a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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I think that this game needs world obstacles. This would then become an additional challenge to players. Set up site, gather resources, set out to cross the river by finding its thin point. Or find resources to build boat, or find resources to build bridge. Other than building a home, I have no real reason to travel across the 4b^2 tiles. Obstacles I think would be useful: rivers, shores/sea, lakes, holes, hills, etc
After getting used to all the environment, if nothing changes, what would be the reason for me to trek and risk the place that I've been manicuring for myself? That seems to become the main goal, to create a patch of land that I can last 60 years. Maybe I have to protect it, or leave it, but only once I know that I've made sufficient progress to stay there replenished or have exhausted all benefits of that place.
Once I've traveled distances, if many of us have crossed through the same areas, a path/trail should emerge. If it's dynamic, player created, you may get a lot of investigation out of some kind of wear or road construction by the player, especially after the player that builds it dies and others are left to wonder where the path leads.
Lastly, players/humans, tend to leave communication to others through the written language. DO you have any plans for directions that players can leave to others? Maybe in the form of a sign, or word writing on the dirt, scratch your initials on the dirt or some tree, etc. All roads lead to rome, and are probably labeled accordingly.
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I have thought about wear-marks that build up over time as more people walk in the same spot. It would require some time and thought to implement....
I have plans for signs and such. Or even paved roads that players can make. But written communication will always be somewhat limited in this game. I'm not going to pop up a box where you can type whatever you want onto your sign (like Minecraft). I think you'll probably have to carve each letter out of wood using A+B=C+D style crafting. And then hang the letters on the sign, which will actually be a container.
Not sure about the large obstacles or how that would change your motivation to leave home.
I'm thinking that the main motivation to leave home is to find resources that aren't around your home, or to trade with others. I've already experienced that motivation myself when the pond ran dry. I had to explore if I wanted to do any more farming. Or looking for iron ore, etc. And if you find a lot of one resource, packing it up and carrying it elsewhere will turn you into a good trading partner.
That said, map densities can be tweaked to make "impassable" areas more likely. Like dense forests or rock formations that can't be crossed.
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Just having fun thinking that a pictogram language could be etched, or placed, or spoken, rather than just words letters. Which... what if when you spoke, the words changed into the icons/graphics of the items in the world. Like if I said, "give me the hatchet", it would show to others like "give me the |>" (| + > = the image in this forum text). It could be somewhat emoji like, but with the added benefit that if a player leaves a hatched and a wood next to one another, it could have a different meaning, and it wouldn't be like leaving a sign. This is more of a ridiculous idea, tons of overhead, but again, just having fun with your game. I would take letters left on a grid space as an improvement. Even an Arrow you can orient when you place (like the stakes you bang and rotate) would be a great thing to have.
Anyway, about the obstacles. I think immigration happens a lot not just because of the land being perceived better or worse "here", but also imagining that what's beyond the big obstacle that could bring improvements. I'm gonna start a post about Humanity in this game, but this gets to that: exploration! I wonder that often when I see an abandoned house in the middle of somewhere, but the house is near a river - a source of life, of energy, etc... why would anyone leave? yet they do. My point is that exploring, as a goal, is sometimes as simple as not seeing the end of an object on screen... chasing its end is engaging. It can help players not become too set and comfortable in an environment or in their ways; and seeing a river all the way to its source, or hiking around this seemingly impassible mountain, would attract curiosity about the world. Everyone knows about the Grand Canyon, or the Rocky mountains, or the Nile, or the Amazon, etc. When people tell of others of that part of the world that they went to, they don't just talk about the country, they share stories about the thing that people overcome and settle around, regardless of how it impacts their survival chances, or how they have it "bad". Case in point: Iceland. I've been there and Icelanders, woah! how they have survived that place!! It's as if it's actively trying to push them out. They have very few resources: mostly sheep, reuse things like craycray, and have explored every inch of their volcanic, yet frozen, unwelcoming, beautiful and terrible natural, almost untouched island. This is even in their Sagas, where they left to find other better places, didn't and kept coming back, exploring the Fjords, Glaciers, etc. Seafarers, sure, but I hope you get the gist of the environments impact on a people and their curiosity.
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Well, part of this is more biomes, and more rare stuff. If I leave the density alone and add more biomes, each biome becomes more rare per unit are on the map. Which means that on average, you have to walk even farther to find the arctic biome, or the savanna, or whatever. So most people will go their whole lives without seeing an elephant or a penguin. But if you travel, you will see all sorts of amazing things.
There will also be some extremely rare natural objects.... there may only be a small handful in the lifetime-reachable area of the map. So travel will give you a chance of finding something amazing.
Morgan Freeman himself might be out there somewhere.... Hamburger + Morgan Freeman = ????
Anyway, this aspect of the game isn't realized yet because nothing is rare, and there are only four biomes. I'm thinking there will be something like 20 biomes in the end, and dozens of rare things.
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The idea of wear-marks are good! I would love to be able to track wolves actually. If there could be a way to do both at once it would be interesting.
Rivers would make a lot of sense. Follow them to find a workable fording. Which would make it a natural place to put something if you want to meet/help/ransom other players. Building a bridge over a river is a good motivation to build something.
Follow the river and end up at the sea. The delta is another logical place for a settlement to appear.
Morgan Freeman himself might be out there somewhere.... Hamburger + Morgan Freeman = ????
= Samuel Jackson + Royal Cheese
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The problem with having a river is that in my understanding, water is currently the final resource that runs out and forces players to move their house, and all rivers are freshwater. If water is infinite, like it would be if you had access to a river, I'm not sure what the next resource to run out would be. It might be that having an infinite source of water would still be interesting, if the game gets to the point where people are killing each other for their stuff more frequently and living near a location of infinite resources would still be dangerous. Or just have it be a lake that runs out after a longer period of time.
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I wonder if water is supposed to be a finite resource in the longer term? After all, water is the textbook example of the renewable resource that has to be managed in a well-managed way. It sounds strange that the idea behind this game would be to just roam across the world until it is totally depleted of resources. But I would still roll with it...
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Without there being a finite resource players would just sit tight and everyone would keep spawning there. I think making resources finite is necessary to keep players moving and expanding and keeping the villages chaotic organic things rather than just tedious repetition generation after generation.
Hopefully he'll add rare spawns or biomes that give incentives to continuing to move beyond just depleting nearby resources... but i think forcing movement periodically one way or another is a cool combo with the constantly shifting populace. It means the flow will be very unpredictable and organic and unplanned
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Well I could see a resource that spawns at a low enough rate so that it hinders growth and forces people to move. Like if the ponds just refilled of one unit every hour, and that they would stay dry when they are empty for instance. Restarting over and over the same tech tree in similar environment does not seem very interesting. Plus, it will be a bummer to migrants when they stumble upon a vast area that is already constructed but devoid of resources.
But well, this is still in its early phase, let's see where it goes.
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Water is just the current bottleneck. It won't necessarily remain a bottleneck, and I agree that it is a bit of a strange one.
And yes, things can be set to respawn in the very distant future.... hours or days from now.
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