Pondering Game Mechanics

The_Anabaptist · 2020-10-10 14:50:36

As I see it, we have a game that produces tension / challenge by:

1) Balancing risks of depletion vs surpluses via crafting / tech advancement.

Except that at some points, tech advancement will run their course and all that is left is depletion of resources and death of the civilization. Good or bad, it is the final end state for the game.

2) Encouragement of variety over monoculture living.

At one time, you could expect to live a full life eating nothing but berries, or cactus fruit, or whatever single item. Current yum and craving mechanisms encourage variety. This is a reasonable extension of 1) in my opinion and enjoyed by much of the experiences player base. (Newish players may beg to differ?)

At one time, families could intermingle easily and build cities in relative harmony. Current birthing mechanisms keep the families in their own towns for the most part. This is the opposite of 2) in my opinion and generates a lot of harmful results. Without scrapping the current system, could this be fixed by having an elder "adopt" a non-ethnic woman into the family and have them continue to birth her ethnicity or random spawning of the two ethnicities?

3) PvE vs PvP

The actual environmental challenges are limited to a couple wild animals. Leaving most of the challenges being generated up to the players themselves once a food surplus is met. Additional environmental challenges that have the potential to impact the entire family in my opinion should be introduced to reduce the amount of drama introduced by certain players.

The_Anabaptist

Spoonwood · 2020-10-10 16:31:42

The_Anabaptist wrote:

1) in my opinion and enjoyed by much of the experiences player base. (Newish players may beg to differ?)

I've enjoyed food generational decline *with* cravings this week. But, I think it's more difficult to learn. For a new player, even if after going through the tutorial, what is yum? What can I eat? How do I make any food? I'm sure they have those questions and more. Also, it's that much more ugly when I see someone eating 3 or 4 bites of the same pie in a row, as I saw in my last "life".

Cravings though, on bs2 I emphasize, keep lives different, since craving the same foods in a life appears infrequent (surely it's bound to happen sometime, and I would expect someone who isn't using /die at all has observed it already... it just doesn't seem like it would happen all that often).

The_Anabaptist wrote:

Without scrapping the current system, could this be fixed by having an elder "adopt" a non-ethnic woman into the family and have them continue to birth her ethnicity or random spawning of the two ethnicities?

The current system is one family per well/pump. Therefore, the current system would need scrapped for variety in terms of village cultures, which I agree has gotten lost. One black joining your white town just isn't as good as villages with multiple families having new players join them in their line of descent (i. e. two families "having babies"). The current system is not interesting and bland in comparison.

Arcurus · 2020-10-12 21:12:43

The_Anabaptist wrote:

As I see it, we have a game that produces tension / challenge by:
1) Balancing risks of depletion vs surpluses via crafting / tech advancement.
Except that at some points, tech advancement will run their course and all that is left is depletion of resources and death of the civilization. Good or bad, it is the final end state for the game.
2) Encouragement of variety over monoculture living.
At one time, you could expect to live a full life eating nothing but berries, or cactus fruit, or whatever single item. Current yum and craving mechanisms encourage variety. This is a reasonable extension of 1) in my opinion and enjoyed by much of the experiences player base. (Newish players may beg to differ?)
At one time, families could intermingle easily and build cities in relative harmony. Current birthing mechanisms keep the families in their own towns for the most part. This is the opposite of 2) in my opinion and generates a lot of harmful results. Without scrapping the current system, could this be fixed by having an elder "adopt" a non-ethnic woman into the family and have them continue to birth her ethnicity or random spawning of the two ethnicities?
3) PvE vs PvP
The actual environmental challenges are limited to a couple wild animals. Leaving most of the challenges being generated up to the players themselves once a food surplus is met. Additional environmental challenges that have the potential to impact the entire family in my opinion should be introduced to reduce the amount of drama introduced by certain players.
The_Anabaptist

yea for sure more challenges then starvation or griefers are needed.

And yes the family homeland restirction does lot more harm then good...

Spoonwood · 2020-10-12 21:30:59

Arcurus wrote:

The_Anabaptist wrote:
As I see it, we have a game that produces tension / challenge by:
1) Balancing risks of depletion vs surpluses via crafting / tech advancement.
Except that at some points, tech advancement will run their course and all that is left is depletion of resources and death of the civilization. Good or bad, it is the final end state for the game.
2) Encouragement of variety over monoculture living.
At one time, you could expect to live a full life eating nothing but berries, or cactus fruit, or whatever single item. Current yum and craving mechanisms encourage variety. This is a reasonable extension of 1) in my opinion and enjoyed by much of the experiences player base. (Newish players may beg to differ?)
At one time, families could intermingle easily and build cities in relative harmony. Current birthing mechanisms keep the families in their own towns for the most part. This is the opposite of 2) in my opinion and generates a lot of harmful results. Without scrapping the current system, could this be fixed by having an elder "adopt" a non-ethnic woman into the family and have them continue to birth her ethnicity or random spawning of the two ethnicities?
3) PvE vs PvP
The actual environmental challenges are limited to a couple wild animals. Leaving most of the challenges being generated up to the players themselves once a food surplus is met. Additional environmental challenges that have the potential to impact the entire family in my opinion should be introduced to reduce the amount of drama introduced by certain players.
The_Anabaptist
yea for sure more challenges then starvation or griefers are needed.
And yes the family homeland restirction does lot more harm then good...

How reliably can you travel on foot to other towns using the default client? I still die occasionally to a wolf or boar even with Hetuw's red indicators. I had it happen yesterday that I ran up and left, and the wolf ran up and right and it's path crossed mine, resulting in me getting bite, apparently, after I had already moved over that tile. Lost three backpacks worth of rope and a clothing piece, because of that.

The_Anabaptist · 2020-10-14 12:04:19

Spoonwood wrote:

Arcurus wrote:
The_Anabaptist wrote:
As I see it, we have a game that produces tension / challenge by:
1) Balancing risks of depletion vs surpluses via crafting / tech advancement.
Except that at some points, tech advancement will run their course and all that is left is depletion of resources and death of the civilization. Good or bad, it is the final end state for the game.
2) Encouragement of variety over monoculture living.
At one time, you could expect to live a full life eating nothing but berries, or cactus fruit, or whatever single item. Current yum and craving mechanisms encourage variety. This is a reasonable extension of 1) in my opinion and enjoyed by much of the experiences player base. (Newish players may beg to differ?)
At one time, families could intermingle easily and build cities in relative harmony. Current birthing mechanisms keep the families in their own towns for the most part. This is the opposite of 2) in my opinion and generates a lot of harmful results. Without scrapping the current system, could this be fixed by having an elder "adopt" a non-ethnic woman into the family and have them continue to birth her ethnicity or random spawning of the two ethnicities?
3) PvE vs PvP
The actual environmental challenges are limited to a couple wild animals. Leaving most of the challenges being generated up to the players themselves once a food surplus is met. Additional environmental challenges that have the potential to impact the entire family in my opinion should be introduced to reduce the amount of drama introduced by certain players.
The_Anabaptist
yea for sure more challenges then starvation or griefers are needed.
And yes the family homeland restirction does lot more harm then good...
How reliably can you travel on foot to other towns using the default client? I still die occasionally to a wolf or boar even with Hetuw's red indicators. I had it happen yesterday that I ran up and left, and the wolf ran up and right and it's path crossed mine, resulting in me getting bite, apparently, after I had already moved over that tile. Lost three backpacks worth of rope and a clothing piece, because of that.

Most players who choose to stay close to town will not be impacted by wild animals unless somebody lures them back home. While a wild animal may present an occasional challenge to the dedicated traveler, it typically doesn't impact the community unless you were bringing home that one critical resource needed to save the town. Hence my suggestion for any/more environmental challenges that cause the collective town or towns to come together to overcome it and maybe forge some teamwork behaviors along the way.

The_Anabaptist

OneOfMany · 2020-10-15 23:01:12

Spoonwood wrote:

How reliably can you travel on foot to other towns using the default client?

I only play vanilla (I have my reasons, but I'm okay with anyone using whatever they want) and when playing vanilla, there are certain precautions you must take when traveling, but if you're smart, you'll almost never die to an animal.

Here's a couple of my rules for not dying while traveling.

1. Stick to the Green and Yellow biomes as much as possible.
2. When entering Mountains or Swamps
a. Try to move East or West. Going North and South are even more dangerous since you can only see two tiles ahead.
b. Move slowly and with purpose.
3. When encountering a dangerous animal, simple step outside of it's preprogrammed path, wait for it move, then run to the next safe spot. As long as you can stay outside it's Queen like movement potential, it can't get you.
4. And this is most important if playing with the default client. Don't go on foot. Take a freaking horse and avoid deserts.

Arcurus wrote:

And yes the family homeland restirction does lot more harm then good...

The_Anabaptist wrote:

At one time, families could intermingle easily and build cities in relative harmony. Current birthing mechanisms keep the families in their own towns for the most part. This is the opposite of 2) in my opinion and generates a lot of harmful results. Without scrapping the current system, could this be fixed by having an elder "adopt" a non-ethnic woman into the family and have them continue to birth her ethnicity or random spawning of the two ethnicities?

I agree with both. Perhaps it's time to bring the families together through marriage. Then the kids of the married couple could have kids at either well site and add racial/biome diversity to a town. Marriage could be a late game addition where you have to build a wedding structure like an arch covered in roses to have he ceremony at, maybe even have a restriction of an elder having to perform the ceremony, like a peace treaty. IDK, don't ask me, I just liked it better when multiple family lines could live together.

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2020-10-10 14:50:36

Pondering Game Mechanics

#2 2020-10-10 16:31:42

Re: Pondering Game Mechanics

#3 2020-10-12 21:12:43

Re: Pondering Game Mechanics

#4 2020-10-12 21:30:59

Re: Pondering Game Mechanics

#5 2020-10-14 12:04:19

Re: Pondering Game Mechanics

#6 2020-10-15 23:01:12

Re: Pondering Game Mechanics

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