Hey guys! I know some of you are pretty involved in the direction of the game (or are Kevin) and I was curious what future plans for the health stat look like?
Currently it seems a bit redundant as we have calories, vitamins, and toxins represented ingame, which is a pretty good representation of how food is unhealthy save some fairly rare exceptions (saturated fats, drug interactions, etc).
I couldn’t locate anything talking about the health stat’s future in the development plan.
To clarify what I mean, I shouldn’t have to tell anyone that cakes and soda don’t have some special carcinogen that builds up in the body until a wholly fatal threshold is passed- of course. Rather they are simple carbs that happen to be vitamin deficient, generally. With the glut of diets floating about (keto and fasting specifically) it should be readily apparent that there’s not special quality about proteins or fats versus carbohydrates, they’re all simply calories as far as unhealthiness is concerned.
Additionally, the often arguably, dangerous compounds in some foods in the US normally have a chronic build up- something already represented by toxins. Things like aspartame, MSG (there is conflicting information about both of these), lead, and arsenic would likely not have an effect on your player in the game before they die from memory death. This may not be the case however with the apparent state of the FDA in Cata’s America (atomic coffee).
In my mind the health stat seems like possibly a good stand in for symptoms resulting from continued drug use, unless there are plans to implement these ingame at some point, which would actually be pretty cool and probably would fit well in a larger signs and symptoms expansion of the first aid system.
I may be misremembering, but I’m pretty sure that regular drug usage does indeed tank the health stat, leaving one more prone to infection and sickness.
Drug interactions I believe are a thing as well, or maybe it was simply talked about awhile back.
(mixing alcohol with various drugs and such as that)
Mmhm. Yeah, I think this is an acceptable place for the health stat to remain at the moment.
I do think it should be removed from foods. Hard stop.
And to clarify I mean drug interactions with food. Something like MAOIs with beer or cheese or dairy alongside certain antibiotics (it can render them useless).
And the long term drug use symptoms I’m referring to is stuff ingame that isn’t really represented- dental health issues with amphetamines, sinus issues with cocaine use, abscesses from IV drug use. All of these things, for now, are acceptable to fall in the camp of health reduction until a better system is in place, I think.
Something like adding macronutrients to every food item and tracking what the player needs daily based off of BMI would be a good foundation for the health stat. The survival game Green Hell has this feature and you have a watch to track your intake. If protein, fat, carbs, or hydration are not topped off then you aren’t at full hp.
That’s interesting. Yeah, this would be a cool way to handle it and could open the door for stuff like rabbit starvation when you’re only eating protein.
I feel like diet should be completely separated from “health” right now. It already has a great system in place, you know?
It’s so silly to me that IRL you can live off of birthday cake a LOT longer than coconuts on a desert island and yet this is flipped ingame because an antiquated system makes “junkfood” as dangerous as cigarettes and in some cases heroine.
I literally have no idea how you could make chocolate icecream so deadly. By the game’s logic Ben and Jerry are more deadly than Purdue and big tobacco combined.
I see what you mean. Then yeah food should be separated from the health stat and instead be tied to a fitness stat that directly affects things like strength, endurance, and muscle to fat ratio.
Okay, tell me if this is too in the weeds, but what about a few more “vitamins” added that would reflect diet.
Protein- this is obvious. Only so much can be absorbed per day, the rest becomes calories. Maintains or improves physique.
Sugar- absorbed alongside calories. At higher levels procs tooth pain and maybe metabolism changes.
Fat/grease- absorbed alongside calories. Raises sensitivity for acidic issues with food. Would finally give a purpose to the heartburn meds that don’t seem to have one at current.
All of this plus an overhaul to how debilitating obesity is to the player.
I feel like that better accomplishes what the health system is trying to accomplish.with diet at current. That said it’s admittedly a little silly and fairly in depth compared to other more gracefully implemented systems.
They are currently reworking health to also influenced by things such as the amount of sleep and exersice you get per day. They are also working on a way to differenciate unhealthy junk/heavely processed foods from drug. With junk food having a impact on your health score itself that than influences wheather your health goes up or down overtime while drugs directly lower your health whenever you take them.
Thank you. That’s helpful. I’d seen some pull requests regarding this, but didn’t know the bigger picture.