On Spaciousness: Coziness?

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I’m not entirely sure how to phrase this so to speak, but there has been something just slightly bugging me about the spaciousness mechanic, and that is the concept of coziness, and what exactly makes something cramped versus cozy; a distinction that the game kinda lacks, to be completely honest.

Honestly, most of my issue with the spaciousness mechanic is the same as my issue with the mechanic in Rimworld, which is that having a “correct” room size, so to speak, feels limiting. Now, Stonehearth definitely handles the mechanic way better than Rimworld, especially with windows and not having to be slam in the middle of the room at all times to be happy, but like, the point still stands in that you’re always just kinda gonna end up starting each building by slapping down the same whatever dimension by whatever dimension square, and I just find it a little creativity stifling I guess.

My second issue may just be a personal thing, but given the implementation of traits I thought it might be appropriate. Myself, personally, I much prefer small, cozy spaces. Big, wide-open rooms make me feel very small, anxious, and exposed. Someone else though might find what I consider cozy to be intensely claustrophobic, and would enjoy a large open room. It varies person to person, maybe it could be an interesting trait?

And my last talking point is the difference between cramped and cozy. Picture an empty room, ok? A narrow room, about as wide as a mattress is long. It’s dark, maybe a little cold, the walls and floor are hard and unforgiving. Pretty cramped, right? Now, put a mattress in there. Slap some nice paint or wallpaper on the walls, put down a nice plush throw rug. There’s a nice lamp, or maybe some fairylights, if you’re into that. Lots of warm blankets and pillows, maybe a stuffed animal or two, and a little space heater buzzing away. It’s the same size room, and yet, that’s pretty cozy sounding, right? Light and color and comfortable things can turn a teeny tiny cramped space into something really nice and cozy. All that is to say that, maybe the new ornate vision could tie into spaciousness somehow.

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Maybe another way to do this is if the room has a certain level of aesthetics, then the cramped space is ignored. There could also be a trait that makes it so the hearthling can never feel cramped, but I feel like the first one is generally better. And I totally agree, I’d rather eat and sleep in a small room instead of in a giant one.

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Good idea, i’d say. So now in practice:

  • you could change the spaciousness function to take into account the appeal value, lowering the treshold with highered appeal value.
    • in that case i’d argue for a minimum space, where more appeal no longer means a lower treshold. It might however not be necessary with the right graph slope and if the range of the appeal value allows it.
  • another thing that you could do it to make it go in discrete levels, where you first don’t have a bonus for some time, then you up the appeal a small amount, and suddenly there is your bonus.
    • This could be useful because you can change the thoughts this way, linking a situation with a bonus to a different appeal thought than a situation without a bonus. This is so he player can discover the mechanic that appeal ties into spaciousness.
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