I’d love to have collector items to this game. These items could be something that would be cherished in the post-apocalyptic setting - maybe records, different wines or candies, little pastel-colored ponies of the past world - or pieces of clothing, gadgets of different sort… something that is basically excess baggage - but could give another reason to stick your head out of the wild and scavenge yet another city.
Maybe this could be in form of perk “Collector” - you would choose theme you collect and unless you have something of that theme you’d suffer morale hit, and when your collection grows you’d feel a lot better.
And when NPC’s are fixed collector could inquire “Have you by chance seen [insert collectible category] anywhere? I just love that stuff.” and they could provide hints where to find this stuff, maybe after giving some backrub or reward for such information.
Collectables are as good a hook as any other for NPC quests. They might be later versions of missions you could get, based around luxury instead of basic survival. The morale boost comes at the cost of having to manage your collection and potentially lose it, causing a penalty, and also nudges players back into more dangerous terrain.
It’s not the most thematically appropriate idea, pointed at luxury instead of survival, but it could add a lot of flavor to the game, especially when rummaging through houses for snack cakes.
Okay, first off, I have nothing against My Little Pony. That said, I live with a guy who really is THAT fanatical about it, and would totally ask a wasteland wanderer to plumb the depths of a ruined apartment complex just to find his Nightmare Moon bedspread. I’m not sure what it is about the show that inspires this level of… dedication… but it is a scenario I could actually see happening, and that scares me.
About the survival vs. luxury … While collecting is not about feeding basic needs - It can still be considered survival on higher mental level. After you have secured water, food and basic shelter… what is the thing that drives you on the dead world? What will become one’s purpose in life where everything that past could be one have become dead end?
Doing “meaningless” stuff for the sense of it being important to self IS survival on the mental map.
If there is some sort of deeper “insanity” thing ever done, active collecting-hobby could give a boost against mental illnesses. Or post above considered - or atleast occupy one slot reserved for flavours of madness…
I can totally see that being important. I mean, the morale system is already in the game because part of the point is keeping yourself cheerful in a world gone mad. Perhaps there could be some kind of very long-term morale penalty that accrues when you spend too long alone with no luxuries. Old romance novels and good steak will only take you so far, you know?
On that note, why the hell aren’t blueberries a boost to morale? It says ‘enjoyability 0’, and that is a blatant lie.
[quote=“ArgusTheCat, post:8, topic:498”]I can totally see that being important. I mean, the morale system is already in the game because part of the point is keeping yourself cheerful in a world gone mad. Perhaps there could be some kind of very long-term morale penalty that accrues when you spend too long alone with no luxuries. Old romance novels and good steak will only take you so far, you know?
On that note, why the hell aren’t blueberries a boost to morale? It says ‘enjoyability 0’, and that is a blatant lie.[/quote]
Problem is defining what constitutes sufficient luxury. Blueberries might qualify for you (and for me, I suppose), I’d prefer malted milk balls rather than peanut butter cups but candy could qualify, the mp3 player qualifies for everyone thanks to its quantum music selection. Favored foods might help, and if I start creating more items, I’d put Girl Scout cookies in: one generic and one favorite, similar to how potato chips are handled.
Not sure if porn would qualify, especially given that there’s nothing (yet) for people who prefer men.
(I don’t personally think much of alcohol, but combine with Ethanol Burner, Blood Filter, and Integrated Toolset…and about 6 shots become a good idea prior to doing a Mutagen cook.)
I think there could be community-driven lists of collectibles instead one fixed. Item type for any collectible is “misc item” so generating these items to world does not affect game balance.
This way anyone can have the possible things to collect they exactly want - like when you name your favourite fruit in nethack. Also this eliminates clutter because you can shut down categories you dont want to be generated in world.
Lists are handled in generalized way, so item in list A has equal chance of spawning to item in list B, and the rate of spawning is dictated how many items in total there are. This way chance to find item you are looking for is equal no matter how many collectibles-list your game has, the more you have the more game generates clutter, but chances of finding one particular item is always the same regardless how many or few collectibles lists you have.
Maybe the lists could allow tweak of in-category rareness, so you could have really common items from category or super-rares, but as average lists would be always equal.
This would solve the “That stuff is not important to me, but I want this stuff”. Just do your own list of wants and youre go.
[quote=“KA101, post:9, topic:498”]Problem is defining what constitutes sufficient luxury. Blueberries might qualify for you (and for me, I suppose), I’d prefer malted milk balls rather than peanut butter cups but candy could qualify, the mp3 player qualifies for everyone thanks to its quantum music selection. Favored foods might help, and if I start creating more items, I’d put Girl Scout cookies in: one generic and one favorite, similar to how potato chips are handled.
Not sure if porn would qualify, especially given that there’s nothing (yet) for people who prefer men.[/quote]
A few days ago, somewhere around here, I suggested the idea of characters developing ‘tastes’, based on what you read and eat and listen to early on. One of the devs mentioned that such a system was already planned to be implemented, so there’s the solution to that.
Frankly I love anime, video games and all sorts of useless, terrible B-movies (or movies that would love to get B-rating stardom) but I still can’t stand MLP. Think about it-- if they were human, they’d all have tatts on their ass. Who usually have tatts on their ass?
I’ll let you think about that one.
As for collectibles, stick 'em in. Fetch quests are a staple of nearly any game genre. Even some RTS aren’t exempt, although that’s probably due to executive meddling. Something like a grammaphone with some classical music that gives a massive morale boosts, but you have to wind it up-- and it’s loud. Like, really damn loud. Draw-everything-on-the-block-to-the-phantastique-tea-party level loud.
[quote=“Iosyn, post:12, topic:498”]Frankly I love anime, video games and all sorts of useless, terrible B-movies (or movies that would love to get B-rating stardom) but I still can’t stand MLP. Think about it-- if they were human, they’d all have tatts on their ass. Who usually have tatts on their ass?
I’ll let you think about that one.[/quote]That’s why they’re not humans, lol, they’re horses.
As for collectibles, stick 'em in. Fetch quests are a staple of nearly any game genre. Even some RTS aren't exempt, although that's probably due to executive meddling. Something like a grammaphone with some classical music that gives a [i]massive [/i]morale boosts, but you have to wind it up-- and it's loud. Like, really damn loud. Draw-everything-on-the-block-to-the-phantastique-tea-party level loud.
I can see this as an awesome/cheaty/still awesome way grinding your melee skills to maximum sauciness.
That's why they're not humans, lol, they're horses.
Expect "They are ponies, not horses you dumb cheese" and a nice "Anti-brony" badge
Also, I respect ponies and bronies, but they are annoying to the point where a video about… making cookies ends up having a shitty brony-antibrony fight in the comment section.
Even this thread. LOOK AT IT. WE ARE NOW TALKING ABOUT PONIES. WHY DO YOU BRONIES HAVE TO INVADE EVERY SINGLE BIT OF THE INTERNET?
And again, I respect brownies and ponies
I won’t attack them for everything they are if they don’t attack me for being a brony.
He attacked me by saying: [quote=“Iosyn, post:12, topic:498”]if they were human, they’d all have tatts on their ass. Who usually have tatts on their ass?
I’ll let you think about that one.[/quote]
I’m not here to stir this kind of hate up, and I don’t want to bring my shit here. I will drop it like it is liquid fire ONLY if ponies aren’t hit so harshly in the future.
I don’t attack people for their likes or beliefs so I feel I should be treated with the same respect.
He wasn’t attacking you, he was making a joke. If you’re not capable of taking a bit of humour aimed at your fandom, then you shouldn’t be a part of it.