Some of this may have already been discussed in livestreams/this forum however i’d still like to throw some suggestions/ideas out there anyway
Before i ramble on , I did want to make some concept art however I didn’t really want to use Qubicle because i’ve not thought of an actual design (aside from some interiors) for some of the ideas, and alot of it is just basically explanations. That being said I did attempt to draw a couple of things, so brace yourself for that. I also found some pics on the web.
Here we go!
Since New users can’t put pictures into new topics and I can only place in two links i’m not able to put the concept art in the various sections of the post. However i’ll post my imgur uploads folder which contains everything. I’m afriad you’ll have to go through it manually. You’ll see as you read where the pics were meant to be.
Apologies.
1. Heroes
Implementation
- I always thought that the module element of Stonehearth would lend itself well to Dungeons and Dragons style questing where you take a small party and send them on a “Quest” defeating monsters, exploring dungeons etc. Which leads you on to, who would you send on this quest? Why not have heroes!
- I later discovered that I hadn’t been the only person who had thought of heroes in the game, and what we’d be looking at is, How would you implement them?
- I’ve given it some thought and here are a few options for creating a hero.
a. Kill a titan. What this boils down to is one of two things happen. Either, on death, the unit responsibly for killing the titan automatically becomes a hero i.e. “levels up” or , on death, you recieve a token which you can use to create a hero. You trade in the token to start making your own custom hero.
[Kill a titan concept][2]
b. Kill an Elite Monster. Essentailly the same as kill a titan but with a champion monster. Of course this would lead to alot more heroes I’d imagine so it would probably be best to opt for the token system again and require a given number to trade in.
[Elite Monster Concept][2]
c. Hire from a Guild. This will tie in later on with new building ideas. Originally I toyed with the idea of having them be created from an Inn but I decided that if you were to want heroes, it’s only natural that they would have their own dedicated building. This opens up alot more possibilities. There’s 3 ways I could envision implementing this method. Firstly, you opt for the token system above which you use in the guild to create your chosen heroes. Secondly, you don’t use the token system but you are required to find a “blueprint” out in the wilderness before you can build one, thus still making you have to work for your heroes. Thirdly, you opt for neither but you make the building appear later on as an advanced development. All methods would work fine, and you could probably have a combination of all three. I’ll go into more detail in the Buildings section about what guilds would entail, the requirements and general layout. I lifted this picture from the web which is actually a pretty sweet looking building and better than any concept I could come up with. (Picture is a little big)
[Guild Concept][3]
Customisation
- The next step, what happens after you make one
- Custom armor/weapons. Once your hero is made you’ll want to equip him/her with only the best gear, so you’ll go straight to the blacksmith to see what’s on offer. However you’ll want to have some way to separate your hero from the crowd. That’s where custom armor and weapons come in. What would be greatly desired would be a catalogue of “hero only” armor and weapons , possibly requiring a certain class or level (If heroes are to go by a levelling system, which i would strongly be in favour of), and also the ability to customize any piece to make it personal to your hero. Custom made armor would involve selecting a piece from the catalogue then having the ability to smelt your own piece with the same stats. This would give people the ability to make your hero stand out, whether or not you actually want to create your own custom equipment.
- Name. Pretty self explanatory, it would be great to give your hero a name, maybe they could even earn titles.
- Stats? Obviously we want heroes to be stronger than the average soldier however personally i wouldn’t want to focuss on a stat point system like a standard rpg, where you level and must put stats into strength dexterity. I feel that would take away far too much from the game. Basic levelling is all that would be needed.
- Classes. Classes for heroes would either be one of two things. Not going to go into great detail since i don’t know whats planned ahead class wise.
- Custom classes, namely create completely new classes for heroes (Ranger, Paladin, Sorceror etc)
- Better classes, have enhanced versions of already existing classes
- Leadership/courage buff. Should heroes give off a slight buff to nearby units?
Death:
- Lineage. The basic idea for this would be that if your hero was able to make it to an old age and “retire”, the family legacy would continue on and you’d be able to create a new hero as a “next in line” to a previously retired hero. This would mean that he/she would be stronger than a regular hero. Of course this would not apply to heroes who die in battle.
- Custom Statue (More kills = larger statue). On death, it would be nice to find a way to commemorate your hero, the ability to create a statue of a fallen hero to place in your city would be pretty nice. The greater the feats of the hero, the bigger the statue you can build.
- Encourage invasion. It would only make sense that if monster or enemy factions were to see or hear about the death of your hero, they would sense the weakness in your forces and use this as an opportunity to attack your settlement
- Panic buff. Units surrounding the hero when he/she dies may be tempted to flee/panic.
Quests:
- Given the implementation it would be pretty cool to see Hero only quests/modules where you could potentially obtain a powerful artifact or blueprints etc
- Group party quests could also be a cool option too.
2 . Increasing Villager Count
- I’m not sure if this has been figured out but i’ll keep it brief.
- Also will building houses increase population limit? (Think age of empires)
Implementation:
- Babies, personally not a favorite idea, alot of work to properly implement and not really going to streamline the process.
- Convoy, Favorite idea.
- Either a convoy will appear from the edge of the map, from within “fog of war” if that exists, or just a certain distance away where you’re not looking with a message appearing “scouts have just reported sight of approaching convoy etc”
- Early on in the game they can make it to the base without an escort but as your population grows it’ll get raided by monsters requiring an escort.
[Convoy Concept][4]
These are the only other ways i could see this being implented;
- Appearing from castle or main settlement building
- Appearring out of a random house
- Appearring out of thin air
Villager Customisation
- Keeping it brief again
- At a basic level, names and hairstyles would be a great start, maybe the faces too (Scars, Skin color, Eye type, make-up, eye patches, masks).
- Custom clothing you create which gets added to a pool of potential outfits your villages will take from (of course it would be in the same color scheme).
- Accessories like hats, jewellry, undergarnments like basic gloves and boots (Which armors would sit over), bandages, Scarves (Minor Alterations you could make to the character without them completely losing their identity in their class or kingdom) would be pretty nice
Moving swiftly on
3 . New Classes
- Keeping this super brief as i’ve not really fleshed them out other than to be the NPC required for the buildings mentioned later
- Carpenter + scroll = Innkeeper.
- Innkeeper + Tome = Guildmaster
Here’s a cool picture I found of what i’d picture a guildmaster to look like (Though this would be for a dwarf)
[GuildMaster Concept][5]
4 . New Buildings
Inn
-
Implementation
- Requires an innkeeper, check-in desk, tables and chairs, beds.
- Once assigned the inkeeper will stand behind the desk infront of a check in book
- Can be used to “rest” units/heroes, healing them.
- Will create “guest” npcs which can’t be used but are there to provide atmosphere like the inn is being used (Sleeping in beds, sitting downstairs etc)
[Inn Concept][6]
Guild
-
Implementation
- Used for hiring heroes
- Needs guildmaster, desk, tables and chairs, request board.
- Heroes not in use will wander around guild, sit at tables and chairs drinking, laughing.
- You can make up to 15 heroes [Optional limit, but maybe limit it depending on size of guild/chairs avaliable]
- Heroes need to be “hired” for a small fee.
- Heroes that are not “hired” may or may not assist the town if attacked by a titan however definetly if guild attacked [up to you guys :P]
[Guild Concept interior][7]
Other potential ideas:
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Speciality guilds, warrior, wizard, ranger. Specific design that would make them stand out also provides bonuses for the heroes.[Maybe special skills, weapon/armors options in blacksmith, buffs, etc]
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The ability to design a sign for the guild to give it its own name, which could sit atop it would be a nice little detail that could be added.
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Option to import heroes from a friend?
5 . Smaller ideas and a couple of questions.
Enemy/Evil fortresses
- It would be really cool to see enemy factions either build up their own bases which you can lay siege to later on in the game, or have evil fortresses spawn in with the world, full of monsters and a dark overlord.
Rare Creatures:
-
This has probably been suggested countless times and no doubt will be modded in eventually (heck i’d even do it myself ) But having rare creatures wander the landscape which you could hunt/train/breed etc [Unicorns/Dragons/Centaurs/Werewolf pack/Vampire plague/Witches/Sirens]
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In respect of Werewolfs, Witches, Vampires and Dragons, it would be pretty cool to see them attack your settlement at some point i.e werewolves would attack in a pack, dragons would torch from the skies, vampires would sneak into homes and turn unsuspecting villagers, and witches would cast spells (maybe turn villagers into livestock)
-
Incredibly rare one off monsters from Folklore/cryptozoology would be a nice bonus where you’re not all that sure they are in the game but very very rarely someone might see one and deperately try to hunt it or track it down. i.e.
- Chupacabra
- Spring-heeled Jack
- Headless horseman
[Spring-heeled Jack][8]
Festival based monster invasions
- This is only based on one idea but that would be a scarecrow attack during halloween celebration, where out of no where the scarecrows come alive and attack your villagers
[Pumpkin][9]
Custom Modules:
- I think a requirement whereby you must be able to complete the module before you share it should be implemented so that there aren’t these impossible modules no one can beat floating around.
- Custom cinematics?
First Person view
- It would be pretty cool if you could walk around your settlement from a villagers perspective. Just so you can have a look at it and explore it as one of them.
Music Box
- Custom music for houses?
Player journal in the options menu
- Documents enemies, titans, biomes, alternate planes, buildings etc
6 . Questions:
- Will there be a Day/Night cycle?
- Will there be weather outside of seasons?
- In regards to moddability. How possible would it be to do an complete overhaul? (Not that i’d want to immediately, i’m talking a long way down the road)
- Will it be possible to put your own music in the game?
Sorry for the massive wall o’ text but i had a bunch of ideas i wanted to throw out there see what people think