Chapter 2.1 Building Themes and Locality
Building Resources
Players collect building resources by slaying monsters, foraging, chopping wood, harvesting plants, mining ores, and hunting animals.
Theme of Resources
All the resources sources listed above, affect the player's crafting options based on their construction experience. During world creation, resources generate in specific regions at first. However, monsters, animals, NPC and players can change ecologies over time. In this chapter, we will discuss how construction themes can change, and will cover ecologies in the next chapter.
Building is Optional
Later chapters will uncover many features players can do without construction. Making building an optional portion of the game allows players to be wandering adventurers or explorers if they want to. NPC will also construct villages and cities, with some isolated hermits. Players can also support NPC and be apart of, or utilize NPC land claims if they prefer not to be involved with construction. The building features here and in the following sections is an introduction to those who want to have their own land claim, which leads to settlement, community, and control mechanics in future chapters that would support wandering characters and NPC.
First Construction Style Skill
After players collect a few resources, they will unlock the ability to construct a survival style building. The first set is survival based, and continuing to construct will unlock more constructions styles that is optional for a player to learn. Construction style skills determine which building themes, visuals, and utility functions continues in a player's progression.
Building Progression
Players gain more legacy as they construct or assist with construction. More construction experience unlocks larger and more complex blueprints. Unlocking more complex buildings encourages a character to continue using local resources they are familiar with, with challenges to seek out, or cultivate evolved versions.
Construction Goals
The demands of construction encourages players to cultivate or find and harvest materials needed to progress their main-line style.
Unlocking New Themes
Eventually, discovering new materials from a different biome/ecology can unlock a new style, but will still require materials the character is already familiar with. These are hybrid constructions. Hybrid constructions styles visually hint towards a player's original construction style.
Culture Perspective
Hybrid constructions will be different from a main-line construction style. This simple addition creates 4 perspectives on construction cultures, which varies depending on the perspective.
Local
A player or group of players who share a similar main-line construction themes
Foreigner
A player or group of players who have a different main-line theme to another group
Outsider
A player or group of players who have moved into a new location, bringing resources from their origin land, since hybrid constructions require a mix of previously familiar resources to complete.
Assimilated
A player who was originally an outsider, but learned how to utilize a main-line construction theme from another player, or NPC
Having distinct local and foreign constructions ensures that players will maintain unique historical constructions. Players can learn new construction styles from other players and NPC through teaching and learning mechanics (Explored in later chapters.)
Player Role Opportunities
As constructions and communities start to take hold in each world, players can determine insiders and outsiders, their own rules determining who is, and isn't, apart of their group, and how they want to share their resources and skills. Or perhaps, they don't. This makes outsiders, and possible invaders, or peaceful traders and explorers, stand out clearly. This simple concept is an integral part of natural tension or offer opportunities to express goodwill. Cultures can naturally build upon this, as a core backbone needed for lore, and world building, in a fantasy setting.