Chronicler

[Chaplain]

So I was thinking to myself, "Gee, wouldn't an event log be nice!" but then it dawned on me that an event log is for games where nameless and faceless units go perform meaningless orders that usually get them killed pointlessly.  This is a game where I very easily could grow attached to my colonists (if not now then maybe by alpha 3/4/5/cuttlefish) so why not have more than an event log?  Why not have the Chronicles of *insert colony name here*?

Basically it would still be an even log but how it comes out would have something to do with the colonists' skills (art seems the likely candidate unless some sort of S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats are added in later or even a writing skill if someone finds a better use for such a skill).  It would be a job that is probably preformed at a table somewhat like research is with no bill being required like workshops have.  The actual logs would be something like a Mad Lib with some basic structure for each event but the choice of words and grammar is based on skill and picking from a list.  At low levels grammar and spelling would be poor, medium levels it would sound more like a ships log from Star Trek, and on the higher level it would sound like Tolkien, Shakespeare, and Homer got together and wrote some Rimworld fanfic.  It would even be kinda cool if character backgrounds and traits affected this with things like cynicism, optimism, narcissism, etc. leaking through into the chronicles.

Now the other cool thing would be if when the game saved it actually saved the game and then saved the chronicle separately in a text file so you could share it.  Even if all the other stuff above is impossible or  ruled to be meaningless drivel you have to admit it would be pretty cool to have potentially the only game ever (as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong) where you submit the story of your colony instead of a high score.

[Untrustedlife]

The game is all about the story. I approve.

[Monkfish]

It's a great idea, but I can't help but think it would be a damn nightmare to implement at the level you've suggested. Even simplified there would still need to be a lot of information captured to be able to construct something vaguely diaryesque. Perhaps it could be done in the form of diary entries, with entries being made from significant events (spikes in happiness/fear etc. in either direction) so that you don't end up with a daily log of "sowed potatoes" and "built some shit".

Here's what I'm thinking...

Day 7
I finally got my own room today, which pleased me greatly. Higgins used to snore something terrible and Brown kept farting so it's wonderful to have some quiet and get a decent night's sleep.

Day 14
Brown built a cooking stove today and made proper meals for us all. Well, I say "proper meal", it was only boomrat and potatoes but it's far better than that slop we get out of the paste dispenser. I don't care if it does contain all the nutrients and vitamins the body needs, it's cold and tastes like shit. Our Slumpigs back home eat better than I have done this last fortnight! Walters seems to like it though, but he's a bit weird anyway.

Day 18
Raiders arrived from the North today, three strong, looking tired and beaten when they turned up. They managed to damage some stuff and Higgins got shot up pretty bad, but we survived. Brown and I buried them in shallow graves just outside the camp to serve as some sort of deterrent, although I don't think it'll be very effective. I'll sleep well tonight, I'm exhausted.

Shouldn't be too complicated eh, Tynan?

[Chaplain]

I wasn't thinking really individual events as much as things beginning construction on a new buildings along with the completion of said building (would have to figure out how to define it being a new building since you could have one eternal project going if you start on day one and always have some incomplete blueprints laying around), designating a new area like a field, stockpile, or dump, killing animals (with multiples in a species just having an s slapped on to avoid rattling off each one), trade interaction, pods landing, weather evens (including eclipses and solar flares, raids, and any other major incident (like cannibalism, executions, recruiting prisoners, short-circuits, etc).

Regardless of what winds up being in the log itself I think having who the one writing it is and their viewpoint having an effect on it is the major selling point.  In fact if you could have multiple colonists ending the day by writing in their journal and then comparing their views of how the day went that would be awesome.  It would admittedly come down to what prefab phrases they pick that match their view but still it would be fun to see one colonist see a victory over your first raiding party as a confirmation that they can survive anything while a more gloomy colonists believes it is only a harbinger of horrors to come.