Yeah designation, I just wanted to elaborate on it a little.
aye, its indeed a tradeoff between ease of implementation, ease of use, etc.
i am perfectly fine with the all-in-one, but from a customization perspective, having the designation option seems like a good compromise⌠you can customize workshops, but only to a certain extentâŚ
so those who have that itch can scratch it if need be⌠while those who just want to plop down a workshop and then move on to something else have that option as wellâŚ
1 Like
Absolutely it would, and in a way that wasnât mentioned too that could really, really annoy some people. Non-uniform sizes! What if say the carpenter is 7x7 but the blacksmith is 8x8, youâll either end up with weird gaps, non-uniform grids, really big stupid groups of workshops, or tetris games, for the person who wants to build the big pretty city on the nice uniform grid it would be hell for them trying to make it all line up right.
In all honesty Iâm probably just overreacting :P, well not overreacting but ya know!
The all-in-one system sounds absolutely fine and in all honesty it allows for a greater focus on the other things, I mean, ultimately the customisation will be from the outside and in other aspects.
I suppose worrying over the placement of the anvil to the furnace really isnât that much of an issue!
no, its a perfectly valid issue to discuss⌠as evidenced by Tomâs detailed post⌠i am just looking at it from the end result⌠once the workshop is in place, then iâm making the decisions that matter to me more in the game (what will my carpenter be producing), as opposed to (like you said) which wall his anvil is butting up againstâŚ
not to discredit those who do want that level of detail⌠its just not what i am necessarily concerned aboutâŚ
1 Like
I donât see it quite that way. SH will be about building your city. As weâve seen from the videos youâll be able to build houses in all shapes and sizes. But if you lack the tools to properly design the decoration as well, it wonât feel complete. As Iâve said, the premade crafting area (All in one) is the common solution, but it results in every shop looking the same.
Theyâve gone to great detail when building houses (you build scaffolding, path and build every piece of a house separately), I donât see why players shouldnât be able to aestetically organize crafting stations as they see fit.
I guess it all comes down on how much work it would be for the devs. If itâs not that much, I say premade+Freeform is the way to go.
3 Likes
and thats the beauty of this forum⌠you make a perfectly valid point⌠
if you have this approach/interest, stands to reason others will as wellâŚ
It seems like a relatively easy compromise would be to make the 7 x 7 space for the workshop a minimum. This way anyone trying to build on a specific grid would be able to resize. This might lead to the inside of the workshop itself looking off, which leads to the question can other furniture be placed in a designated workshop area?
I think that this one itâs a perfect option!! so i can customize my workshop as i desire!
Also, if the workshops are All-in-one what if i want a bigger workshop? And with this option, i just have to replan the workshop and the items would automatically move there!! At least thatâs how i think it.
2 Likes
If All-In-One is the option that is selected (which Iâm not overly picky, but would prefer to place the items myself as I lay down the workshop), I wasnt sure when I blazed through all the comments if weâd be able to rotate the entire floorplan itself. Depending on where I place the door to my house, a defined layout may not make sense and would further dictate âwhat side of the roadâ, etc I place my house.
As @Stromclaw said⌠with the All-in-one placement of the workshop there is a problem designing the houses.
What happens if I make the house I plan for the carpenter with an indoor space of 6x6 ?
Do I have to demolish it and rebuild a bigger house to have the interior 7x7 ?
What happens if I place the door where the workshop has the tool cabinet?
Then when I have the right size house and all the doors and windows at the right places to accommodate the workshop I find out that it doesnât fit with the rest of the city. ie. the door leads to a dead end street and the window has a view of the castle wall.
1 Like
I believe the system allows the you the freedom to mold the building just not the âworkshopâ which is that 7x7 square. This seems like it would allow you to house a âbazaarâ of sorts all in one large building or you could spread them around town. The carpenterâs house could very well house his workshop and in that sense the buildings wonât all look the same because some or maybe all will have multiple functions. Perhaps you want the smith in the âbarracksâ that would lead to a much more unique shape than a simple 7x7. I would like to be able to move the pieces around personally, but itâs not a huge issue for me.
exactly⌠there are still a number of ways to customize the experience⌠just as youâve described, some folks will make a larger structure to house say, the weaver, carpenter and blacksmith, all under one roofâŚ
while another player might break each workshop into its own building, just big enough to house the necessary pieces⌠while yet another might create a building to house the workshop and living space for a unit⌠lots of options, even when using a designation system⌠
Based on your feedback, weâve done some more brainstorming and found an elegant way to let you individually place each piece of the workshop. So youâll be able to customize your little hearts out. Yay!
19 Likes
That is good to hear @Tom, after all, the whole game is made with customization in mind, right? 
Ah, the joy of alpha involvement.
Maybe Iâm too late to contribute, then.
I was thinking that expanding the workshop to fit a designated area would be as simple as expanding the lanes between the four objects that make up the workshop. There would be some minimum area, but larger areas could be used by increasing the space devoted to the lanes. Iâve never heard that you wouldnât be able to place other non-workshop related items inside a workshop, so there shouldnât be any trouble with having big blank spaces between in-box, out-box, workbench and tool cabinet.
By being able to rotate and mirror the workshop, you would cover all meaningful permutations of the four items. The only thing you wouldnât be able to do is put the workbench right next to the tool cabinet, but doing so would close a lane anyway and could be quite frustrating for new players. In fact, the biggest problem I can see with freeform placement is that someone could make their workshop unusable by placing the different object too close together.
I made a picture to explain my thinking.
@Tom ⌠thanks for engaging the community⌠this truly is a fantastic design methodologyâŚ
if i may though, i wanted to point out that i really appreciate your initial concerns about workshops, and how new users in particular may feel somewhat at a loss when first jumping into the game (in regards to workshops, their necessity and their introduction into the gameworld)âŚ
I have an idea around that point⌠why not making it so, that you place a prefab-all-in-one down which includes all things needed to work. From that point on though, you can rip them apart and move them around, but you have all needed things in one place. If the pleayer then wants to move the outbox to the other corner of the city⌠well⌠up to them
I agree with @Sheenariel to make it easy for new users have a basic all in one that you stick down (where you want the workman to work) and then after you can customise the location of all the contained items as you want so you can say have your outbox in an annexed room next door