Ropes, Rock climbing, Rappelling(cargo?) and Beds

This will likely be difficult to implement but would be new and very interesting. what if, as well as smooth hills, There were Cliffs and drops around the different planets. and instead of travelling miles(I'm not sure of the scale of the planets) to find a traversable slope. A player could climb up the face(Likely very dangerous for new players with little or no skills) and string a rope for the other, maybe less able players to climb. Also, players could string ropes to move large items in crates instead of having to carry the weight the other way. also, for travelling down a cliff edge, certain daredevil players (myself included ) could tie a rope to a sizable boulder or strong enough tree and just abseil down. Of course if the player didn't use a strong enough rope, it would snap and send someone or some valuable thing tumbling to its doom. This would allow for more varied terrain and would give an exciting alternative to looking for the safer way up a hill or mountain .

Also, Will there be hotels or inns in settlements that will allow you to sleep through the night without having to brave the terrors of the dark?

Wouldn't you sleep in your ship?

I mean if you were too far for walking/driving all the way back to be a safe at night, especially for players who might not be well enough equipped to fight the things that go bump in the night

We originally thought about mechanics like this. A rope gun, you could shoot across a crevasse to get across etc. Haven't started prototyping it yet but I am planning too. Repelling might work similarly.

We're not sure about sleeping yet and how it's gonna work due to multiplayer. You can't have a character just fall asleep an do nothing it's boring, you also can't fast forward time in multiplayer...unless everyone sleeps at the same time....its a bit weird, where not considering sleep at the moment.

But there will be safe places you can find on some planets like colonies and such...if not, find a cave or...set up a camp =D

Okay, I hope to see things like that implemented. I assume the beds in the ship were meant for skipping time during long journey's

Marrowmatt wrote: you also can't fast forward time in multiplayer...unless everyone sleeps at the same time....its a bit weird, where not considering sleep at the moment.

Can you not just make it like minecraft eg everyone sleeps at the same time- counts as sleeping as one

Anything skill based put into the game is a good thing. I like the idea of players gaining skill in everything in the game, even the simplest things. It will really help to immerse players in the world, regardless of how they choose to play. For people looking for combat there are the obvious combat skills and for people who just want to explore perhaps the more you walk around the faster your walk speed gets over time. There could even be a short distance sprint skill that you gain after traversing a certain distance. The increments that these skills progress can vary and can even be very very small, but the idea that everything we do improves us in some way is exciting.

Similar to our current perk system...everything you do has an effect. Walk uphill long enough and your terrain negotiation will improve allowing you to walk uphill faster.

There are lot's of perks with everything you do, but they're secret. Shhh. =P

What about using modern day spelunking and mountain climbing equipment as inspiration? Especially the kind of gear you used in Mt. Everest climbs (ladder-like bridges, ice pics). As far as cargo, I would think a winch would be needed.

that's exactly what I want added!

For prototyping dragging things and ropes, among the standard scripts in unity (can be imported by right-clicking in the project window, and then going import->scripts), there's one for dragging things that might be a good place to start.
You could also consider a scifi wing suit, or something jetpackish.

We will be experimenting with rappelling, I can't really confirm anything yet, but one of our planets originally required rappelling to even get to it's surface in the first place.

Can you elaborate on that? it sounds quite interesting with a planet you can only reach by rappelling

Hmm okay, but this is subject to change so....*mini disclaimer here*

Thoress, a jungle planet, has it's surface completely occupied by dense forest. The only places available for the ship to land are on the tops of giant flat top mountains which stick out in various locations. To get to the surface you need to rappel down from these locations to get to the forest floor.

We're currently thinking about an attachment which fit's to the front of the vehicle which can cut down soft shrubbery and small trees to create landing areas on the surface for the ship. This would require you to drop the vehicle out of the cargo bay door and the ship would circle until the landing zone has been cleared out.

But that's design doc stuff, we're going to take development one planet at a time, I believe Thoress will be abooooooouuutt....the 4th area we focus on.

Ah, cool. it sounds interesting!

TheLogan wrote:You could also consider a scifi wing suit, or something jetpackish.

Wingsuit idea is cool. Imagine 3 guys jumping out of the hangar while 1 circles until the area is cleared for landing. Awesum. Dont know how well it would work in this game, but it just sounds awesome.

Love this idea, great one man!

Hmm Wing suit sounds awesome, jumping out the ship into a foggy canyon! DANGEROUS....I like it.

Marrowmatt wrote:
We're currently thinking about an attachment which fit's to the front of the vehicle which can cut down soft shrubbery and small trees to create landing areas on the surface for the ship. This would require you to drop the vehicle out of the cargo bay door and the ship would circle until the landing zone has been cleared out.

Just for shit and giggles, the US Army faced a similar problem in Vietnam, and their solution was dropping a large bomb rigged to explode close to the surface, the BLU-82 aka "Daisy Cutter". I guess that solution would minimize the circling time...