The Evolving Society Mod

[QQuix]

JediWelder

 

I read the Wikipedia entry about Planescape Torment. It sure looks like a good game. Unfortunately I wont have the time to play it (my son gave two games last Christmas and one is still in the box). And I don't think I will connect this mod with any other game, not even my own favorites.

 

And it is not a matter of liking or disliking the idea. ALL ideas and suggestions posted here will be considered when, later on, I will try to merge them into a coherent storyline (with the help of the community, I hope). Some good ideas may be left out because they wouldn't fit. Since there is no way to tell this far in advance, all suggestions are most welcome.

 

And I thank you for yours. Removing the explicit references Planescape Torment, I don't rule them out at all. They do have the merit of requiring decisions from the player, and this is something I even highlighted in my first post. You may elaborate and suggest the consequences of deciding this way or the other, if you feel like it.

 

So, what is the point of suggesting now, if they will only be used later? You may ask.

 

As I mentioned a few posts back, many suggestions include concepts that I add to my list of 'potential features' to be included in the scripts I am working on. Of course, I will not implement everything or I will never finish the engine.

 

I will have a satisfaction factor and I was planning on the population wanting things like sewers, security, parks and such. You present the concept of individual NPCs, or groups, or factions, requesting some particular kind of city improvement.

 

It is an interesting concept and I ask you and the community for suggestions on how to split the population in groups and what would they want:

By age? Youngsters want school, elders want hospitals? Lol

By gender? Males want bars, females want books?

By profession? Farmes want a market? Etc

By race? Eye color? Height? Social class?

By faction? Not sure a population of 20-30 is large enough to have actual factions, thou.

 

Or each NPC would have a particular desire or need? Like building an Inn, since it is what the blacksmith wanted, he will be happier and work faster.

 

As always, I am eagerly waiting for suggestions

[JediWelder]

Qquix, Definition: If a party (20-30) is not harmonious, the opposing cliques are called factions.

Let me try to elaborate a different way.

Citizen one:

By age: Elderly

By gender: male

By profession: Blacksmith

By race: human

By faction: Godsmen

But who is this NPC ? What does he want? What is he all about? You may ask....

Well to Godsmen all things are godly.All things can assend to greater glory.If not in this life,then in the next.Patience,that`s all it takes.Survive,succeed,and ascend,that`s the goal of all Godsmen. A glorious Foundry would make a statment for the Godsmen.

Citizen two:

By age: young

By gender: male

By profession: hunter/gatherer

By race:Tiefling

By faction: Doomguard

You may ask....

People die,rocks erode,stars fade.That`s entropy,the fate of the universe.Nothing last forever.Terrible thing? Not for the Doomguard.It`s the way things are supposed to be,the goal of everything natural. Nothing makes a statement for the Doomguard like a Landfill.

Citizen three:

By age: Elderly

By gender: female

By profession: Physician

By race: human

By faction: Dustmen

You may ask....

Respect death. Don`t ever treat it like a servent.Say the Dustmen.True life is to be celebrated with positive feelings, but he who gets restless and tries to rush things,dies a fool.He is muted,dull,full of pain,and twisted with sorrow.The Dustmen are very restless. And nothing would make it more clear than a grand Mortuary.

Okay I have 21 more NPCs. Each belonging to eight different factions.Also I have three Dabus and three Modrons who don`t belong to any faction...yet. All are stranded together on your little island, waiting for the PC to arrive.

Want to know more?

[JediWelder]

Qquix, Sorry,I made a typing mistake in that last entry."True life is to be celebrated with positive feelings,but he who gets restless,and tries to rush things,dies a fool.UNLESS he is muted,dull,full of pain,and twisted with sorrow." I apologise for any confusion.

[QQuix]

Seems interesting.

 

Before continuing, let me open a parenthesis and explain how my mind works, here . . .

As I read posts with ideas and suggestions, I am not thinking "Yes", "No", "Great!", "No way!", and such.

What cross my mind at this stage of the development are things like:

• How would implementing this idea affect the scripts I am working on?

• Is it possible at all? What do I need to add/change?

• Can I make if flexible, so I can expand the concept later on, without much change to the code?

 

Some things I go to great efforts to add to the engine (like the possibility of adding new shops via INI files), other I just keep in mind to add them later if time permits.

If the suggestion does not affect the work at hand, it stays in the thread and will be considered at the right moment.

I also re-read the whole thread every once in a while re-asking those same questions.

Close parenthesis.

 

That said . . .

 

As I understand the factions, from a strictly technical point of view, it would be an additional attribute to the NPC data.

Each faction would ask for a particular city improvement and, when built, those NPCs would be happier and more productive. If not satisfied after some time, they would be unhappy and less productive.

Or maybe they want something else, like the player doing a side quest to, say, find an idol the faction worships.

Is that it?

 

As always, I kind of go overboard here: Maybe each cross section (?) of the community (males-females, young-old, etc) would have requirements. So when the player builds, say, a church, all males will be a little happier, all farmers will be a little happier, all middle class citizens will be a little happier. Therefore a male, middle class farmer will be a lot happier. Crazy thoughts!

 

 

Correction: the island starts empty. NPCs will be recruited by the player, one by one, as the player plays his cards right and provides the requirements (like housing and work facilities) to add a new person to the community.

The timing and the order of this recruitment are the core of the mod concept.

When max population and max production are reached, the mod would be pretty much finished.

 

[EDIT] In case you are not aware, you can edit your original text by hitting the little EDIT button that appears at the bottom of your posts. Editing your post is usually preferred instead of posting twice in a row. Like I've just done with this paragraph.

[JediWelder]

Qquix, Well I don`t know about being more productive.I guess I`m not sure I understand exactly how your engine works.My idea was more about the quest part and the physical results.Oh and thankyou for the edit. Yeah I didn`t know that.

[QQuix]

What I call the Engine is the set of scripts and data structures that will control the main behavior of the mod. Lets say the engine determines and controls the "Rules of the Game" for the mod.

 

It does things like:

- Production - if there is a shop (e.g. Sawmill), an NPC hired to work on that shop and the necessary raw materials (e.g. Logs), the Sawmill will consume X logs in the morning and produce Y planks at the end of the day. X and Y will vary according to a set of rules also in the engine.

- Building - the engine controls which buildings can be built at any given time, in terms of pre-requisites and materials. It also will take care of upgrading existing buildings.

- Hiring - the engine will somehow present NPCs as candidates (visitors?, refugees?. . . ) and will control whether the player has provided the necessary infra-structure to hire this or that NPC.

- Satisfaction - Each individual will have a level of satisfaction that affects its production and may, in extreme situations, leave the island.

- Other things that may (or may not) be in the engine, like social classes, NPC levels, NPC skills.

 

I want that every major action or decision the player makes in the island to somehow affect the above. That is why I tried to connect your suggestion of factions with some faction requests that would affect Satisfaction and, thus, affect Production. This gives meaning for the player deciding which faction to satisfy first.

 

Lets say the player talks to the farmer he finds out that the farmer belongs to the XYZ faction and that the faction wants a church built.

Then the player learns that the miner belongs to the ABC faction and that the ABC faction wants some health facility.

When there is enough resources available the player will decide whether to build a church or an apothecary, based on whether she wants to improve Food production or Ore production.

She will decide for the church/Food if her long term strategy for the island is to quickly increase population (as enough food production is a requirement to hire new NPCs). Other long or short term goals would make the player decide otherwise.

 

 

Back to the engine, this may not be that good an analogy, but let's say the engine is the foundation of a house.

The physical part of the mod (the island itself, buildings, NPCs, etc) might be the external walls and roof of our analog house.

What I am asking you guys here, (storyline, quests, etc) would be the internal distribution and decoration of our house.

 

This is why some ideas affect the 'foundations' I am working on (they would be like: "Add an extra bedroom" or "Move the kitchen upstairs"), while others don't (like: "Decorate the master bedroom in pink" or "Place the piano by the window).

 

I hope this helps clarifying why I give more attention to some ideas and less to others. It has nothing to do with being a good or bad idea or my opinion about it.

 

Anyway, keep the ideas coming, so (1) you don't forget them and (2) as time goes by, it will be more and more difficult to adjust the foundation to new ideas.

 

 

Thanks.

[JediWelder]

Qqix, Okay, I used to play this game called SimCity.It sounds alot like what you are trying to do. So if I`m not mistaken, I`m not much use to you on the internal distribution part,roads,industrial zones,power grid.However I still might be helpful for decoration.Civic Feasthall,Mortuary,Ragpicker Square Landfill,exc. My concept could add flavor to your town.Sidequests would make it intresting to live there.And if it`s like SimCity,once you reach Max Production,"we have all done it" you cause some natural diasaster to destroy the whole thing.This time let the Factions do it for you.As a result of sidequests gone bad.

Uh...What are Kudos? What does that do?

[QQuix]

Yes, my original inspiration was from Strategy Games, although more toward Civilization than SimCity. But you got the idea.

 

Kudos (it is supposed to be singular) is something a member gives another as a sign of recognition for something, usually for a helping hand. One member cannot give more than one kudos per person.

I have just given you one, as a thank you for your contributions to the thread.

There is more to it, as I read recently in these forums, but I could not find the thread.

(Kudos at the Wikipedia)

[katashy]

remember runescape? you should do it along the lines of the miscelanea quest.

 

you complete a certain quest on the island, build up your political power and then become the mayor.

once your mayor you can set how many settelers do what, 50 fish, 5 cut wood 10 mine etc.

[QQuix]

Katshy, thanks for posting,

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with runescape either, but, the way I am planning it, the player will be able to determine the number and profession of the NPCs on the island from the very beginning.

 

For example, when arriving on the island, one of the first things the player should do is to build a farm and hire/appoint a farmer, since, without some food surplus, no additional NPC can be hired. Sometime later, one farm will not be enough to produce food for the growing populations and the player has to build another one, and so forth. The same goes for other raw materials like wood, stone and metal.

 

Player power grows with the island economic growth. Along the way, the player will have to perform side quests to ensure the continuous growth of the island.

 

I cannot be more creative than: "Go find this [object] in order to allow/improve [material] production".

 

That is why I am asking ideas and suggestions from the community