Instant House

I'm guessing it takes time to review user generated content that is going in the real game. I think they've proven how busy they are with reviewing current asset submisions and scene jams, on top of everything else they do. I love the idea of UGC and how SotA is embracing it, but something's gonna give if they can't get more devs onboard to dedicate to it.

 

I posted a similar suggestion before I knew about this thread (thanks, Fifty!)

FWIW, these are my thoughts:

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...a-for-placing-houses-on-lots.3533/#post-58654

TL;DR - what does it add to your gameplay experience? A more believable world, and villages / towns / cities that actually seem alive with change and progress.

Imagine looking down the street and seeing three different houses in varying stages of construction, accompanied by the sounds of hammers and saws blending with the city's normal bustle...

... NOW imagine looking down that same street and seeing three different early backers screwing around with their collection of insta-houses:

*POOF* tower *POOF* viking home *POOF* druid treehouse *POOF* Edelmann *POOF* village home *POOF* Knight home...

... happening on three different plots at once, jerking the town's skyline around like a kitten with a string.

How would THAT benefit your gameplay experience??

It's not so much about seeing your OWN house go up slowly, it's about living in a settlement where this happens occasionally on other people's lots, and it becomes part of the dynamic cityscape.

BTW, I love the idea of letting other residents pitch in to speed things up. That's bloody brilliant.

 

I wrote that back on Sept 27. I thought it was a really good idea. I thought I was really on to something with the basement thing. And...nothing. You could hear the crickets in the background. That's because you guys were already discussing basements in your dark secret private forums! I see how you are! Secret smokey dank and dark rooms talking of basements. Probably in basements while discussing basements! I see the way it is...

 

You see...I'm not the only one who sees what way the wind blows...and there are others...many others...

*All this will be exposed when the game goes live...and when it goes free-to-play (and it will, mark my words), all will have to stand in the light be scrutanized by the unwashed masses.

 

This. So completely this. For this, I am willing to wait a day, or even a week, to get my home. Heck, I find myself willing to pay carpenters to help build my home. I even find myself wanting to pay those carpenters!

 

A lot of good ideas. Here are my two cents:

In a protected city give the player the option for an instant house. RP wise this is a person who bought the deed to a building that is already there, similar to home buying in the real world. Now if the player chooses the non-instant function then they can watch it grow. Just like in the real world where I can raise an old house and build my new spiffy house in its place. Or find an empty lot in an established neighborhood and start having a house built.

Now outside a protected city, you don’t get the instant house option. It is a slow build. The player needs to protect it, the supplies, and the builders from wandering creatures or unpredictable weather.


Ahhhh, pipe dreams for future Episodes and fund raising.

 

That's a fantastic idea and goes quite nicely with what they've been saying about how Cities are the most protected and well-travelled. I would even say that the further your village is away from travel routes or larger cities or resources, the longer the home should take to build.

However, as these villages will likely be attacked undefended anyways via seiges (and taken over until players re-take it), I wouldn't make house building delay a requirement on anyone. If they want to risk it for immersion's sake, sure, choose that "Build my house over time" option when placing a home. It just happens that these remote village homes might take longer to build perhaps.

 

There's something to consider. How would circumstances affect the construction time/difficulty? And could I craft things to speed up my house?

 

Um... you realize that this game has no subscription fee, right? So its essentially a pay-to-acquire, free-to-play game.

Anyway, yes I would still like to see construction time for housing, if only for the RP value. A few hours would be fine, with it being slower in less protected towns, and slower yet in secluded villages; still less than a day at the maximum. There are too many benefits to construction time (player interaction, temporary quests, immersiveness) and too few to instant placement (um.. yay?).

 

I suppose if they want to play offline, they might be able to pirate it. Kind of hard to log into an online game without an account, and its easy to see if an account has a purchased copy. Things have to be account based, or there wouldn't be any rewards.

 

Yes, I do know.

Thank you.

 

"House sitting" at one time became a popular guild activity for my friends and me at one time.
There was a rival guild who used to compete with us, we'd do regular patrolls and set up guard shifts (we had people in north america, austrailia and europe) so we ran almost 24 hour shifts sometimes.

Sometimes the competition would be relitivley frienfly but frenzied, occasionally the truse would break and we'd PvP and loot each other while trying to escape with our ill gotten gain.

Fun community building and bonding.
One of the things I miss about UO.