I had a random idea of super long interpolated model frames of the plant growing (which only progress while sector light > 176 or whatever), so that farming requires patience and protecting your plants, not just throwing seeds everywhere and waiting. This would apply to all farmable plants, not just hemp and beets. Also only farmable plants should have these models. I mean they're low poly but if every tree in DoomZ had a 3D model it would be run hellabad for most people and wouldn't really look that great from a distance compared to sprites which have distinct edges from every angle. Also flowering and fruiting states. That way once you've had a plant for x number of days, you can pick fruit once a day (without killing the actor and starting over, unless it's actually a veggie like the beets). This also encourages "settling in" to one location where you can farm well and expanding around that -- a.k.a. civilization. I think plants should automatically die after x days (respawn "wild" ones the same way you spawn monsters).Deathtoll wrote: Oh, something else. The hemp plants should bud outafter say two or three days so you can get hemp seeds and either plant them to grow more or make hemp oil for fueling the chainsaw. That chainsaw is ungodly handy.
I also had an idea to make it so that identifying and killing every male plant in a hemp crop yields an obligatory snoop dogg easter egg or something.
A hunger system would be cool too, to tie into the farming system. Not sure if starvation should be damaging though or if you just like, get slower and have less damage resistance when you're in a hungry state. That means that diligent farming is in the best interests of you and your teammates once you've already established shelter. Hunger should increase very slowly, and wild fruits and veggies should spawn just barely often enough to satisfy the player who spends 100% of his time looking for them. Which means that the need to farm is inevitable unless you want to be a total nomad.
Anyways, it might be an over-complication of a system that already works but I figure fuckit whynot? If most survival FPS's don't take the importance of agriculture doesn't mean we can't go there ourselves.