No no Im not offended or anything. Just trying to explain my point.
And yeah procedural is usually not that distinctive and then again many procedurally generated games find a way to work around this.
Here is an idea:
- First off we need much more biomes so they dont just repeat. They dont need to all be super distinctive. Maybe you can have like plains, hills, extreme hills, mountain, high mountain and have rules that allow them to connect in a logical way and flow into each other. Doesnt make sense to have a bog into the mountain unless we have mountain bog biome which allows for bogs that are at high elevation. Stuff like these.
- Second we need landmarks and distinctive features. I know the game has such things, but they are too few and important. We need stuff that are decor most of the time. Lets say leftover camp. Maybe like a small abandoned shack. A hole dig as if from a player, a river cutting through the biome, a single hill on otherwise flat biome, a big tree. Stuff like these. With some time and imagination we can quickly think of about 50 things and we can categorize them. Some can be rare, some can be pretty common, some can be specific for a biome, some can be often paired with others.
- Third we need more NPCs. Villages, maybe some random guys like the trader. Maybe a guy who has a small house and plants stuff. Maybe sells some seeds. Maybe a guy hunts fishes. Stuff like these add soooo much life.
I am fully aware that this is actually a lot of work. However back to my original statement. Since the world gen is holding back the game, I think the work should be towards stuff like these.