u/Chestworth — reddlx

So within this MASSIVE pond we will be getting hopefully in the summer of 2026- I decided to start making concept art of what could potentially be things that exist in the update or things id like to see in the update!

I wasnt feeling like drawing all of the new bugs so I decided to meet in the middle and draw all the concept creature cards!

The main thing I wanted to focus on is trying to make concepts/ideas for how to make this new larger pond better than the pond before-

A few things that I felt Grounded 1 did well with the ponds was that it required a secondary form a progression that aided in your water adventures. Specifically- It pushes you to wanting/needing to make breathing equipment and fin flops to traverse the depths. Later on you get some upgrades to the breathing and fin flops which makes it way easier to traverse.

Then we have daggers- needing a pebblet dagger, a bone dagger, and a widow dagger to collect resources or even open up areas that were locked behind these specific tools. This was a great idea of expanding the need of separate equipment needed to progress instead of just killing the next big thing and getting a higher tier armor. This made you choose equipment that was required for under water exploration but.. that was kinda the end of it-

Once you found everything in the pond you never really need to go back down there or use the equipment you got because it was only related to the water and that ment that most of the waters contents were built for the water but there was no more progression after that.

With the new larger area we can definitely not only have more content to explore in the water but also make it something that you need to go back to for multiple reasons.

The problem with adding an update where you will see tier 1 - 3 or even 4 bugs is that current saves will plow through the tier 1 bugs which is generally how grounded works but I tried to think of a way to make it more unique and fun to have to tame the waters instead of just living in them as soon as you get there.

Bugs that werent waterborne would instantly die in water because frankly- they werent built for that environment. So whats to say our armor is built for that environment either?

With any armor that is made of bugs from the surface I think it should give you a new debuff called waterlogged. This meter goes up the more you are in the water with armor that clashes with the pond. Making you slower. This should heavily promote people to not wear any armor when going into the pond or to be wearing something like acorn or clover.

This brings you back to essentially Tier 1 where you are fighting Tadpoles

Now lets talk about these bugs >.>

For Tier 1 we have Tadpoles, Water Fleas, and Diving Bell Spiders

I decided to make Diving Bell Spiders a Tier 1 Enemy instead of a Tier 2 enemy because I wanted to create more room for higher tier bugs and so that we can have an early enemy that isnt super strong but is also familar.

For Tier 2 we have the Water Boatman, Spiny Water flea, and a Water Louse

For the Boatman I wanted to change it to a tier 2 enemy because I wanted to make the fin flops a tier 2 armor, mainly because I wanted to add tadpole tails to be used to make a tier 1 flipper

Spiny Fleas are the same excuse as Diving Bell Spiders in that they are making room for new bugs and familiarity.

The Water Louse is a passive creature that feeds off dead things, I find it to look similar to a larva so I had a thought of it being sorta like a watery larva

For Tier 3 we have Crawfish, Water Strider, Mayfly, and Tiger Mosquito

Crawfish make sense inside a pond or river and whilst being a very dangerous and tanky foe being able to swim but also scale the ledges of the pond.

Water Striders I wanted to be riding across the surface potentially closer towards the middle of the pond potentially guarding some resource

Mayflies being in their adult forms where they are unable to fight I think of them as potentially something similar to a scarab- trying to kill them for their parts but are really fast and easily get away without a plan

Tiger Mosquito is in the same spot to give the same mosquito rapier as in the first game

Tier 4 Bugs including Diving Beetle, Dragonfly, and Leech

I wanted to make the water include the first Tier 4 enemies to make it one of these areas that lead to stronger armor and weapons than current-

Diving Beetles being similar to Ox Beetles in the first game but are diving through the depths of the pond, extremely tanky and heavy hitting

Dragonflies being closer to the edges of the pond where they are extremely dangerous- being fast flies and darting at you.

Leeches I wanted to be slow but deadly- making it able to latch onto you to drain health at fast rates and potentially even going through armor- definitely planned to make a tier 4 lifesteal armor set and weapon

Boss Tier! We have 3! Brody the Bullfrog, Alice the Axolotl, and the O.R.C. id Mantis

I wanted to make the water have not only a semi surface boss fight but also a totally underwater fight.

Brody the Bullfrog I wanted to be a semi aquatic fight in that you are in an arena full of lilypads and Brody is able to stand on on of the few lilypads

Going into certain phases I could see Brody using a ranged tongue attack similar to Dozer but also jumping to new pads- Even diving underneath the water to then make a lilypad shake a little before he jumps out of the water and lands on it.

Maybe there will be tiger mosquitos that he eats to try and heal from a distance who knows!

Alice the Axolotl I wanted to be a fully underwater fight because believe it or not- Axolotls are predators and are quite destructive to environments. If Grounded 2 is actually placed in Maine- you may know that Axolotls were made Illegal in the early 2000s for their destructive qualities to environments, but this is the 90s! so totally legal to have pet in the pond who kills tiny teens <3

I want it to be fast, and also sneaky, thinking of brody being able to hide under the water and burst back out I want Alice to do this more. I am not totally sure how I want all of this to work but these are just goofy concepts with no real meaning!

Finally we have the O.R.C. id Mantis- I want the mysterious stranger to take over the mind of the Mantis from the first game and maybe even add a lil laser to it since it was already a fierce predator and I want it to be scarier. Maybe it uses a light on its abdomen to channel energy from other O.R.C. Mantises in the fight to make her invulnerable to damage until the other O.R.C.s are killed

Finally we have the Goliaths!

I wanted 2 goliaths just for the sheer size of the pond.

The Koi Fish I wanted to add mainly because I didnt really have any other great ideas for super large fresh water animals. I did think of an Eel but the cool eel I wanted was a salt water eel soooo- oh well~

I was thinking of called the new Koi Fish Trudy III or Trudy II. Maybe Wendell moves Trudy to the new pond during the ceremony to give her a better home than his lab infested waters

Or maybe Trudy had a baby! and he put the baby there

or maybe he had another falling out with his wife and named another koi after her- Truly bizarre..

Lastly- I was thinking of having a Painted Turtle as a Goliath. Having it drop scutes similar to how Trudy would drop scales.

Now thats all i really have for concepts- I have a lot of text of ideas for resources, mechanics, and armor/weapons. But I dont know if ill ever make those! So- I hope you enjoy these ideas and maybe Ill predict the future of some >.>