Decor styles for housing/stronghold

So I was thinking back to classic Civilization which had customizable 'throne rooms' or in the case of Overlord, a customizable stronghold. With certain achievements unlocked or sections of the game passed, you were able to add on to your trophy room or castle with a selection of pre-set styles that best fit your vision. This gave you a sense of accomplishment at seeing how your personal rooms have grown and changed and it also gave you a portion of control to make it entirely suitable to your style of gameplay and reward.

 

I was thinking such an option for player houses and the eventual stronghold would be a nice way to allow the player the freedom to customize without going against world theme or style. You create a new section of Keep or build your house, and all the decor is loaded based on your preference of style. It's pre-set so you can't change the drape color or move the animal head from one wall to the other - but it gives you a personalized style.

 

I had 5 ideas in mind to suit every taste.

1. Martial - Military style. Maps of campaigns, heavy stone, heavy wood, suits of armor, weapons on the wall, spikes, torture devices. Your classic dungeon theme.

2. Mystical - Mage based. Glowing light sources, skulls with candles, ravens, arcane tomes on heavy bookshelves, alchemy tables, arcane diagrams on the walls. Your high magic theme

3. Romantic - Softer and gentler - flowers in vases, paintings of forest landscapes, flowing drapes, light pine tables, woven rugs, lighter pallet, canopy beds. Gentle without being "girly"

4. Rustic - Hunting lodge style - Tudor style walls, antlers & animal heads on the walls, hunting horns and crossbows, roaring fireplaces, bear-skin rugs. "I use antlers in all of my DECORATING!"

5. Regal - Palace style decor - statues, paintings of ancestors, marble floors, velvet curtains, gilded accessories, suits of armor, coats of arms... Your classic "Royal Palace" look.

 

I think these would basically suit every player style and give the designers a chance to give us some creative control without turning it into the Sims and letting people place every stick of furniture.

Bravo. But still only D-

Those seem reasonable. But what would you have for a rogue PC? Perhaps a "respectable merchant" style?

Edited October 30, 2012 by rjshae

Well, from my memory of Overlord, I found that type of system kinda boring. The progression was ok, but I still prefer "decorating" a house on my own. For instance, how I spent hours arranging tiny dino's and Nuka-Cola's in the Novac hotel room in FNV.

 

That said, I'm not sure what the limits will be for P.E. in terms of movable/placeable objects. So having a progression-reward system might be ok. I probably wouldn't take advantage of it much myself, tho. Don't really care about curtains and rugs and paintings...mostly I'm into displaying collections of stuff I've found, like having a weapon rack.

Um...

I, for one, would like the ability to place each piece of furniture.

 

Given the isometric view, Ultima Online comes to mind in what I'd like to see it modeled after.

You could make some bad-ass houses in UO.

 

I'm against these preset designs...it's not building a house it's picking from a menu.

I loved in Overlord how your treasure chamber showed how much room that million gold coins really need

 

Poor Overlord

 

 

 

 

 

Rich Overlord

 

 

Well, from my memory of Overlord, I found that type of system kinda boring. The progression was ok, but I still prefer "decorating" a house on my own. For instance, how I spent hours arranging tiny dino's and Nuka-Cola's in the Novac hotel room in FNV.

 

So it's not just me? Took me forever to cart everything to the Sink, and organise them according to type. ^^ I did like how you could display your weapons or armour in Skyrim. I like the storage aspects of a home, as I can't stop hoarding. Which is strange. In rl, if I don't use it, out it goes. Wouldn't mind a droid type, like HK-47, as a housekeeper/guard/butler/resident critic.

Will there be an option to turn off the housekeeping SIM?

 

Can't say I really care about re-arranging the furniture. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Edited October 30, 2012 by rjshae

I loved that in classic civ. I always upgraded the throne so I had a really fancy chair in my cave, like an overthrown despot.

I don't know ... my primary interest in the Stronghold is that it allow functional expansions (library, herb garden, healing spring or garden, martial training area, stealth training area, better walls, better/more farmland, wider range of settlers/villagers, blacksmith, merchant, apothecary, etc) ... although it would be interesting to have some themes to these I much prefer the functionality over the theme

 

It would be interesting though if some themes affected how often bandits attack ... with a softer theme they might think you are a pushover and attack your stronghold regularly ... if you have one of the martial themes maybe they attack less frequently but in greater force ... that sort of thing ... that could make the themes more interesting

I love decoratable player housing. I had so much fun in Star Wars Galaxies displaying stuff in my house and arranging trophies so they were 'Just So!' But with isometric 2d I don't know how practical it would be.

.mostly I'm into displaying collections of stuff I've found, like having a weapon rack.

 

I hope they incorporate this! Trophies from boss kills or rare finds would be lovely to have on display somewhere.

I don't know ... my primary interest in the Stronghold is that it allow functional expansions (library, herb garden, healing spring or garden, martial training area, stealth training area, better walls, better/more farmland, wider range of settlers/villagers, blacksmith, merchant, apothecary, etc) ... although it would be interesting to have some themes to these I much prefer the functionality over the theme

I'm afraid maybe you're getting ahead of yourself with the wrong ideas.. Or maybe I'm ill-informed. The fact that the stronghold is actually going to be a stronghold in the traditional sense, a keep of sorts, has not been confirmed at all. It is also being speculated that the stronghold will be done as was done in Baldur's Gate II, where a paladin got into an order, a thief got a guild, a druid a grove and only the fighter got a true keep -- de'Arnise Hold.

 

That being said, it is also possible certain classes will share a type of stronghold to reduce the amount of resources required to create one for every class, which would mean that a personalized style is not really necessary. Also, sometimes I feel people tend to forget this game will be isometric. This means that many items, such as paintings, for instance, will hardly be visible because of the angle of the camera. And, depending on the distance of the camera to the character, details may be very limited.

 

I, however, do not require much customization. At least not like The Sims, where I would have to arrange furniture, and definitely not like The Elders Scrolls, where I just buy an extra room full of decoration, every time, with no use at all. If customization would be implemented, I would like it to be somewhat quest-related and seeing the end result being useful for future quests, so that customization or expansion is not experienced as some stupid achievement (in the sense of nowaday gaming).

As long as I can display the flayed skins of my foes on the walls, and there is room in the basement for the gimp, then I'm happy.

 

I honestly thought this thread was a troll.

 

Edited October 31, 2012 by Monte Carlo

I don't know ... my primary interest in the Stronghold is that it allow functional expansions (library, herb garden, healing spring or garden, martial training area, stealth training area, better walls, better/more farmland, wider range of settlers/villagers, blacksmith, merchant, apothecary, etc) ... although it would be interesting to have some themes to these I much prefer the functionality over the theme

I'm afraid maybe you're getting ahead of yourself with the wrong ideas.. Or maybe I'm ill-informed. The fact that the stronghold is actually going to be a stronghold in the traditional sense, a keep of sorts, has not been confirmed at all. It is also being speculated that the stronghold will be done as was done in Baldur's Gate II, where a paladin got into an order, a thief got a guild, a druid a grove and only the fighter got a true keep -- de'Arnise Hold.

 

That being said, it is also possible certain classes will share a type of stronghold to reduce the amount of resources required to create one for every class, which would mean that a personalized style is not really necessary. Also, sometimes I feel people tend to forget this game will be isometric. This means that many items, such as paintings, for instance, will hardly be visible because of the angle of the camera. And, depending on the distance of the camera to the character, details may be very limited.

 

I, however, do not require much customization. At least not like The Sims, where I would have to arrange furniture, and definitely not like The Elders Scrolls, where I just buy an extra room full of decoration, every time, with no use at all. If customization would be implemented, I would like it to be somewhat quest-related and seeing the end result being useful for future quests, so that customization or expansion is not experienced as some stupid achievement (in the sense of nowaday gaming).

 

My ideas are just that ... Ideas ... I figure since they haven't programmed anything and they are doing game design still it never hurts to ask ... I enjoyed the stronghold mechanism in BG but I also enjoyed the guilds/strongholds in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ... the Guilds were useful where you could get money or weapons (fighter), reagents (magic), etc ... I also enjoyed the Vampire lair, Thieve's hideout, and Wizard's castle they added later in their DLC (the Wizard abode was particularly useful with its herb garden and enchanting alter; the Thieve's hideout also had a useful lock picking practice item) ... I agree a generic stronghold with limited features beyond the hiring and creation of the other characters is easiest and meets their KS stretch goal intent ... but, HEY, if you no askee you no getee ... so I figure I will throw my suggestion out ... if it happens, GREAT, if it doesn't then C'est la Vie ... at least I tried ... I'm not a flying pig for nothing you know

Edited October 31, 2012 by Thangorodrim

If it was me designing it (imagine Paint skills ingame) I would have some form Overlord/Fable/Assassains Creed/FallOut cross breed treasure room system where it would;

1. Fill with chests depending on my money situation. (Overlord/Fable)
   
2. Have customizable decor from the local 'furnishings store' where you could choose from several themes. (FallOut)
   
3. Have weapon/armour racks of any/all/several discovered/picked up weaponry/armour - OR
   
4. - ^^ OR - Trophies from fallen bosses/elite beasts/rare animals - Tokens of thanks
   

But that would just be me. I like seeing my "home instance" change as I progress. Rewards, reminders and so on. Makes me feel like I'm making at least some changes to the world around me.

Here's an idea: make the stronghold extremely moddable. let the community be able to design and add stuff to it, stuff they can import into the game if they so please.

As money grabbing as it was, the new system in Skyrim would be fine.

I love decoratable player housing. I had so much fun in Star Wars Galaxies displaying stuff in my house and arranging trophies so they were 'Just So!' But with isometric 2d I don't know how practical it would be.

Check out some UO houses, they look tight!

One might speculate that implementing moveable furniture would likely require up to four (or more?) graphical overlays for each major object (depending on the orientation) and a grid system for placement. If furniture is rendered using 3D models then it shouldn't be too difficult to implement this scheme. This would allow you to relocate grid-square items like beds, cabinets, sofas, armor stands, and so forth, much as you would items in an inventory. Trophy displays along a wall would only require two orientations, since the perspective is fixed.

 

I'm not sure that it would be worth the trouble to implement smaller details like cutlery on a table. But a bookcase could have several different appearances depending on how many books it holds.