Musicality of colonists and play tunes if they use instruments

[Jin.M]

So I was thinking about what modpacks to integrate and what I wanted in a game in special. And I was thinking what I wanted the people in my base to do. Some random stuff that happens on unpredictable events. In Dwarf Fortress there are sometimes parties and a tune plays only if this party event happens.

I know it sounds like a small thing. But personally I think it is very rewarding to play a longer time without the music or just the normal (repeating) soundtrack, and then one day, if a villager experienced some stuff and you were somehow able to find and keep some old shubby guitar, he plays his special music to express himself. And in a colony where have been silence for so long there is all of a sudden this sole little melody. - And you the player hear the melody the musician plays too. It's possible to just fade out the normal soundtrack of Rimworld and then the musicians song can be heard.

The song should not play if you don't buy an instrument, and maybe the colonist have to learn it first where you only hear some bad tones. Even buying a music player so people throw a party around it would be interesting. Or the ability that people gather if more of them can play or sing. Or listening to the music of an experienced musican boosts the mood, and very (!) unexperienced musicans give a small mood penalty. =)

Please keep in mind, that this addition only shines, if an actual song plays from time to time a musician plays. This is the reward for the player: A tune you would never hear, if your colony does not life long enough to buy an instrument or where the people were never really happy enough to play a song.

Singing is something hard to implement, because a voice is sometimes very mood impacting whereas a small tune like it plays in Minecraft is some lightweigth for the atmosphere.

I also know, that gathering music for a game is hard to do. But maybe there are many free small tunes of solo instrument plays out there that fit the need, because you only need like one minute each. Only the diversity is important. Like 50 tunes at least.

I know its also possible to request this as mod, but some dedicated modders might allready read here so I think this is the best place to suggest this. Also I don't know if a modder would be able to integrate music into his mod, as requesting the songs is very hard and might even be the bigger part of the work (and the filesize).

[lllMWNlll]

I liked the Idea, adding instruments (buying or building) and using Artistic Skill, would be interesting. Also i saw several backgrounds of the pawns where they have been musicians. It's a perfect suggestion, looking foward to this!

[PaoLorenz]

Opens up a lot of possibilities.
Different instruments, different tunes, a way to hook it up with your mp3 files on the PC.
Classic music, folk music, rock music... and of course additional like/dislike interactions between pawns.

Could be complex to fully develop though... a simple tune with some instruments would be nice to start with !

[A Friend]

Have it be like a joy activity. You'll have a chair or spot where the musician will play at and people passing by get mood boosts for a few hours.

[mumblemumble]

Actually this would be pretty cool, especially if there was good / bad musicians, good ones providing a mood bonus to all in earshot, bad providing  very small mood hit to all in ear shot.

Doubt they would all be audiable (especially if you had good, mediocre, and bad players) but its an interesting concept...plus concerts could be organized, like at parties

[Jin.M]

Yeah, the idea can be implemented in several ways and I hope it gets discussed further. I see some guys also have nice ideas like giving bad thoughts for bad musicians -  so you would need an extra room for the beginners to practise out of hearing range. Just like real life bands do. =)

Even concerts would be able as lategame content if we would raise the maximum number of colonists to lets say at least 15 - 3 musicians 12 guys listening. Also some musician caravans would be possible - and they could expect some meals in return for giving your colonists happy thoughts. When you could call them via your coms for money it would even be a tactical counter against the psychic events.

Thx for the welcoming responses. I thought this didn't get read at all after all the silence. =)

[Serenity]

Even concerts would be able as lategame content if we would raise the maximum number of colonists to lets say at least 15 - 3 musicians 12 guys listening.

You could also entertain visitors in return for money.

In general I'd like more interaction with other groups like that. For example getting paid in return for high quality medical care.

[Harold3456]

I've been thinking the same thing lately. The colonists need more "Joy" items, and a guitar would be a great addition since it could also boost their "art" skill. In the interest of simplicity, I'd suggest just keeping musicality tethered to the "art" skill, since adding a skill just for music seems wasteful.

But maybe have it where if a colonist plays music, others can listen and get joy as well. And I DO like the idea of having the music be audible to the player. This War of Mine did something similar, it was very atmospheric.

[PaoLorenz]

Never understimate the beauty of a well made piano in a room.
Creates a pretty nice atmosphere, just as any art creation.

Who knows... one of your pawns could even be the new RimStradivari, crafting violins that are unique.

A plus to music in the game is that it is natively implicitly linked to different ages. Instruments were available in the very past, and just became better over time.
Just like weapons. So they would gladly fit into Rimworld's techtree !
Start with sticks over tree trunks and empty bones or branches, and go up to the synth and holovisor (Asimov's Foundation, the instrument the Mule played to influence minds... can't remember right away how it was correctly called !!! Sonovisor, perhaps ?)


Combine drugs and music, and you have the 70's rockbands and all the fun you may need !!!

[Jin.M]

Embedding the musicality into a tech tree and also the question about what skill to use for musicality never popped to my mind. Nice ideas.

Crafting instruments should be lategame stuff imho where you need crafting skill as well as the artistic skill if you want to make a masterwork instrument. For easy instruments like a simple double drum some low crafting skill could be sufficient, for instruments like a piano you would need crafting 10 and artistic 5 I'd suggest.

It also lets you have this nice surpise experiences when a trader comes by and has with a very low chance some instrument aviable. Those things would not happen if obtaining instruments would be very easy.

For the tech tree advancement I don't have nice sophisticated ideas, jet. A extra workstation that has an odd shape like an L for crafting would be nice. Researching this workstation shouldn't be too hard, like 1000 points would be enough. Easy instruments could be crafted in a crafting spot early game. I like the idea of not being able to craft a piano as soon as you started the game just because you randomed yourself a crafting 10 and artistic 5 guy on purpose.

Combine drugs and music, and you have the 70's rockbands and all the fun you may need !!!

Oh yeah.