Pretty much everyone wants this, myself included. Basically the chance to find a huge 'Cast Away' type island. Early on I was under the impression that they planned on adding these in the future.
However after a lot of browsing on the steam discussion page I have my doubts we'll ever see big islands like this any time soon, if ever. It seems they have no plans at the moment to add large islands with the features like this.
Right now the only thing that seems to come close is the possibility of getting abandoned islands sometime in the future. But I have no idea how big they will be or if they will be any bigger than the current islands. Possibly just islands with abandoned building(s) or lighthouse or something of that sort. https://trello.com/c/jD7yW6UD/88-abandoned-islands
I really hope they seriously consider adding much bigger islands similar to what you described, people overwhelmingly seem to want this. There have been a lot of similar posts like this, especially on the steam stranded deep discussion forum.
The devs (all 2 of them) are very aware of what's required and their action plan on trello makes good sense.
Personally, the most glaring issues right now are:
the 'popping' when the next biomes loads (dev aware of it and fixing it) - sometimes this even drops me off my raft
the rowing speed is too slow - resorted to using the glitch to get more out of the game right now.
the islands are all the same size - been mentioned a lot and will be worked on
the islands are too far apart - affects re-playability and is due to the procedural generation of the world, it would be good to see proper reef structures, calderas, archipelagos, etc...
I don't know much about OP, but I know one thing: He did not read the Roadmap of the game OR visited the "features and concepts"-page of the devs....
https://trello.com/b/8MTqueJV/stranded-deep-features-and-concepts
You can find the Trello board with all the features here.
https://trello.com/b/8MTqueJV/stranded-deep-features-and-concepts
It says they want to create 'abandoned islands'... pretty sure that means larger islands (with lighthouses and stuff on it?) And caves. I'm pretty sure caves means larger islands.
In progress: sharks attack rate.
https://trello.com/c/U1KHnp5z/37-sharks-attack-rate
Given I've killed many sharks and never been bitten, I would bet the farm they're making bites more frequent.
To add to your point though, I'd like to see sharks be more dangerous, but much less frequent. Every new deep sea biome spawns 2 great whites, and most of the other shallower biomes spawn like 4 tiger sharks. Every time you hit a new biome, it's just shark city, and I personally think it's too much when I hit a new island and there are 4-6 tiger sharks in my general area. Feels out of balance.
Yes! According to the roadmap (see Steam store page) there will be some sort of co-op/multiplayer. Also, the developers have a Trello board up where we the public can track their progress:
When I found their trello board I was so excited that I had found where they had been keeping the public and fans of their games up to date.
Then I realized it hasnt been updated in months...
But I mean it is really nice to see what plans they have for the future. Whenever that is.
If you look on the site, there were a few pics posted up of the sea forts, Sites nice though as you get the chance to voice ideas and vote on what you think should go in
https://trello.com/b/8MTqueJV/stranded-deep-features-and-concepts
That's the link to their public trello page. Currently they only have tides on there but one could imagine that might include waves/currents. No idea though, and they haven't updated the board in almost a month.
Personally I would love to see this come into the game alongside bigger islands. Stopped playing the game for a while because I got REALLY bored island hopping from one small, uninteresting island to the next.
We NEED waves/currents to spice up the island hopping and bigger islands to make it worth it. Would love to see natural caves and some cliffs etc.
Its a game engine (2-D/3-D), originally for Macs, that now supports just about any platform. iOS, Playstation, Wii U, etc.
To start using it, you need some understanding of C# or JavaScript. It's free to download and has lots of tutorials.
>From the website: March 21st If you’ve been following on the forum, we’ve mentioned in a few threads that a lot has been going on internally. We’re reworking a few things at the moment and focusing on laying a solid foundation for the future of the game. So while that’s happening, things around here are pretty busy and we might not have a chance to communicate as much as we’d like. We know that can be unnerving and some developers have let EA users down in the past, but we want to reassure people that we’re just as excited and committed to this project as ever :)
>From Twitter @BEAMTeamGames @cellis1090 Still working hard, not only on this next update but for what we have planned for the future of Stranded Deep :) 7:22 PM - 25 Apr 2015
And while this isnt as up to date as I would like, it's what they are actively working on. Maybe little communication is good as that means they are hard at work making us happy.
Dont get me wrong, I have logged 35 hours in the last couple weeks and I share your same concerns too. I am worried I will get tired of the game before it is finished, no matter what is released like I did with The Long Dark. But at least its nice to know they didnt take our money and jerk off with it, like DayZ.
I think the devs mentioned snakes... that would be alright.
There's already a stick on the island that looks like a snake - gets me every. damn. time...
Lions and Tigers and Bears might be a bit much.
So far, the only "containers" are your rescue-raft and building a shack with walls and a door.
But Containers are the second in votes on their Features&Concepts Trello-page. https://trello.com/b/8MTqueJV/stranded-deep-features-and-concepts
(right after Farming, which also would be nice)
https://trello.com/b/1gMk1Mzz/stranded-deep-bugs-and-balancing
look in the right column.. currently 6th in the completed-column. Starts with "KEY BINDINGS"
if people started looking at the official bug-list linked in the sidebar, we wouldn't have the same bugs reported over and over again, even though they are already repaired.
I agree with all of this, OP! I'm sure it's all in the works, though.
Has the Beam Team posted a long-term goal list anywhere? If they haven't they really should so as to put our minds at ease and reduce the redundant talk of ideas that they already plan to implement. (Edit: Nevermind. I found it)
I like the idea of storms. They could be configured to come after so many days survived and then at random intervals afterwards in order to test what you've established so far.
I think that bigger islands could have random loot washed onto it for you to utilize; string, clothing, debris that can be crafted into weapons or building materials.
I think end game would be exploring larger, dangerous islands with natives, dangerous predators, and caves. The ultimate goal would be a badass home or a boat that could withstand the open ocean and store enough supplies to last the voyage.
You probably have MacOS Yosemite ?
The Devs wrote about a bug causing ridiculous loading times on their trello board.
https://trello.com/b/1gMk1Mzz/stranded-deep-bugs-and-balancing
And forget about the Mac-Haters... Windows Fanboys are even worse than Mac fanboys, they are fans of a product that doesn't work... They are most likely kids who never had to work on a computer and don't know how frustrating Windows really is.
Yup, they do have something similar listed on trello
But that may just mean that the player can pick up toolboxs, medical cabinets and hard cases to use as storage solutions on an island. (Also a great idea. E.g: An esky would be great for storing food)
It has so much potential. I just really hope they don't give up on this project. I've seen so many great early release games die off. Public Bugs & Balancing board can be found here https://trello.com/b/1gMk1Mzz/stranded-deep-bugs-and-balancing
The below website shows everything that's in concept, in discussion, being developed, and currently in progress. That includes bug reports.
Many of things you mentioned are definitely things the two developers are thinking about and figuring out how to implement without making the engine crash.
Your one mention. Huts becoming a necessity rather than a nuance. From the looks of it, exposure-like scenarios may be coming (temperatures related to time-day-month, wind that blow things around, land creatures, etc).