Just to build on the translation of names etc. I don’t see it being too difficult to simply add names into the naming pool? I mean, it would probably be one of the easiest things to mod right? So you could maintain the names already included and then add names from the country you are translating to?
I would actually love to be playing a game and then have loads of different names from different cultures pop up, hell I may not have a clue what the last name means, but I can recognize it and to me at least it adds that extra level of depth; it feels like there’s a lot of history to the world …
But then I am easily excitable, and I probably would end up making all my German named people the builders …
Honestly, I kind of hope it is. As cool as it would be to have your own pool, I’m sure there was a Kickstarter tier that allowed you to add a name of your choice to the pool, so if you could edit it, that would become useless.
This is true, and I wish that it did have a special meaning to have a personal name, but honestly, with the moddability, odds are that you will be able to do it anyway. I guess the biggest part of that is being able to share your name with everyone who plays the game, ever.
Let’s not mix up the Kickstarter-Reward with the option to add your own names. The Kickstarter-reward for USD 500 (and above) will add your name to a pool of randomly generated names for the settlers. So every now and then, your name will pop-up as a suggestion to someone who is playing… which is kind of cool. However, in my opinion the player should be able to override all the names, so that if you do not like the randomly generated names, you can add your own flavor to it. Even if you can edit them… the reward from Kickstarter will remain, i.e. your name will show up.
exactly… this same issue cropped up on T&S… folks who pledged for their names to show up as one of the random settlers were initially upset by the fact that names could then be edited by the player…
but in the end, it all worked out, as it’s still neat to have your name randomly showing up!
I do agree it would be really quite cool, and I get that their suggested name would still be there, but I still think it unfair. I just wish that wasn’t the KS reward, as I really do like the idea of modding my name pool. However they did mention some core features that couldn’t be changed. This isn’t one of them, is it @Tom, @Ponder or @sdee?
Whilst it can be best to leave @Ponder untagged due to the uncontrollable violent episodes he experiences, for the sake of inclusiveness capture the whole team next time
Regarding the whole name issue I can understand why people might feel slightly aggrieved that people can alter names, but then there’s also the point that, everybody who receives a copy of Stonehearth will have the version of the game with the “official” name pool. You could argue that those who will modify the name pool would make up a certain percentage of the community etc.
You have first hand experience of this @SteveAdamo so I’m really just filling space to make myself feel good.
For me this is a question of balancing being thankful for support (via Kickstarter) and providing full “moddability” for the game. If you really want, you will be able to mod-in the Cat, Dog, Mammoth and Dragon, too. This are “simple” models with some animation. It will take effort, but why should it not be possible to do so? So anyome really thinks the devs should make the names not editable? How about the next tiers of rewards, like naming an area. We have heard that there are thoughts to allow you to name important areas. All this helps the player to identify themselves with the environment, the settlers and the game. Would it be really a smart move to “hard-code” this kind of things?
Again, from my point of view the rewards from Kickstarter provide some nice goodies… some pets, mentioning in the game, naming of an area, etc. Things where you can say: “Yay, that’s here because I did support the game!”. However, the game should still be true to itself and for me this is a lot about being moddable.
Definitely agree with you, and that was the point I was trying (and failing) to make above.
The names the kickstarter backers of that tier suggested will be in every copy of Stonehearth that is distributed, unless a person mods it out … it will always be there for that person to say “I named this”.
Being able to add your own flavour, or to increase the name pools of everything, is one of those things I feel that adds some more depth to a story - it is unlikely that you remove the name that a person contributed.
another way to think of the pool of names is like the opening (or closing i suppose) credits… its “hard coded” into the game… a permanent hallmark to those wonderful backers…
Uhhh…This topic WAS about alternate name generation originally, so I think I can still have my say.
With keeping original names (specifically of People), I believe it would be good to look at this on a case-by-case basis. Germans may very well understand who “Burlyhands” is, and why he’s so goddamn strong, as the English may recognise that “StrammHande” or “StarkHande” sounds strong and to do with hands,…but what about our poor Italian buddy? Stramm, Stark or Burly are very far away from the Italian equivalents.
This is actually a really good topic, because I see no clear right and wrong answer…
I agree with @voxel_pirate. The pets will surely be created as mod by someone. Also the $500 perk could be a monster name too.
I remember from the game X-COM that naming your soldiers to people you know multiplied its attachment-factor by three and thereby increasing the fun enormously.
