Monthly Content Creep

To clear a few things up first I don’t mean monthly updates only or do this instead of the epic planned upcoming features. As it was used in Minecraft dev terms by content creep I mean when all of a sudden a lot of little bits of content are added suddenly to fill out the game.

This was recently done really successfully with @Tom asking for craftable items for the weaver and carpenter. The reason I suggest this as a monthly activity is that while the huge features such as mining and better combat and all that will be great but it was the recent addition of things to build that I believe has made it much more enjoyable to play. Also the extra content makes the game feel more fleshed out.

My thoughts if one of the team took a couple of days a month to add a new type of crop and a range of things to make it would flesh the game out in a way that means it gets better to play fast even without the huge epic features such as water mining n that. it could be as simple as making there be both raspberry and blue/blackberry bushes but that makes the world more impressive or as an example different types of fencing so you can pick from a variety rather that it always being the same.

To further this I loved the way we were asked what should be added maybe a thread could again collect ideas with a poll being created to pick the best few that make it into the content creep day list :smile:

Anyway thats my two cents whats yours?

TL:DR - Each month devs take a day or two to add random furniture or small bits to flesh out the game with players inputs

3 Likes

Sick idea, hopefully the devs could collect ideas on a range of topics! Even the diversity of fauna and flora! :smiley:

Going to scribble this list down here in the hopes that @Tom or @sdee sees it & finds it useful ^^ …

[size=20]Operation: Spoilt For Choice[/size]

Or, “how to make sure your hearthlings never ever EVER complain about the same damn food ever again”…


Animals

  1. Cows
  2. Goats
  3. Pigs
  4. Dogs (war dogs can help defend the town)
  5. Cats (eat pests, own hearthlings, let themselves be petted)
  6. Horses
  7. Chickens
  8. Turkeys
  9. Ducks (float around on small freshwater pools)
  10. Pheasants
  11. Fish (fishing boats would be ideal)
  12. Lobsters (lobster cages required!)
  13. Crabs (see lobsters)
  14. Whales (if large boats are a thing, or just to look at)

Plants 1 (Crops mostly)

  1. Mushrooms
  2. Wheat
  3. Rice
  4. Tomatoes
  5. Carrots
  6. Cucumber
  7. Lettuce
  8. Sugar Cane
  9. Potatoes
  10. Cotton
  11. Coffee
  12. Tea (“Give me tea or give me death!” -Every Briton, ever)
  13. Onions
  14. Beans
  15. Rubber Trees
  16. Cacao (Chocolate!)

Plants 2 (Fruit mostly)

  1. Apples
  2. Pears
  3. Bananas
  4. Strawberries
  5. Oranges
  6. Grapes (and raisins!)
  7. Peaches
  8. Dates
  9. Figs
  10. Apricots
  11. Plums
  12. Coconuts
  13. Lemons
  14. Limes

Spices

  1. Mustard
  2. Chili
  3. Pepper

Nuts

  1. Peanuts
  2. Brazil Nuts
  3. Walnuts
  4. Pistachio Nuts
  5. Almonds
7 Likes

I feel that wheat especially should be one of the next crops to add in the future.

Considering it’s on the farming icon in the game, after all.

3 Likes

I disagree simply because what are you going to do with it? There is no means to make flour, or bread. All the crops as they are are things that they can eat as is… so items like carrots, tomatoes, etc… should be a higher priority until proper cooking is implemented.

1 Like

TBH I’m not too fussed which ones get done first. Certainly the ones you can eat raw would be easiest to do (clone existing crop, switch names & models, adjust food value if necessary, repeat) and would make sense ATM, but on the other hand doing wheat would be good for other reasons - for example, getting hay + flour from it, as currently crops only produce 1 item when harvested.

That is cool but wouldn’t solve the problem as nothing is in the code yet to tell them to not eat the same thing they just did.

Sheer quantity of different foods will help. Also cooking, whenever that makes it into the game :slight_smile: .

@teleros there was poll on which main mammal should there be in stonehearth and the yaks won over cows buffalos elephants etc.)

heres a link to the survey

1 Like

Bah, compromise is the enemy of achievement! Why have some when you can have them all?

Stands over @Tom menacingly

More seriously, buffaloes, yaks and cows could probably all use very similar models and animations, so if you have one in the marginal cost of adding the others isn’t all that high :slight_smile: .

2 Likes

I think that these small content extras could be a nice break from slaving away at big features.
And even though from food standpoint carrots wouldn’t be any different from pumpkins it does a lot for visual style of my town.
If enough crops are added they could be treated as commodity item and sold only by trader. So you would start with ability to plant 4 crops but after some time you could plant 6 or more.

3 Likes

I like the idea of a monthly “bits and baubles” content run… but is this an information gathering or implementation event?

would @Tom be asking for feedback, or implementing an existing laundry list? or both? :smiley:

5 Likes

Different kinds of lamps. So a 3 pronged lamp, a chandelier, a lamp post, standard torches. Different kinds of fences, picket fences for example. different types and colours of trees. It’ll flesh out the game, but i wonder if it’ll bloat the game?

Easiest way to avoid bloat IMHO is to do non-crafted content - make the world a richer place to live in, rather than adding in a dozen different kinds of curtain to scroll through, for example.

5 Likes

I agree with this. Although I do like tons of “stuff” so a balance needs to be made. I’m thinking that additional recipes could be in the game but not necessarily on your crafter from the get go. Maybe a special sales person can show up and only have blueprints for cosmetic, non-essential crafting items. That the game will be bloat friendly and people can choose to bloat it up as they will.

2 Likes

Dude. I should make a game where I just take a botany book and put every plant ever in…

Gosh darn it, Dwarf Fortress!

4 Likes

Pretty much :smiley: .

Admit it, it would be pretty cool when finished :slight_smile: .Hearthlings trekking across strange new lands trying to find some new trees to bring home :slight_smile: .

2 Likes

There is something very poetic in that. Now I have this image in my mind of Hearthlings as inter-galactic catalogers.

3 Likes

It’s a reflection of our own thirst for discovery! :smiley:

You forgot the most important one. PINEAPPLES, you can not forget pineapples… you must not…

1 Like