Instant House

That would be a great compromise

*Thumbs up*

 

Good point. I think that's a great distinction to make: prefab blueprints that players can use to build their houses over time vs custom blueprints that you can go to town with. If this does ever get implemented, I can see them starting with generic blueprints and later on allowing custom ones -- especially with the increased use of user generated content and player mods (stretch goal).

 

Should be a build period by the players. Having to gather resources and bring them back to the lot.

 

Reading this thread (and oh so many others lol), I must admit, this song has been playing in my head. No offense to anyone but I had to share as it is relevant to this discussion.

 

Cheapter Housing Deeds If You Supply the Materials: Yes please!


Housing Timers: NO WAY! (Wait, hear me out...)
I am playing a crafter who is building my home with my own two hands, my house pops up on a timer in the same amount of time as if I was doing it barn raising style with the whole community. No thanks! Timers mean we're either going to a) end up with community projects that take longer than they should and can't be finished in the scope of an 'event' or b) end up with stand alone projects that SHOULD allow a player to work for weeks, but are completed in hours. For me, both options ruin immersion just as much as not having any wait. Also, we have some people who will HATE having to wait at all due to limited game time or not being RPers.

Solution:
When you purchase a house deed and place your house it will be built in 3 to 5 stages with graphics for various levels of completion. You have to cycle through the stages in order to get to your completed house. These cycles are controlled completely by the owner of the house deed. This does a few things....

1. Non RPers - Click 3-5 times (or maybe even a gump where you just choose to start at completed) and done. No wait. You're welcome.
2. RPers - Build the house at YOUR OWN PACE! If you are building it all by yourself you could take months to RP out gathering materials etc. If your whole town comes together as one big event to build the house with you, then pace it out for your event. If you start with three people, then don't move to the next graphic for a while. When the hoard shows up around lunch and everyone is working hard, move it along faster. When you get to the end you can actually RP out putting that final last touch in place and then, bam, final house graphic. Perfect timing without requiring GM involvement.

Player timing = better immersion without frustrating people or requiring GM involvement. Thank you!

 

This is the SONG thats been playing through my head when reading through the forums lately.......

 

You must really love SoTA...

 

Gunga, I will never give up on SotA for sure. Now, I apologize for starting that. Let's get back on topic to "Instant Houses".

 

I like the original idea, but I can see it being a problem as part of the "land rush" when the game opens. What if houses purchased from the SotA Store or included as a Pledge reward were instant, but anything purchased in-game required the build period? That would satisfy both parties; if you didn't want to wait, you have the option to spend cash.

As far as the build process, I like this because it provides a way for dynamic quests to be implemented. You set your house on the plot, it starts the groundbreaking, and some NPCs pull up with a wagon and start building it. The foreman might say they don't have enough nails, so craftsmen can provide some in exchange for whatever type of reward. They may need someone to bring in stone from a local quarry. One of the workers may be concerned about a sick child at home, or worried about infidelity while they are at work. Great roleplaying possibilities, that can be slightly different for each house, and yet make the world feel that much more alive.

So I vote yes! (with a caveat)

 

I don't like forcing this on non-backers since that could seem like more of a punishment on them than a perk to us.

I think this needs to be something optional for those that want it: even for backers. At least being able to claim a lot before building a house. That might sound like a no-brainer, but it has not been confirmed on how this will work.

 

Here's the number one reason why it won't be implemented---it requires new models. Every house would have to have models made of each stage of construction, and that would take time away from making new houses alltogether. The other options is to just throw a generic model and a timer, but then you're moving away from the point of the whole thing, which is to see your own house being built.

 

Exactly.....Lock the thread please

 

Oooh, was that the point where I should have just dropped the mic and walked away?

 

Why in the world should the thread be locked? Some good ideas and discussion here!

 

Dear Baene,

With the exception of the guild house suggestion, which is brilliant, and works because guild houses prolly won't be available for a while, givening them some time to implement it, building your homes isn't going to work here.

Yes our role-players loved the idea ... THE FIRST TIME ... then after the second or third time, less and less liked it. Its a fun idea once, and for somones one house, it could have a lot of role-play fun, not to mention interaction with crafters, others to help, and last but not least, a relatively easy script that provides content, the bane of many games. No pun intended, dear .

Unfortunately, most gamers are not role-players, and don't like to wait, for almost anything. In a game that has already promise "instant" house, I can not even see a solution (other then the guild idea) that would ever work, and not have people very frustrated.

As for the having to build new models, the answer to that is no. You do not. I've done it.


Now, the guild house idea is an excellent one for more then just the role-play fun of building it. Guild houses are typically reserved for larger guilds, some size minimum. That works as a bar to say who can and can not get a guild house, but a lot of guilds will just join EVERYONE who has no interest in being part of a guild, just so they can get guild perks. If the guild house required resources to construct, something that took some real effort to gather, the perks become relevent to active guild members.

I think its a great topic, and its a shame that it got so off track in the way it did.

Lara

 

Hmmm...a very intereting thread...

I like many of the ideas that I've read here, especially those of Baene and RelExpo. Yet, I keep asking myself..."Is the juice worth the squeeze?" I'm afraid that I would vote no.

LS and Lara have already touched upon why. With time constraints and a limited budget, I just don't think "prolonging the actual building of houses for RP reasons" is a worth while investment. Quite selfishly, I would rather see them take that time and money and create more interior options for the houses (choosing amongst 5 fireplaces rather than 2, etc). Flesh out crafting skills to create even more house options.

Take that time and money and create a bevy of "house-only" pets. Not just dogs and cats, but bats. Flying squirrels. Multi-colored frogs. Jellyfish in exotic glass contraptions. Have fun with it.

And if you're still dead-set on gathering a ton of materials for your house....add a basement. This way, one can still RP building something for the house, it increases the size and value of the house without changing anyting on the outside (no new models), and it solves the never-ending problem of where to put the pool table...

So...prolonging the build of a house is a one time event. Using that same time and money could possibly lead to more interior options, in-house pets and basements. All of these things can also lead to more RP and last with your character for a life time...

 

Building these buildings in a realistic manner detracts too much from gameplay. There is no reason to wait several hours or more realistically months to years of ingame time to have a house built. (like weeks of IRL time). It doesn't add anything to my gameplay experience to wait for it. The only reason to do something like that would be if there was a gameplay mechanic that could be exploited by rapid construction/deconstruction of houses. More likely it would hamper and impede systems rather than help them too much by delaying access to it.

 

No sure why the gathering material keeps coming back up. I don't think the OP ever brought it up. I think it was more of an instant build or a small delay showing the house being built not just pop it’s there. Now I agree with a lot that is said here and agree that people want it now. I agree that it is resources to program it and those hours can be better spent. There have been some great ideas here, like clicking on a sign to speed up the build. I like the thoughts of instant or slow build when you place the house. (slow again is less then 24 hours, maybe 2 hours). The first week of release would be hard but a month or a year later I think it would be cool to see a house being built on your street. Oh look new neighbor. Let’s go stone them (not to be mixed up with get stoned with them). Or maybe bring them a house warming gift (or a fireball). Maybe it is something that is put in at a later time, or never.

The idea of the post was to get feedback and see what some people thought are. Some great ideas have come up and I thank the people that had ideas for posting them here. The guild house I think is one of those great idea. I think Lara of Grimmwold summed up everything very nicely. So thank you all for the great posts.

 

Agreed. Once the idea of the Guild Housing was brought up, that's really where my interest went. It makes a lot of sense, provides a lot more options like you mentioned, and doesn't get in the way of normal housing, either.

 

I'm not sure why this would detract from the developers creating anything. We are crowdsourcing, right?