generation and map seeds. (Optional: some sort of map redactor for community to make their own maps and share them via STEAM workshop)

Misc

• Most Popular:
  
  • Enable building grids to make placement easier.
    
  • Tree falls in the direction you're chopping.
    
  • All trees can be harvested (except bee trees) and regrow over time.
    
  • Trees & machines can be “locked” to prevent harvest and/or pickup.
    
  • Merge used resources (ex: Metal 5/50 + Metal 10/50 = Metal 15/50).
    
  • Aging items (sausage, cheese) and crops are affected by time passed while sleeping.
    
  • Place products directly into held cooler when interacting with the aging racks.
    
  • Adjust cheese mold packet quantity from 5/5 to 6/6 for the 6 slots in the cabinet/6 milk pours per full can.
    
  • Pause the game when opening the Esc menu. Available in multiplayer if all players are in the Esc menu.
    
  • Purchase resources in bulk (x25, x50, x100). Come prepackaged in box/pallet/etc form for easier transportation.
    
  • Can carry multiple sprinklers, agri medicine, pet food, pet collars, and animal tags in an egg basket or cooler.
    
  • Workshop & Modding Support
• Other:
  
  • Ability to climb over fences.
    
  • Ability to empty bucket on the ground.
    
  • Water coolers can be refilled with a pail.
    
  • Able to purchase logs from hardware store.
    
  • Able to place objects under built tables (egg baskets, coolers, etc).
    
  • Add a visible health bar when being attacked by a wild animal or other players.
    
  • Optional setting that toggles wildlife spawn (passive only/aggressive only/both).
    
  • Method to dispose of resources you no longer need (paint cans, metal/concrete, etc).
    
  • Optional ranch-specific awards/achievements to strive towards (in-game, not Steam).
    
  • Show the kg of resources needed for prefabs (instead of 80 concrete it would be 80kg concrete).
    
  • Can transfer liquids between containers. Ex: Pail → Pail, Pail → Milk Canteen, Milk Canteen → Pail, Pail → Water Cooler, etc.
    
  • Expand the flat part of the ranch on the right side (mountainous side) up to the buildable ranch boundary.
    
  • Hide composter from view when in first person to make collecting easier.

ANIMALS

QoL Changes

• Most Popular:
  
  • Distinguish gender at birth (exception for birds) with a gender icon.
    
  • When being led, animals move faster and can keep up with the player.
    
  • Drag feature to move dead animals to where you want to process them.
    
  • Significantly reduce the chance of animals running towards and blocking open doors/gates.
    
  • Distinguish age (days old or maturity level) of animals via ear tags, magnifying glass, or other tool.
    
  • Option to sterilize animals to prevent breeding (can be added to tool wheel). Altered animals can be identified with an icon next to their health bar. Increases growth speed.
    
  • Add animal crates to move multiple small animals at a time (rabbits, chickens, etc).
    
  • Baby animals can be carried as long as they are small/young enough (even calves).
    
  • Auto-harvest animals directly into coolers as long as there is space. Meat that doesn’t fit falls on ground.
    
  • Animals can graze with access to open ground/pasture. Can reduce their wheat/feed intake. The larger the pasture, the less feed they need.
• Other:
  
  • Ability to hitch animals to fences or posts.
    
  • Animals die when hit by car - sad, but realistic.
    
  • Animals seek shelter during rain, storms, or snow.
    
  • Gradual grass cutting in places where animals are pastured.
    
  • Extend gestation and maturity length for all animals (exception for fowl).
    
  • Different colored animals (or breeds) have unique factors that affect growth speed, meat quality and wool growth/egg lay rate/etc. Ex: Leghorns (white hens) lay 5-6 eggs per week and grow quickly, but drop normal Chicken. Orpingtons (golden hens) may lay only 3-4 eggs per week and grow slower, but drop Quality Chicken.
    
  • Breeding different colored/breeds of animals of the same species results in a 50/50 chance for either color OR certain animal colors "locked" behind breeding. Ex: 3 available pig colors in store, but there are 7 possibles depending on crossbreeding.

Current Animals

• Bees
  
  • Produce honey and beeswax.
    
  • Bee hive frames stack more easily.
    
  • Add a beekeeper suit, at least for the fun of it.
    
  • Bees in one frame gradually fill up other empty frames in a hive.
    
  • Add a tool/tier that processes honey more efficiently (with less dragging).
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with bees increase Beekeeper skill (see skill category).
• Cattle
  
  • Produce milk, beef, cow hide, and horns.
    
  • Make beef cattle more profitable than pigs.
    
  • Update dairy cattle models. They look a little wonky compared to their sleek/perfectly chonky beef cousins.
    
  • Swap the color patterns for beef and dairy cattle as they are on the wrong breed (Simmental vs Hereford). Solid colors are still fine.
    
  • Differentiate cattle breeds with specific colors such as Angus (meat, black or red), Holstein (dairy, black/white), or Simmental (dairy, current beef appearance).
    
  • Certain cattle breeds can be used for draft work such as pulling plows or granary mills.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with cattle increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Chickens
  
  • Produce eggs, whole chicken, and chicken feathers.
    
  • Swap prices of rooster with price of hen (ex: Rooster = $50 each, Hen = $250 each).
    
  • Adjust price of chicken meat to reflect value of birds or vice versa.
    
  • Differentiate chickens as breeds dependent on color (ex: White = Leghorn, Black = Australorp, Golden = Orpington).
    
  • Change the chicken carry from neck-holding to a normal position (legs in one hand and one hand on back/top).
    
  • Each breed lays a specific-colored egg: White lays white eggs, Black lays brown eggs, Golden lays blue/green eggs.
    
  • Hens should be required to return to a coop to lay their eggs as long as they are in range of one. Prevents eggs getting lost in the grass.
    
  • A rooster can cover multiple hens, increasing egg fertility significantly,
    
  • A hen can lay up to x number of fertile eggs in a nest and hatch them all at the same time, during which time she may "set" (or sit on) her eggs.
    
  • Add an incubator to put fertile eggs in to speed up hatch time.
    
  • Add an auto-sexing (or edit an existing) breed like Plymouth Rock or Bielefelder; trade-offs could be super expensive and slower growth.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with chickens increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Goats:
  
  • Produce goat milk, goat meat, and goat hide.
    
  • Add the option to process goat meat into other products.
    
  • Add more breeds and/or color options. Separate dairy and meat breeds (ex: Nubian vs Boer) would be ideal as well.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with goats increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Horses:
  
  • Produce horse meant and horse hide.
    
  • Ability to lead horses.
    
  • Increase horse training speed.
    
  • Add buildable jumps for custom courses.
    
  • Can harvest horse meat and horse hide.
    
  • Make the saddle and bridle removable for a more natural look.
    
  • Option to style manes and tails (braids/short/long/etc).
    
  • Ability for horses to carry items in saddle bags.
    
  • Ability to open fences/gates/etc while on horseback.
    
  • Ability to rope and lead animals while on horseback.
    
  • Add different breeds such as:
    
  • Draft: Slower, but strong. Can plough fields, pull carts & lumber sleds/wagons, and be hooked up to a granary mill (ex: Clydesdale).
    
  • Racing: Fast, but harder to handle. Can be raced at the racetrack (ex: Thoroughbred).
    
  • Rodeo: Average speed, easy to handle. Can be entered in rodeo events (ex: Quarter Horse), and possibly herd or lead livestock.
    
  • All horses can pull a rideable buggy.
    
  • Change the majority eye color to very dark brown, as blue is generally considered rare.
    
  • Option to train outside of the paddock (like general riding or jumping over ordinary obstacles).
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with horses increase Horsemanship skill (see skill category).
• Pigs:
  
  • Produce pork and lard.
    
  • Rename the current pink pig to a certain breed (ex: Yorkshire).
    
  • Add more breeds/colors for pigs like Duroc (red), Large Black Hog (black), or Old Spots (spotted).
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with pigs increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Dairy Animals:
  
  • Add an identifier that shows which females have been milked and which haven't (full udders vs drained udders, or an icon above their heads?).
    
  • Must have given birth at least once in order to produce milk.
• Meat Animals:
  
  • Add an identifier that shows when a meat animal has hit max/ideal slaughter weight.
    
  • Add the option to process animals into specific cuts: bacon/pork belly, ham, beef ribs, leg of lamb, etc.
    
  • If skills are included, processing animals increases Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Wild Animals:
  
  • Can harvest meat and [insert species] hide or fur.
    
  • Allow wild game to be processed into other meat goods (meatball, sausage, etc).
    
  • Make each animal drop species-specific meats (wolf = wolf meat, bear = bear meat, etc).
    
  • Additional wild animals such as moose and racoons. Foxes also map-wide vs quest only.
    
  • If skills are included, hunting wild animals increases Hunting skill (see skill category).

New Animals

• Alpacas/Llamas:
  
  • Produce alpaca/llama wool, meat, and alpaca/llama skin.
    
  • Add color variations.
    
  • Allow alpacas/llamas to be breedable.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with alpacas/llamas increase Animal Husbandry and possibly Tailor skill (see skill category).
• Cats:
  
  • Add different types of cats such as long-haired, short-haired, hairless.
    
  • Allow cats to be breedable.
    
  • Can sell adult cats as well as kittens to a pet shop.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with cats increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Dogs:
  
  • Add different types of dogs such as herding, hunting, livestock guarding, etc.
    
  • Allow dogs to be breedable.
    
  • Can sell trained adults as well as untrained adults and pups to a pet shop.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with dogs increases Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Ducks & Geese:
  
  • Produce eggs, meat, and duck/goose feathers/down. Eggs → Mayonnaise, Feathers/Down → Quilts.
    
  • Add auto-sexing breeds like Pilgrim Geese (different body color) or Welsh Harlequin Ducks (different beak color).
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with ducks/geese increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Fish & Freshwater Lobster:
  
  • Fish produce whole fish, scales, and roe. Lobsters produce whole lobster.
    
  • Can buy as babies (Fishing Dock) to raise in a pond or fish directly out of lake.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with fish increase Fishing skill (see skill category).
• Rabbits:
  
  • Produce wool/fiber (if wool breed), meat, and rabbit hide.
    
  • Add a wool breed (ex: Angora) and a meat breed (ex: Silver Fox).
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with rabbits increase Animal Husbandry and possibly Tailor skill (see skill category).
• Sheep:
  
  • Produce wool, milk, meat, and sheep hide.
    
  • Add a wool/milk breed (ex: East Friesian) and a meat breed (ex: Suffolk).
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with sheep increase Animal Husbandry skill and possibly Tailor skill (see skill category).
• Turkeys:
  
  • Produce meat and turkey feathers. Turkey Feathers → Fishing Lures.
    
  • Meat has a multiplier in the fall.
    
  • Can add multiple breeds for color variation (ex: Narraganset, Royal Palm, Black Spanish).
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with turkeys increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).
• Donkeys:
  
  • Produce donkey meat and donkey hide.
    
  • Add color variations.
    
  • Breedable for income.
    
  • Can be used for mill grinding, cart pulling, riding, etc.
    
  • Can sell trained adults as well as untrained adults and foals.
    
  • If skills are included, interactions with donkeys increase Animal Husbandry skill (see skill category).

ECONOMY & FINANCES

QoL:

• Ability to split bank accounts for each player.
  
• Balanced Economy: Need more ways to remove money from, and therefore balance, the economy. For suggestions, please see below.

Resource Scarcity and Regeneration:

• Adjust the availability of resources, such as crops, animals, and oil. Make them scarcer or slow down their regeneration rate.
  
• Extend and/or rebalance length of pregnancy to counter population explosions.
  
• Quality over Quantity: Refocus on quality over quantity. Higher-quality crops, animals, or oil could yield more profits, but they should also require more resources and attention. Pigs take away from this at the moment due to their population explosion with little maintenance or resources required.

Market Fluctuations:

• Introduce market pricing fluctuations for all goods. Prices should rise and fall based on supply and demand, even a simulation version (since there aren't other players to foster a "real" economy).
  
• Interest Rates: Have interest rates fluctuate instead of having only a fixed rate, so making payments can cost less if you wait for a lower rate. If you miss a payment, the interest rate will not change, and missing multiple payments will cause it to increase. Max lowest interest: 2% Max highest interest: 26%. Starting interest: 20% (no credit).

Upkeep Costs & Taxes:

• Maintenance: Add maintenance and upkeep costs for vehicles, certain farm equipment, and buildings. Encourages players to invest in upgrades.
  
• Income Tax: Every x days, players are charged an income tax based on the total revenue made since the last tax day.
  
• Property Tax: Every x days, players are charged a property tax based on the amount of land owned.

Real Estate / Expansion Costs:

• Using the Real Estate Agent at the bank, you can:
  
  • Lease a lot for farmer's market.
    
  • Lease a store front in town.
    
  • Purchase oil permits for rights to drill oil for each oil spot. Permits become more expensive with each purchase.
    
  • Purchase Locked Property: Purchase locked land parcels from the bank to expand your ranch. Start on a limited amount of land initially. Land parcels could be locked by key features such as the initial 3 crop fields, a farm pond, etc.
    
  • Purchase Additional Property: Purchase rundown properties that unlock unique features such as a brewery, winery, bakery, orchards, etc. Utilize materials to rebuild and customize them (ex: purchasing an old brewery and rebuilding in order to produce distilled items).
    
  • Oil Rights: Must purchase oil rights for every oil well before placing an oil rig. Multiple rights can be purchased, but are increasingly expensive.

Skill Development:

• Implement a skill system that allows players to improve their farming and ranching abilities over time. Could pair with R&D or utilize skill books (faster skill increase) to add a cost to this. (touched on in Skills category)

Progression Rewards:

• Reward players for reaching certain milestones in skills or achievements with valuable in-game items or bonuses. This can motivate them to invest in their ranch to achieve these milestones.

Unlockable Content:

• Upgrade the Town: Invest money to unlock certain buildings such as the Domjan’s Antiques or Jacob’s Bakery.
  
• Lock items behind quests. Doing a questline unlocks a certain crop/animal/tool/etc.
  
• Research & Development: Invest money & time to unlock rare animal breeds, special crops, higher tier equipment, efficient vehicles (oil or milk tanker), and even ranch hand upgrades (faster walking, multitasking, etc).
  
• Participate: Additional avenues to spend money such as local fairs, farmer’s market, horse competitions, and seasonal events.

Events & Challenges:

• Hard Mode Challenge: Start with Grandpa's huge debt to pay off, pay rent for the land (Grandpa didn't own) and save up to buy it entirely, or some other major hinderance.
  
• Holiday & Seasonal Events:
  
  • Spring:
    
    • Spring Planting Festival: Help the town prepare for the annual Spring Planting Festival! Plant and harvest a specific variety of crops to fill specialty orders from the npc ranchers and food-related businesses in a limited time frame. Rewards could be exclusive spring-themed decorations, bonus crop yields, unique animals (goat/cattle) or unique seeds.
      
    • Spring Cleaning Challenge: Volunteer to clear other npcs ranches of debris and clutter within a certain time frame. Rewards could be ranch expansion or renovation discounts, or spring-cleaning-themed decorations.
      
    • Easter Egg Hunt: Find and collect hidden eggs scattered around the map on Easter weekend. Rewards could be Easter-themed decorations, unique animals (rabbit/chicken), costumes, or temporary boosts.
  • Summer:
    
    • Summer Livestock Showdown: Enter your best animals to compete in the season's County Fair. Rewards could be blue ribbons, special animal breeds (spotted pigs/longhorn cattle/etc), or increased animal product yields.
      
    • Summer Fishing Frenzy: Catch specific rare fish that only appear during this time and turn them in to the fisherman working the dock. Rewards could be rare fish-themed decorations, unique fish species, fisherman costume, or fishing equipment upgrades.
  • Fall:
    
    • Halloween Spooktacular: Decorate your ranch with spooky items and assist the townfolks with a Halloween event. Unlock costumes you can craft and deliver, create Halloween-themed foods and desserts, and fill specialty orders for the big day. Rewards could be Halloween-themed decorations and furniture, costumes, or unique recipes.
      
    • Thanksgiving Feast Frenzy: Help the townsfolk prepare a grand Thanksgiving feast with specific ingredients and recipes. Rewards could be unique recipes, holiday-themed decorations, unique animals (turkey/goose/duck), or costumes.
  • Winter:
    
    • Valentine's Day Romance Rodeo: Help the townsfolk organize a romantic event by filling their specialty quests. Could include growing specific flowers, delivering gifts from one npc to another, making candies/scented candles/other goods, and more. Quest rewards could give special flower varieties, romantic-themed decorations, or costumes.
      
    • Winter Wonderland Expedition: Explore the snowy wilderness to find evidence of Santa’s scouting visits to town (reindeer/sled tracks, half-eaten cookies, etc). Reward with winter-themed items, special resources, unique animals (reindeer), unique animal variants (tri-colored sheep/alpaca), or costumes.
  • Note: Costumes could be for players, ranch hands, and even animals!

FARM, GARDEN, & LANDSCAPE

Updates:

• Add fertilizer and plant cure silos (similar to granary) that auto-refill garden beds.
  
• Add an incentive to make the fields worth the investment of farming, as the crop silo is much more efficient and cost-effective.
  
• Add the option to move the provided 3 fields, expand them, and be able to create more.
  
• Add additional garden plot sizes. Small (single), Large (4-slot), etc.
  
• Ability to plow your own fields wherever you want them - either with a tractor or harnessed draft horse/oxen team.

New:

• Add more gardening options like herb gardens (potted), hanging pots, raised planter beds, etc.
  
• Terrain Tools:
  
  • Paintable Terrain Brushes
    
  • Smooth/Raise/Flatten Tools - can be tied to player tools such as a hoe, shovel, etc.
• Add unique saplings that can be planted on the ranch.
  
  • Produce Saplings: Can be planted to produce fruit, nuts, or other tree produce. Returns a small amount of wood if cut down.
    
  • Wood Saplings: Plantable trees specifically for harvesting larger quantities of wood.
  • Wood Saplings (variety): Plantable trees that drop their specific wood type (oak = oak logs, birch = birch logs) and can be used to create unique prefabs or blueprints (oak antique table, birch barn).

FOOD SYSTEM OVERHAUL:

General:

• Adjust Food Prices:
  
  • Goat and sheep dairy products should be worth more than cow products.
    
  • Chicken meat needs some TLC, as currently chickens aren't worth processing.
    
  • Meat products in general need some re-balancing, especially the salami production.
• Eggs and milk can be placed into carton form for selling. Cartons can be crafted or purchased.
  
• Honey, herbs, and other crops can be used to increase the value of other goods.

New Crops & Produce:

• Grains: Barley, Hops
  
• Herbs & Spices: Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Black Pepper, Salt
  
• Trees: Apple, Almond, Cherry, Olive, Peach
  
• Fruits (garden): Raspberry
  
• Vegetables (garden): Carrot, Garlic, Lettuce, Mushroom, Onion, Potato
  
• Misc: Cocoa Powder, Vanilla, Yeast (Baker’s & Brewer’s)

Animal Edibles:

• Passive: Eggs, Egg Products, Milk, Butter, Cheese, Cream, Ice Cream, Yogurt
  
• Meat: Whole (smaller animals like fish or rabbit), Ground Meat, Burger Patties, Meatballs, Sausage, Jerky, Fish Filet, Lobster Claw, Lobster Tail

Animal-Alternatives:

• Passive: Almond Milk & Milk Products (pairs well with Sunflower Oil)
  
• Meat: Mushroom Patties, Meatballs, Sausage, and Jerky

New Food Systems:

• Food Spoilage:
  
  • Food products spoil over time to prevent storing indefinitely for x2 multiplier days.
    
  • Food spoil timer dependent on ingredients and process type (salami lasts longer than raw sausage, cheese lasts longer than milk, etc).
    
  • Food can be placed in coolers or refrigerators to last longer.
    
  • Spoiled food can be made into compost.
• New Cooking & Preserving Methods:
  
  • Baking: Use a mixing bowl and baking pans/sheets to create baked goods.
    
  • Canning: Use canning jars and (if fruit) sugar/honey to store your garden and orchard produce.
    
  • Churning: Use butter churns, an ice cream maker, yogurt culture, or even a simple pan to create various dairy products.
    
  • Drying: Use the drying racks to age additional products like fruit (Grape → Raisin).
    
  • Fermentation: Craft wines, ciders, and beer with your fruits and grains.
    
  • Grinding: Grind spices, herbs, grains, and more to expand your ingredient toolbox.
    
  • Meat Processing: Specialize in meat breeds that drop Quality cuts vs dairy or wool breeds that drop normal meat. Example: A dairy cattle breed would drop (normal) Beef, but a beef breed would drop Quality Beef.
    
  • Smoking: Craft smoked goods and different jerkys from your livestock.
    
  • Rendering: Reduce Honey or Lard to get other products, such as Sugar or Fat and Lye.
    
  • Complex Food: Use the above methods and combine multiple ingredients for new foods. Example: Rosemary+Sheep Milk+Egg = Pecorino Cheese

PLAYERS & NPCS

Players:

• Character Creation:
  
  • Additional Content: More hair and clothing options, potentially unlocked through quests (ex: Barber asks for hair product, Tailor asks for wool).
    
  • Additional Templates: Option to change between multiple characters and/or to save different character templates.
    
  • Camera Angles: Additional camera angles in character creation such as rotating and zoom in/out.
• Add an additional camera angle so players can see themselves from the front (face-side).
  
• Ability to interact with appliances and furniture such as sitting on a couch, using a sink for water, etc.
  
• Stop stance adjustment, allowing players to face any direction desired without forcing them to turn to a cardinal or compass direction (N, NW, E, S, etc).
  
• Able to have tighter and faster turning. The newer animations, while smooth, have a very slow response time and are rather inefficient.

NPCs:

• Give names to NPCs. Currently, I call the general store owner "Barbara".
  
• Additional quests or “errands'' from quest givers.
  
  • Ability to gain reputation points from doing quests. The more points, the more quests become unlocked.
    
  • Additional quests requiring ranch products (milk, eggs, wool, etc) or even live animals.
    
  • In-Town: Quests could be for in-town purchases and deliveries. Ex: “I want a record player” - Purchase from antique store and deliver.
• Add NPCs to the town via interactable cashiers or store owners, as well as NPC customers, pedestrians, etc.
  
• Interactable NPCs and potential romances (between NPCs = quest, between player and NPC).

DECOR

QoL:

• Ability to rotate Fluorescent Lamp horizontally.
  
• Make the new ranch gate functional (opens and closes).
  
• More furniture for self-built houses. Craftable (carpentry) or purchasable.
  
• More precise painting (like crossbars at the doors and gates or wood paneling on station wagon) for more customization variants.
  
• Ability to create a logo for the ranch. Able to be placed on vehicles and items (coolers, milk canisters, etc).
  
• Ability to move smaller decor after being placed to prevent it being destroyed/losing the materials (potted plants, wall sign, etc).
  
• Ability to create your own wallpaper for decorating purposes. Could have a Wallpaper Maker terminal next to the Paint Computer in the hardware store.

New Decor:

• Decor Interior:
  
  • Additional Houseplants
    
  • Animal Skin Rugs
    
  • Carpets & Rugs
    
  • Pictures/Paintings: Hanging, small ones placeable on desks/tables, etc.
    
  • Trophy Mounts
• Decor Exterior:
  
  • Terrain Paint: Ability to create driveways/pathing with differing styles such as dirt, gravel, flagstone, etc.
    
  • Additional Potted Plants
    
  • Additional Trees (wood & decor): Pine, maple, oak, birch, willow, cherry blossom, etc.
    
  • Flowers & Shrubs: Flowers placed near hives can slightly increase honey generation. Can be purchased from the Farmer’s Market.
    
  • Boulders, Rocks, Small Stones
    
  • Hay Stacks
• Lighting:
  
  • Candles
    
  • Chandelier
    
  • Fireplaces
    
  • Floodlights
    
  • Floor & Table Lamps
    
  • Solar Lights (turn off/on at 8am/8pm) such as landscape/pathway lights, wall lights, and lamp posts.
    
  • Additional decorative lighting.

PREFABS & BLUEPRINTS

General:

• Adjust building cost for certain items (ex: Wall Light = 6 planks, Table = 9 planks - unbalanced).
  
• Ability to build a roof on higher levels for multi-story structures.
  
• Ability to place the barn stall individually rather than only snappable in barn.
  
• New buildings should look new. New barn shouldn’t look weathered, new house shouldn’t look old, etc.
  
• Building material changes overall building appearance. A birch barn uses birch wood and looks different than an oak barn that uses oak wood.

Building QoL:

• Save custom buildings and access community builds.
  
• Add a building grid to assist in precise placement.
  
• Snap toggle for blueprints such as furniture or garden plots.
  
• Easy-snap building to other blueprints or constructed buildings (fences to fences, fences to barns, etc).
  
• Toggle option for visible degree rotation when placing structures, especially fences.
  
• Toggle option for "Easy Angles", so a mouse scroll will rotate 45 or 90 degrees each time rather than 5 degrees.
  
• Raise and lower foundation pieces once they snap in (like you can with fences) to make multi level flooring.
  
• Ability to move built structures (small troughs, tables, etc) to prevent it being destroyed/losing the materials.

Updated Build Pieces & Prefabs:

• Pre-Built Prefabs:
  
  • Includes barn, houses, garage, coops, etc.
    
  • Ability to paint additional structures such as the blue/white garage, weathered wood sheds, barn, prefab houses, and granary/windmill.
    
  • Large Chicken Coop: Change interaction to Hold E instead of Press E to close coop drawer, so you aren’t accidentally closing when collecting eggs. Add interaction of Press F to collect all eggs in drawer when holding an egg basket.
• Fencing:
  
  • Adjustable length (longer or shorter). Matches foundation length by default.
    
  • Easy-snap on both sides of fence (not just one snappable side) and onto foundations.
    
  • Ability to automatically join fences to each other and other structures with the help of a grid.
    
  • New filler fence posts to fill in any gaps. Great for custom builds that might not always line up.
    
  • Auto-draw a fenced area in a certain pattern (square/circle/etc); can drag to expand or shrink blueprint area to desired size.
• Oil Rig:
  
  • Add lights to the rig that can be toggled.
    
  • Refinery to produce our own fuel.
    
  • Can sell fuel and oil to the gas station.
    
  • Automatically show icon on map (toggleable).
    
  • Allow terrain around placed oil rigs to be buildable.

New Build Pieces & Prefabs:

• Animal Prefabs:
  
  • Additional Chicken Coop: Automatically collects eggs.
    
  • Placeable Chicken Nest Boxes - for custom coops
    
  • Cattle Paddock
    
  • Goat Pen
    
  • Grazing Pole (attach animals to)
    
  • Open Graze Paddock
    
  • Pigsty
    
  • Rabbit Hutches: Come in multiple sizes.
• Style Variation Pieces:
  
  • Original Aging Racks: Ability to build the same racks for aging meat and cheese as in the pre-built houses (not the ones with doors).
    
  • Original Drying Shelves: Ability to build the same shelves with drying hangers as in the pre-built houses.
    
  • Brick Garage Prefab (newer variant)
    
  • Barn Designs
    
  • Doors & Frames: Garage Door & Door Frame (taller)
    
  • Fence Variants: Wood Pole (front entrance style), Metal, etc.
    
  • Flooring Variants: Carpet, Concrete, Mosaic, Tile, etc.
    
  • Foundation & Wall: Brick/Concrete/Stone/Log Variants
• Unique Pieces:
  
  • Balcony Railings
    
  • Corner Roof Tiles (Left, Right, Pyramid/Tipped)
    
  • Flat Foundation (not raised)
    
  • Fencing: Single Door Fence Gate, Extra Wide Fence Gate (fits large trailers/harvester), Half Length Fence, Quarter Length Fence
    
  • Foldable Attic Stairs
    
  • Railings
    
  • Support Beams
• Functional Prefabs:
  
  • Abattoirs (butcher house): Ring bell to bring meat animals over to be butchered. Can change bell to affect a certain gender or a certain size (max size vs any adult vs any age).
    
  • Bakery: Comes with brick ovens, bread shelves, and upgradeable flour mill and dough-making stations.
    
  • Cheese House: Comes with cheese preserving bins and an upgradeable cheese-making station (manual vs electric vs automatic). Can be attached to a Milking Parlor.
    
  • Fish Pond: Comes with pond, small fishing dock, and hatchery "pools".
    
  • Loading Dock: Receives online purchases & bulk shipments.
    
  • Milking Parlor: Ring bell to bring dairy animals over to be milked. Can change bell to affect a certain type of animal (all milkable vs dairy only vs cow vs goat). Males, babies, and already milked animals will not respond. Can be attached to a Cheese House.
    
  • Smokehouse: Comes with meat preserving bins and an upgradeable meat-processing station (manual vs electric vs automatic). Can be attached to an Abattoir.

Furniture (build/buy):

• Arm Chairs & Sofas
  
• Beds: Bunk Beds, King Beds (2-person), Single Beds
  
• Clocks: Wall Clock, Grandfather Clock, Alarm Clock
  
• Kitchen:
  
  • Counters: Can store mold, spices, and other small items.
    
  • Fridge/Freezer Combo: Fridge acts as usable storage (larger cooler), while the freezer passively generates ice.
    
  • Sink: Water source that fills either pails or pans.
    
  • Stove/Oven: Can hold 4 pans on top and bake goods.
    
  • Trash Can: Deletes anything put in it.
• Picnic Table
  
• Tables & Chairs

House Specific:

• Add restrooms to the prefab houses, a simple powder room is fine.
  
• A blank house prefab. An empty, open floor plan that the player can decorate themselves.
  
• Editable Prefabs: Can choose wallpaper color, shelf decor, style of appliances, etc for pre-furnished - house blueprints. Maybe even what shelving is placed in the pantry (cheese only vs meat & cheese vs meat only).
  
• Ability to use/interact with the appliances and furniture in the houses (sitting on couch, using sink for water, using oven, etc).

PROGRESSION & STREAMLINING

Updated Progression:

• Tier 3 Progression - Automation (Tier 1 = manual, Tier 2 = electric)
  
  • Automated Meat Grinder: Hopper or other mechanic that a cooler attaches to that automatically pulls and grinds meat. Option to integrate milk, eggs, and spices.
    
  • Automated Sausage Stuffer: Automated sausage production from previous ground meat (attaches to Automated Meat Grinder). Option to integrate milk, eggs, and spices.
    
  • Automated Milking Machine: Dairy animals will automatically be milked at optimal periods and will feed into a milk tank hooked up to the machine. An attached bell can summon nearby dairy animals needing to be milked. Larger capacity than milk machine.
    
  • Automated Curd Machine: Machine that processes milk into curd, with mold being an optional integration (attaches to Automated Milking Machine).
    
  • Automated Cheese Drying: Machine that ages curds into cheese (attaches to Automated Curd Machine).
    
  • Automated Sawmill: Sawmill with an attached log storage/feeder that spits out stacks of lumber.
• Storage Progression:
  
  • Curing & Cheese Cabinets: An electric tier that speeds up curing time and with twice the space.
    
  • Cooler / Meat Storage: Large Cooler that fits more items than the previous tier. (Added)
    
  • Produce: Available as a Produce Basket or a Produce Crate (latter fits pumpkins/melons).
    
  • Liquid Tanks: A medium or large metal tank that holds large volumes of liquids such as milk/wine/cider/etc.
    
  • Silos: Larger silo with more feed storage capacity.
• Tier 1-3 Progression - Misc
  
  • Harvesting Tools: Axe → Chainsaw → Driveable Tree Harvester
    
  • Wood Processing: Sawmill → Electric Sawmill (stacks planks like cheaper version) → Automatic Sawmill (more planks from logs, auto-stacks planks produced).
    
  • Oil Rig: Oil Rig → Advanced Oil Rig (very expensive and can be placed on dry oil spots with permits)
• Additional Machines if Implemented:
  
  • Fermenting Barrel: Creates beers, ciders, and wines in oak barrels (purchasable or craftable). Ex: Brewer’s Yeast+Hops+Barley=Beer (1 hour).
    
  • Fridge/Freezer: Fridge portion works as a cooler, while the Freezer portion passively collects ice. Ice can be used for other recipes like ice cream or sorbets.
    
  • Ice Cream Maker: For making ice cream. Utilizes ice from the freezer.
    
  • Juicer: Creates juices from various fruits. Juices can then be turned into ciders and wines via the Fermenting Barrel.
    
  • Milling: Processes grains, spices, and more into a powder form to be used in certain recipes. Tier 3 could have a either be a fueled machine OR require a donkey/oxen harness (for the antique version).
    
  • Oil Press: Makes oil from Sunflowers, Olives, and other crops to be used in certain recipes.
    
  • Oil Activator: A super expensive tier of oil rig designed to obtain oil in less desirable areas (no black puddle). Unlocks one new oil slot for each construction (ex: 300 planks, 300 concrete, 500 metal).

Updated Streamlining:

• Ladders: Ability to move and step onto to reach top shelves, make taller buildings, etc.
  
• Wheelbarrow: Can hold multiple resources at a time for easier transportation.

GAME SYSTEMS & MECHANICS:

General:

• Rain water harvesting.
  
• Green Energy such as solar panels, electric generators, wind turbines, etc.
  
• Crates/Pallets: Acts like an oversized cooler that stores storage containers (egg baskets/coolers/barrels/etc).
  
• Organic: Raising animals on pasture (slower growth) or growing crops without chemicals gives products an “organic” bonus that increases profit.

Bed-n-Breakfast: Owning multiple houses allows you to rent out rooms to other NPC tourists or locals for an extended time.

• Because of the uniqueness of this idea, would probably be better as a purchasable expansion rather than adding to the game directly.
  
• Requires calendar management for booking.
  
• Tourists can leave ratings. Ratings affect amount you can charge and frequency of visitors.
  
• Hire cleaning service between bookings to boost ratings. “Dirty” vs “Clean” rentals affect ratings.
  
• Purchasing/placing themed or more expensive furnishings for the house increases ratings.
  
• Ranch attraction (decor, landscape) and number/variety of animals affect ratings.

Ranch Hands: NPCs that can be hired for a flat fee per day to help with various ranch chores such as cleaning up after animals, cutting wood, or processing food. Ranch hands could then be assigned any job type.

Examples of Specialized Workers include:

• Animal Help:
  
  • Fish: Feed/breed and harvest fish into coolers from your personal pond.
    
  • Poultry: Feed/water, breed, collect eggs, separate fertile and infertile eggs, process adults (if toggled) and place meat in coolers.
    
  • Rabbits: Feed/water, breed, shear wool, and process adults (if toggled) and place meat in coolers.
    
  • Pets: Feed/water, trains dogs assigned to them to do different tasks like herding, hunting, etc.
    
  • Swine: Feed/water, breed, process adult pigs (if toggled) and place meat in coolers. Can assign a herding dog.
    
  • Goats & Sheep: Feed/water, breed, milk, shear wool, process adults (if toggled) and place meat in coolers. Can be assigned to sheep, goats, or alpacas/llamas. Can assign a herding dog.
    
  • Cattle: Feed/water, breed, milk, process adults (if toggled) and place meat in coolers. Can assign a herding dog.
    
  • Horses: Feed/water, breed, and train horses or donkeys assigned to them.
• Gardening Help:
  
  • Greenhouse: Water/cure/fertilize/harvest plants in garden beds.
    
  • Fields: Plough/plant/fertilize/harvest crops in crop fields.
• Kitchen Help:
  
  • Baking: Creates baked goods from assigned ingredients.
    
  • Cooking: Makes complex ingredients, meat-alternatives, and simple meals (ex: salad) from assigned ingredients.
    
  • Dairy Processing: Processes milk and milk alternatives into a variety of dairy products.
    
  • Meat Processing: Processes different types of meat into a variety of products.
• Misc.
  
  • Crafting: Craft leather from hide, craft lye from lard, craft scented candles and soaps/lotions out of beeswax and lye, etc.
    
  • Errand Running: and drops off needed tools and ingredients to each ranch hand or station. Ex: Picks up meat coolers from swineherd and drops off to butcher.
    
  • Oil Processing: Fuel rigs, gather oil, and sell oil to the appropriate store.
    
  • Tailoring: Creates a variety of woolen goods.

Computer/Laptop:

• Comes with a prefab house or can be purchased and placed on a desk (snaps to).
  
• Non-electronic alternatives could be newspapers or hard copy catalogs.
  
• Can improve gameplay by:
  
  • Online Calendar: Track dates, show daily specials for the week for the Restaurant, dates of the fair and farmer’s market, etc.
    
  • Online Catalog (Stores): Can make online purchases that ship to your house for a delivery fee. Has an up-to-date catalog showing the stock and prices from all (permanent) stores.
    
  • Online Catalog (Vehicles): A catalog for vehicles that shows the features like capacity and top speed, and displays a 360 degree viewing of the 3D model vehicles. Can customize and purchase online. Must pick up from garage (not deliverable).
    
  • Online Orders: Can see order requests of the day from certain stores like Best Burger or U-Foods Supermarket.

SKILLS:

Adding skills not only improves process speeds and general efficiency, but also provides progression to the game by locking certain items, animals, and tiers behind certain skill levels. For example, reaching Animal Husbandry Level 5 might unlock Pigs, while Level 7 unlocks the Electric Grinder.

Maxing skills can also earn the player achievements and potential bonuses. Potential skills could include:

• Generic:
  
  • How to Increase: Build stats by doing basic things like sprinting, carrying items, etc.
    
  • Benefits: Run faster, carry multiple stacks, dual-carry (carry an item in each hand), etc.
• Animal Husbandry:
  
  • How to Increase: Feeding, watering, milking, shearing, hatching eggs, breeding, and butchering.
    
  • Benefits: Higher levels can give faster growth by a percentage, increased harvest amount (milk/meat), and increased trust (animals less likely to bolt at gunshot or run towards an open gate).
• Beekeeping
  
  • How to Increase: Capturing wild hives, harvesting domestic hives, and crafting bee-related products like scented soaps and candles.
    
  • Benefits: Honey production speed increased, bee-related products worth more, etc.
• Carpentry
  
  • How to Increase: Craft wooden furniture/items, whittling small figures (ex: bear), sell goods to antique shop or general store, etc.
    
  • Benefits: Increased value of crafted goods, increased whittling/crafting speed, etc.
• Fishing
  
  • How to Increase: Actively fishing, butchering fish, and crafting fishing lures.
    
  • Benefits: Increased chance for larger/better fish, faster catch speed, etc.
• Gardening
  
  • How to Increase: Plough, plant seeds, water/fertilize/cure/harvest plants, and compost feces.
    
  • Benefits: Faster plant growth, hardier plants (not sick as often), bigger harvest, etc.
• Horsemanship:
  
  • How to Increase: Feeding, watering, breeding, training, and riding horses.
    
  • Benefits: Faster horse training, increased saddle bag carry capacity, increased chance of winning at competitions, etc.
• Hunting:
  
  • How to Increase: Hunting, butchering, and skinning wild game.
    
  • Benefits: Steadier/more accurate gun aim, faster reload, unlock upgrades (scope, silencer, extended magazine), etc.
• Leatherworking:
  
  • How to Increase: Skinning, tanning, and crafting with hides or furs of wild and domestic animals.
    
  • Benefits: Cheaper leather recipes, faster tanning process, unlock more valuable recipes, etc.
• Logging:
  
  • How to Increase: Chop down/replant trees and process logs into planks.
    
  • Benefits: Faster wood processing, chance of more planks per log, etc.
• Oilman:
  
  • How to Increase: Place oil rigs, collect/sell oil, and refine/sell fuel.
    
  • Benefits: Faster oil pump speed, unlocks larger oil barrels and oil tanker, etc.
• Tailoring:
  
  • How to Increase: Shearing sheep/wool rabbits, spinning yarn, weaving fabric, etc.
    
  • Benefits: Increased value of goods, increased spinning/weaving speed, unlock more valuable recipes, etc.

VEHICLES

QoL:

• Ability to paint trailers.
  
• Add a horn to all vehicles.
  
• Ability to customize license plates.
  
• Add vehicle damage and repair costs.
  
• Increase gas mileage for most vehicles.
  
• Ability to apply ranch logo to vehicles.
  
• Add more vehicle customization options.
  
• Toggle option to remove npc traffic/vehicles.
  
• Visible icons on the map that can be toggled on/off.
  
• Cinder blocks to put trailer on when unhitched (visual).
  
• More vehicle stability and less fishtailing/flipping when driving.
  
• Enable intentional vehicle skidding (Spacebar + A / D) and tighter turns.
  
• Ability to place stuff in the passenger seat like the egg basket/cooler/etc.
  
• Purchasable GPS for your car that shows a mini map in the bottom corner of the screen.
  
• Auto-load vehicle with purchased items and/or animals when parked in the loading dock.
  
• Make accelerating vehicles more responsive. Currently a delay then rocket boost instead of a smooth transition.
  
• Have a tow truck NPC that can spawn your vehicle back at the car store parking lot (for when your car gets stuck or disappears).
  
• Camera Angle: Adjust and fix angle when driving, especially when driving down hill or backing up/hitching/driving trailers.
  
• Shuddering: Please fix the shuddering/constantly adjusting camera angle when driving. Can make folks motion sick and could be a photosensitive concern. (Added)

Updated Vehicles:

• UTV:
  
  • Give UTV a usable rack.
    
  • UTV needs more horsepower. (Added)
• Harvester:
  
  • Increase harvester speed. (Added)
• Small Trailer:
  
  • Improve hitbox on Small Trailer, allowing items to be placed closer to the left/right edges (currently a large gap that could be used).
• New vehicles:
  
  • Amish-Style Buggy - Can purchase at the Antique Store. Attach a horse for a simple yet stylish mode of transportation.
    
  • Bicycle - For fun.
    
  • Forklift - Transport crates and/or pallets around the ranch or in/out of vehicles.
    
  • Fridge Truck - Toggle to enable easy snapping/stacking of crates/pallets/coolers.
    
  • Tree Harvester - Automatically harvests trees and loads logs.
    
  • Sawmill Trailer - A purchasable attachment for the Tree Harvester that automatically cuts and stacks planks from loaded logs.
    
  • Log/Plank Trailer - Automatically stacks logs or planks loaded into it. Not to be confused with the Sawmill Trailer.
    
  • Grass Cutter - A purchasable attachment for the tractor to cut grass more efficiently.
    
  • Bailer - A purchasable attachment for the harvester to make hay bales.
    
  • Fishing Boat - Can purchase at the Dock or from the Car Shop (trailer required).
    
  • Milk Tank Trailer or Truck - Holds milk like a fuel trailer. Pour in with milk cans, remove with pump.
    
  • Oil Tanker Trailer or Truck - Holds oil like a fuel trailer. Pour in with barrels, remove with pump.

LOCATIONS

Updates:

• Make the decorative buildings/structures usable (see Remodel Locations below).
  
• Select items from what has been placed in the store rather than the terminal. Such as selecting the already setup table saw in the hardware store, or picking up cheese mold from a shelf in the UFoods General Store. The terminal can then be used for special ordering a specific quantity of an item for a shipping fee.
  
• Make newspaper dispensers give a newspaper showing ads, daily prices for Best Burger, Lost Pet or Errand quests, Looking for Work section (ranch hands), County Fair dates, etc.
  
• Make the benches able to be sat on.
  
• Add solar lights (turn on at night) next to/near the stores and restaurant's loading areas for easier visibility.
  
• Can pay for drinks from the drink vending machines, soda fountains, etc.
  
• Cashiers, receptionists, etc can be interacted with for either purchases or additional quests.
  
• Terminals:
  
  • Remove the limit for the number of purchasable items from terminals.
    
  • Option to type a specific quantity of items to purchase from terminals.

Remodel Locations:

• Abandoned Warehouse: Purchasable building that you can fix up yourself to mass produce and sell goods.
  
  
• August Miller Memorial Hospital: Can sell medicine (from herbs), bandages (from cloth), and other medical supplies here. Might have a quest here to help a doctor or hospitalized patient.
  
  
• Best Burger: Adjusted to buy only crafted foods like sausage, cheese, and bread (not eggs or milk). Ingredients would instead be sold to the supermarket. Able to sit at the tables. Can interact with the soda fountain.
  
  
• Bhive Premium Beef: Unsure what the building is, perhaps a butcher or steakhouse? Clarify business type and either rename to something more beef-ish or make the store centered around bees.
  
  
• Brun & Perez Luxury Sneakers: A shoe store that should be remodeled into something else, as there is already a clothing store (WeeFit). Perhaps a saddle shop?
  
  
• Chippy’s Burger Stand: There are already so many burgers, perhaps changing it to a hotdog stand that utilizes sausages.
  
  
• Dock/Fishing Hut: Located on the lake. Buy fishing gear, rent a boat, or purchase baby fish to rear in your own pond. Location needs a name. (Added, but not interactable)
  
  
• Domjan Antiques: Sells antiques and non-mechanized farm equipment. Antique furniture, horse-drawn plows and wagons, oxen/donkey mill harnesses, manual butter churns, floor looms and spinning wheels, wood ovens, etc can be found here. Could have delivery quests for carpentry items. (Added, not interactable)
  
  
• Eagle Original Gas Station: Can sell oil and packaged snacks here (chips, jerky), buy/sell jerry cans, buy coffee & beer, etc. Note: Unsure if the image is an eagle or a hawk.
  
  
• Europa Outdoor Equipment: Can’t wait to see what y’all have in mind. Potentially sells tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc.
  
  
• Fred’s Electronics: An ad posted to the back of the unnamed pub’s storage building, but that does not have a physical location itself. If electronics are planned, then could have it replace Inca’s in the 3-store combo (with Thrifty’s and Europa).
  
  
• Haidel Bank: Additional loan amounts, both larger flat loans and custom loan amounts. Bank needs a candy bowl. <3
  
  
• Inca’s IPAs: Has two separate locations (a store combo and a downtown store). Remove from both and replace the unnamed pub (cheap beer sign) with Inca. Limits the number of pubs/delis and makes buildings usable for other businesses.
  
  
• Jacob’s Downtown Deli: Perhaps making this a bakery instead of a deli for additional quests. Can sell flour (ground grains), baking ingredients, and baked goods here.
  
  
• Mala’s Bistro: Has no physical building, although the sign is attached to the side of Domjan’s Antiques. Sign can be removed since there is no building for it.
  
  
• Michael’s Hardware Store: Remodel to sell only hardware items/resources, as well as the harvester and tractor. Remove the non-hardware items (meat machines, coolers, etc).
  
  
• Pharmacy: Attached to the hospital. Can sell medicinal herbs and crafted medicine here. Please name.
  
  
• Police Dept: Can activate a quest to locate, pick up, and return “lost” pets to the police for a reward. Activating a quest spawns a pet in a generic location to be retrieved (like rabbit quest). Also has an “Impound Lot” menu or terminal similar to the car shop where you can purchase rundown cars missing parts for a discount. Upon purchase and tow fee, the selected vehicle will spawn in William’s Car Shop parking lot. The missing parts (seat/tire/tank/etc) can be purchased from the car shop and assembled yourself. Impound Lot refreshes stock over time.
  
  
• Pub: Has a “Beer Cheaper Than Gas” sign. Rename to Inca’s IPAs.
  
  
• Ranchers: Sell livestock - perhaps the male rancher built his dairy barn with the wood you supplied (sells cattle and goats) and the female rancher expanded her egg business and also got into wool production thanks to the lack of foxes (sells fertile eggs, chickens, fiber rabbits, sheep, and alapacas/llamas). The ranchers also provide additional quests or “errands”, perhaps gradually unlocked/discovered when more buildings become interactable.
  
  
• Ranger Station: Help with wildlife and nature-related quests.
  
  
• Sleevo: An unspecified building that resembles a department store. Can purchase furniture as well as modern appliances and decor here. Something like double beds, electric ovens, washing/drying machines, tables, etc. (Added, but not interactable)
  
  
• Thrifty’s: Sells discounted goods that rotate out. Part of a 3-store combo with Europa and Inca’s IPAs (replace latter with something else).
  
  
• uFoods General Store: Redesign to make it more of a “farm supply” without the larger livestock. Should be structured to only sell things such as feed, seeds, farming tools, packaging containers (egg cartons or milk bottles), fertile eggs, and smaller animals such as Chickens, Rabbits and eventually more exotic Ducks, Quail, Turkeys, or Geese. Larger livestock can then be purchased from the ranchers. Rename to be more farm related.
  
  
• uFoods Super Market: Replaces the general store and Best Burger as the primary place to buy/sell ingredients like raw meat, eggs as well as new ingredients like yeast, raw fish, and salt. Could have delivery quests like irl Farm Boxes. (Added, but not interactable)
  
  
• Upsway: A building for lease that has an attached storage unit. Either rent it out yourself or replace it with a functional building.
  
  
• Viewing Platform: The giant brown square platform at the top of a trail. If it has a purpose, please clarify with a visual. Otherwise, benches or other small decor to spice it up would be ideal.
  
  
• Vinyl Records: Sells records, record players, stereos, and instruments. “Learn” new music for your instruments by purchasing music sheets. (Added, but not interactable)
  
  
• WeeFit Clothing Store: A clothing store that sells/unlocks additional character customization outfits. This could also open a door to having a dresser/mirror in bedrooms. Can sell woolen goods here. (Added, but not interactable)
  
  
• William’s Car Shop: Add car parts as purchasable items (if adding Impound Lot). Consider renaming other “William”-named buildings for more diversity or assign a brand if all “owned” by the same entity.
  
  
• William’s Garage: Add more ranch-related vehicles and car upgrade options. Acts as a respawn location for towed vehicles. Potential vehicle-related quests. Consider renaming for more name diversity or assign a brand if all “owned” by the same entity.
  
  
• William’s Livestock Auction: Can bid on and sell larger livestock here such as horses, donkeys, cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and alpacas/llamas. Animals that do not sell are returned to the player. Consider renaming for more name diversity or assign a brand if all “owned” by the same entity. (Added, but only sells horses)
  
  
• Unnamed Building #1: An apartment or hotel looking building with no affiliation. Please clarify with a visual what the building is.
  
  
• Unnamed Building #2: A townhouse looking building with no affiliation. Please clarify with a visual what the building is.
  
  
• Unnamed Building #3: A 2-story red brick building with no affiliation. Perhaps a Gun Store?
  
  
• Please note all named buildings came with those names and are not fabricated.

New Locations:

• Barber/Cosmetic Shop: Can unlock hair and facial features/makeup for character customization.
  
  
• County Fair: Appears for a short duration every now and then. Sells unique crops/items/animals. Can compete for best animal/crop/product/etc.
  
  
• Farmer's Market: Can rent a stall during the Farmer's Market and sell your products directly, or shop around for potentially discounted items. Ability to adjust your prices. Can purchase bees!
  
  
• Gun Store: Sell wild meat, pelts/skins, and leather products here. Can also buy ammunition and customize your guns. Can be placed in Unnamed Building #5 (listed above).
  
  
• IKEA (or similar) Store: Can purchase furniture as well as modern appliances and decor here. Something like double beds, electric ovens, washing/drying machines, tables, etc. Perhaps this is the Sleevo department building?
  
  
• Laundromat: A fun optional ability to wash your clothing and purchase a washer/dryer for your house. Can replace a blank or unnecessary store, or perhaps combine with WeeFit Clothing Store.
  
  
• Racetrack: Watch a race, bet money, or race your own horses!
  
  
• Saddle Shop: Horse gear customization (saddles, reins, stirrups, etc), harnesses, saddle bags (carry items), etc. Replace shoe store?
  
  
• Stable: Higher tiered/skilled horses consistently available here, but are much more expensive than the auction house. Some horses may come partially trained. Can have mares bred here for a stud fee.
  
  
• Veterinarian: Buy and sell animal-related medical supplies. Also has pet or livestock-related quests.

BUG FIXES:

Last but not least, some of the most common bugs that would love some attention:

• Demon Horse Eyes…
  
• Bullets reset to zero after restarting the game.
  
• Dogs forget their dog house after restarting the game.
  
• Bee trees and hives are invisible in multiplayer to anyone who isn’t the host.
  
• Best Burger multiplier isn't persistent so you can refresh a save indefinitely to change the multiplier of the day.
  
• Milking machine pumps turn invisible upon restart in a co-op session. Requires replacing the milk machine to see again.

SOUTHWEST DLC
Not adding unless proven to be actively updated.

[Owlf-SCP.117-]

I think all these ideas are awesome.

[Games Lover]

All awesome ideas that need to be implement in future

[James Clements]

Thanks for the well organised post! Lots of interesting suggestions here.

[LittleBoBleat]

Updated:
- Locations
- QoL Additions
- Decor Additions
- Prefab & Blueprints Additions

[LittleBoBleat]

Originally posted by James Clements:

Thanks for the well organised post! Lots of interesting suggestions here.

Thank you for your feedback! We're all looking forward to the new update coming out and hope these suggestions might spark some thought further down the line. :)

[Torkkar]

ok so some fair points to make about these ideas First they are all great second there are some issues with some such as:

Ranch Hands: so fair idea here BUT I'd like to add Ranch hand Classes or Job positions, for this its simple these determine the type of work the worker does, e.g. A Milk Hand will go to your cows from the bunk house each morning & Evening to milk them & drop off full milk cans in a designated spot, While a Chicken handler will only gather eggs, collect the poop (IF the tool is in range of the coop) & place eggs in designated zones.

As it stands I see a small number of Ranch hand classes as follows:

Animal Handlers collect poop & tend animals fill water & feed troughs / Specialised Handlers only care for specified animals.

Milk Hand Milks all animals that can be milked.

Butcher will slaughter & process all animals he's told to watch leaving at least 1 breeding pair of babies (wont process immature animals)

Gardener will tend all Garden plots / Field Hand will work the field plots with assigned Vehicles includes refuelling THEIR assigned vehicles.

Cheeseer(no clue what else to call'em) will gather milk from drop points & make Cheese curd, will operate automated cheese system as well.

Load Hand will load Trailers & Trucks they are assigned to IF they are in a loading area.

Adding to this with a new tool a Tag Tape roll you can mark area's/buildings for Drop/pickup(baskets, coolers, etc) Points & Loading Area's for workers to use.

Assigning vehicles & tools would be something else to do though they'd not leave the Ranch it would allow them to Transport goods to designated area faster than by hand.

Forklift is a Bad idea those are designed for use on concrete or at least on LEVEL paved ground. We do have a Tractor though & if we could get a Front loader attachment & Back weights we could get pallet forks, Bucket, etc attachments for that instead witch would give the Tractor more use IF we can get its top speed lowered to 10mph & be able to down shift that thing for slower speeds... know what just make the tractor a manual transmission so we can set its speed where we need it to be to actually control it.

Having Forklifts as certain stores to help load Pallets of materials & supplies in amounts large enough to fill a pallet would be a good idea though but make those unable to leave the stores.

Pallets: Last thing on my list here again great idea but instead of having it be a grid on a grid (unstable as Hell) how bout we make them a Container for containers, so a fair sized pallet could fit 12 coolers or Baskets & stack those to 3 high for 36 coolers or Baskets stored in slots how those store meat eggs & produce & shows the number of containers actively on the pallet but the pallet is one item that can then be stacked on top of another pallet, good system.

BETTER SYSTEM Smart pallets that allow to stack differently sized containers like Milk Tanks I'd say a single pallet should max out at 4 Milk Tanks & not be stack-able as this would be unstable (IRL yes this is true) However lets say you want to add 1 Milk Tank 1 big cooler(wide as 2 long as 3 same height as normal Coolers) to the pallet you can HOWEVER the pallet would lose slots equal to the size of the container being loaded i.e. Layer 1 would lose 6 slots for Coolers & Baskets to load the 1 big cooler & 2 slots lost from all 3 of its rows to fit the Milk Tank any more baskets & coolers loaded would fit around the larger items to fill the layers. using something like this would be amazing to see on the Ranch for one & another would make sense when transporting large amounts of goods.

Pallet Jack just adding to the pallets a manual option to move them around would be good such as moving them around on trucks & trailers, or inside certain buildings.

Boxes my last original idea boxes for small products lets say you need cheese mould but you need a lot of them its a pain in the ass to have to go round picking up 2 dosen or more packets, so the solution if you buy mould, seeds or similar items in bulk have an option in the store to box them up in groups of 6, 12, 24, 50, & 100 packet items in this way you can get any number of package items to fit in one box as long as they add up to 100 any more than 100 with be fit into the next smallest box you'll need with the cut off being 3 packets.

apart from this I'd like the Vehicles to have their sizes adjusted cause the Pickup trucks look too big, the tractors too small & the only thing seemingly sized right is the Straight Truck, but even its kind of on the small side... unless its modelled off a moving van.

[LittleBoBleat]

Originally posted by Torkkar:

ok so some fair points ... unless its modelled off a moving van.

Thank you for adding on!

1. Ranch Hand Classes: These are great ideas! While implementing them might be a bit tricky, using a tool (like your Tape Tool) to highlight a barn/pen or placing a mat (loading dock area similarity) might be an idea to designate a work station/area per ranch hand.

2. Replacing Fork Lift w/ Tractor Attachment: For simplicity, this would probably be a better option than the fork lift itself. It might be easier on the dev team as well since the vehicles (if I remember correctly) are bought assets rather than something the devs work with directly.

3. Pallets & Smart Stacking: Absolutely love these!!! Having a container for containers, while albeit not entirely realistic, would definitely make it easier to move large quantities of goods around. However, Smart Stacking might be the solution to either problem! It would be a much better system than the snapping pallets, as there are already concerns about snapping/stacking in game as it is (stacking bee frames is just bleh). I'd pay to have these in game.

4. Pallet Jack: This would be a great addition to the ranch. Still loving the forklift idea, but for a more realistic touch, the pallet jack would be a handy tool to have.

5. Bulk Packaging: Double thumbs up to this as well! This is something I know folks have been struggling with that could use a QoL touch. Bulk molds and seeds especially!

6. Vehicle Adjustment: While the discussion of vehicle sizing hasn't come up in the past that I'm aware of, there are some discrepancies that would be amazing to iron out - especially a box truck with no windows carrying live animals. :P

[BenBullzeye420]

I also have an idea being able to take cheese and meat out of the cupboards straight into a cooler box

[Wolf]

got nice idea we have fruit and why not add coltivation of olive so that we make oil from it and the grape make vine from it or sell normaly or other small recipes that could help player make money like fruit salad
we have lot of fruit would be nice idea add more stuff for cook and sell

[LittleBoBleat]

Originally posted by Wolf:

got nice idea we have fruit and why not add coltivation of olive so that we make oil from it and the grape make vine from it or sell normaly or other small recipes that could help player make money like fruit salad
we have lot of fruit would be nice idea add more stuff for cook and sell

Olives and Wine are already on the list under Progression & Streamlining - New Crops and New Food :)

[Wolf]

Originally posted by LittleBoBleat:

Originally posted by Wolf:

got nice idea we have fruit and why not add coltivation of olive so that we make oil from it and the grape make vine from it or sell normaly or other small recipes that could help player make money like fruit salad
we have lot of fruit would be nice idea add more stuff for cook and sell

Olives and Wine are already on the list under Progression & Streamlining - New Crops and New Food :)

whooo nice

[LittleBoBleat]

Originally posted by BenBullzeye420:

I also have an idea being able to take cheese and meat out of the cupboards straight into a cooler box

That is a great idea! That way, we're not throwing food on the floor for a faster pickup or having to select each cheese/sausage individually by hand.

[LittleBoBleat]

Update:
- Location suggestions moved to their own thread (too lengthy).

[what.handbasket]

I just recently started playing, and I love all of these ideas. The game is great, but these things would make it so much better. I hope these will be implemented some day.

[hjrogue]

-update the list of items the restaurant is requesting
-add a hunger, thirst, and energy bar with the option to order at the restaurant or eat what you create
-fridges to store more food then the coolers
-add a grill that can cook multiple foods at a time
-add lights in the restaurant and around the store loading area that come on at night if the player is in the area, the flashlight doesn't move to where you are looking very fast so unloading/loading and stacking stuff in the dark is hard on the eyes