Post by PikFan23 on Nov 17, 2015 3:29:42 GMT
This was originally posted on the talk page of Pikmin: Connection of the Worlds, but if any of you are fans of PCW, I highly encourage you to read this and give me input.
Alright, so it's one year later, and I still haven't updated. Why? Because I realized more problems: the areas themselves, as well as the Pikmin types. Some areas are fine, but others (specifically, the Garden, the Portal, and the Moon) are just downright ridiculous. Also, I wanted more variety in my environments, so removing these is an acceptable loss. I'm also splitting the Shimmering Lake into two new areas, and getting rid of the Great Volcano (see my reasoning below). So, here is the (almost finalized) list of areas, in no particular order:
*Whispering Grove
*Rugged Tundra
*Melodic Meadow
*Cove of Tranquility
*Sweltering Wilds
*Distant Desert
*Ancient Valley
*Bitterfrost Woods
Compared to the areas I have now, the new area names sound very exotic, in my opinion. They also cover more environments, like I wanted. So, I'm getting rid of the Great Volcano, because honestly, while lava is an awesome feature, there just isn't any room for a lava-based level. And also, I'm getting rid of Burgundy Pikmin, too. Lava, when it DOES appear, will be a hazard that kills any Pikmin, like explosions. Speaking of Pikmin, I'm going to merge Tan and Brown Pikmin together, since sand and dirt (their respective resistances) are pretty similar. With this, the new Pikmin types are just Cyan, Green, and Brown. 3 new Pikmin is a good, balanced number. Also, the total number of Pikmin types in the main game is now 8, and I have 8 areas, so it all fits together!
I'm also going to be changing around the caves a bit. If I had 4 caves per area, there'd be 32 caves total, which I think is way too much, even for this game. So it's going to be up to 3 caves per area: 24 caves maximum. I liked Pikmin 2 a lot, but it felt depressing exploring dark caves all the time, which was most of the game... So I want to try to balance the overworld with the underworld. Caves are probably going to end up having less sublevels, but come on, the sublevels are going to be more expansive and dynamic, unlike Pikmin 2 sublevels. Short caves can be hard. Also, I'm going to make it so time passes in caves, and that way the player is challenged. In order to compensate for this, as well as the hugeness of my areas (they're bigger than Pikmin 3 areas!), days will be up to 18 minutes long. But I will introduce an upgrade that lets you instantly teleport to the last sublevel you visited, so you don't have to make the journey all over again, which would waste a lot of precious time. In short, I'm going to overhaul the caves, along with the areas.
As for the enemies... Not much to say, really. I'm dumping all of my creativity into what will be the new areas and caves, so I probably won't come up with enemies that have unique names. For the most part, they'll just be elemental recolors. I'm sorry for the lack of ingenuity... I haven't even finished the Piklopedia, which is sad. So sad. If anything, I'll probably finish it after I do the areas, so I know which enemies are needed where. If you've got original enemy ideas and want to see them in PCW, I'm more than willing to hear your suggestions!
I might also redo the plot. The plot now just feels...meh, if you ask me. I have to rework it anyway since I'm getting rid of the Portal/Moon. The final boss will probably end up in one of the earlier areas, I'm thinking. The plot's been another thing that's been bothering me... So yeah, even bigger changes are coming. I may end up renaming the game altogether, since most of the game won't be the same anymore. Please give your input! It helps me make the game even better! Thanks for reading everybody.
Alright, so it's one year later, and I still haven't updated. Why? Because I realized more problems: the areas themselves, as well as the Pikmin types. Some areas are fine, but others (specifically, the Garden, the Portal, and the Moon) are just downright ridiculous. Also, I wanted more variety in my environments, so removing these is an acceptable loss. I'm also splitting the Shimmering Lake into two new areas, and getting rid of the Great Volcano (see my reasoning below). So, here is the (almost finalized) list of areas, in no particular order:
*Whispering Grove
*Rugged Tundra
*Melodic Meadow
*Cove of Tranquility
*Sweltering Wilds
*Distant Desert
*Ancient Valley
*Bitterfrost Woods
Compared to the areas I have now, the new area names sound very exotic, in my opinion. They also cover more environments, like I wanted. So, I'm getting rid of the Great Volcano, because honestly, while lava is an awesome feature, there just isn't any room for a lava-based level. And also, I'm getting rid of Burgundy Pikmin, too. Lava, when it DOES appear, will be a hazard that kills any Pikmin, like explosions. Speaking of Pikmin, I'm going to merge Tan and Brown Pikmin together, since sand and dirt (their respective resistances) are pretty similar. With this, the new Pikmin types are just Cyan, Green, and Brown. 3 new Pikmin is a good, balanced number. Also, the total number of Pikmin types in the main game is now 8, and I have 8 areas, so it all fits together!
I'm also going to be changing around the caves a bit. If I had 4 caves per area, there'd be 32 caves total, which I think is way too much, even for this game. So it's going to be up to 3 caves per area: 24 caves maximum. I liked Pikmin 2 a lot, but it felt depressing exploring dark caves all the time, which was most of the game... So I want to try to balance the overworld with the underworld. Caves are probably going to end up having less sublevels, but come on, the sublevels are going to be more expansive and dynamic, unlike Pikmin 2 sublevels. Short caves can be hard. Also, I'm going to make it so time passes in caves, and that way the player is challenged. In order to compensate for this, as well as the hugeness of my areas (they're bigger than Pikmin 3 areas!), days will be up to 18 minutes long. But I will introduce an upgrade that lets you instantly teleport to the last sublevel you visited, so you don't have to make the journey all over again, which would waste a lot of precious time. In short, I'm going to overhaul the caves, along with the areas.
As for the enemies... Not much to say, really. I'm dumping all of my creativity into what will be the new areas and caves, so I probably won't come up with enemies that have unique names. For the most part, they'll just be elemental recolors. I'm sorry for the lack of ingenuity... I haven't even finished the Piklopedia, which is sad. So sad. If anything, I'll probably finish it after I do the areas, so I know which enemies are needed where. If you've got original enemy ideas and want to see them in PCW, I'm more than willing to hear your suggestions!
I might also redo the plot. The plot now just feels...meh, if you ask me. I have to rework it anyway since I'm getting rid of the Portal/Moon. The final boss will probably end up in one of the earlier areas, I'm thinking. The plot's been another thing that's been bothering me... So yeah, even bigger changes are coming. I may end up renaming the game altogether, since most of the game won't be the same anymore. Please give your input! It helps me make the game even better! Thanks for reading everybody.
