Hello,
warning bit of a wall of text
i was wondering if it would be possible to implement an option where we as a player can customize how our hearthlings look. This applies to the 7 hearthlings you start with and with hearthlings gained through reaching daily goals. As well as the added option where we as a player are able to distribute the points our hearthlings have. And I would greatly appreciate it if someone from the development team could comment about this.
Concept customizable hearthlings:
When you have clicked on new game, selected your Kingdom, Biome and Difficulty you get your hearthlings. Sadly they are not customizable. What I would like to see is an added option where you can customize the following:
- Gender
- Hair style
- Facial hair
- Hair colour
- Skin colour
I have several reasons why i would appreciate it if this were implemented into the game.
My first and foremost reason is that this increases the bond you have with your hearthlings. If you spend that much more time customizing them you have a better bond with them and care more for them. Or even if you want to make a hearthling look like yourself and turn him into a footman!
Also, when starting a new game in stonehearth you start with 7 hearthlings and 3 of them almost always end up as a carpenter/potter (depending on the Kingdom/Biome), farmer and footman. I myself have a clear view on how I want my hearthlings to look per assigned role. To give an example: I love to have grey haired hearthling with a beard as my shepherd. Or the guy with the Mohawk as my trapper, a female blond haired cleric. My point is everyone has their personal preferences for a role and the game will be more enjoyable if the hearthlings look like you want them to look.
My third reason is because it would save me a lot of time sadly… I am autistic and can’t start a game without every hearthling meeting my terms and conditions. Their appearance matches their role and background. And I can spend up to 1,5 hours rerolling my hearthlings because of this. This also applies to the hearthlings acquired while playing the game. (this is not an exaggeration and I am compelled to do this for every hearthling)
Concept customizable hearthling attributes:
The option to add this into the game would be to have more structure and you can organize your starting team of hearthlings more. What I mean with this is, that when u start u have a hearthling with a 6 body stat and 3+ compassion stat which u can promote to footman or a hearthling with a 6 in mind as a carpenter. So you can fit your hearthlings more to fit your needs when starting and even more so when you progress in the game. You will reach moments in the game where you NEED a hearthling for a certain role but your hearthlings don’t meet the requirements for it. With this option they will, I am keeping hard mode in mind in particular.
*As an example you can distribute 10-12 attribute points per hearthling.
This also brings up the argument where one would like their cleric for instance to look in a certain way. But the person who has the appearance which you find preferable for a cleric doesn’t have the required stats to be an efficient cleric. This will allow you to have more efficiency within the game
I can understand people like and love the idea of having everything random. And I am not saying this is inherently bad. But I would love this game to have this added option in the future because it would allow the player to have a better bond with their more efficient hearthlings. And it would make the game a lot more enjoyable for me being able to customize the looks of your hearthlings and make them ‘’fit’’ in more with their role.
Thank you to the devs
I also just want to mention that I absolutely love this game and love all the content you are making within this game. And it has been a long time since I had so much fun playing a game like this, because it reminds me of when I was a child and played with lego’s. Also the livestreams where you show all the new things that will be implemented within the game is amazing (especially the new Desert Biome enemies!). I love that your team is so committed to making this game and I hope you will make this game even more awesome.
! The first part of your suggestions sounds a lot like Hearthlings of Many Faces. Is that what you are looking for?