Mood
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:35 am
So, I recently went skipping around the news for a very beloved, but dead game I played (Glitch | http://glitchthegame.com). I was delighted to see that they were finally able and willing to release game source code, and it reminded me of this.
That being said, you could set up a minor morale system that functioned with the same kind of idea. Morale goes up with good food/drinks, but is unaffected by bland things like rations, or things you've eaten too much of too recently. Morale would go down with time, probably faster if you're doing the same thing over and over again for hours, but probably less if your doing different things or doing things with people. Morale could get zeroed from terribly nasty things like dying. For non-netherphiles nether would probably lower mood, and thaums would probably raise it (reversed for netherphiles). And my favorite idea for the morale system: have RPA's also give a large and lasting mood boost, because sometimes talking with people can be all you need to get in a good mood.
That being said, morale is tricky because people aren't all the same. Most people would experience decreases in morale from spending too much time underground, but then some people simply love it and do things like to dive into dark underground caverns for 12 hours at a time or live in Alaska during the winter. Also, in addition to things like personal preferences, other things (like addiction) can affect morale in complex ways. So, those are some thoughts I had when I remembered fondly a game that was absolutely preposterous.
Glitch had three stats (at least, stats of note here): Energy, Mood, and Imagination. Imagination was basic XP, you got it for doing stuff. Glitch was a zany game, so it was often zany stuff. Doing stuff costs Energy, energy gains (typically) come from eating food. Mood also entered into the equation, but differently. It didn't cost mood to do things, but mood was graded into levels and if you were in a less than ideal mood, you'd you get less than full imagination (XP) for doing things. If your mood was low enough (especially being dead and right after coming back to life) you'd get no imagination. Mood went down over time, and a few things would lower mood; you could do things to raise mood (petting egg trees and milking butterflies among my favorites), but also enjoying fine drinks and sometimes fine food also raised mood.Rias wrote:That reminds me, I've wanted to have some kind of minor morale system, where eating boring/yucky/tasteless food constantly would lower your morale a little, and have some [very minor] negative effects. On the plus side, well-cooked food and more expensive meals from the nicer food establishments could raise morale to grant some [very minor] positive effects. Of course, my ideal vision is people paying good cooks for especially nice food, but I know in reality it will just result in everyone cloistering themselves away for a few hours gathering meat and cooking it enough to get to the point where they can make their own quality foods instead of going to another character who is already an established cook (who makes sense to be such).Drayla wrote:I hate how many characters go around eating nothing but rations all the time as if they tasted like mana from heaven or something. ... I just have a hard time believing that anyone would eat nothing but something that tastes stale, dry, and lacking in any sort of flavor for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Meet Krongarr, Mighty Barbaric Frothing-At-The-Mouth Dwaedn Wyr!! ... and master of the culinary arts with a sophisticated palette.
Anyway, just thinking out loud. Carry on. If you have thoughts on the above "morale system" idea, please start a new topic instead of derailing this one. And by the way, this was totally on-topic. I put a pet peeve in there - characters working away at and mastering skills that just seem silly for their character, just because they want to be able to do everything themselves and/or just can't live without some minor bonus.
That being said, you could set up a minor morale system that functioned with the same kind of idea. Morale goes up with good food/drinks, but is unaffected by bland things like rations, or things you've eaten too much of too recently. Morale would go down with time, probably faster if you're doing the same thing over and over again for hours, but probably less if your doing different things or doing things with people. Morale could get zeroed from terribly nasty things like dying. For non-netherphiles nether would probably lower mood, and thaums would probably raise it (reversed for netherphiles). And my favorite idea for the morale system: have RPA's also give a large and lasting mood boost, because sometimes talking with people can be all you need to get in a good mood.
That being said, morale is tricky because people aren't all the same. Most people would experience decreases in morale from spending too much time underground, but then some people simply love it and do things like to dive into dark underground caverns for 12 hours at a time or live in Alaska during the winter. Also, in addition to things like personal preferences, other things (like addiction) can affect morale in complex ways. So, those are some thoughts I had when I remembered fondly a game that was absolutely preposterous.