Farming and Mining Improvements (Group Cultivation, Crates, Machinery, Animals; Underground Deposits, Mines, Map)

[GDfromRivendell]

Please, reconsider the integrity of certain outdated mechanics being added to what is otherwise a next-gen environment. I play a wide range of new releases, and InZOI stood out to me specifically as an attempt to bring fresh ideas into the genre leveraging the power of the engine and open-world.

Why This Matters

This may not be a problem for nostalgic or casual players, or those coming from mobile/time-killers – but lots of those games are nearing the end of their cycle. You’re just beginning yours as AA+ for high-end platforms, and by the time InZOI launches or closer to 2030, such mechanics could feel entirely out of place.

Mining

The inclusion of mechanics like resource collection and item gathering – especially when copied almost directly from games 15–20 years old – raises questions about where the acceptable boundary lies between legacy and next-gen expectations. For example, the spawning of fossils on the surface of a public park feels disconnected from the overall tone, and makes me wonder what other “surprises” might be coming.

I encourage you to look at games that use underground deposits / mines, metal detectors, and actual excavation logic — games like Red Dead Redemption 2 / Online (which feature treasure hunts, mines, and terrain-based discovery), The Alters (focused specifically on mineral extraction and underground resource logic), A Game About Digging A Hole, Valheim. Perhaps resource gathering should be tied to terrain zones – mountain region with mine entrance, flat areas with subsurface deposits that need to be scanned.

Similar ideas (may be) uploaded here: Dungeon Exploring - Mining, Loot system & PvE elements - Wishlist - inZOI Forums

Farming

The same goes for gardening and selling — instead of focusing on isolated, single-plant placements, it would make more sense to shift toward group-based cultivation across terrain zones, with crates for storing and selling (Fridges were also suggested here: Farming improvement wishlist. - Wishlist - inZOI Forums) and machinery for cultivaton, especially considering the scale of the world.

References: Farming Simulator 22/25, The Sims 3 Store Grandpa’s Grove

Of course, I understand that some people might disagree with this — but I’m constantly trying to find that middle ground where more people are likely to say: “this is interesting / we haven’t seen this before / we don’t want to fast-forward through this.”

[DexxLabs]

Thank you for linking my idea. Defiantly agree with you on all of this.

[Gadg8eer]

This got added in some sense, didn’t it? Either way, once I get inZOI working on Garuda I would love to see the option to have rural life counterparts to the existing maps.

Here’s some ideas…

• Staggers (Rural counterpart of Bliss Bay) is located two days inland from Bliss Bay, and resembles a North American mining town. Farming conditions are optimal for Ranching, not crops. Internet connectivity here is spotty even with mobile service, and most products cannot be ordered online. Those that can will not be delivered quickly (at least one weeks waits, usually 2, up to 3 weeks). Based on Black Diamond, Alberta.
• Gaslamp (Rural counterpart of whatever might be European-like) is just 15 minutes outside (insert European-like city here). Constructed as if founded in the 19th Century, it got it’s name from its’ continued use of coal gas streetlamps and the local coal mine and gasworks that fed the system. Though the lights are now fueled from biowaste emissions to preserve the environment, the town is still a central hub thanks to it’s vibrant marketplace and traditional arched glass roof railroute station featuring heritage steam train excursions. Farming conditions are optimal for crops, but support hobby ranching and small-scale dairy ranches well. Based on European towns with central marketplaces. Internet connectivity lags for wireless devices, but desktop PCs have relatively reliable connections and the increased installation costs of the city do not affect newly-constructed homes, only the non-removable heritage structures making up the town’s core and some old stone and wood-lattice structures on the outskirts. All products can be ordered online, but are more expensive and do not have same-day shipping.
• Lóngfēngtián (rural counterpart to Dowon) is based on modern day China’s rural locations. Resembling a shiny ecotopia in the downtown core, this “small” city is based around farming but has all the modern amenities, from self-driving rubber-tired trambus lines to a high speed train station. Built in the style of 21st Century Chinese infrastructure developments, Lóngfēngtián does not feature slower cell and internet speeds found in Staggers or (to a degree) Gaslamp, and has full range of online products with same-day shipping.
• Ahuahu (rural counterpart to Cahaya) is a smaller island reachable by ferry. It features a complete lack of technological frills like convenient online shopping, and expensive mobile phone and internet bills, but that won’t matter because you’ll be too busy enjoying Ahuahu’s cooler climate (based on New Zealand) yet tropic-like lack of a winter. Ahuahu is primarily a fishing town, but you can also do well with ranching. Pineapples grow well here and are a cash crop, but beware! The Ahuahu Adorabug (based on the Giant Wētā, the Venezuelan Poodle Moth, and the Death’s Head Hawk Moth) is totally harmless to ZOIs and quite friendly, but love to chow down on the delicious pineapple plants as larvae, threatening to wipe out the hard work of unwary farmers hoping to make money. Ahuahu is also home to a small geographical casting agency, where occasionally a movie will be filmed in Ahuahu’s beautiful climate, as the agency is often contracted by overseas studios and media companies in such classics as “The Ring of Friendship” and “The Killing Domes”.

Note to any entomophobes: The weta isn’t venomous and is totally safe, it eats plant leaves. The Venezuelan Poodle Moth is fluffy and only eats tree bark and wood as a caterpillar - before starving after they metamorphose into their adult form and mate, sadly - and are also harmless. The Death’s Head Hawk Moth, despite appearing on the cover of “Silence of the Lambs”, is basically a frugivorous “mosquito”/“fruit vampire” that sips juice from fruit, and is also-also harmless. Don’t worry, I know bugs are usually creepy-as-heck and specifically chose to cute-ify a fictional insect species as much as possible in this suggestion to provide crop-eating pests without making people grossed out. In “Arachnophobia mode” (if such a thing becomes part of inZOI, and assuming it covers not just arachnids but insects), they would be replaced by cute rodents resembling dormice, guinea pigs and gophers.

[GDfromRivendell]

@Gadg8eer

This got added in some sense, didn’t it?

I take a firm stance as a supporter of modern, well-developed gameplay with real depth. If a mechanic is implemented worse than in contemporary games, or if it goes wide instead of deep, or gets replaced with a placeholder or decorative shell — I’ll call it out. Otherwise, sure, it can be purely text-based like in 1985 on the ZX Spectrum, if that’s what players are fine with. That’s their choice. I just won’t invest time and energy researching it, constantly playing other games to help deliver that same level of experience))