Short little post I’ll share related to graphics. I believe a community user also suggested it on a forum thread a while ago, but I’ll need to search for it.
Earth’s oceans have changed color dramatically over time based on the dissolved compounds and chemical reactions occurring within its waters. Early on, in the oceans where life first evolved, the ocean could have been a particular shade of green due to the amount of dissolved iron within it. The Earth's oceans used to be green — and could one day turn purple, scientists say | Live Science
As that iron evolved and rust started accumulating, oceans started turning red. When iron reservoirs started to deplete, this red color started to disappear, leading to the blue we associate water with today. The Origin of Oxygenic Photosynthesis
The above photo shows iron being more concentrated than it would have been in the early Earth, so the surface as a whole would be more uniformally and dull red than in this photo. But still, reference.
If a volunteer wished to add on to the worldbuilding and graphics of Thrive, we could potentially represent such “atmosphere storytelling” in the Microbe Stage…
- Patches with a lot of iron in them can have a natural green tint applied to the background/lighting (excluding patches with unique lighting sources, like the hydrothermal vents).
- Patches with a decent amount of iron and with some oxygen can have a reddish tint applied, representing the “rusting” of the ocean.
- Once iron is depleted/at a low level within a patch, that reddish/green tint can disappear, resulting in the normal, bluish background color.
This isn’t necessary at all, and is little more than cosmetics - but it would be a very immersive and visible reminder of how much the world around you is changing during the Microbe Stage. I think a unique point of the Microbe Stage is that the world is significantly changing in response to the life around you and your own actions.
Representing this through gameplay balancing and through features like environmental events, tolerances, etc. is goal 1A. But accentuating this through other parts of the game - visuals, sound, storytelling, and more - could be wonderful.
With this post, I’ll put in another relevant idea that could be cool to see: lighting/the red tint in the hydrothermal vents could fluctuate to represent unstable environmental lava flow.
Not sure how hard any of the above would be - I assume it’s not the most difficult thing, but would be a challenge. So again: not at all necessary, just something I wanted to share if someone was looking for a challenge/cool graphics project.