Musical Instruments

[The-MathMog]

Something I just came up with, that I think would actually fit very well into the game.

Musical instruments that the pawns can play. Another use for the Artistic skill. It would serve as a joy activity, while also giving a small mood boost to other pawns in the same room.
Maybe even give a negative boost, if the pawn playing is poorly skilled, or the instrument is of low quality.

Not sure which instruments would fit. But maybe, guitar, violin, piano or flute. Some would be craftable, others to buy.

This in my opinion would add more value to pawns who are only capable of artistic.

[MisterVertigo]

Bard Class!!!

Seriously though, I like this idea. I could see a guitarist playing in my rec room with a small crown gathered around, each one gaining a bit of Joy. Even those that only stop in long enough to eat a meal would get some benefit.

If you are going to have instruments, why not have "Singing" too? Get a piano and a lounge singer to play for tips in the dining room!

[The-MathMog]

Sure, singing could be used too in this sense, as the simplest form of music!

It could work very well in a lot of forms! The artist singing as the other pawns haul in corpses, to prevent them from going mad, with the wile stench of death. Reminds me of the titanic scene with the musicians playing music as the ship goes down!

Playing delightful music for the prisoners! Or torturing them, with the sounds of a horrible singer hahaha!

A simple implementation wouldn't be too hard either I guess.

I even have an artist in one of my games called Min.. I call her "Ming" though, as that horrendous Chinese singer, and this skill would be a perfect fit for that haha!

[MisterVertigo]

I can't remember the name, but there is a backstory about the person being a former Pop singer. Their skills are crappy, except for Art. This would be MADE for them.

[The-MathMog]

I think it is her! :p



At least, I got her up to at least a level of SOME usefulness. But adding more things that depend on the artistic skill, would be a neat feature!

[firescythe]

To turn it into a bit technical, I would break them down to simple/advanced/hi-tech categories.
Simple, like stick&bucket&strings as guitar thingie and such.
Advanced like acoustic guitar, carved drums, etc. Piano might be work intensive one.
Hi-tech like electric ones, amplifier, stereos, etc.

Advanced and above is to be researched to build and under skill 10 is to be trained to play it. Or it turns into negative mood buff

[MarcTheMerc]

Can't say much more then +1.

[Jonofwrath]

Nice idea

[Pactrick Willis]

I Concur! +1. Some simple instruments like Violins and such could be crafted, whereas I think instruments like Pianos and organs would have to be placed down somewhere.

[The-MathMog]

To turn it into a bit technical, I would break them down to simple/advanced/hi-tech categories.
Simple, like stick&bucket&strings as guitar thingie and such.
Advanced like acoustic guitar, carved drums, etc. Piano might be work intensive one.
Hi-tech like electric ones, amplifier, stereos, etc.

Advanced and above is to be researched to build and under skill 10 is to be trained to play it. Or it turns into negative mood buff

Yeah, good ideas. But maybe that is adding a bit too much to it? Only as of now at least, looking at how in depth other aspects of the game are. 4 to 6 give or take, would be a good amount, maybe, as the game can quickly suffer of too many items, with each and every item having to take up at least 1 spot when in storage

That makes me think of another way to store items, using an "underground" cell. But that is for another topic :p

I Concur! +1. Some simple instruments like Violins and such could be crafted, whereas I think instruments like Pianos and organs would have to be placed down somewhere.

Indeed! Like crafters being able to make violin, guitar or even a simple flute, and then being able to buy bigger stuff from merchants!

Glad you guys like the idea! Let's hope that Tynan does too!

[Pactrick Willis]

I Concur! +1. Some simple instruments like Violins and such could be crafted, whereas I think instruments like Pianos and organs would have to be placed down somewhere.

Indeed! Like crafters being able to make violin, guitar or even a simple flute, and then being able to buy bigger stuff from merchants!

Glad you guys like the idea! Let's hope that Tynan does too!

I think that certain keyboards, should be able to be crafted on the spot, Abliet if by a experienced crafter- Things like a basic harpsichord which could be a simpler and cheaper alternative to a piano.

[The-MathMog]

I think that certain keyboards, should be able to be crafted on the spot, Abliet if by a experienced crafter- Things like a basic harpsichord which could be a simpler and cheaper alternative to a piano.

Yeah, maybe have a specific required crafting lvl, for pawns to make them. And the more complicated ones requirering components, while say a flute only need a piece of wood and time of course.

[Zombra]

No one's asking the obvious question.  It has two wrong answers and no right one.

The question is:
Should the game play little music tracks while your Artist is performing?

Answers:
1) No, the game should be silent.  Obviously this is wrong, because the game in general is very good at providing good, atmospheric sounds for what is happening.  A "silent" musician would be jarring and horrible.
2) Yes, the game should play little music tracks.  Obviously this is also wrong, because no matter what gets put in, the player is going to get really fucking sick of hearing those little bard tracks, just like when a character is a musician in the Sims.

No-win. 

[b0rsuk]

This is one of the best suggestions to pop up in a while. Finally a new use for Art skill. Interesting mechanics. It's really odd that artists are the primary moneymakers of any colony.

[MisterVertigo]

No one's asking the obvious question.  It has two wrong answers and no right one.

The question is:
Should the game play little music tracks while your Artist is performing?

Answers:
1) No, the game should be silent.  Obviously this is wrong, because the game in general is very good at providing good, atmospheric sounds for what is happening.  A "silent" musician would be jarring and horrible.
2) Yes, the game should play little music tracks.  Obviously this is also wrong, because no matter what gets put in, the player is going to get really fucking sick of hearing those little bard tracks, just like when a character is a musician in the Sims.

No-win. 

I see where you are coming from. Repeating tracks would get very annoying after a while.

How about instead of playing an actual music track, there is just a little "thought bubble" over their head with a musical note in it or something. Similar to when two pawns have a conversation. That would let the player know that the musician is playing music, but we would not be annoyed with a repeating sound effect.