Unique scans and variants give us new options for “scan” gameplay and flow
Think about how the player will flow through the level
Opportunities for “tiered” scans
Common plants / low value scan bits along the crit path
Uncommon for explorers, like for plants a little ways off the path but not too hard to get to
Can use these as weenies as well
Consider presenting the player the change to scan a rarer plant early but it may be easier to scan later
Rare and Mythical plants / scans as more traditional rewards
Platforming challenges
Finishing a quest and gaining access to a hidden area
Well hidden areas
Perhaps the occasional “easy” one to keep things moving, or as a marker of a milestone (got to a new area)
Can breadcrumb with freestanding scan bits (classic collectathon lines indicating paths
Think about how area scans might work
I figure we can add some “player thoughts” which could be used for narrative breadcrumbing
Remember, with unique scans you can place multiple instances of plants but only the first one the player scans counts
This lets us place potentially tons of plants for aesthetics without having to worry about the scan system being cluttered
On first level design pass, don’t worry too much about the specifics of a plant instance (IE supporting meshes, landscape, etc). They should basically be a representative (like there will be a cluster of leafy dusters in this corner but only place one or two for now). Aesthetics come later
Feel free to add comments wherever, you can use the narrative tag
Please write down any missing features or comments!