_Noodle
Steampunker
(I'll add more additions to this list as time goes on)
I think we can all agree that the jungle temple feels bare at times. With almost no unique enemies and loot, you have little to no reason to revisit nor farm the area.
I believe the temple could use some love, and so I've compiled this list of ideas that'll hopefully breathe some life into the place
For the sake of readability, I've made every suggestion into a spoiler. Expand them to view the contents of each idea
I think we can all agree that the jungle temple feels bare at times. With almost no unique enemies and loot, you have little to no reason to revisit nor farm the area.
I believe the temple could use some love, and so I've compiled this list of ideas that'll hopefully breathe some life into the place
For the sake of readability, I've made every suggestion into a spoiler. Expand them to view the contents of each idea
The jungle temple could use a guardian like the dungeon, and prevent players from entering the area pre-Plantera. Doing this would allow us much greater creative freedom, as we won't have to worry about players potentially skipping large portions of the game (and that's no fun).
And so, I've made this simple guardian called the Temple Serpent.
Concept
The bestiary entry for "Flying Snakes" and "Golem" both mentions that they guard the temple from unwanted visitors. Golem is a bad pick as temple guardian, in my opinion, as he only really starts fighting you after you summon him, which indicates he's not always there to protect the place. Unlike Golem, the flying snakes are constantly present. This is why I based the temple guardian on the flying snakes.
The Temple Serpent is a huge variant of the flying snake. It's a spiritual snake that defends the temple from any intruders. Due to its spiritual nature, it can chase players through walls and will emit a constant glow around them (just to make it easier to spot them). This is primarily because of their red color (so they don't blend in). I also used the color pallet to convey how snake and temple are connected spiritually.
How does it work?
The Temple Serpent acts identically to the dungeon guardian. It'll attack players, if they enter the dungeon without officially unlocking the entrance, and will stop spawning once you unlock said door/entrance. Due to the difficult terrain of the jungle, it's harder to escape or avoid its attacks, leading to you quickly dying.
Just like the Dungeon Guardian, the Temple Serpent also has its own unique drop for anyone capable of killing it. The item is called "Snake Feather", and you can read more about it down below (you get a snake scarf pet, btw)
And so, I've made this simple guardian called the Temple Serpent.
Concept
The bestiary entry for "Flying Snakes" and "Golem" both mentions that they guard the temple from unwanted visitors. Golem is a bad pick as temple guardian, in my opinion, as he only really starts fighting you after you summon him, which indicates he's not always there to protect the place. Unlike Golem, the flying snakes are constantly present. This is why I based the temple guardian on the flying snakes.
The Temple Serpent is a huge variant of the flying snake. It's a spiritual snake that defends the temple from any intruders. Due to its spiritual nature, it can chase players through walls and will emit a constant glow around them (just to make it easier to spot them). This is primarily because of their red color (so they don't blend in). I also used the color pallet to convey how snake and temple are connected spiritually.
How does it work?
The Temple Serpent acts identically to the dungeon guardian. It'll attack players, if they enter the dungeon without officially unlocking the entrance, and will stop spawning once you unlock said door/entrance. Due to the difficult terrain of the jungle, it's harder to escape or avoid its attacks, leading to you quickly dying.
Just like the Dungeon Guardian, the Temple Serpent also has its own unique drop for anyone capable of killing it. The item is called "Snake Feather", and you can read more about it down below (you get a snake scarf pet, btw
)Concept & Lore
Lihzahrds have secluded themselves inside a temple, and are worshipping a self-made golem as a ritualistic idol (as seen by the in-game achievement "Lihzahrdian Idol"), and so I think it's safe to say they're quite the religious bunch.
Shaman-figures have always been associated with the spiritual, which is why I think a Lihzahrd Shaman enemy would be a great addition to the temple and an opportunity to expand on their culture and lore.
The shamans are Lihzahrd folk clad in a white and red robe. Only their arms, head and tail are exposed, showing their green skin. Their attire, power and title of shaman shows their status within their society. In their right, they hold some religious scriptures they use for attacking.
What do they do?
While designing this enemy, I wanted to make something that complemented the temple's trap-ridden design, and how you need to step and move carefully. And I think that carried over well to this enemy.
Lihzahrd Shamans attack by channeling a sun above their heads. It emits lasers that rotates around it. (Open spoiler for details)
The attack forces players to move around and avoid the lasers. While the attack isn't exactly that powerful on its own, and is easy to dodge and avoid with proper timing and pacing, it can quickly get difficult due to the temple's many traps, and the overwhelming number of enemies that can spawn in the meanwhile. As such, it's best to target the Lihzahrd Shamans first, as they can quickly become overwhelming. Luckily, their lack of movement makes them easy targets.
Lihzahrds have secluded themselves inside a temple, and are worshipping a self-made golem as a ritualistic idol (as seen by the in-game achievement "Lihzahrdian Idol"), and so I think it's safe to say they're quite the religious bunch.
Shaman-figures have always been associated with the spiritual, which is why I think a Lihzahrd Shaman enemy would be a great addition to the temple and an opportunity to expand on their culture and lore.
The shamans are Lihzahrd folk clad in a white and red robe. Only their arms, head and tail are exposed, showing their green skin. Their attire, power and title of shaman shows their status within their society. In their right, they hold some religious scriptures they use for attacking.
What do they do?
While designing this enemy, I wanted to make something that complemented the temple's trap-ridden design, and how you need to step and move carefully. And I think that carried over well to this enemy.
Lihzahrd Shamans attack by channeling a sun above their heads. It emits lasers that rotates around it. (Open spoiler for details)
- Attacks by creating an artificial mini sun, which emits 4 straight lasers in each direction.
- These lasers will rotate clockwise around the sun.
- They move slowly to make it fair and easier to react to and dodge
- The shamans can't move while attacking. While attacking, they're also immune to knockback, and damaging them won't cancel their attack.
- The lasers deal damage if you touch them
- They go right through players and other entities. However, they can't phase through solid blocks
- BTW, the Shamans don't magically create a small sun. Their society is quite technologically advanced, so I think it'd be cool and make sense if they've created small drones that emit powerful heat and light, making it resemble a sun.
The attack forces players to move around and avoid the lasers. While the attack isn't exactly that powerful on its own, and is easy to dodge and avoid with proper timing and pacing, it can quickly get difficult due to the temple's many traps, and the overwhelming number of enemies that can spawn in the meanwhile. As such, it's best to target the Lihzahrd Shamans first, as they can quickly become overwhelming. Luckily, their lack of movement makes them easy targets.
Concept & Lore
The Sun Scriptures is a sentry weapon. It can be used to summon and place mini suns sentries. The weapon is dropped from Lihzahrd Shamans.
The weapon looks like a large tablet with intelligible writing on it. It's made out of Lihzahrd brick, with two golden clippings attached to two opposite corners. The Lihzahrds never really struck me as the type to use paper, which is why I went with a stone tablet. It's design is based on magic books/tomes, to show this is their version/way of writing.
The tablets are wielded by the shamans that use them to summon their mini sun, or at least that's what it looks like. The tablet doesn't actually have any power, it's just a ceremonial item used by the shamans when they call upon the sun. In reality, they just activate the sun-drone and that's what does all the work
How does it work?
When used, the Sun Scriptures will place a mini-sun sentry at your mouse cursor. The sentry replicates the shamans, spinning in place and firing 4 lasers.
Unlike many other sentries, this weapon doesn't target and aim at any specific enemy. It instead just fires and hits whatever it collides with.
To view weapon stats, open the spoiler:
The sentry can be acquired a post-Plantera, and is an alternative to the Frost Hydra. Despite being of the same tier, the two function completely differently from one another, each having their strengths and weaknesses. The Sun Scriptures, for instance, excells at dealing with large crowds and inflicting damage over a very wide area, while being worse off against single targets and in cramped, tight areas
The Sun Scriptures is a sentry weapon. It can be used to summon and place mini suns sentries. The weapon is dropped from Lihzahrd Shamans.
The weapon looks like a large tablet with intelligible writing on it. It's made out of Lihzahrd brick, with two golden clippings attached to two opposite corners. The Lihzahrds never really struck me as the type to use paper, which is why I went with a stone tablet. It's design is based on magic books/tomes, to show this is their version/way of writing.
The tablets are wielded by the shamans that use them to summon their mini sun, or at least that's what it looks like. The tablet doesn't actually have any power, it's just a ceremonial item used by the shamans when they call upon the sun. In reality, they just activate the sun-drone and that's what does all the work
How does it work?
When used, the Sun Scriptures will place a mini-sun sentry at your mouse cursor. The sentry replicates the shamans, spinning in place and firing 4 lasers.
Unlike many other sentries, this weapon doesn't target and aim at any specific enemy. It instead just fires and hits whatever it collides with.
- The sentry doesn't target any enemies. It just fires rotating lasers that damage whoever it hits.
- You also can't force it to target a specific enemy.
- The weapon attack and keep on attacking while an enemy is close by.
- The fired lasers have a very long range. They are blocked by blocks, though.
To view weapon stats, open the spoiler:
- Damage: 85 (Summon)
- Knockback: 0
- Mana: 20
- Use time: 30 (Average)
- Velocity: 14
- Tooltip:
- Summons a sentry
- Summons an artificial sun that shoots rotating lasers
- Sun Drone Included!
The sentry can be acquired a post-Plantera, and is an alternative to the Frost Hydra. Despite being of the same tier, the two function completely differently from one another, each having their strengths and weaknesses. The Sun Scriptures, for instance, excells at dealing with large crowds and inflicting damage over a very wide area, while being worse off against single targets and in cramped, tight areas
Concept & Lore
Lastly, I wanted to give the temple chests some better loot, and what I came up with was a new accessory called Lihzahrd's Eye.
Lizards actually have really great eyesight, which they often rely on to spot prey and predators. I wanted to kind of convey this use to the accessory itself, and have it be useful at both avoiding and finding things for you.
I've made the accessory to resemble an actual eye, basing the eye-color on the Lihzahrds'. A vertical slit helps better seeing and focusing in the dark, which is perfect for this item (it's useful for lizards in general)
Functionality
While equipped, Lihzahrd's Eye will enhance the player's vision, and will essentially grant them infinite "Danger Sense", "Hunter" and "Night Owl" potion buffs. It highlights all enemies, hostile projectiles and other hazards on the screen, and also grants better visibility in darkness.
Apart from saving you some extra potions, this ability is useful for a multitude of reasons:
The accessory has great utility, both inside and outside of combat, and can be quite useful for multiple classes in the game. It provides a good and helpful ability that I think would be a great addition to the game.
Lastly, I wanted to give the temple chests some better loot, and what I came up with was a new accessory called Lihzahrd's Eye.
Lizards actually have really great eyesight, which they often rely on to spot prey and predators. I wanted to kind of convey this use to the accessory itself, and have it be useful at both avoiding and finding things for you.
I've made the accessory to resemble an actual eye, basing the eye-color on the Lihzahrds'. A vertical slit helps better seeing and focusing in the dark, which is perfect for this item (it's useful for lizards in general)
Functionality
While equipped, Lihzahrd's Eye will enhance the player's vision, and will essentially grant them infinite "Danger Sense", "Hunter" and "Night Owl" potion buffs. It highlights all enemies, hostile projectiles and other hazards on the screen, and also grants better visibility in darkness.
Apart from saving you some extra potions, this ability is useful for a multitude of reasons:
- Firstly, it makes it easier to explore underground. You can now both spot traps ahead of times, have better vision in the dark, and spot enemy movement in distant caves/areas.
- You have an easier time keeping track of enemies. As enemies are highlighted, none can sneak up on you. This is primarily useful against enemies that go through blocks, such as Angry Trappers.
- And lastly, it highlights incoming enemy projectiles. This is especially useful for ranged fighters, as they can now better spot projectiles and easily dodge them in time (let's face it, we've all at least once died to a random projectile we didn't see
)
The accessory has great utility, both inside and outside of combat, and can be quite useful for multiple classes in the game. It provides a good and helpful ability that I think would be a great addition to the game.
Concept & Lore
The Snake Feather is a pet summoning item dropped by the Temple Serpent
[I'll make the sprite later, 'cause I'm lazy]
It's a vibrant red feather from the large Temple Serpent. A priced treasure of the Lihzahrd race, this feather radiates immense spiritual energy. You can use it to summon a baby spirit snake.
Unlike other pet items, this baby snake stays on your character at all times. It hasn't grown out its wings yet, so it sits on your shoulder, and has coiled around your neck like a scarf. There, your little buddy just snuggles, and rests it head on your shoulder
Some of you might think a feather is a weird choice for snake summon item. I based this on Aztec culture, where they believed in something akin to a "feathered serpent" as a divine creature. It's basically a flying snake with feathers. The Aztecs also saw feathers themselves as spiritual, and as a symbol of fertility and power.
The Snake Feather comes from a large divine creature that is protecting the jungle temple from unwanted intruders (power), and the feather gives birth to a small spirit snake (fertility). It think it fits pretty well.
The item would have the tooltips: Summons a baby spirit snake and Snakes of a feather flock
The Snake Feather is a pet summoning item dropped by the Temple Serpent
[I'll make the sprite later, 'cause I'm lazy]
It's a vibrant red feather from the large Temple Serpent. A priced treasure of the Lihzahrd race, this feather radiates immense spiritual energy. You can use it to summon a baby spirit snake.
Unlike other pet items, this baby snake stays on your character at all times. It hasn't grown out its wings yet, so it sits on your shoulder, and has coiled around your neck like a scarf. There, your little buddy just snuggles, and rests it head on your shoulder
Some of you might think a feather is a weird choice for snake summon item. I based this on Aztec culture, where they believed in something akin to a "feathered serpent" as a divine creature. It's basically a flying snake with feathers. The Aztecs also saw feathers themselves as spiritual, and as a symbol of fertility and power.
The Snake Feather comes from a large divine creature that is protecting the jungle temple from unwanted intruders (power), and the feather gives birth to a small spirit snake (fertility). It think it fits pretty well.
The item would have the tooltips: Summons a baby spirit snake and Snakes of a feather flock
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