Musings on decor

[chromiumboy]

I was just pondering again on decor, it's intended use, and effectiveness as a game mechanic, and I thought I'd post them here (devs feel free to chime in with any corrections)

The purpose of decor, as far as I can see, is twofold: to nudge the player towards keeping a tidy base (i.e., keep the floor clean of refuse, keep your wires and pipes hidden from sight) and to emphasis that living areas should be separate from work areas. However, rather than offering the player a bonus for following this intended play style, the player is penalised with stress debuffs.

Unfortunately this incentivises players to simply fill the spaces dupes frequently travel with large numbers of decorations (typically portraits). As the decor values of individual items stack, and decor expectations can be 'charged' to last for a while in order to work in low decor areas, I believe experienced players are largely untroubled by decor expections (especially since decor expectations became capped).

Consequently, I don't think that decor in its current incarnation is particularly effective as a game mechanic. I've posted some suggestions on this topic previously (linked below), but now I wonder if decor as a mechanic is even required when other possibilities exist to reward / incentivise players to build 'tidy' colonies.

For example, refuse on the floor could slow the movement of dupes (via a 'sore feet' debuff) or prevent built tiles from giving a speed bonus, wiring and pipes could be less likely to break if hidden by tiles, powered and enabled machines could wake sleeping dupes (similar to snoring dupes). Lavatories and outhouses could likewise have a 'weird smell' aura that also wakes nearby sleeping dupes.

I'd love to hear some thoughts from you guys on this matter.

 

[Luponius]

Solid suggestion.  If nothing else decor should be an extra buff, not negating a debuff.  This is also the case for games such as World of Warcraft.  Overall it gives a more rewarding result and allowing the player to go above and beyond to make dupes "happy" rather than "not stressed" could possibly provide some skill increase, or maybe the ability to "masterwork"  equipment, giving efficiency / durability bonuses.