Your biome ideas

^^ This. Why would we post in a thread called "Your Biome Ideas" if we didn't want you to steal these ideas? ^=^

 

I would personally find it a great honor if any of my Biome ideas were used, and I think most others here would agree with that sentiment.

 

Oh I sure do hope you take something from my idea... anything really

 

Yeah seeing everyone's idea's would be great, its awesome when the community really gets to input their thoughts like this.

 

Lake Baikal: The oldest and deepest lake in the world, and when it freezes, it looks amazing. I don't know how you'd turn it into a biome, but you asked for ideas.

Just take a look these pictures and you'll see the frozen wonder. (There are plenty of people in the photos, but still a nice collection of pics.)

 

I guess it all boils down to the big question: "How detailed do you want to be?"

For instance, let's take thunderstorms. Are you planning to have lightning strike individual trees, houses, and people? (If you're not planning that, you totally need to. I can see a person's trait already: "Lightning Rod" gets hit often) Take that one step further and go to rain: is rain going to cause flooding? What about puddles?

I think gamers are pretty forgiving when it comes to precipitation in general and snow in particular. Just look at Skyrim. Like 90% of the game is all about snow, and they promised us dynamic snow, but it didn't end up being that way in the final game. Did gamers mind? Sure, it was annoying but in the end most of us forgot about it because it was pretty anyway and we were too busy doing something else.

Just off the top of my head I can think of a couple of ways to tackle the Snow Problem, from cheap and dirty to slightly increasing modes of complexity. The easiest way would be to have "snow-covered" versions of your building models and all other textures, along with terrain that has "built-in" snow on the landscape. In that case snow becomes a simple particle effect in the foreground that doesn't directly keep building up on the models and citizens. Cheap and dirty, sure, but then you add some code in there to where the plants, animals and people act in a "cold environment," moving slower, having more need of warmth, taking longer to grow or not growing at all, etc.

Going up in complexity while still avoiding the dreaded collision detection is what I dub the "Snow Storm Effect." Have a couple "levels" of pre-built snow on your models and textures, and at random intervals you blind the player and the whole screen with a giant blizzard that obscures everything, and once that blizzard dies down your textures and buildings and landscape now have "level 2 snow build-up." Another blizzard gives them level 3, and so-on until they all are burried beneath the snow and die of hypothermia and/or snow blindness.

I personally would go for the easier, cheaper versions where snow is cosmetic but the effects of snow are what are really deadly and interesting. Form vs function is always an interesting debate, but when it comes to something as awesome and complex as Clockwork Empires seems to be, I would argue for form any day. There's always room for "You Have to Sign The Snow Expansion."

But I'm not close enough to fight you in The Pit about it, , so all I can do is offer suggestions

 

I'd like to see a dark version of biomes once madness takes hold of your town. The scenery should change, shadowy figures should wisp in and out of existence occasionally taking a towns person, and different materials and recipes should manifest.

And I'd like round up poets into stables and keep them as livestock as a sort of modest proposal, feed them opium, and feast on their souls.

 

Rather reminds me of when you start losing your sanity in Don't Starve. An excellent suggestion!!

 

A cool biome would be a kinda dark, misty, marsh area. Imagine twisted tree's and bushes. Weird bubbling noises heard in the distance. Bog's of mud and peat, etc. Imagine the classic kind of horror story style marsh. Naturally there will be all manner of beasts that lurk within, some dangerous, some docile, some maddening, all on the list of potential prizes for that big game hunter that's claimed the biggest home he could get and keeps leeching off your food supply.

 

I think the best way to deal with snowfall would be to deal with the harshness of the cold instead of dealing with piles of snow. If people get caught in snow storms they should just have to deal with things like frostbite and hypothermia.

 

From what I understand, the further from the Empire mainland you get, the weirder, more chaotic, and mad the biomes become right?

Anyways here's one of my ideas for an "edge of the map" biome:

Statue biome:
Think something along the lines of Easter Island with more variety. Crossing into the biome you will notice the appearance of large (tree sized to hill sized) statues, some of faces, and humanoid figures in poses. As you venture further into the biome the statue count increases, vegetation becomes scarce down to only a few dead trees and tufts of dried grass, soil thins out into sand-stone like rock beds with patches of arid soil. The statues also become more frightening, eldrict and distorted as you venture further into the biome. The more creepy statues might inflict madness on citizens that live around them too long. On the plus side though there should be some nice amounts of stone and a variety of metals to be found in the biome.

Another question I have, will it be possible in the final product to reclaim lost cities like in Dwarf Fortress?

If I remember right, in Dwarf Fortress if you lose your fort you can have another expedition settle into the same area and re-take the fort. Of course the fort is littered with the corpses of the first settlers and usually had creatures lingering around in it.

 

It´s not stealing when we allow you to take it.

On topic: A happy glittering biome. I imagine something like wide, sunny meadows filled with unicorns and butterflies. Of course the unicorns will try to stab you and the butterflies are poisonous and hide a terrible secret.

 

You mean like this?

 

The pyro is a member of her majesty's anti-paranormal squad obviously

 

I think his air filter went bad a long time ago and he's simply drugged on all that smoke. But then again, people with such glorious minds are likely the sort her majesty would want in her anti-paranormal squad.

 

Have there been plans to make a biome similar to the homeland of the empire itself? Like maybe one close to the empire, where the settlers could feel at home, while still be stalked by indescribable horrors in the woods.

 

I think that one is probably on their list already.

 

Yeah i assumed I just thought I should bring it up just in case

 

I think it might be interesting to have different biomes based on "realms" of Cthulhu-esque Elder Gods, aka, do what the Elder Scrolls lore does with Daedra: they each get their own 'home' that reflects their personality. Here's a rundown of the Daedric Princes and their respective spheres which can spark all sorts of ideas.

Azura: Lives in a rose palace in Moonshadow, a realm so beautiful that visitors are usually blinded. Winged Twilights inhabit the realm and are Azura's personal servants.
Boethiah: realm does not have a name, but is known for stormy skies, volcanic islands and lava seas. Commands the Hunger Lesser Daedra.
Clavicus Vile: (doesn't have a cool realm, just a tranquil countryside with unknown Lesser Daedra in it)
Hermaeus Mora: dwells in Apocrypha, an endless library containing all knowledge in books with black covers. Unlike a certain Skyrim expansion, any who manage to make it to are trapped by their own curiosity or are driven insane. He commands Seekers and Lurkers, which rarely traverse outside the realm.
Hircine: god of the hunt, creator of the were-creatures! His realm is the Hunting Grounds, a giant maze-like forest and vast grasslands inhabited by all manner of beasts. His in direct control of nearly every were-creature.
Jyggalag: (has no realm for reasons that are explained in Shivering Isles)
Malacath: inhabits the Ashpit, a place toxic to most mortals as it is filled with nothing but dust and smoke. The creatures he uses on the mortal plane are Ogrim, big, dumb and ugly.
Mehrunes Dagon: The big bad boy of Elder Scrolls, Mehrunes rules over the Deadlands, which is what players see when they enter the Oblivion portals in Oblivion. Quite nasty, full of lava and natural disasters, and emphasis on torture. He uses Dremora, Clannfear and Scamps.
Mephala: (apparently her sphere is never truly defined, even though she herself is. She commands Spider Daedra.)
Meridia: Sometimes referred to as the Colored Rooms, almost nothing is known about this realm. She is in command of Aurorans.
Molag Bal: Is quite a nasty piece of work, almost on the level of Mehrunes Dagon. His realm is Coldharbour, which is a mirror image of Nirn and Tamriel (the game world) except everything is desolate, the sky is on fire, and things look rather bleak. He is often said to command the Daedroth.
Namira: commands the Scuttling Void, which is also unknown to mortals. She is associated with spiders, slugs, and darkness.
Nocturnal: The Night Mistress actually commands several realms, each of which is as mysterious as she is.
Peryite: a lesser Daedric Prince, commands The Pits, which is similar to the Deadlands of Mehrunes Dagon but far more ordered. It is almost inaccessible to mortals.
Sanguine: controls thousands of realms, it is thought, and they are all linked to hedonistic debauchery.
Sheogorath: Prince of Madness, inhabits the Shivering Isles, which is split in two to reflect his two-sided (and completely insane) nature. He commands Golden Saints and Dark Seducers, also symbolic of his two sides.
Vaermina: controls Quagmire, a realm that is never the same from moment to moment. "A dark castle one moment, a den of ravening beasts the next, a moonlit swamp, a coffin where he was buried alive."

These are all just ideas for inspiration, of course, and not meant to be stolen directly. I just find the Daedric lore of The Elder Scrolls to be rather fascinating.

I do, however, think it would be very interesting if there are several Elder God type creatures in Clockwork and that you can battle them in their own realms, having to abide by their rules. It would make for extremely different biomes that you wouldn't normally be able to make.