Yaffy
04-06-2020, 08:12 AM
Just for a fun little thread, I wanted to pitch a suggestion for something that players could add to their home once player housing is implemented: "Facilities" that can be used to generate resources over time.
As people start to talk about ideas regarding housing, it inevitably leads to talk about what players can actually put into their house. After all, a big useless hunk of property which is presumably very expensive doesn't really sound too appealing. There have been some great suggestions that sound fun, for example being able to add our own farming plot in our house. However, although this sounds very comfy and makes a lot of sense, it would mean you'd see a lot less players around the gardens in the world as players use their own private growing space. Having housing directly compete with outside-world facilities could lead to making the world feel less alive over time as many players will end up hiding in their own houses.
So as an alternative I would like to suggest "Resource stations", which are interactable objects in your home which produce items for the player overtime. These would allow players to generate items easily but slowly, and would be a great way to add "Upgrades" to a player's home.
For an example, instead of a farming plot, a player's home could have a "Planter box", which takes seeds from the player and grows them without the need for the player to provide water or fertilizer. However, the plants grow one at a time over the course of many hours, and the planter box can only hold so much produce before the player must collect the items so it can continue growing more plants. This would be similar to a repeatable hangout, although the player must provide the facility with some minimal resource (In this case seeds for the plant they want) so it isn't just free items.
An in-home facility like this is in my opinion a better design in that it allows players to gain some resources for very little effort so it can be an excellent "convenience" upgrade or a small bonus, but players who want a large amount of plants still have a reason to go gardening and leave their homes due to the vast amount of time the planter box would take. Additionally it opens up the idea of an upgrade system where players can purchase or craft upgrades to these facilities. For example the basic planter box might only be able to hold up to 5 produce before needing to be harvested, but an upgraded version could hold up to 10 to make it more convenient, and a further upgrade could hold 15. This would give players lots to do in order to upgrade their house!
And of course there could definitely be more facilities than just a planter box. There could be a barn that takes various feeds to produce animal products like eggs and milk, or how about a fishing farm which uses bait to produce fish or a mushroom box which uses mushroom substrate? Maybe necromancers could have their own graveyard or burial urn which works as both a summoning point and a source of bones when fed magic oils (Don't ask how they got there). How about a horrifying laboratory that turns raw meat into other biological matter like organs or an alchemist's bench which can transmute scrap metal into useful metal slabs and precious metals? I'm sure there's a lot of cool ideas that could be made for different facilities!
Lastly, I also think that these stations could be used to make player homes stand out and give a personal touch to them. It could end up being TOO useful if a player could have every facility at once (Remember, the purpose isn't to make infinite resources, just add an easy low effort way to slowly accumulate specific ones the player wants), so limiting the number of facilities a player can have makes sense. Not only does it ensure things don't go out of hand, but it also means each player's home will tell a lot about the player. For example, a house which has the planter and barn would give the home a cozy country feel, where as a house with an organ laboratory and graveyard would clearly belong to a demented necromancer or mad alchemist. If different sized housing is planned, it would also give players a reason to upscale their homes if they could have additional facilities as well.
Anyways let me know what you think! I think it sounds like a way to add on to player housing in a way that's both useful without making the outside world redundant and also a fun way to add onto your house. I'd also love to hear any ideas regarding different kinds of facilities if anyone has any creative ideas!
As people start to talk about ideas regarding housing, it inevitably leads to talk about what players can actually put into their house. After all, a big useless hunk of property which is presumably very expensive doesn't really sound too appealing. There have been some great suggestions that sound fun, for example being able to add our own farming plot in our house. However, although this sounds very comfy and makes a lot of sense, it would mean you'd see a lot less players around the gardens in the world as players use their own private growing space. Having housing directly compete with outside-world facilities could lead to making the world feel less alive over time as many players will end up hiding in their own houses.
So as an alternative I would like to suggest "Resource stations", which are interactable objects in your home which produce items for the player overtime. These would allow players to generate items easily but slowly, and would be a great way to add "Upgrades" to a player's home.
For an example, instead of a farming plot, a player's home could have a "Planter box", which takes seeds from the player and grows them without the need for the player to provide water or fertilizer. However, the plants grow one at a time over the course of many hours, and the planter box can only hold so much produce before the player must collect the items so it can continue growing more plants. This would be similar to a repeatable hangout, although the player must provide the facility with some minimal resource (In this case seeds for the plant they want) so it isn't just free items.
An in-home facility like this is in my opinion a better design in that it allows players to gain some resources for very little effort so it can be an excellent "convenience" upgrade or a small bonus, but players who want a large amount of plants still have a reason to go gardening and leave their homes due to the vast amount of time the planter box would take. Additionally it opens up the idea of an upgrade system where players can purchase or craft upgrades to these facilities. For example the basic planter box might only be able to hold up to 5 produce before needing to be harvested, but an upgraded version could hold up to 10 to make it more convenient, and a further upgrade could hold 15. This would give players lots to do in order to upgrade their house!
And of course there could definitely be more facilities than just a planter box. There could be a barn that takes various feeds to produce animal products like eggs and milk, or how about a fishing farm which uses bait to produce fish or a mushroom box which uses mushroom substrate? Maybe necromancers could have their own graveyard or burial urn which works as both a summoning point and a source of bones when fed magic oils (Don't ask how they got there). How about a horrifying laboratory that turns raw meat into other biological matter like organs or an alchemist's bench which can transmute scrap metal into useful metal slabs and precious metals? I'm sure there's a lot of cool ideas that could be made for different facilities!
Lastly, I also think that these stations could be used to make player homes stand out and give a personal touch to them. It could end up being TOO useful if a player could have every facility at once (Remember, the purpose isn't to make infinite resources, just add an easy low effort way to slowly accumulate specific ones the player wants), so limiting the number of facilities a player can have makes sense. Not only does it ensure things don't go out of hand, but it also means each player's home will tell a lot about the player. For example, a house which has the planter and barn would give the home a cozy country feel, where as a house with an organ laboratory and graveyard would clearly belong to a demented necromancer or mad alchemist. If different sized housing is planned, it would also give players a reason to upscale their homes if they could have additional facilities as well.
Anyways let me know what you think! I think it sounds like a way to add on to player housing in a way that's both useful without making the outside world redundant and also a fun way to add onto your house. I'd also love to hear any ideas regarding different kinds of facilities if anyone has any creative ideas!