10 ideas on creating alien worlds

1. reference/abstract earth creatures to make monsters more believable
2. every monster has an unique sound scheme, creating all together the ambient (communication, warning, hurt)
3. experiment with glowing surfaces, making the alien forest even more interesting at night
4. a soft pulse / movement in the wind helps to make things more believable
5. add some pollen to the air to let the world feel more detailed and alive
6. study real life "aliens" such as horseshoe crabs (blue blood) or snails
7. palettes could consist of a dominating terrain texture contrasted by a complementary glow color (around plants)
8. new technologies like the Occulus Rift make those worlds more tangible
9. lowpoly/ proceduralism/ shared textures can help to speed up the implementation circle of new species
10. alien worlds are rarely explored in games by now, the potential is huge (new recent genres include space garden sim)