Hi, I've been watching a few lets plays of the game on youtube. No matter which of the gamers I watch playing Raft, I enjoy the time.
I plan to start playing soon myself, but I was hoping to give a few suggestions after what I've watched so far. From what I can tell, the game is very therapeutic. It's overly simple to play, and that makes it overly fun. I do think the difficulty can be uped a bit, because, at the same time, it's also a little too easy to conquer when you get the ball rolling.
1. More Raft, More Problems.
First idea that comes to mind is that makes this game easy is that the raft can grow to insane sizes. A player could probably cover the ocean if he/she wanted to. Sure, there's a shark that nibbles away at it, but, the answer to that problem is just making more raft to slow him down.
So how about linking the difficulty of the game for players to the size of their raft. We start off with a 2x2/4 squares and shark, so lets say that when we upgrade to a 5x5/25 squares we get to handle two sharks at the same time.
Basically the more raft you craft, the more commotion you'll have in the ocean.
2. Bounty vs. Buoyancy
Following what I was talking about in the first point, the size of the raft can contribute so much more towards gameplay. For example, a chest could have a weight of 50 and putting ten chest close to each other places a weight of 500 in a certain range on the ship. Making things too heavy and causing the entire foundation to slowly take on water and sink.
If you build too much in one area, we, the players, could risk losing our entire establishment or creating an ankle deep puddle that slows down our sprinting (perhaps the shark could even try slidding across a slightly sinking raft to nab players).
Why not make it so that weight has to be distributed carefully on the raft if we want to keep a raft. The weight of an object every few blocks contributes to the weight that area is supporting.
3. More Animals.
One thing I know I love is the fact that a shark is swimming around you like a stalker, tearing your raft apart over time. But once you get settled and into the mood, the shark is manageable and expected. I'm glad that it's stronger and has more health, but it's still too easy to handle by itself.
Like I said earlier, the size of the raft could directly effect the difficulty of the game. We could face extra sharks or-at the right size-new enemies altogether.
You probably heard this before, but how about a giant squid or octopus that tries to drag the raft under; the only way to stop it is to cut away the tentacles before it's. Maybe even a aggressive whale that's out for revenge against humans, we'll need a few harpoons for thus one. Perhaps tiny crabs that sneak on board when you aren't looking and try messing with stuff; leave a frew traps around for them or let the little buggers fall in the nets where they're stuck but will break out of over time.
4. Watering Plants.
I just think this is a must, this should be how we grow our food over time.
5. Weather.
Some days are hot, other days are sunny, and a few days are just perfect for tanning...what if we had to deal with rain and sea storns that churn the waters. Shifting our vessels up and down in open water, causing us to take on water that we have to dump over board.
Perhaps we could even get fog that hides the shark and makes the attack more surprising.
6. Items and Ideas to be considered.
-Different behavior of the shark. Hiding underwater just as often as swimming near the surface.
-A harpoon we can throw and hook onto the shark, has a rope attached to keep it from swimming to far away. Does three time the damaged of the spear poke, which is only used to drive the shark away.
-A bucket to gather more water than a cup.
-Using salt, from the distillers, to store food.
-Spoilage timers.
-The need to sleep.