That is too much like subnautica.
No pickaxes, that would be to much like Minecraft.
I like that last idea the most!
I really like the buoyancy idea, and maybe you also can't make it too big on one side or it will tip!
I really like that island idea! and maybe you can find hints of other crew members on them for the story!
and it should be super far away and have banana trees or something
Maybe there should be some joke about how this is all just a lesson about polluting the ocean and how you should not pollute the ocean unless you want some guy on a raft to build tree farms with it.
And it should start to tip if you add to much to one side, and it will not let you build more in that direction until you add more to the other side!
You should make it so the more you play the game the farther out the resources will appear!
Also it should take time to build stuff, to make it a bit harder. but add a way to disable it with a command!