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Author Topic: Getting to know your Dwarfs  (Read 843 times)

Ralje

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Getting to know your Dwarfs
« on: August 05, 2009, 11:50:15 am »

Consider this description of Kadol the dwarf kid:

Quote
Kadol Roderdeduk has been ecstatic lately. She talked with a sibling lately. She admired a fine Table lately. She dined in a great dining room recently. She has complained of thirst lately. She slep in a good bedroom recently. She made a friend recently. She has been annoyed by flies. She has complained of the lack of a well lately.
She is the daughter of Rovod Bootwarm and Tekkud Singedlabors. She is a dubious worshipper of Anan Dreamsmirrored the Shadow of Caves.
She is a citizen of The Corridor of Murk. She is a member of The Copper Glove.
Kadol Roderdeduk likes Silty clay, Fine pewter, Plume agate, the color dark brown, crosses, helms, backpacks, and rings. When possible, she prefers to consume Dwarven beer. She absolutely detests bats. She is often sad and dejected. She occasionally overindulges. She makes friends quickly. She is unassertive. She does not go out of her way to help others. She very rarely does more work then necessary. She is self-disciplined. She needs alcohol to get through the working day.
That's a lot of info for a little girl  :o So let's make these messages a little more rewarding to read.

Have every dwarf start out with minimal descriptions, then as time goes on, reveal more information about the dwarf.

So in the first month, you would start out with "Kadol Roderdeduk has been estatic lately". The next few months, in addition to the above: "She talked with a sibling lately(strongest happiness modifier first, preferably). She is the daughter of Rovod Bootwarm and Tekkud Singedlabors." The next few months, in addition to the above: "She admired a fine Table lately. Kadol Roderdeduk likes Silty clay" and so on. It's a small reward for keeping your dwarfs alive, and it makes your long-standing dwarfs more interesting then newcomer dwarfs.

Also, be aware that there will be even more descriptions about dwarfs coming with the new release (weight, beard, scars, teeth, ailment, etc.), so having a way to manage that information might be helpful.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2009, 11:55:39 am by Ralje »
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lucusLoC

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2009, 08:37:52 pm »

The differnt parts that make up a dorf should probably have their own pages: genology, apperance, moods, likes and dislikes, some form of descriptive stats  etc. Some of these, like geneology and apperances, should always be complete, other could be filled out over time, or not.

What i would like more is a way to sort dorfs by these atributes. Who is happy and sad? Who likes what? Who hates spiders? Who is strongest? These i would find usefull.
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Maw

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2009, 09:42:50 pm »

A bottle of Dwarf Wine...
Some Dwarven Cheese...
Served on an Adamantine platter usually does the trick for me.

The key is being able to run once you find out what's under the beard....
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Lord Shonus

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2009, 07:14:50 pm »

That might be nice for personality and maybe likes/dislikes, but it's important to know why a dwarf is happy/unhappy. This would hide that information.
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lucusLoC

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2009, 07:26:06 pm »

Shonus, you are referring to the OP right?
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Lord Shonus

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2009, 05:42:23 am »

Yes.
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Pilsu

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2009, 07:49:56 pm »

Seems like a pretty meaningless mechanic
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Ralje

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2009, 09:20:36 pm »

I just like the idea of having these little facts unfold as the game progresses, rather then handing them out all at once.. It's a lot for a one page screen though, so I'd rank it as a "nice to have" feature ;D
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Sunken

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2009, 06:16:27 am »

I think most would agree that the current presentation of personalities is a bit uninspiring. What would be nice would be to have a short introductory section, in auto-gen prose, that only contains the highlights (most unusual and strong traits) of their personality, and then the minutiae listed in a more tabular fashion. That would make it both more fun to browse, and easier to find details when you need them

Something along these lines:

Personality:
Rith 'Shipsculpted' Zuglararan is an extremely friendly and quite happy-go-lucky dwarf. Still, she does not go out of her way to help others and is not affected by the suffering of others. Short-term enjoyment is what she cares about the most. She also has a fascination with the color mauve that borders on the fanatic.

Mood:
Rith has been ecstatic lately, mostly because she has been satisfied at work and because she has admired a legendary dining room, but also due to a fine drink she had. She was caught in the rain and has been annoyed by flies, which irritates her only somewhat.

Associations:
Rith is very proud of being a member of the Hammer of Equality, and is a contented citizen of The Hot Arena. She worships An Pondersilks the Satiny Mucus, but is not very serious about it.


Spoiler: Details: (click to show/hide)
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Silverionmox

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Re: Getting to know your Dwarfs
« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2009, 08:05:28 am »

It would be good to have some more randomness in characteristics, as it is they'll quite predictably like an animal, a piece of food, an item etc. Sometimes a dwarf should just like a few things - or a lot of things out of the same category.

At the same time, the screen gets cluttered because there are so many characteristics, and as Sunken suggested, the dwarf's less pronounced traits should only be mentioned at the end of the description, so the player can more easily see what makes the dwarf stand out. Or the brightness of the text that describes the trait can be linked with its intensity, so a dwarf's ardent desire for plump helmet, marinated in dwarven rum, would really stand out in the text block even with only a glance.
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