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Hey, @Ameey! Thanks for your helpful tips about all the in-case-of-emergency items - I guess I’m just not typically that well prepared :D

In that particular situation - I actually had a laugh about the series of unfortunate events that led to my meowstronaut’s demise. Such trips are bread & butter of the game for me, but this time: first I stayed out waaay too long, then I bumped my buggy a couple of times when speeding back to base, then I spent some precious seconds spinning donuts before I noticed the damage to the front wheel (the buggy is still pretty steerable if the back wheel is damaged - but front, not so much), and THEN that final desperate (and ultimately unsuccessful) sprint… I like these sudden bursts of tension in otherwise very mellow game. Good thing cats have 9 or more lives! ;)

As for the autocrafter: yeah, I know, not a bug report if replication instructions are not provided ;) - if it occurs again, I’ll try to jot down more info for Cairn4 to work on.

I’m also glad that other people are enjoying Mewnbase! The core gameplay is very solid in my opinion, with readable and polished UI, and every little bit of variety added now makes the game much better. Fingers crossed for that volcano! ;) Also…exploding plant? Intereeesting… :D

Hello, Cairn4 - I have played Mewnbase a year ago, then skipped a couple updates and now I came back to see what changed in the meantime :)

Rock crabs: I like! I mean, I don’t like to be attacked ;), but I enjoy that the world now has some life and more unpredictability. Can’t wait to see what’s next, now that the systems for wandering creatures are in place.

Autocrafter: cool when works, but I had at least one occasion when I wanted it to make something like engines, had all the stuff in reach, but after making one it would not do anything. Adding/removing jobs and upping quantities did nothing. Maybe I don’t understand all the requirements, or how to add jobs to make more complex stuff? I could use a tutorial on this. But other times it worked and helped me make RTGs from radioactive ore I dumped in the bins after a dozer trip.

Dozer: very helpful! Speeds up clearing terrain for bigger base/roads significantly. And with own oxygen generator and storage, it’s an all-around quality-of-life upgrade.

Recipe rebalancing, more uses for scrap: makes perfect sense.

New items like power pack: didn’t use, but probably a lifesaver for some people ;)

TL;DR:

• liked all the new additions,
• autocrafter is either hard to use or buggy,
• new favorite way to die is: hurry back to base from an artifact-hunting expedition, break a front wheel in the buggy, get out of the now useless turning-in-circles vehicle, and suffocate while running.

Saw on Trello that you are thinking about full controller support - would love that! Playing Mewnbase with a gamepad on the couch would rock (and save people some wrist strain from clicking).

If you ever release this on GOG, I’ll buy again :)

And possibly an explanation of autocrafter, and that you need to right-click vehicles with storage! :)

Wholeheartedly agreed - I always roll my eyes when any game gives you points in increments of e.g. 100 and the two last digits of point counter are always 00. Holdover from arcade games point inflation?

But…if artifacts are supposed to always give 5 science points, what could give less, like 1 point?

• First time you eat a particular dish - 1 point!
• First time you craft an item of a type - 1 point? But this would overflow the player with science points…the existing upgrade costs would need to be +-doubled…
• First time you encounter/kill a type of monster? Could give 1-3 points depending on the type (strength, rarity) of monster (assuming that the rock crabs prove popular and get some company in later updates, including Orange Lava Butterflies, Bluesnakes, and the Rock Crab King)!
• Missions du jour! Either a) you always have 3 missions to do, and upon completion a new one replaces it (many games did this, I remember it working well in Burrito Bison) or b) the missions are really per day - either you do it between dawn and dusk, or you don’t and then it’s gone, with a new one assigned in the morning.

What do I mean by “mission”: simple tasks from Cat Command, like “gather 10 space oranges”, “smelt 10 beams”, “build an expansion base at least N klicks from any other”, “discover an artifact”, “have at least NNN water storage total”, “drive at least NN klicks in a vehicle”.

Now, I’m aware that having those missions would impact the game a bit more than their “take it or leave it” mechanics would suggest. People are drawn in by a challenge, and while checking off missions would probably appeal to a whole slew of players, it would change the feel of the game FOREVER. It would no longer be super-casual take-your-time exploration, there would actually be some structure, something assigned to do beyond “don’t die”. So, you know, be careful.

See also a longer post on missions, rewards etc.

Oh well :(

In that case, do you think you might be open to (unpaid) contributors with some kind of controlled relationship, then? For example under an NDA? That wouldn’t be as easy to work with as an open code repository, but maybe it’s an option?

Hello, Cairn4!

Recycling is currently underwhelming. When comparing the two different ways of getting metal:

• recycling requires 3 pieces of scrap and interacting with 2 machines (smelter and recycler),
• smelting requires 1 piece of ore and interacting with 1 machine - smelter.

In effect one spends 2 artifacts worth of progress to add a less efficient option for getting metal sheets (and it does nothing for beams). Other early game tech tree branches give you much more, often for less (1-2 artifacts needed).

What I imagine could help:

• other stuff to recycle, for example empty oxygen bottles - if I could recycle 2-3 empty O2 bottles back to metal, that would improve the attractiveness of both recycling AND making oxygen,
• more scrap metal on the map (for example grouped around “crash site” terrain features - lots of scrap, an artifact or two, not much trees or anything else…maybe a crater or a wreck in the middle),
• less ore - and I know that a big part of the game is gated by ore availability, but hear me out: the endgame is currently easy enough, and by limiting the ore amounts it would introduce some decisions, instead of “let’s make 10 metal beams to build one of everything that requires it and then hundreds of regular metal sheets forever, because there is enough ore for everything”; ore would be the only one used for beams, so scrap metal would be even more valuable…
• if lightning strikes damaged your base, then the damaged modules could be recycled back into metal.

Anyway, this is what I think. I like your game a lot, looking forward to more content! Take care!

Yes, please! Ideally, open source it and accept pull requests!

I’m sure the developer could use another pair of hands (or a dozen) to add features :)

More varied, less uniform map - distinct terrain features. Currently there is very little difference if I build my base on brown soil, or on rocks, or anywhere. Mostly it's about root veggies spawning nearby (and I quickly start growing food indoors, so it loses significance). It would be more interesting if I had a choice: be close to rock quarry, or space orange tree grove, or grassland, or magical fairy blueshroom forest...

And that's just with the resources & tile types (=> art assets etc.) already in the game. Eventually, it would be cool to have:

• large-scale terrain features: dinosaur bones, crashed spaceship, waterfall, volcano, bottomless pit, ruins, craters, streams, ...
• lava (see also: volcano),
• water (related to streams and waterfalls) - maybe not too often (not even on every planet?), but it would be cool to have equipment pumping surface water, aqueducts and the like,
• irontrees: spiky! you can extract metal from them, but don't get too close, or they will puncture your spacesuit. The suit is self-healing, so the leak will not cause you to lose all O2, but there will be a significant hit - usually enough to run back to base,
• moss and other types of vegetation,
• ...

Ideally, the choice between uniform environment and large, pronounced biomes should be an option when starting the game (like day-night cycle). And it would be cool if I could get a quick preview of the map (partial, fuzzy and incomplete - not to spoil the fun of exploration) to decide where to plop down the lander for the first time.

That's too bad - Mewnbase would be awesome on Nintendo 3DS/2DS! The secondary touch screen is perfect for inventory and map, see SteamWorld Dig. But I get that you have limited resources.

Challenges: every 3-5 days the Kitty High Command of the Feline Expeditionary Force would send you a challenge du jour, like:

• gather 10 plants,
• build 3 water collectors,
• build 5 shovels,
• drill 20 rocks,
• drink 7 bottles of water,
• research 3 artifacts,
• stay above 90% fed all day,
• travel at least X distance,
• travel to a point on the map,
• reveal at least X new area on the map,
• don't use any tools all day (no shovel/drill/axe),
• DON'T travel too far away from current location,
• ...

All numeric values would slowly increase over the course of the game, building up difficulty. If the challenge is met on that day (limited time only!), there is a reward - player can choose one of, say, 3, randomized possibilities:

• supply drop: a crate with some raw materials (waters, metal bars, seeds, air, ...),
• base module drop (e.g. floodlight or water collector early in the game, garage or big battery later),
• decorative items for base - added to a bare habitat module, with graphics based on / reused from artifacts (so cat-themed),
• weather forecast,
• satellite survey (opens map and reveals some undiscovered area, highlighting artifacts and stuff),
• cool suit upgrades:
  • all-around night light,
  • infrared night vision filter (high contrast green),
  • vehicle locator (adds a special symbol to the navigation overlay circle),
  • bring-the-vehicle-to-me autopilot,
  • jump module (jump over rocks),
  • sprint assist (for limited time, uses up energy),
  • more suit colors/patterns/textures,
  • assorted cosmetic items for spacesuit (image on belly, special helmet shapes, different tracks in the dirt, hats, YES, I SAID HATS, EVERY GAME HAS HATS NOWADAYS, THERE'S NO SHAME IN IT),
• doorbell sounds for airlock (instead of default hiss),
• bling for vehicle (think fuzzy dice and go-faster stripes),
• ...

Researching different artifacts could bring small permanent bonuses: food bowl gives an increase to food nutritional value, laser pointer makes suit hold more charge, fish bowl more air (;)), toy mouse or cat tree increase movement speed. Possibly only when researched for the first time - duplicates do nothing. Might need to rebalance and lower base kitty stats a bit to avoid making cats TOO AWESOME.

More vehicle types:

• Dirtbike: fast, turns easily, no trailer attachment, low HP,
• Bulldozer: crushes trees and rocks to raw materials, a ton of HP, very slow. Mostly for clearing area out for a new base.

• Glider: no HP value, flies over obstacles. Might have a solar recharging station?

Mining: drills, wells (VERY slowly filled with water, shows [!] to pull out a bucket + an upgrade which automatically puts water into base supply), geothermal heat pumps, cave systems...

A crazy sci-fi branch of tech tree:

• Teleporter base module,
• Food replicator: takes chemistry, makes Earl Gray slop,
• Ray gun: blasts rocks and trees instantly, requires ATOMIC FUEL every dozen of shots or so,
• Base AI module: doesn't do much, just quips,
• Anti-gravity generator: for building no-wheel-barrows (like trailer, but follow behind the player).

In short: cool stuff, not always practical.

Trains! As in, an entire rail yard. Narrow gauge for mid-game, with locomotive built on bio-fuel generator (eats greens to run). Say, a sheet of metal and a piece of wood could make 3 pieces of straight tracks, 2 curved ones, or one specialty (switch). Maybe also mine carts and handcars (require pushing keys to run)?
With more advanced tech: monorail or mag-lev. Tracks made with metal bars and stone (hopefully not electronics, as these are very expensive). Locomotive requires 2-4 RTGs to be built, but no fuel afterwards. Building rails would be a nice late game money sink :)

Some use for tree seeds ;)

New game mode, Career: the same kitty goes on (for example) 3 missions on different moons, keeping the tech tree progress between them:

1.  Short mission (14-20 days) on a planet with lots of plants, long days and a lot of rain, but almost no scrap metal and very little ore. LIMITED ARTIFACTS! Only 4-5, and after discovering them no new ones appear - so the tech tree will  be very basic.
2. Medium difficulty - similar to current game. Only difference is limited artifacts, again (4-7?) - so that it's not yet possible to research everything.
3. A dry, dusty planet with long nights, tons of rocks and metal. Longer mission, in the 30-60 days range. Now the artifacts appear in normal quantities, just like in Normal game.

Could be that leaving the moon is mandatory (needs to be done before the end of the day) in missions 1 & 2, or not - there will be no tech progress anyway.

I'm hoping this could be a simple thing to implement, while adding a lot to replayability:

The ability to change environment parameters when starting new game in Normal mode, similar to how currently it's possible to choose night cycle:

• less plants, more plants,
• less rocks, more rocks,
• no rain (water only from ice!), sporadic rain, heavy rains,
• no dust storms, rare dust storms, dust storms very often,
• ragged biomes, more contiguous biomes,
• the length of the mission.

This way I'd be able to start a game in a lush garden paradise full of raw materials (close to Creative Mode, but still keeping the game part with depleting resources), a hostile hellhole, or something in between.

My guess is that this might be just adding a few values to probabilities used internally and a few new dials in the New Game dialog - no complicated interactions, no new graphics, no stuff that requires a lot of work.