Since the farming update, the base building aspect of this game has really taken off. I'm really enjoying it! I'm not sure what's planned for the "polish" and "quality of life" stuff prior to 1.0, so maybe some of these suggestions are already being considered.
So here are some little ideas that would give me more creative control over my base, and add a bit of functionality to some of the decorative objects.
1) The beds are neat. Now, maybe make them do something useful! My suggestions - let the player skip the night time, and heal a bit (though not as much as a medkit). I find the night time too dark to get anything done, even with the various light sources in the game, so I'd love a way to just skip it when given the chance.
2) Turn the desk into a note-taking device with the notes stored in the saved game. When the player interacts with it, give them a text field they can type into for making simple to-do lists and such. Not everybody would bother using it, but I definitely would!
3) Consider adding a drawer to the desk with a small storage area - nowhere near as big as a locker, but enough to store about as much as you can imagine fitting in a desk drawer.
4) Consider adding a compost. For placing things like old/bad food and rotten samples. It actually makes compost which becomes an ingredient necessary for making planters and grow beds.
5) Add a fridge/freezer for prolonging food life, and think more about the "meals" idea I see on Trello. All good things.
6) Consider making plants grow more slowly (or at least the fruit and potatoes on them). Right now they are sort of OP... once you discover the floating island, that's it. No more food survival concerns. Plants should eventually allow you to get to that point, but only after some hard work.
7) Add a new type of small indoor storage item. Like a small chest to put on the floor, at the foot of the bed, etc. With perhaps half as much storage as a wall locker.
8) Allow the light color to be changed for rooms. It would be nice to have rooms with mood lighting instead of the sterile white. Consider adding a light switch object, as well, that can be crafted onto a wall. Perhaps this is not only for turning lights on/off, but also changing their color.
9) Consider making room lights turn on automatically when the player enters a room, then turn off if the player hasn't been insider for a few moments (can be an option on the above mentioned light switch). I was playing Alien: Isolation the other day, and this effect really adds a lot of atmosphere to an area. Walking into a room and having the lights flicker on with a bit of a buzz... it's really quite enjoyable.
10) Area rugs, more posters to put on walls (I love the ones you have so far), and just more decorative objects in general. I'm loving that stuff.
11) So I found a stuffy in the Aurora. Not sure if there are more but this could be a good start for some sort of collectible items, possibly even tied to an achievement. My thoughts on this front is that the player might be able to craft more after scanning critters in the world, with the end product resembling a somewhat derpy stuffed version of whatever... I'm sure the reaper leviathan would look particularly hilarious immortalized in kelp fibers.
12) Consider adding a "battery bank" module that increases the total power storage capacity of a base by some moderate amount, but doesn't change the rate at which power is accumulated. I have a base near the surface with a bunch of solar panels that fully charge the base fairly quickly, and then sit around for most of the day doing very little, and yet I can lose power at night time. Solar installations normally use batteries to solve this problem (for an example in a game, see rimworld) by storing excess power for later. It would even help, perhaps, for the other generator types that use consumable resources.
13) Consider adding a light switch object, as well, that can be crafted onto a wall. Perhaps this is not only for turning lights on/off, but also changing their color.
14) Consider adding a square room about the same size as a multipurpose room. Basically just a differently shaped multipurpose room for a bit of variety.
15) I've always wonder how the hatch works without flooding the base... given any thought to a proper airlock?
16) I read a PDA entry talking about how it rains all the time on this world. I don't think I've seen it rain ever... is weather on the to-do list? Rain and stormy weather would be pretty good for a game with this setting... they practically go hand in hand.
Keep up the good work, the game is really turning into something great!
