Mars open world concept

[BeastofStone2178]

Hello, about a month or 2 ago I've come up with an idea for a Mars open world concept and have been putting off sharing it very openly until now, ive shared it with a small amount of people and some have insisted I share it here.

this is mostly just me having fun with the idea but feel free to add on to the concept and give feedback as it isn't entirely thought through just yet.

Before I start though, I apologise in advance if this idea has been explored before by someone else, as I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only individual that has come up with ideas for a mars open map and if this is the wrong place on the forums to discuss ideas such as this.

also Potential spoilers if you have not completed the Sands of Inaros quest

with that said I shall begin

 

Starting location:

the Idea of a crashed ancient Relay or Orokin ship that could've merged with Martian ruins comes to mind, the population of people living there are the last few survivors of the ancient Martian colonies that have lived there before the grineer invaded, using the crashed relay/ship as a shelter from the violent sandstorms that occasionally occur, struggling but still standing strong to hold onto their traditions and believes as their homeland is fought over for control by greater forces, they have adapted to their new life but still need a helping hand, they seek out the Tenno for assistance very much akin to the Ostrons and Solaris

the starting area could be called "Amal" meaning hope In Egyptian or Arabic (I am uncertain if I'm correct or not on this)

Enemy factions:

grineer would be the first choice as they wiped out most Martian settlements, but on the start chart we can also see Infested and Corpus present in certain missions

I think the idea of having Grineer, Corpus and Infested on the same open map, infighting for control would be interesting to see and also make gameplay more interesting

 

Environment:

mostly desert, just to get the elephant in the room out of the way, various oasis with lush plant life dotted in key areas, maybe a large river through the center of the map, and a large dune sea somewhere, where the desert skates live.

on the map in certain landmarks could be ancient ruins and in one location a ancient temple honouring Inaros

somewhere to the far left of the map, the terrain transitions to a frozen area (around say 20%, the rest is sand) where the corpus have full control (in line with the corpus on the star chart being on the left side)

to the right we have more Grineer control

dotted on the map, there could be natural rocky formations with multiple openings on the map leading to a cave system where most Infested go unnoticed by the previous 2 factions.

the backdrop for the map could be "Olympus Mons" a giant shield volcano located on Mars

 

Environmental changes/Hazards:

-Electrical sandstorms, these happen about once every hour or so on a timer and last about 10 minutes, not sure whether It should be a serious Hazard that could possibly inflict electricity  or magnetic damage or should just simply be one heck of a performance from nature for a change of scenery

(idea inspired by electrical sandstorms from Mad Max Fury Road, and the Mad Max game)

-Earth tremors, only occur in the dune sea and indicate the presents of something big (read Giant Desert Skate Hunts)

-not sure what a day night cycle could do to change the environment just yet

 

Fauna:

-feral kavats (maybe) as they appeared on mars in the Sands of Inaros questline,though convenient as it would sounds I'm not sure about the idea of kavat genetic code being made easier to farm

-Desert Skates, remember those terrifying sand stingrays on normal mars missions? yeah... searching for prey along the more sandy areas

-Giant Desert Skates, Mars's equivalent to eidolon terralyst, gantulyst and hydrolyst, and giant spider robots, will explore a bit further down

-Cockatrice, an idea of what happened to the domestic chicken during the times of the Orokin, found wild on Mars and standing about warframe height with a dinosaur like stance, having a body that is mostly chicken but having clawed hands, an slightly elongated, serrated beak with a hooked tip and a long tail that is mostly reptilian

their nests can be raided for eggs which can be incubated to make a pet cockatrice

this pet could have a "cassowary kick" melee attack that deals all 3 main damage types (impact puncture and slash) and could also use venomous ranged attacks which deal either toxin, corrosive or viral damage (this could be expanded to make 2 variant cockatrice pets, one having a velociraptor claw that uses melee only and another having normal bird feet using range attacks only)

wild male cockatrice (rooster?) are found alone and have dark brown feathers while females (hen?) are found in a groups nesting and have grey feathers, both are extremely aggressive

(I am aware the range attack might border the gap between pets and sentinels but it offers something unique for pets)

-Ammit or Lurker (name subject to change), one of 2 apex predators, a large semi crocodilian animal that has both mammalian and reptilian traits, these monsters tower over most humanoids, having the muscle build of a lion or tiger but having an elongated jaw like a crocodile with large cheekbones reinforcing it's biteforce, and a crocodilian tail for swimming

this creature lurks in the waters along the oasis and rivers waiting for anything to get close enough to attack.

occasionally females will come out of the water to nest, where you could possibly take an egg, but don't get caught taking them unless you want to be confronted by a very angry predator that is as fierce on land as it is in water, the eggs of this creature can be incubated to create a dwarf variant of the creature that is loyal to you, pretty much a tank pet, a bit slower than kubrows and kavats but taking a lot more punishment.

visually, males have a lion like mane and females have harder more reptilian skin

(this creature is inspired by Ammit the devourer or souls from ancient Egyptian beliefs, a deity that is a crocodile, a lion and a hippo mixed into the one creature)

a good visual representation for the creature would be the prehistoric animals that can be seen below

"Daeodon" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daeodon

"Andrewsarchus" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrewsarchus

and "Ambulocetus" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus

(yes I know this is Wikipedia)

 

Giant Desert Skates Hunts:

these behemoths are the second apex predators of Mar's environment, taking the place you would expect a deathworm/sandworm to take, earth tremors in the dune sea indicate that you are near one and you'll have to bait it into coming out (not sure exactly what would be uses as bait yet) once it is out it will head directly towards the closest player, detecting their vibrations from foot steps, hunting this giant won't be as difficult as an eidolon terralyst but it will have heavily thick skin working armor that reduces incoming damage by 50%, but it will have weak points that take 2-3 times damage which can be utilised to make the hunt a bit faster and turn the battle in the Tenno's favour, a successful hunt of a Giant Desert Skate will reward the player with a good chunk of standing for the faction in the starting area

 

Zaw type weapons?:

Ostrons have Zaws and Solaris have Kitguns, I'm wondering around the idea of customisable Bows and throwing weapons as a possibility but not sure how it would turn out

 

this is what I've come up with, thank you for reading, as said previously feel free to add on to the idea and offer feedback, I am open to it

thank you, have a nice day

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by BeastofStoner2178

[(PSN)OriginalEquinox]

I definitely want random violent sand storms to be a thing and it should severely reduce visibility as well. As for day night cycle maybe make the day time really hot (may cause burns) and night time should be cold and misty.i like Eidolons and hunting them is repetitive but fun, but I don't like how they're guranteed to spawn everytime we enter the plains at night, any mars creatures should be a random event and they should be fun to fight and unpredictable unlike Eidolons who are predictable and easy to counter

[Tunderke]

I like the idea of having a mars - desert themed open world which would be nice then we can say 3 of the inner terrestial planets have open world places " I am mention the Venus too soon " and Earth - Cetus but on Earth I could imagine multiple biomes and open worlds like mariana, mount everest, jungle biome and maybe some desert on Earth.

Would be nice to play on Mars on an open world landscape but it would be good for start if the Venus hits and it's size is fine then they could go back to Cetus and increase the size of the plains because there could be a lot to do. Also adding more animal and plant life there would be nice and immersive.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Tunderke

[Dishonored]

maybe land-rover car and steam-punk guns

[LupoDWolf]

if the pattern is anything to go by, i think we get a infested and mycona related place

[AtsiaZ]

Drop the megathread tag OP

[BeastofStone2178]

then what tag should I use

[nerfinator6]

Why not have the open world set IN the olympus mons crater?

[BeastofStone2178]

1 hour ago, nerfinator6 said:

Why not have the open world set IN the olympus mons crater?

not a bad idea, could go with the cave system concept for infested, maybe a bit of outside and inside the crater, I like it

[(XBOX)BigLithuanian]

I was doing random relic missions on Mars recently and in listening to the ambient sounds I realized how much we need a desert open world. For some reason I love the idea of exploring whole deserts.

I will say though having giant worms as a thing to fight or perhaps just encounter would be amazing. Their presence could explain the caves that will be around the map as products of their digging, and they can present a random large threat. Also, we definitely need sandstorms 

[Frendh]

I love deserts. But hot deserts on Mars is hard to swallow. Ice deserts or cool deserts are more believable.