Understanding what works well in the game as it is.

futurebird · 2019-04-23 04:20:36

Before charging off to change the game in radical ways (and I'm not against big changes that's part of the fun meta game, it's not always the same!) I think it'd be nice to pause and note that most players really like the early game and it works really well? But, why? What is it that makes the first 3-5 generations so much fun. Yes there is the constant threat of hunger, but if you are experience and have a sharp rock you won't die of hunger yourself. No, it's your kids who die. So, for me at least, the early game is all about laying the ground work for something bigger and more stable for the next generation. Making it so even newer players can survive. And there are a lot of tough dramatic choices to make. Do you take the time to explain something to a newer player or let them die and use that time to gather and build more to make everyone safer and more stable?

Also the early game is well understood by many players. You know what needs to be done and don't need to talk a lot to make it happen. It's wonderful to start with just a few bits of food and a log and watch as everyone swarms around and soon there are sheep! and trees are cut! and the first pies are made! And every first has a clear impact for the whole family.

I don't think that the later game should be the same as the early game. The things you care about and work for should grow and change with the town. But I don't want to hear about the later game or ways to improve it I want to know what you think works right now and why.

Booklat1 · 2019-04-23 04:41:36

I 100% agree, specially that major changes shouldnt be rushed

I think this game needs only two more things

1-actually enforce the challenges it proposes to us, even if not too hard. Kindling should be at risk of running out before we get oil, and water should really run out before pumps.

2-Compromise to the idea that variation in design is needed for variation of gameplay to arise. This means both design a bit for alternative game loops (preferably branching early from main metas) and just inparting variation as a part of everyday design. Maybe we'd live in jungles if we had inseticide, maybe settling near mines early would be best if we had resource x with resource y from savannah doing z. We dont ever do any of this because metas arent jusr optimal, they're the only alternative in a world with little options.

Last edited by Booklat1 (2019-04-23 04:41:52)

MultiLife · 2019-04-23 06:29:39

What the game does well as of now:
- make us share everything and have a nearly silent, wordless team effort for everyone's sake.

I think that's great. Can't say I can name another game that achieves this. It's hard, and rare, to get people to share their creations with everyone and develop a mindset where it is the norm. Our society doesn't support that, yet we default to it in OHOL.

Spoonwood · 2019-04-23 15:19:15

The early game ends up more fun, because you're creating a town instead of maintaining it. You're the person creating the sheep pen, instead of fixing a sheep pen that a ******* griefer ruined, or fixing someone else's accident. You're the person making the oven and cooking the first set of pies for people instead of just making sure that people get more pies. You cook the first stew pot, instead of just cooking another stew pot. You organize the first farm (many players in the early game actually don't seem to understand how to do this well, or they do other jobs), instead of just maintaining the farm. You make the first set of steel tools and/or the first cart and/or bucket instead of making replacement or duplicate tools and another bucket. There's also this feeling of promise of 'this place could be really awesome someday', but at the same time a sense of uncertainty. And you hack down the first swamp trees and make the first large slow fire, instead of reigniting a bunch of hot coals to fire, and wonder 'why oh why didn't the nurse get this thing going again?!'.

The early game feels creative and feels full of promise. The later game doesn't feel as creative (it kind of does if you're doing oil or trying to make/help out with a diesel water pump or car... but that's only one station really) or have that youthful feeling of a hopeful, but uncertain, bright future.

pein · 2019-04-23 19:03:34

most of you said you don't like bad towns

there is a certain charm when you got the resources and you can create something
so when is already done and bad, it's just not the same

food updates made food very easy, some are very abundant
but only a few worth it
mutton pie and bread, cause gotta use up the resources, and need compost anyway
stew cause it's long process, with a great result

i feel like people need higher zoom to create decent structures, also better communication

rope is a bottleneck
now compare it to any food. one-two pork cut and masa dough processed takes a lifetime for some players
bean burrito is also possible to make like 3-4 plates a lifetime
people don't really know what to do. they bring resources and don't know how to combine
now all food items should decay if not used in time
compared to making 12 pies, which feeds a whole lot of people, rope making is just bad
resource gathering isn't the most fun if you cant use them

for example butt logs, you cut a lot of trees and end up with 2 floored rooms, a few shoes, maybe a berry contention floor
that's it, you are out of wood, it's far, people don't go far.
tree planting didn't catch up, same as berry was when it took an hour to grow
maybe reduce tree growing to 50 min, at least for pine, that way you ca create firewood and tell your grandkids that "me did dis"

clay is also a bottleneck
now early game is fine, you find water and soil and that's it.
we need mid game some resource that worth it moving next to it
oil? that's kind of fine but need more uses, maybe plastic
glass items? that would be fun
clay mine? imagine having a regenerating clay deposit, you make bread, adobe, got some materials to build up a huge wall, room, anything

either that or make wild resources more abundant, possibly if you cut and clean the whole swamp, it can regenerate
maybe special fences, surround a biome with no structures on it, and when it's empty, it resets to natural state

funyn huh? the original design had regrowing reed and milkweed
just what we would need now
sure it would be better to have other things that replace them
instead of baskets, plastic boxes
instead of adobe, plastic walls? maybe trees would be cut into multiple pieces, a special planted tree that has 2 butt logs
and bran plates from the combined excess

i think is good to have a more intertwined system, where the excess material creates more materials

for example: all those peppers and tomatoes left on ground would decay. Creating rotten food which could be used as compost, like 8 rotten food, goes into compost. This would solve over production of food, cleaning up and soil making would be related. You couldn't find a 200 year old pie and eat it.

The higher tier hemp, with a tool that's harder to make, maybe requires refill, so you can farm ropes fast if you got the upgrade and some refill. Could be rubber and oil, so we get more use and people make more excess.

Glassius · 2019-04-23 22:00:18

MultiLife wrote:

What the game does well as of now:
- make us share everything and have a nearly silent, wordless team effort for everyone's sake.

You would be the one joining the Borg. I think this is where we fail, because early game requires no communication nor coordination. We are not making a society, but a hive.

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2019-04-23 04:20:36

Understanding what works well in the game as it is.

#2 2019-04-23 04:41:36

Re: Understanding what works well in the game as it is.

#3 2019-04-23 06:29:39

Re: Understanding what works well in the game as it is.

#4 2019-04-23 15:19:15

Re: Understanding what works well in the game as it is.

#5 2019-04-23 19:03:34

Re: Understanding what works well in the game as it is.

#6 2019-04-23 22:00:18

Re: Understanding what works well in the game as it is.

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