Custom Stats & Making Notes: HAND!

[ParallelBlade]

I will be adding any suggestions that are made in this thread, with names.

What is HAND?

HAND is an idea that I would like to have implemented into this game, from a fellow developer (Python, C#, XNA & VB).

What does HAND look like?

The hand is a large icon that is the back of the Character's hand. It appears in the bottom right & left corner of the screen, one for each hand, instead of the map icon. Both of these icons have writing on them. There are numbers (stats) on the left hand that keep on changing.

So, what does it do?

The right hand is an area for the player to:

[*]Make notes with ink or blood stored in a sack.

[*]Write timed reminders using milk stored in a sack.

[*]Imprint image of item onto hand via drag & drop, using dye/ink/blood/milk smeared onto item, turning it into a 'stamp'.

[*]Hand-draw, via mouse, using dye/ink/blood/milk stored inside a sack.

The left hand is a little more complicated. When you Ctrl + Click, or MiddleMouseButton + Click on an icon, such as moon phases, build/research button (in the build menu), map, and so on, a drop down menu will appear with a list of related stats, such as weeks, total footsteps, farms built, and so on. These stats may be drag & dropped onto any area of the left hand. Each of these stats requires different materials and different quantities to write (craft).

What is a Timed Reminder?

A timed reminder is when Milk, in a Sack, is used to draw or write on a Hand. Milk is invisible when cool, but browns after heating from the Hand's warmth. IRL, this method works on paper, or on a shirt, but not on your hand. Each extra unit of Milk inside the Sack counts as another sector (pizza-slice) period from the 'day clock' that the milk will take to become visible, or brown.

Fading

Fading is the length of time that a Writing Material takes to disappear. Each writing material takes a different length of time to disappear. I have no stats, but according to quality and balance, the order that they disappear should look something like this:

[*]Dye -This should disappear first, as it is the most basic and cheapest

[*]Milk -This should disappear at about the same time as Dye, as it is meant to be a Notification.

[*]Blood -This material is very risky to aqquire, but since it is quick to 'harvest' and can be collected in mass, it is second to Ink.

[*]Ink -This valuable item is not only hard to collect, but also takes a lot of effort to do so, it should be semi-permanant (like a permantant marker)

Blood

Blood is used, when put in sacks, as an emergency alternative to dyes or ink. Blood is the simplest, quickest to get but most overpriced writing material. It can only be used for writing while in a Sack.

Blood is collected by picking up blood droplets from the ground that appear when the player is under 20% health, but accumulate faster as the health bar goes down.

Dye

Dye is the cheapest material and can only be used, inside a Sack, for drawing or stamps, and definitely not stats. It can be made from crushing a dropped vegetable or fruit with a tool, and picking up the pulp and juice. If dye is used on Hands, it will fade faster than any other writing material.

Milk

Milkow, the female Beefalo, can be milked. When milk is placed in a Sack or Large Sack, it can be used to draw on Hands. Milk will fade as fast as dye, once appeared.

Ink

Ink is the hardest of the writing material to craft, but is very useful in crafting custom stats, and lasts longer than any of the other writing materials. It can be crafted from three materials cooked in a stove: Dye, either Pigment or Charcoal and 3 x Pulp. The ink takes on the color of the Dye. While expensive, the best stats can only be crafted with ink, and detailed drawings, small stamps and fonts can only be crafted with ink. Ink can only be used as a Writing Material inside a Sack.

Pulp

Pulp is the pulp that drops when you crush a dropped vegetable or fruit with a tool.

Mineral

Minerals will be found in boulders (the things that you get rocks & gold out of), and can range from crystals to gold.

Pigment

Pigment is made from a mineral which has been dropped and crushed by a tool.

Pot

The pot is an item that when placed over a fire pit, becomes a Stove, which items can be boiled or fried in.

Sack

A sack is a sealed storage device for holding up to 16 units of one item, including liquids. A 'Large Sack' is a sack that can hold up to 32 units of one item. A 'Small Sack' is a sack that can hold up to 4 units of one item. Sacks, Small Sacks, and Large Sacks can be crafted from silk and beefalo wool.

Stamp

Stamps are a small, monochrome icons that can be crafted with the item that they are to look like, and any liquid coloring: blood, milk, ink or dye.

I will be adding any suggestions that are made in this thread, with names.

[Agrivex]

I like the overall concept, but there's paper in the game. What you are suggesting to do would become something of a core mechanic; a mechanic that seems a bit overly complicated based on the current direction of the game, and doesn't take into account an existing feature of the game, and how you would utilize/combine the two features into a nice little synthesis. I like the sack idea in particular, and the idea of a cooking pot. The "Fading" idea is a little unnecessary and could be simplified by just utilizing the existing % based item wear/durability system. I'd like to see milk in the game just because to do that you would have to do some sort of beefalo domestication, but I think that takes away some of the survivor aspects of the game and turns it into a fancier Farmville style game. Dye is honestly one of the cooler things depending on how else you utilize it in game, but mostly for cosmetic purposes like clothes dye, just to add a bit of uniqueness to the game, those sorts of things are always a nice touch. Some really cool ideas, keep'em coming. ^_^