When I started playing Rimworld, I was thinking that I was going to build a thriving, successful space colony.
However, I was surprised by the fact that I was more interested in the lives of the colonists themselves than I was in any particular aspect of the town.
I love their different personalities, backgrounds and stories of the colonists, and would love to see these aspects have more influence on the general course of the game. I think this would be an easy way to compound replayability and late-game depth, so its not just about fighting bigger and bigger hoards of creatures, but about acheiving ad-hoc goals based on the characteristics of your population.
It would also richly increase player engagement with the stories of the colony and its inhabitants, which seems to be part of the RimWorld value proposition.
I think this could be pretty easily added in with some sort of rewards system that plays off individual ambitions of the colonists.
Assuming that a colonist who is, for example, a Prostophile with the 'bionic body' ambition, would enthusiastically be engaging all visitors in conversation about his desire for bionic parts, it would follow that he would gain notoriety when he actually began replacing his body parts with bionic ones. Perhaps this could have a permanent effect on the colony whereby visitors travel in and offer you money to replace their own body parts with bionic ones.
Or perhaps a greedy person might have an ambition to 'start a false religion', where certain visitors would come and offer tributes to the colony ranging from dead squirrels to exquisite art depending on the size of his palace.
Suppose a bone collector had an ambition to 'build a museum'. Visitors could pay a fee to go look at skeletons at your colony, depending on how nice the museum room is, despite all the corpses.
An aspiring pop idol with a 'fan following' ambition might be able to glean tips from visitors, depending on the quality of meals offered. As she racks up the fans, perhaps more people from the surrounding villages will visit at a time.
These are obviously spitball ideas, but hopefully the idea is getting across on how the colonists could become tools to really influence the way the game is played, and to give players more opportunity to interact with them and invest in them.
Furthermore, their bonuses don't necessarily have to go away if the colonists die. Musuem visitors could still arrive to see the collection of the late collector. A pop star's fans could still come pay homage to her home and contribute to a fund to "raise awareness" for whatever it is that killed her. This way, even if they die, a part of them remains with the colony. Having a role for their legacy would give players an incentive to let colonists go when they die and continue on with the game.
As the game goes on, and the effects of different colonists would combine in fun ways, a colony would build a real and interesting history making each playthrough an even more unique experience.
I hope this made sense. It seems like it would be an easy mechanic to implement, arranging mostly existing pieces for a richer experience.
However, I was surprised by the fact that I was more interested in the lives of the colonists themselves than I was in any particular aspect of the town.
I love their different personalities, backgrounds and stories of the colonists, and would love to see these aspects have more influence on the general course of the game. I think this would be an easy way to compound replayability and late-game depth, so its not just about fighting bigger and bigger hoards of creatures, but about acheiving ad-hoc goals based on the characteristics of your population.
It would also richly increase player engagement with the stories of the colony and its inhabitants, which seems to be part of the RimWorld value proposition.
I think this could be pretty easily added in with some sort of rewards system that plays off individual ambitions of the colonists.
Assuming that a colonist who is, for example, a Prostophile with the 'bionic body' ambition, would enthusiastically be engaging all visitors in conversation about his desire for bionic parts, it would follow that he would gain notoriety when he actually began replacing his body parts with bionic ones. Perhaps this could have a permanent effect on the colony whereby visitors travel in and offer you money to replace their own body parts with bionic ones.
Or perhaps a greedy person might have an ambition to 'start a false religion', where certain visitors would come and offer tributes to the colony ranging from dead squirrels to exquisite art depending on the size of his palace.
Suppose a bone collector had an ambition to 'build a museum'. Visitors could pay a fee to go look at skeletons at your colony, depending on how nice the museum room is, despite all the corpses.
An aspiring pop idol with a 'fan following' ambition might be able to glean tips from visitors, depending on the quality of meals offered. As she racks up the fans, perhaps more people from the surrounding villages will visit at a time.
These are obviously spitball ideas, but hopefully the idea is getting across on how the colonists could become tools to really influence the way the game is played, and to give players more opportunity to interact with them and invest in them.
Furthermore, their bonuses don't necessarily have to go away if the colonists die. Musuem visitors could still arrive to see the collection of the late collector. A pop star's fans could still come pay homage to her home and contribute to a fund to "raise awareness" for whatever it is that killed her. This way, even if they die, a part of them remains with the colony. Having a role for their legacy would give players an incentive to let colonists go when they die and continue on with the game.
As the game goes on, and the effects of different colonists would combine in fun ways, a colony would build a real and interesting history making each playthrough an even more unique experience.
I hope this made sense. It seems like it would be an easy mechanic to implement, arranging mostly existing pieces for a richer experience.