I've been thinking about what we could make our iconic mascot, akin to what the Creeper is for Minecraft.
This idea seems right in all kinds of ways. Gelatinous Cubes have so much potential, and our singular current mob already is a slimy cube, ready to take over the world. It also seems decently distinct for us - both Minecraft and Terraria have slimes, the ones in MC are even sometimes described as gelatinous cubes, but they don't have any of the classic traits of awesomeness like semi-translucency, the ability to swallow stuff, and the pure win that is displaying other items within (be it realistic objects, objects the player could possibly retrieve, or rare semi-hidden tributes to other games - imagine a crude replica of a Companion Cube from Portal inside our cubey mascot - meta!)
I've already been wanting to colorize slimes to fake-test the idea of multiple mobs, workshop attraction, and to implement a first bit of "AI" in making them consider merging if there's another suitable partner nearby (which could even merge the colors...). I was also wondering if it would be plausible for them to "move" other blocks by swallowing them (inflating in size for a bit and showing patches of the texture from the target block), then depositing them elsewhere to build silly little cubic lairs of perfectly smooth corridors.
Endless potential! Lots of game testing! Procedurally generated mob of sorts (dynamic sizes, stuff other objects inside them, etc)! Merchandizing!
Their truly distinct piece could be something like a delicious "smoosh" sound effect as they push up against / swallow a player. They could be really quiet and sneaky, stalking their pray like wobbly ninjas, then impart just a bit of acid/shock damage, or if big enough envelop the player and cover the screen in a distorted color effect until the player breaks free. Rather than the distinct "argh hate!" explosion of the Creeper some color(s) could pop and cover blocks in acid, making them dissolve slowly rather than explode immediately, which could be even more cruel than the instant destruction of Creepers
Edit: Another unique purpose for these Cubes as minions might be the moving of whole normal blocks (that with mining would split into a bunch of smaller cubes with material loss) from spot A to spot B. Since they're acid-based say they can cut through rock intelligently in thin slices, then absorb the block within them to move somewhere else, then deposit
Could be a way to build big walls in solid pieces, rather than put them together with mini-blocks mined from a quarry (would take longer, waste rock, and lead to a weaker wall - think cobble vs solid stone).
This idea seems right in all kinds of ways. Gelatinous Cubes have so much potential, and our singular current mob already is a slimy cube, ready to take over the world. It also seems decently distinct for us - both Minecraft and Terraria have slimes, the ones in MC are even sometimes described as gelatinous cubes, but they don't have any of the classic traits of awesomeness like semi-translucency, the ability to swallow stuff, and the pure win that is displaying other items within (be it realistic objects, objects the player could possibly retrieve, or rare semi-hidden tributes to other games - imagine a crude replica of a Companion Cube from Portal inside our cubey mascot - meta!)
I've already been wanting to colorize slimes to fake-test the idea of multiple mobs, workshop attraction, and to implement a first bit of "AI" in making them consider merging if there's another suitable partner nearby (which could even merge the colors...). I was also wondering if it would be plausible for them to "move" other blocks by swallowing them (inflating in size for a bit and showing patches of the texture from the target block), then depositing them elsewhere to build silly little cubic lairs of perfectly smooth corridors.
Endless potential! Lots of game testing! Procedurally generated mob of sorts (dynamic sizes, stuff other objects inside them, etc)! Merchandizing!
Their truly distinct piece could be something like a delicious "smoosh" sound effect as they push up against / swallow a player. They could be really quiet and sneaky, stalking their pray like wobbly ninjas, then impart just a bit of acid/shock damage, or if big enough envelop the player and cover the screen in a distorted color effect until the player breaks free. Rather than the distinct "argh hate!" explosion of the Creeper some color(s) could pop and cover blocks in acid, making them dissolve slowly rather than explode immediately, which could be even more cruel than the instant destruction of Creepers
Edit: Another unique purpose for these Cubes as minions might be the moving of whole normal blocks (that with mining would split into a bunch of smaller cubes with material loss) from spot A to spot B. Since they're acid-based say they can cut through rock intelligently in thin slices, then absorb the block within them to move somewhere else, then deposit
Could be a way to build big walls in solid pieces, rather than put them together with mini-blocks mined from a quarry (would take longer, waste rock, and lead to a weaker wall - think cobble vs solid stone).
