What would your dream Cantr be like?

[SekoETC]

Let's dream for a bit. If anything was implementable, no matter how complicated, what would you have?

Things I would like:

A flexible tailoring system - instead of items with set descriptions, there would be parts that cost different amounts of resources and their descriptions would sum up to make the final description. For example different types of sleeves, collars and necklines.

A flexible cooking system - resources would be divided into categories like vegetables, berries, etc. and you could use different combinations of them to use on recipes. [1] There would also be more things to cook with. [2] There should also be pasta and cream.

Building deterioration - buildings would require maintenance every ten years or so, and if they didn't get that, they would start to get into worse shape and eventually collapse.

Architectonic components - It would be possible to "pimp up" your buildings with things like porches, staircases, balconies, pillars, skylights, trimmings, frescoes and so on. Currently all you can do is change the building description and that doesn't cost anything.

Dust in buildings - Buildings that haven't been entered in years would collect dust, and if someone entered a dusty building, footprints on the floor would show which sub rooms have been entered. The dust could be gotten rid of with a broom. Frequently visited buildings wouldn't gather dust because it would be assumed that someone is cleaning them regularly.

Blood - When somebody got attacked by a sharp weapon, it would leave blood on the floor/ground and on the victim's clothes. It could be gotten rid of by washing, and outdoors it would disappear naturally after a while. No more killing people and taking their clothes without extra trouble cleaning up.

Dirtiness - people as well as their clothes would get dirty if they worked with dirty things, especially coal and oil. They'd have to wash their clothes and themselves. If people didn't wash themselves in a long time, they would get a mention on their character description page that they have strong B.O. It would be possible to cover it up with perfumes.

Swimming - you couldn't bring along much weight or you would drown but you could swim short distances.

Physical training - some ways to increase your strength and fighting skill without having to hit people with a waster a hundred times. Since everybody knows repetition isn't fun.

New hunting system - animals would mostly go into hiding instead of standing there stupidly and waiting to get hit. They could dodge attacks, retaliate and run away. You'd have to search for them to find them. It would be possible to use team tactics and that would give you a bonus. Sometimes animals would wander into the center of the town, but they wouldn't stay there for long. Animals could also sometimes enter buildings or eat from containers.

A farming system - It would be possible to bring seeds from another location and plant them in yours, but it would take work weeding the fields and eventually harvesting it. If you didn't harvest fast enough, the rest would go to waste. There would also be greenhouses for more sensitive plants, and they would need to be watered manually.

The possibility of having children - no one would be forced into this one, but people who wanted to have children could have them, and people who wanted to play children could take over a child character.

Statues and carvings - items with custom descriptions.

Diseases - They would only kill you if you chose to die, but there could be things like cancer, tuberculosis and different kinds of poxes. It would lead into a lot of good rp, as long as they weren't as common and annoying as the old sneezing sickness that everybody just ignored.

Custom death - In addition to dying from diseases, people could die of old age and various accidents such as falling off a cliff, and drowning (that would be part of the swimming system).

[Doug R.]

My system would have most of what Seko lists, with some modifications and additions:

Introduce a new stat called "Well-being".

-Cooked foods would not just be more nourishing, but also increase well-being. The more diverse, the better. Eating the same thing constantly would decrease well-being.
-Dirtiness would decrease well-being.
-Wounds would decrease well-being

Well being would simply be a performance modifier. The better off you are, the higher the boost.

Clothing would deteriorate by activity. There would be normal wear, but also certain rough tasks would increase clothing deterioration. This would give a practical use for protective/work clothing. Clothes hit by weapons would also deteriorate.

No disease in my system. No one likes it when your kids get cholera in Oregon Trail. Very few would appreciate it in Cantr either. Unless it was caused by the gods (see below).

Support for audio files connected to objects. We can write poetry, but not music. You could in my system. Instead of "you hear X play a new violin", you'd hear "you hear X play {link} on a new violin" Click the link to hear what was played.

Support for visual art Picture frames that automatically display images on the object or location page. Allow images to be attached to objects (like statues).

Introduce volume and 3D. In Cantr, mass and volume are equal (everything must be made of water...) My system would have volume and 3D space, with objects able to be arranged within that space. This would allow for true levels and inter-connected sub levels.

Dynamic projects. Why do we need 5 different stone buildings? Instead, we have one, and you set the stone input. The input dictates the volume of the finished structure. This allows for expansion.

Resource depletion.

Weather & Climate Bad weather decreases well-being if improper attire is worn. Also increases wear on structures and objects. Would leave room for low-level, localized weather catastrophes.

Entirely revamped combat system Dungeons and Dragons got it right, and my combat system would model that.

Separate skills from attributes Like D&D, have separate skills and abilities. Skills all start at zero, but Abilities are genetic and acquired at birth. Most game activities would use both.

Item Quality This has been discussed so many times, I don't think I need to say more here.

Skill Caps Your skill can only get so high unless you apprentice with someone, or undergo an exhausting learning process (apprenticing is far easier). Additionally, you can only make certain things if you have high skill (or, these things made a low skill are so shoddy, they only last a few days).

Greatly expand the tech tree. Now we have Bone/Stone, Iron/Steel, Aluminum tech levels. I'd at least triple that.

Introduce gods I would create a new class of player - The Divine. Their job is to meddle in the world. Think Godville, but serious. Gods would accumulate power by gaining followers. The more followers, the more power. Weak gods might be able to send a breeze. Powerful ones may be able to peer into your bedroom and read your events. Gods can combine power to do truly powerful things (like reshape the world).

One character per player This would solve a TON of game-related problems. Yes, the character base would also be much smaller, but if my game were marketed as a commercial game, with a fully staffed and funded marketing department, that would make up for things. Also, the limitation would be met with increased control over spawn location.

Desire-based spawning: Characters can let the game engine know what kinds of characters they need, and new characters would be matched with these locations like a dating service. It could be automated, or it could be put entirely in the control of the players, i.e. you see a list of anonymized locations and what they need, and you actually pick.

Require water/produce waste Cantr has that "TV reality," where unless the toilet is part of the plot, it's never seen. I'd change that. We can currently accumulate food in our stomachs. I'd rename that space to digestion. You can fill it with food, and it eventually gets filled with waste. Waste would be cleared like we vomit, just a different button. If it builds up too far, it lets go automatically, soiling yourself. Sleepers would be shunned!

That's all for now. I'm a treasure trove of ideas. I'm sure I'll be adding even more.

[SekoETC]

I like most of those, especially the introduction of gods and the well-being stat. I think the only thing I wouldn't like would be being restricted to one character. I bet people would be multiaccounting to get around the limit, just like they did in FTO. I'd limit the amount of character slots for newbies and allow more characters for people who have proven they are providing something that counts, whether that be roleplaying, producing objects, trading, or running a town.

[SumBum]

I'm sure I could come up with other things but these come quickly to mind:

Friendly dragging - flag to allow other specified chars the ability to drag you regardless of strength/skill.

Skill based crafting - leave enough wiggle room for chars to survive but anything beyond the basics would require higher skill. This would open up actual, marketable career paths, among other awesome side effects. Quality of items could be introduced, ornateness, longevity to better crafted items (or more nourishment from well-prepared food), better healing ability if assisted by a skilled doctor/herbalist (and even a chance to make the wound worse if unskilled Joe Schmoe slaps a dirty bandage on it), demand for more skilled craftsmen and increased trade for items with higher value, etc.

I like the suggestions of weather/climate affecting things more, especially when it comes to clothing, heath, and deterioration. And more customizable building within areas like the tailoring and food systems.

(now that I read a little more, I see that Doug also mentions skill based crafting. apprenticeships was another thought I had as a "side effect")

More interactive hunting and don't limit it to once-per-day. This is something I think FTO does fairly well.

[EchoMan]

Mine would be pink, not green. And I wouldn't have to repair all these goddam tools all the time.

[Swingerzetta]

Towns would be spread out, so that you could actually explore streets and avenues, viewing individual buildings on the minimap. Not everyone would hear everything said, and instead, you'd hear people based on how close they were to you (with text size indicating volume).

Moving from one town to another would basically work like ship movement. Roads would make you go faster. Towns wouldn't be hard-coded locations, but player-built. They'd be the result of walking in a random direction for a while, making a clearing in the forest or whatever type of location it was, and starting a building. Buildings would make a small area around them 'nameable'.
Building extra buildings would require clearing space somewhere in town, first.

Trails would result from people going from one clearing to another (think of it like docking and undocking) and then roads could be built onto trails.

The town view would be a close-up thing, and only take a few seconds to move from one clearing spot to another. Moving from town to town would show you a zoomed-out view, and it would take an hour or two to cross the visible screen.

Oh, and there wouldn't be ticks. Live updates of projects instead.

The interface would be greatly simplified. All projects could be started either through an action on the tools or on the materials, the location page would include buildings and vehicles (that were within 'dockable' range).

Boats would require a rowing project to move, without sails, and with sails you'd need to keep track of the wind direction and water currents, and know a thing or two about tacking. They'd have cannons.

Food would rot, over time, and a character would not be able to carry one of every tool in the game at once. Instead, backpacks and pockets would be necessary. Characters could get too cold. They could get too hot. They'd rest automatically on furniture when they'd been standing or working for too long and the player was idle, and upon unidling, they'd be more 'tired' if they fell asleep in this manner without anywhere comfortable to do so.

Newspawns would only spawn in locations where the game had previously detected the words 'fade to black'.

[Snickie]

Newspawns would only spawn in locations where the game had previously detected the words 'fade to black'.

I almost lol'd at this one. Almost.


In my dream Cantr, I could physically be there all the time and never have to worry about real-world politics, school, or radio spammers ever again.

[catwill]

I like a lot of these ideas, my (less than) two cents would be that I would like bodies buried outside to show up after burial as an object like "fresh mound of dirt" or something similar and then gradually disappear over time. It should be a little more difficult to hide evidence of a murder.

[bnlphan]

I like a lot of these ideas, my (less than) two cents would be that I would like bodies buried outside to show up after burial as an object like "fresh mound of dirt" or something similar and then gradually disappear over time. It should be a little more difficult to hide evidence of a murder.

Yes I've noticed this a few times. I believe people have been killed then the killer starts the burial project so you can't see the body then abandons it. Would be nice to see the body until the burial project is completed.

[Money]

(everything else has pretty much been covered)

divide the game into 3 different rounds

round 1 - everlasting, pretty much cantr now, slightly higher rot rate then other rounds and rot affects everything, many extra tech levels

round 2 - lasts 5 years before a hard reset, limited amount of tech levels though still more then current, rot rate normal and limited though still more wide spread then currently

round 3 - Lasts 1 year before hard reset, only current amount of tech, rot rate much lower then average and only affects things it does currently (don't want to waste limited time)

[SekoETC]

Are those real life years or game years?

[Uma]

If I had cantr set up in my dream way, it would be more detailed in a few aspects and lend value to lots of our items and resource. overall an increase in the level of simulation.

1. pre-generated, set body types.

you spawn with hair color, skin color, eye color, body size, and stats pulled randomly (or chosen) from the people in your town. redheads beget redheads! makeup or hair dye alters this some one.

2. more stats with trade offs. make stats change

make strength make you eat more food, low strength eats less (than avg strength), strength enhancing jobs (mining) tone you up. delicate jobs (sewing, indoor work) lowers strength due to not 'keeping it up'. make meats more needed to maintain strength? not really set on this.

you could have other stats, like perception (notice whispers more, see farther), intelligence (skill up faster, stress easier. stress i'll get to) these stats go up and down based on job work over time.

3. Stress, or comfort. or some name.

a new number bar, stress, or comfort, shows how comfortable your character is. stress accumulates doing unpleasant jobs (tar pit!), eating very raw foods (ugh, not more raw potatoes!) getting in fights, getting hurt. animals could 'cause stress' as a way of hastling people rather than dive bombing them.

fight stress with comfort. comfort is provided by nice environments, uncluttered rooms (less giant heaps of animal poo in your house on the floor). furniture gives the room a comfort rating. a relaxing room would have a nice table, fancy bed, beautiful bookshelf, maybe even some paintings on the wall (paintings and other RP items, otherwise worthless, would serve a purpose). cooked food relives stress. alcohol relives stress. lots of thins could help. playing an instrument could be an hour activity job that helps everyone in the room with stress.

4. changing tastes

as people surround themselves with luxury, a kind of snobbery sets in. giving you 'resistance' to comfort items. when clad in silks, in a nice house, a mud hut and rags just won't do! snobbery would go down over time.

5. climate, weather

some places are cold, some are hot you need warm clothes for the cold area. hot clothes bother you in warm areas. penalties include health, stress, increased food consumption. rain causes stress, boosts crop yeild

6. the body has statuses

broken arms, splints, infections, surgery, lots of possibilities, but more than alive, down, and dead.





(sorry for the typoes, typing this on a felt keyboard and it is terrible. ill clean this up later!

[catwill]

My dream Cantr would include portable knitting. You would have to have a knitting bag to move the project to or something but if you had it, you too can sit around in random places knitting then pack it up and go sit in another random place and knit.

[ManyVoices]

I wish you could do that with any project that doesn't require a location. Example: If you're making a tool that doesn't need equipment, you could take your task outside, or in, of if you need to get in a vehicle bring it with you.

[Marian]

An old topic I know, but looks like a fun one.

So let's see...if I found a genie who only granted wishes involving having god-like control of the development of browser-based games...what would I change about Cantr?

Well, okay, first thing: Temporarily put all characters in a peaceful slumber so the greedy little bastards dear little angels won't have to be alarmed by the events that are about to shake up their nice green world. The genie provides this one as a freebie. How nice!

Okay so now I make my first wish, and we take eeeeevvvery single item or gram of resources not currently being held or stored in a container, and make it go poof!

And now genie, wish two! Every single building or ship that hasn't been occupied in the past year instantly crumbles away to dust! As a side effect, those that remain are now effected by deterioration, and their machines and locks will begin to rust as well, though the genie is compassionate enough to give everyone the option to repair everything everywhere in a fraction of the time by patching them up with the appropriate resources.

Now I'm down to the last wish, so better make it a big one!

...what's this?! A comet has come flying in from space and slammed into the ocean, triggering a string of massive earthquakes and rearranging all the continents? Oh no!

80% of Fu and any other stupidly large islands we have nowhere near the playerbase to populate sinks into the ocean. The remaining landmasses are broken into smaller chunks, most about 3 to 15 locations each, and drift apart, now proper islands like Teregotha or Haven that might one day be unified into empires with their own unique cultures and identities.

Life in Cantr will never be the same again...and that's not the end of the changes. The climate of the entire world has been effected, with most crops unharvest-able in the winter, and raw foods spoiling twice as fast even in buildings in the heat of the summer. More alarming still, some sort of otherworldy radiation from the comet has effected even the Cantrians themselves and altered their genes and spawning processes.

Exchanging blows in a battle now takes at least an hour, as it's perceived by the Cantrian brain as an ongoing fight rather than the strange, instant hit and run anomaly it was before. And strength is now no longer the main deciding factor in battle, as there are now specific combat and weapon skills (such as agility to make one harder to hit or drag, and precision to allow the landing of critical hits, as well as one-handed, two-handed, and ranged skills) so that just about everyone can have a strategy that lets them be useful in a fight. In addition, stronger characters find themselves eating slightly more and naturally healing slightly faster, while weaker ones are more susceptible to the effects of potions.

As for newspawns, the strange space radiation makes them see green everywhere they...wait, no. It actually makes them somehow aware of parts of their gene sequences right before spawning, and gives them the ability to alter it to be spawned with a talent for two non-combat skills of their choosing. After spawning, the radiation also boosts a gathering skill related to the location they spawned in, an effect no one quite understands, though they're certainly not complaining about it.

Soon after awakening, it also is discovered that an expert in any skill willing to set aside the time can now teach any person that is an awkward or novice at it the basics at double the usual rate, as long as the student is working on a project that uses that skill at the same time.

It really is amazing what a well-placed comet and some space radiation with oddly specific effects can accomplish!

And a magical genie of course. Let's all give him a hand, he's such a bro.