What to do in the late game?

[Ubusika]

Hey there! I got this game at PAX, and was wondering if anyone who has been playing for longer could help me out. (Please forgive the Minecraft comparisons; I like this game better than Minecraft. I'm just using it to communicate examples.)

Basically, what is there to do in the late game? Is there much? Are there plans to add more?
I can't find any sustainable activities (like in minecraft how you can raise animals, grow crops, etc.) or things that add meaning/story to your activities.

I've really enjoyed the first 12 hours or so of the game. But once you've mined all the layers, built through the tech tree, made a cool house, and seen the biomes/monsters required to get the parts for the tech tree, is that about it? I haven't unlocked or seen everything yet, so I'm not sure if new things will crop up.

And if not, are there plans to add features that will give us more late-game content?

Thanks in advance!

[Ubusika]

I agree with a lot of things people have said here. Here are three thoughts after thinking about it/reading everything.

1. Please don't make all the end-game content focused on groups/traveling to friends' worlds/fights that require multiple players. Some of us are hermits who treat this as a largely solo experience :)

2. The story. The journal scraps and data chips are intriguing, and both my husband and I (both got the game at pax) were surprised and disappointed that they didn't lead anywhere or do anything to flesh out the backstory. Perhaps if players want to unlock the story, they must travel across many different biomes/layers to collect "all" the chips and scraps, then build a machine that allows them to be compiled into a readable volume that then leads us to a unique location that kind of answers the mystery and involves some unique items/encounters.
Or something. Having hints of a backstory that explains where we are and why we're here but not delivering on it is rough.

3. Having a purpose. I enjoy all the tasks in the game, but don't really know why I'm doing them. For example, the tech tree reminds me a little of Don't Starve, but in Don't Starve you are motivated to find mats/build because of changes in the environment (hunger, seasons, weather, monster attacks). It sure doesn't need to be as hardcore as Don't Starve, but some survival mechanics, changes in the environment, and sustained tasks like farming/animal husbandry could give us more purpose. To be cynical, a changing environment and survival requirements would also cause us to go thru the tech tree more slowly because we are busy working and adapting, thus not "running out of things to do" as fast.

Another direction would be to provide more quests/locations/npcs/whatever, that give us a reason to do stuff.

[Dahl]

First i have to give kudos to the developer for replying on the first page and actually wanting to hear what the community has to say. I love a ton of the ideas that have been posted here and hope to see them go into the game to make it something more and exciting to adventure/explore.

Now onto the one thing i haven't seen, which might not exactly fit into the dynamics of exciting new events or discoveries but i feel like it would help for the builders. Im sure most have been in the position where they build something awesome that took forever but then they want to relocate it but the only way is tearing it down and rebuilding it which is less than exciting and normally quiet time consuming.

Creativerse already has blueprints and various things to craft that serve another purpose..so what about a crafted item that you can drop on each corner to surround your work that would convert it to a blueprint. Maybe even have those same items "deconstruct" it with a time penalty or even some material cost or something. Then you can go back to that new location and perhaps craft another item that would let you drop it down like the other blueprints.

Just a thought. I might be alone here.

[Ultum]

Цитата допису Ubusika:

I agree with a lot of things people have said here. Here are three thoughts after thinking about it/reading everything.

1. Please don't make all the end-game content focused on groups/traveling to friends' worlds/fights that require multiple players. Some of us are hermits who treat this as a largely solo experience :)

2. The story. The journal scraps and data chips are intriguing, and both my husband and I (both got the game at pax) were surprised and disappointed that they didn't lead anywhere or do anything to flesh out the backstory. Perhaps if players want to unlock the story, they must travel across many different biomes/layers to collect "all" the chips and scraps, then build a machine that allows them to be compiled into a readable volume that then leads us to a unique location that kind of answers the mystery and involves some unique items/encounters.
Or something. Having hints of a backstory that explains where we are and why we're here but not delivering on it is rough.

3. Having a purpose. I enjoy all the tasks in the game, but don't really know why I'm doing them. For example, the tech tree reminds me a little of Don't Starve, but in Don't Starve you are motivated to find mats/build because of changes in the environment (hunger, seasons, weather, monster attacks). It sure doesn't need to be as hardcore as Don't Starve, but some survival mechanics, changes in the environment, and sustained tasks like farming/animal husbandry could give us more purpose. To be cynical, a changing environment and survival requirements would also cause us to go thru the tech tree more slowly because we are busy working and adapting, thus not "running out of things to do" as fast.

Another direction would be to provide more quests/locations/npcs/whatever, that give us a reason to do stuff.

This...I really couldn't agree more with these three points!

[ICEMAGE83519]

Цитата допису Ubusika:

I agree with a lot of things people have said here. Here are three thoughts after thinking about it/reading everything.

1. Please don't make all the end-game content focused on groups/traveling to friends' worlds/fights that require multiple players. Some of us are hermits who treat this as a largely solo experience :)

2. The story. The journal scraps and data chips are intriguing, and both my husband and I (both got the game at pax) were surprised and disappointed that they didn't lead anywhere or do anything to flesh out the backstory. Perhaps if players want to unlock the story, they must travel across many different biomes/layers to collect "all" the chips and scraps, then build a machine that allows them to be compiled into a readable volume that then leads us to a unique location that kind of answers the mystery and involves some unique items/encounters.
Or something. Having hints of a backstory that explains where we are and why we're here but not delivering on it is rough.

3. Having a purpose. I enjoy all the tasks in the game, but don't really know why I'm doing them. For example, the tech tree reminds me a little of Don't Starve, but in Don't Starve you are motivated to find mats/build because of changes in the environment (hunger, seasons, weather, monster attacks). It sure doesn't need to be as hardcore as Don't Starve, but some survival mechanics, changes in the environment, and sustained tasks like farming/animal husbandry could give us more purpose. To be cynical, a changing environment and survival requirements would also cause us to go thru the tech tree more slowly because we are busy working and adapting, thus not "running out of things to do" as fast.

Another direction would be to provide more quests/locations/npcs/whatever, that give us a reason to do stuff.

1. I am one who strongly prefers to play solo so i am very interested in seeing late game content that is geared toward a solo player. We must keep in mind that not everyone wants to play multiplayer or even enjoys multiplayer but still wants to play Creativerse. Personally i am here because i can create my own worlds and play them solo.

2. I agree here something needs to be done regarding the story that is hinted at by the journal notes and data chips. I would like to see it finished perhaps lead to some secret location to explore. Also i would like to be able to do something with them we can end up with quite a few over time. There needs to be choices for us as to what to do with them. Myself i would like to use them for crafting or perhaps upgrading.

3. It would be fun to have a purpose later in the game to keep us going. Exploring, crafting and building alone will only stretch so far. I am a fan of survival games and i do believe a survival element would work well here. I agree dont go as far as Dont Starve that would be too hardcore here. Changing weather and seasons would be nice since we do have a temperature system already. I would love to see Creativerse in winter. I love winter. Perhaps we would need to keep warm or dry as the weather and seasons change. A hunger mechanic i do want to see. These things would force us to slow down and well... JUST DONT DIE. I want to see farming and animal husbandry sounds fun.

Цитата допису TheRemyD:

3 Things that would keep me coming back....

NPCs: Have NPCs begin to inhabit buildings if we build a city for them. They should have different abilities/jobs. First ones through should be rugged explorers/settlers, then should come the tradespeople. They should have guards the moment that they have tradespeople in town. Miners, Lumberjacks, Apothecaries... the list could go on, but to have them only available after you have built a city for them and they have began to inhabit it would unlock some cool end game play-ability. They could even give out quests!

Circuitry: Have some simply mechanical option. Build switches, i/o ports, terminals, etc. Connect them in interesting ways to create impossible machines! Possibly even allowing us to create multi-block vehicles. Automation is a thing I love to do!

Pan-Dimensional Trans-locator: Let us visit our friends world without having to exit ours first. Of course Pan-Dimensional communicators are also needed so we can chat with friends as well. This idea was supposed to be in Oort and many people that tried to play Oort went there because of this feature alone. Do not worry about people creating farming worlds or the like. It will happen, but that is simply how they want to play the game. The trans-locator would be an expensive device so it would be an end-game item. Both worlds would need to have one with matching permissions... (Perhaps lockable to only one world a piece.) In order to connect the locators you would need to both have shared your worlds ID with each other.

4. The idea of NPC's moving in is an intriguing idea. One that the more i think about it the more i atleast want to try it. The idea where each one has his or her own unique job and abilities within the community is something i would like to see. I would enjoy building my own personal survivalist community. Perhaps we could do favors for them to gain thier trust and so on.

5. Im not too sure about automation. It sounds fun to build machines that would do work for me. But it does very much go against me as i do value good old fashioned hard work. I guess ports would be necessary for NPC's to move in? I know i do not want to see vehicles in Creativerse. To me part of the fun of travel is enjoying the world around me. Stopping to collect wild edibles. Killing a pigsy i cross for Leather or some other material or for its meat. Take out that Keepa i accidently found just for those crystals that they drop. Now if i could use a vehicle more for increasing my hauling capacity rather then for the sake of getting around faster I would be more favorable towards this idea.

6. A Pan-Dimensional Trans-locater? I dont know the name sounds very sci-fi to me, perhaps too sci-fi. Anyways moving on How would you make this work? Would the world owner have to give permissions before each time you enter his or her world? Or would you be allowed in at any time they are in that world when you try to enter? I know personally i would want notification if someone was trying to enter. Perhaps each time the owner enters thier own world they would be asked to lock or unlock thier world to visitors? I wouldnt want someone who has already entered my world once to be able to enter just anytime they please in the future. On paper it is a good idea. It would all depend on how you would make it work in practice.

Цитата допису Dahl 🌸:

First i have to give kudos to the developer for replying on the first page and actually wanting to hear what the community has to say. I love a ton of the ideas that have been posted here and hope to see them go into the game to make it something more and exciting to adventure/explore.

Now onto the one thing i haven't seen, which might not exactly fit into the dynamics of exciting new events or discoveries but i feel like it would help for the builders. Im sure most have been in the position where they build something awesome that took forever but then they want to relocate it but the only way is tearing it down and rebuilding it which is less than exciting and normally quiet time consuming.

Creativerse already has blueprints and various things to craft that serve another purpose..so what about a crafted item that you can drop on each corner to surround your work that would convert it to a blueprint. Maybe even have those same items "deconstruct" it with a time penalty or even some material cost or something. Then you can go back to that new location and perhaps craft another item that would let you drop it down like the other blueprints.

Just a thought. I might be alone here.

7. It would be nice to like pack up something we built in someway and be able to transport it to a new location. To do this manually can take a long time depending on the size of structure. To have a time penalty or something as it is deconstructed and then agian as it is reconstructed would possibly be a good trade off.

[76561198127749705]

We're definitely interested in continuing to develop gameplay features. We have a first iteration of farming/ranching coming out soon-ish. We will obviously continue to develop it and other systems in the game. I personally want to come up with more systems to explore, like farming/ranching, because developing a game system is often better than just dumping in content (recipes, mobs, gear) that gets chewed through.

I was reading over some of the comments about adding more survival elements. I'm not against it, and I have a 'make hardmode' on my pet feature list. We only get limited time for pet features, so no promises. However, I'm not sure how long that will extend the game either. Not sure if any of you play ARK:Survival Evolved, but I have that on another account. I've played about 140hrs on a private server with some people I know and random other people. Relative to Creativerse, this is a very difficult survival game. However, at the 140hr mark I'm feeling the same thing you guys are talking about here. I do think the survival elements would drag things out more, but at some point you'll get to a point where they don't affect you as much and we'll have this question again.

A lot of the ideas here have come up in discussions and we like a lot of them. Sometimes ideas like quests and rpg like experiences come up. I personally shy away from things like that, because they lead to "follow this path to get the reward at the end". That is not very sustainable, and imo doesn't really work as well in a sandbox game. Part of the idea of the sandbox game is *not* to guide you through the game, but allow you a playground with enough interesting toys to give you ways to create your own fun. *Sometimes* that works for solo players, but tbh, many of us really want to see communities emerge and servers of people playing together. I really think people playing together with interesting systems can come up with more content than an army of designers could come up with. We're not there yet, but one day.

[vmtruelove]

playfulmike - great comments back on all the ideas.

Just want to pick up on the 'quest' issue you are discussing above. Please don't dismiss the idea out of hand devs.

Well, we now have blueprints for building. How's about a quest blueprint/task sheet? A quest (or series) that the crafter could pursue? Therefore giving the player the choice of taking up the challenge or not?

I must admit I like rpg based games and this could assist in adding some value to the game.

This would then still feed into the sandbox principles of Creativerse, do the quests, or not - player has a choice. In fact quests could play more on the 'verse' of Creativerse??

How would they run / be built up or contain? A quest to explore (find a specific cave or buried item with a hint system similar to the chips, etc.) / build (a specific blueprint or a gifted blueprint - to exact specifications) / farm (when this goes live - so many <item>s) / collect (product - possibly combined with crafting rare product??) / capture creatures (!!? is this a possibility ?!!) or kill creatures - these could be placed into a series of objectives in the quest 'blueprint' - or possibly do in any order..

I'm a bit of an Eve Online player, which is a sandbox space game. The game includes missions for players in various professions. The player picks these up via an agent, etc. Could we have the quests available via NPCs (if you want to go down the NPC route) similar to this?

This could be tied into, when completed, obtaining a craftable product or possible rare / unique item/product/building blueprint or possibly next quest blueprint/task..

(When you think of it, isn't the path to killing the Thing to obtain some unique item recipies a quest in it's own right - once you realise that he/she is down in the bowls of your world?)

I am seriously liking the scrap writting / chip ideas mentioned by other players thus far into some form of resolution or quest by the way!! We want more of the back story and lore of Creativerse. i.e. Why are we here? How did we get here? Is there a way out - or path to another dimension? (possibly not a way out to maintain the sandbox) This would also stop me from throwing them away and not reading them.

Hope this makes you devs realise that we could include quests of some description and still retain the sandbox aproach..

Thanks for reading.

[Trent]

Its encouraging to see the devs interacting with the community like this.


Regarding quests. I would never suggest the old accept quest, complete quest, get known reward system. That was tired a decade ago. Still, I think I would find a map or clue in one of those papers scatter about to be tantalizing.

Even without maps, the game does need some interesting things scattered about to find and explore. Something to break up the endless wilderness and perhaps tease players with a challenge they will not be ready for until later in the game.

A few of my friends and I were recently chatting about how isolated events rather than quests might be a better fit for an endless world game. By events, I mean things like a bunch of NPCs cowering on top of a tree while enraged chickens circle below. You could help them or not. They might have a good reward for you or not. The involved parties and location could change.

[Dark Pulse]

Well, here's a somewhat radical idea...

Creativerse is all about exploring. You've dug deeper, and deeper, and deeper. You went from sunny skies to purple miasma. You fought the Thing, and the Thing won came out victorious.

And then... one day, after you have been hunting for something down in that deepest, dankest pits, it drops something you have never seen before. Something indescribable. Something that you have absolutely no idea what it does - just that it's strangely cube-shaped, and aside from a single black corner, utterly featureless aside from its metal that glows.

Still with business to do down here, you pick it up, and stow it away for when you return.

When you get back, you sort out your spoils of war. Remembering the cube, you pull it out, intent on figuring out just what the purpose of this thing is.

You bring it to your processor, but it can't make heads or tails of it. You bring it to your furnace, but it cannot smelt things, nor be smelted itself.

And then you realize, it's got a slot within it. For what?

Looking closer, it seems to be some sort of socket... for a computer chip.

Crap. You've been throwing those away.

You rush out and cause a zooicide, until one unlucky beast meets its end at your hands, and finally drops a chip. Ecstatic, you snatch it from its still-warm corpse and teleport back home, take out the gizmo, and put it in.

And suddenly, a hologram pops up and shows plans for a strange device. It's huge - possibly among the biggest things you have ever built. Bigger than your house, for sure. Maybe even bigger than that stilt house you labored long and hard to build and feel supremely proud of.

More of these gizmos will be needed. More data chips will be needed. More gunpowder, more metal, more more MORE...

You have dug to the deepest parts of the planet. One voyage ends, and the next is about to begin.

After all, you've gone as far forward, backward, left, right, and down as you can.

What other direction is there, except up... and out...?

[lightfiretech]

That....is....awesome!

[ICEMAGE83519]

Цитата допису Dark Pulse:

Well, here's a somewhat radical idea...

Creativerse is all about exploring. You've dug deeper, and deeper, and deeper. You went from sunny skies to purple miasma. You fought the Thing, and the Thing won came out victorious.

And then... one day, after you have been hunting for something down in that deepest, dankest pits, it drops something you have never seen before. Something indescribable. Something that you have absolutely no idea what it does - just that it's strangely cube-shaped, and aside from a single black corner, utterly featureless aside from its metal that glows.

Still with business to do down here, you pick it up, and stow it away for when you return.

When you get back, you sort out your spoils of war. Remembering the cube, you pull it out, intent on figuring out just what the purpose of this thing is.

You bring it to your processor, but it can't make heads or tails of it. You bring it to your furnace, but it cannot smelt things, nor be smelted itself.

And then you realize, it's got a slot within it. For what?

Looking closer, it seems to be some sort of socket... for a computer chip.

Crap. You've been throwing those away.

You rush out and cause a zooicide, until one unlucky beast meets its end at your hands, and finally drops a chip. Ecstatic, you snatch it from its still-warm corpse and teleport back home, take out the gizmo, and put it in.

And suddenly, a hologram pops up and shows plans for a strange device. It's huge - possibly among the biggest things you have ever built. Bigger than your house, for sure. Maybe even bigger than that stilt house you labored long and hard to build and feel supremely proud of.

More of these gizmos will be needed. More data chips will be needed. More gunpowder, more metal, more more MORE...

You have dug to the deepest parts of the planet. One voyage ends, and the next is about to begin.

After all, you've gone as far forward, backward, left, right, and down as you can.

What other direction is there, except up... and out...?

Now this sounds awesome!!! Love the idea! If we are to have a quest i can get behind this. See the hologram build what it shows. How? Where? When? What materials? Every choice is yours... just build it if you want it. Now that to me is FUN. I cant wait to find one of these cubes.

[Dark Pulse]

To be specific (and elaborate somewhat on my idea), basically it's that the moon that you occasionally see is no longer simply background fluff - it's an actual, real place you can visit, far removed from the safety of the planet. A harsh world, where there's no oxygen (hope you get a spacesuit or some sort of breathing apparatus... quickly), no precious water - just cold, unfeeling rock, and death at every turn. Getting there, especially the first time, will be a serious challenge, as you watch the very safety of the world you knew float away, and in its place, the soulless, barren landscape of the moon greets you... only to hide even worse horrors within.

Who knows, perhaps Thing is a bit of an expatriate of there? The weakest, even, of a force that will make your problems back on the planet seem like child's play. A harsh environment requires even more "fitness" to survive. Perhaps Thing is but an advance scouting vanguard, there to assess whether you and everything you hold dear is worth them taking...

But as with all things in Creativerse, you get your feet wet. You adapt. You begin to survive, and then start to thrive. Before you know it, you're not only teleporting from teleporter to teleporter, you're going from planet to moon, and back again. At first by ship, but before long, the alien, arcane technologies within, far superior to whatever has happened on the planet, await those brave, and strong, enough to successfully navigate its cold, dark depths, and it gets easier and easier until you're moving far more distance than you ever thought possible, in the blink of an eye and a flash of light.

And within, who knows. They're clearly not human. They're clearly more advanced than you are. You're out-smarted, out-gunned, and outdated. One moment you're walking on the floor, and the next you'll need to walk on the walls, or even the ceiling, to progress further. Weapons where they don't need to get to melee range - no, they have something that can zorch you from a much further distance. They have evolved beyond the need for silly things such as stairs - why use those, when your Gravity Field Neutralizer lets you just float up and in?

It's a whole new, alien world for you to explore, survive, thrive, and eventually - just maybe - if you're lucky, skilled, and smart enough - conquer.

But there are other players mightier than you... and who can know their next moves?

[ICEMAGE83519]

Does creativerse have a moon? Just had to ask becuase i dont recall a moon. I just played through a creativerse night thuroughly examining the sky the entire night. From sunset to sunrise there was never a moon in the sky.


Anyways moving on I love the idea. To suddenly see a hologram or something of something huge to build. Bigger then anything else easily. Very exciting to me i want to find one. I want players to build something truely epic. To be forever remembered in the mythology and lore of creativerse. I want to forever ask in amazement who built that? Which genious dreamed up that creation?

[Trent]

Good stuff. That idea would go a along way in filling my first wish of a reason to build.

I'm reluctant to speak of specifics until I know the lore the devs have in mind but a cube or some curious relic found in the depths of the earth sounds like a solid plan.

I might not place it at the very bottom though. If there are to be other activities in the game beyond the materials progression then, yes, put it at the very bottom in some place scary. If not, then it might be better to put it about halfway down. Just far enough that the player has had time to grasp game mechanics and progression before this new twist hits.

Also, I would not make it an all or nothing build. From its first activation. it should do something, even if that is only playing a message. As it is added to and expanded, its functions become more fantastic.

It seems to be me that it would be a much better way to tell the story of what happened to those who came before than a bunch of text.

There is a good story to be found here too. We have people who explored ahead of the players, an AI that might have gone rouge and a corrupted landscape that was completely buried by someone or something.

The building of that machine would be a great way to progress players through that story at their own pace, letting us get attached to the people in it before we finally go and see them - or what happened to them.