SUBNAUTICA
About the Game
Subnautica is a first-person open world survival adventure game which entered Early Access in December 2014. It is being developed by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, and is scheduled for full release in September 2017. After narrowly surviving the crash landing of the Aurora, the player is presented with a vast aquatic planet to explore, along with a host of questions: What caused the ship to crash? Did anyone else survive? Is there land anywhere on the planet? But most importantly, can hunger, thirst, and predators be overcome to find the answers? The game features a robust crafting system that encourages and rewards exploration into the dark unknown. As of May 2017, Subnautica has received Very Positive reviews from more than 30,000 Steam users.
Subnautica is a first-person open world survival adventure game which entered Early Access in December 2014. It is being developed by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, and is scheduled for full release in September 2017. After narrowly surviving the crash landing of the Aurora, the player is presented with a vast aquatic planet to explore, along with a host of questions: What caused the ship to crash? Did anyone else survive? Is there land anywhere on the planet? But most importantly, can hunger, thirst, and predators be overcome to find the answers? The game features a robust crafting system that encourages and rewards exploration into the dark unknown. As of May 2017, Subnautica has received Very Positive reviews from more than 30,000 Steam users.
Busted: The Homeless Vegetarian Freediver
At the time of writing, the complete story campaign has not yet been fully implemented in Subnautica. With this in mind, a natural objective for the completionist gamer is to visit every alien facility and acquire every crafting blueprint. To test the game's balancing, three constraints were applied to this quest: no construction of base modules, no consumption of fauna, and no use of oxygen tools to improve lung capacity. The problems presented by these constraints and their solutions are discussed in the collapsible content boxes below.
At the time of writing, the complete story campaign has not yet been fully implemented in Subnautica. With this in mind, a natural objective for the completionist gamer is to visit every alien facility and acquire every crafting blueprint. To test the game's balancing, three constraints were applied to this quest: no construction of base modules, no consumption of fauna, and no use of oxygen tools to improve lung capacity. The problems presented by these constraints and their solutions are discussed in the collapsible content boxes below.
Homeless
The starting lifepod contains three important tools to aid the player's survival: a fabricator for crafting items, a first aid kit dispenser, and a radio for receiving quest information. However, there are several powerful tech options that cannot be built in the lifepod, such as battery chargers, storage lockers, growth beds, and the equipment modification station. These can be built inside a Cyclops submarine, but unlocking the Cyclops is a massive undertaking that is essentially impossible with basic equipment.
The problem is further complicated by the requirements for the vehicle upgrade console. Unlike the tech options mentioned above, this device can only be built in the Moonpool, a base structure which would violate the homeless constraint. Without vehicle upgrades, the slow Prawn suit is vulnerable to the game's many predators, while the mobile Seamoth cannot dive deep enough to reach every wreck site. In short, the homeless constraint presents a catch-22: the player can't access advanced tech options without the Cyclops, and the player can't access the Cyclops without advanced tech options.
The problem is further complicated by the requirements for the vehicle upgrade console. Unlike the tech options mentioned above, this device can only be built in the Moonpool, a base structure which would violate the homeless constraint. Without vehicle upgrades, the slow Prawn suit is vulnerable to the game's many predators, while the mobile Seamoth cannot dive deep enough to reach every wreck site. In short, the homeless constraint presents a catch-22: the player can't access advanced tech options without the Cyclops, and the player can't access the Cyclops without advanced tech options.
The blueprints in this wreck are too deep for the Seamoth to access.
The solution to this dilemma lies within the crashed Aurora starship. If the player can counter the many hazards at the crash site, the rewards will greatly decrease the difficulty of the midgame: batteries and power cells which negate the need for charging stations, nutrient blocks which negate the need for growth beds, and most importantly, the Pressure Compensator.
Ordinarily, this crucial component would only be accessible with a Moonpool, but because it is guaranteed to spawn in a particular room in the Aurora, even the homeless explorer can acquire it. This increases the operating depth of the Seamoth, allowing the player to safely access blueprints for the Cyclops. The other vehicle upgrades are still inaccessible without the Moonpool, but none of these are as necessary or as impactful as the Pressure Compensator.
So, thanks to a single item hidden behind a locked door in the Aurora, the entire base building mechanic can be bypassed while still obtaining all of the tech options needed for the endgame.
Vegetarian
On the Survival and Hardcore difficulty settings, the player must consume food and water to avoid dying from malnutrition or dehydration. Small fish can be caught and eaten raw, cooked, or cured, with various perks and drawbacks for each method of preparation. The Bladderfish is particularly valuable, as it can be consumed for food, water, or oxygen. The vegetarian constraint tests whether it is possible to unlock endgame content without ever consuming fish.
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This constraint is most problematic at the beginning of the game, as the nearby edible flora provide an almost negligible benefit for nutrition and hydration. However, the game world provides a temporary and a sustainable solution to this problem, both of which can be safely accessed without violating the other constraints.
The temporary solution is to investigate the Aurora crash site as early as possible, which also happens to be an important objective discussed in the homeless section above. Scattered in and around the crash site are supply boxes, which can contain filtered water and nutrient blocks, a highly efficient and non-perishable food source. A thorough search should give the player enough supplies to survive long enough to unlock the Cyclops submarine.
The sustainable solution is obtained by visiting the Floating Island to the south of the crash site. This island is home to a variety of plants that are substantially more nutritious than the game's aquatic flora. It is also the safest location for obtaining the Interior Growbed blueprint, which allows the player to create a small farm inside their base or Cyclops. Once a Cyclops has been created and set up for farming, the vegetarian constraint is solved.
The temporary solution is to investigate the Aurora crash site as early as possible, which also happens to be an important objective discussed in the homeless section above. Scattered in and around the crash site are supply boxes, which can contain filtered water and nutrient blocks, a highly efficient and non-perishable food source. A thorough search should give the player enough supplies to survive long enough to unlock the Cyclops submarine.
The sustainable solution is obtained by visiting the Floating Island to the south of the crash site. This island is home to a variety of plants that are substantially more nutritious than the game's aquatic flora. It is also the safest location for obtaining the Interior Growbed blueprint, which allows the player to create a small farm inside their base or Cyclops. Once a Cyclops has been created and set up for farming, the vegetarian constraint is solved.
Freediver
The fundamental resource that characterizes and distinguishes Subnautica is oxygen. At the start of the game, the player character can submerge for 45 seconds before blacking out, which is barely long enough to reach the sea floor in some areas, let alone return to the surface. There are a variety of tools to solve this problem, such as oxygen tanks, the rebreather, and a system of pipes and air pumps.
This may be the branch of the tech tree with the greatest need for rebalancing, as it turns out that none of the aforementioned tools are necessary.
The biomes surrounding the starting lifepod are home to the purple brain coral, which produces a slow stream of air bubbles. The critical value here is that the coral replenishes the player's oxygen faster than it depletes. This allows the player to freedive for resources that would otherwise be inaccessible. |
The maximum exploration depth is further increased by the Seaglide, a handheld propeller that greatly increases the player's movement speed. The oxygen problem is solved entirely with the construction of the Seamoth, a submersible vehicle that continuously replenishes the player's air supply as long as it is powered. This mechanic, combined with the Seamoth's speed and maneuverability, provides a major advantage for the rest of the game.
Even without the use of oxygen tanks, there is always a tool that can extend the player's range just enough to unlock the next tool: the purple brain coral enables the Seaglide, which enables the Seamoth, which essentially eliminates the oxygen constraint altogether.
Even without the use of oxygen tanks, there is always a tool that can extend the player's range just enough to unlock the next tool: the purple brain coral enables the Seaglide, which enables the Seamoth, which essentially eliminates the oxygen constraint altogether.
Design Analysis
Across all three constraints, the common theme is that the challenges which seem most difficult for a new player actually have remarkably easy solutions for a player with sufficient knowledge of the game world. At first glance, this may seem to be a pure positive: an open world game should encourage players to develop a comprehensive understanding of both the game space and its mechanics.
However, two problems emerge. The first is that players with specific knowledge of the Aurora and the Floating Island can reach important tech options much faster and with much less risk than players who explore organically. An important tenet in game design is that the most powerful rewards should be the hardest to acquire, which simply isn't the case here.
The second problem is that after reaching a fairly low threshold of skill and knowledge, problem solving and replay value quickly evaporate. If a player starts a campaign knowing the advantages conferred by a Seamoth and how to unlock the vehicle quickly, why would that player bother to experiment with oxygen pumps, fin upgrades, knife upgrades, or visiting any of the biomes with high risk and low reward? Too much of the content in Subnautica feels irrelevant once the player identifies the dominant branches of the tech tree.
In order to encourage more diverse problem solving, and to maintain a consistent level of challenge for both novice and experienced players, the following tweaks can be implemented:
Across all three constraints, the common theme is that the challenges which seem most difficult for a new player actually have remarkably easy solutions for a player with sufficient knowledge of the game world. At first glance, this may seem to be a pure positive: an open world game should encourage players to develop a comprehensive understanding of both the game space and its mechanics.
However, two problems emerge. The first is that players with specific knowledge of the Aurora and the Floating Island can reach important tech options much faster and with much less risk than players who explore organically. An important tenet in game design is that the most powerful rewards should be the hardest to acquire, which simply isn't the case here.
The second problem is that after reaching a fairly low threshold of skill and knowledge, problem solving and replay value quickly evaporate. If a player starts a campaign knowing the advantages conferred by a Seamoth and how to unlock the vehicle quickly, why would that player bother to experiment with oxygen pumps, fin upgrades, knife upgrades, or visiting any of the biomes with high risk and low reward? Too much of the content in Subnautica feels irrelevant once the player identifies the dominant branches of the tech tree.
In order to encourage more diverse problem solving, and to maintain a consistent level of challenge for both novice and experienced players, the following tweaks can be implemented:
- Improve predator AI. Predators do not retreat from an attack regardless of damage dealt to them, but they will not venture outside of their starting biome. This gives the player zero motivation to use torpedoes, decoys, or stasis rifles. Speeding past enemies to avoid them altogether is too easy and too effective.
- Batteries should not recharge when used as a crafting ingredient. For example, an empty battery can be used to create a fully charged Scanner, and two empty batteries can be combined to create a fully charged power cell. This devalues the Battery Charger, Power Cell Charger, and Swim Charge fins, and overvalues the many batteries that can be found within the Aurora.
- Fabrication time should be linked to fragment scanning. Scanning a fragment for a blueprint that has already been unlocked gives a meager reward of 2x Titanium. Most objects can be crafted in a few seconds, which devalues time management and multitasking skills. Both of these problems can be fixed by setting a much longer fabrication time for advanced tech options, which can be shortened by scanning more fragments of the same blueprint. Perhaps the player will explore to find more fragments, or perhaps the player will create multiple fabricators for concurrent production. Either way, real problem solving is encouraged and player agency increases.
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The elusive Kyanite crystal, more than 1000 meters below the surface
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- Decrease lung and oxygen tank capacity from 45 / 75 seconds to 30 / 60 seconds. In the early game, any task can be easily completed in a single breath. Besides being unrealistic, this greatly devalues the wide variety of tools designed for improving swim speed and oxygen management. A small decrease in capacity should encourage the use of more tech options both before and after the construction of the Seamoth.
- Add more dangerous predators to Floating Island. A single trip to this island gives the player access to lithium, highly nutritious plants, growbeds to farm them sustainably, and a variety of useful blueprints. This massive treasure trove is only guarded by feeble Cave Crawlers and the assumption that players won't find it until many hours into their playthrough. The level of risk here needs to be greatly increased in order to match the rewards.
- Increase temperature of some Aurora rooms to 60°C. This temperature will damage the player unless they are equipped with the Reinforced Dive Suit, a mid- to late-game tech option. This change would encourage one of three player behaviors: (A) Visit the Aurora with the Radiation Suit, then revisit later with the Reinforced Dive Suit. (B) Ignores the hot rooms and the rewards contained within. (C) Tank damage in the hot rooms and use first aid kits afterwards. In any of these scenarios, the rewards for exploring the Aurora are delayed, diminished, or more commensurate to risk. This thematically appropriate change discourages players from rushing straight to the Aurora and completely imbalancing their midgame experience.