Feature Creep: The Space Hunter

So I was dreaming about Star Citizen, and I thought it would be fun to share some ideas about the game’s development or what features they might add. I know we all dread the feature creep monster, but I want to pick features that compliment what is in development not complicate it. In this case I want to propose a new career in Star Citizen.

In comes the mobs against those that might distract from development! They’ve taken almost the better part of a decade to get to this point, and you want to add to the feature tsunami? Are you mad sir?

I get it, and first of all I am mad, however, this feature just makes sense when you think about what has already been implemented and what they plan to incorporate into the game. Namely an offshoot of the Bounty Hunter occupation that implements gameplay with the myriad of animals and wildlife CIG has been quietly developing behind the scenes. That’s right. Space Hunters for your cosmic pests and dangerous animals on planets, moons, and even in the void itself.

Now calm yourselves gents. This wouldn’t be adding as much as you might think. They’re making wildlife in the game already, and since it’s CIG we can already guess that they have gameplay in mind for them down the road. Think of this as a wish list of sorts for when they get around to populating their little simulated universe with animals and more plants. It makes sense that if you spend so much time making animals and aliens like we already know are planned, the space whale to name one, that some gameplay should be added on to them so they’re more than pretty moving background scenery to be occasionally shot at.

In my mind this calls for a whole new career path to cater to said gameplay. You might think that’s excessive especially in game chalk full of careers yet to be implemented, but I think there is an opportunity here that will shake us gamers to our core at the possibilities. Imagine with me the Cosmic Hunter. Called in from the stars to deal with hostile alien predators hunting colonists in a new world. In particular you have a bounty for the alpha male of the pack of wild horse sized lizards, and extra for every pelt you bring back. 

Maybe you can turn the hides into rare accessories you can sell to craftsmen or turn directly into shoes to sell to the rich Origin 300I types wanting the exotic. Maybe you can catch some of the specimens alive and bring them to scientists for a bounty, or even more gear for studying the beasts of the new world. Perhaps you can discover new animals for hunters, and new ways to turn them into cash, or other uses from better sensors based off of a rare alien shark’s bio sonar for example. The possibilities are endless and sound down right tantalizing to an old gamer like me.

Add in an entire universe to populate with animals and those possibilities explode. You could even take this further. Imagine an 890 Jump hunter lodge variant. Complete with extra facilities meant for dressing the kills for food, clothing, craftables, and so on. Cages for caught animals, weapons smith designed for hunting rifles that don’t damage pelts. Maybe a taxidermy station for making up trophies for your ship, base, apartment, or clan headquarters. 

Since we know CIG is going to be constantly making ships I don’t see why one couldn’t be a dedicated hunter ship with all of the above amenities on a smaller scale, but with less luxury for a Space Hunter starter ship. Meant for harsh environments, and in some ways similar to a lander with the hunter workshop mixed in and sensors to boot. 

If you think about it, this career path easily lends itself to both the right and wrong side of the law as well increasing immersive gameplay and world building. Poachers could easily land on a planet and kill an almost extinct animal for buckets of cash and credits, but Jail time or maybe even Rangers might be close behind with itchy trigger fingers. Maybe a rare toxin that kills without a trace can be harvested from an amphibian on a hostile moon. The UNEE frowns on those who do find the little frogs for their poison, but the Nine Tails will pay handsomely for every ounce you gather. Maybe a scientist with less scruples than his colleagues hires you to hunt down a quasi sentient species for study alive or dead. 

See what I mean? It’s a gold mine of unique gameplay no other game can give you, and certainly not at the scale we’re talking about here. It also would go a long way to setting Star Citizen even farther apart from its competition like Elite Dangerous or No Man’s Sky, but most of all if implemented correctly would be a blast. Imagine what the ship designers could come up with for a dedicated Space Hunter ship? Imagine the terrifying or elusive creatures they could create to hunt. 

Let me leave you with a taste of what this gameplay could look like in the future. Imagine yourself rumbling through space on a slick yet fat bellied Hunter Ship with cages in her hold full of an odd monkey bird creature a scientist on the fringes of space is paying top dollar for you to capture alive. After trolling the brokers you eventually found the little beasts, and are on your way back for your payday. You’re exchanging the goods and nodding at the scientists eccentricities when you get a panicked call from one of your contacts.

One of the colonies you frequent a jump or two out is being stalked by an unknown predator that’s already snatched a couple of settlers. They’re paying massive creds to rid the beast from their woods. Your scientist overhears the conversation, and being intrigued offers you a one of a kind piece of equipment he’s developed studying the monkey birds you’ve been bringing him that will improve your ships survivability in extreme heat conditions if you bring the monster back to him alive. The colonists counter offer with an extremely massive bonus if you bring the beast’s hide back as a trophy. Which do you choose? And of course, the choice will lead to either more missions from the rich colonists or with the component making scientist.

See? That’s just me writing scenarios down in between writing my novel and playing Call of Duty with my wife. Imagine what designers with the building blocks that CIG have put in place with Star Citizen will be able to implement, and even though they are slow CIG never does anything small. So here is hoping that they make some serious gameplay to go with the animals they are designing in the game universe. Let me know what careers you think are in Star Citizen’s future, and don’t forget to come back for more Feature Creep, short stories, novels, advice for young men, and whatever madness I feel like throwing into this blog. 

If you want more Feature Creep click here for mini carriers.

If you want to try some fiction out click here for Star Mercs Part One.

And click here if you want to try something completely different.