a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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I think bottom line is if you want Eves close together there need to be playable locations close together. It might be worth it to make 3 soil and 3 water and a spring spawn in a "pod" together then put those pods near each other and place the Eves near the pods.
I have played many games that started from barren locations like the ones Tarr showed, running in some cases 1000 blocks and leaving it to my daughter to keep running or only managing to find a spot for her to get started. But if we are locked to one spring ... I don't think ANY ever run I've ever done would have worked. I've only done maybe 20 or so Eve runs, but still... I always had to go far.
Lastly I have almost never seen a town that didn't have a HUGE green biome nearby. You need the tree branches and the wild food early on. Bananas can almost work too but they run out. A big green biome means you have one of the most underrated items in the game nearby: wild berry bushes. These will get kids past a berry famine and save your town.
Oh-- FS, do you do art by any chance? I'm looking for someone who can make game sprites who might be interested in helping with my GPS farming game. Right now it's all text based and it looks like a math major made it which isn't uh... surprising because that's what happened.
IDK thought I'd ask. I have no idea where to start when it come to how the game should look. I just know how it should work. That is if I can ever figure out these GPS libraries. And making it work on all kinds of phones might be an issue. I might punk out and only make it for iphone...UGH.
Wow! RedComb I'd never even consider buying any of those other games from the description! Not my personal idea of fun (but I can understand how other people enjoy it, so no real judgement here)
I don't mind that OHOL has some violence and conflict but to me it was always supposed to be a consequence of the inevitable friction that you get between people even when they are mostly working together. And a way to deal with persistent bad actors. In fact, I really like that OHOL isn't all safe and flowers and roses. If I wanted to play farmville co-op... um I'd do that. It's relaxing. That isn't this game.
But I think that everything needs to lead back to the goal that always excited me "Build Civilization!" So build tech, and farms and human institutions-- And when I saw the description I was super excited since it sounded like my kind of game. And mostly it has been!
I just don't think it'd be great if it morphed in to rust. I don't want to eat people or dominate anyone. That sounds awful and kinda... boring (if I'm honest)
Don't like the "different skin tones have different languages" idea much. I would like it if there were like 8 or so languages at a time and it was random what each eve got. So some families could talk to each other others could not, and languages would last a bit longer and might be worth learning more about.
As it is now I just use actions to get past language barriers.
Excellent!
Jason your filter tends to make words longer. Some of the time you should replace clusters with *nothing* (or perhaps an apostropy) since dropping sounds happens in the development of languages:
Park in the car parking lot ---> ark in he ar arking lot
I know you didn't do this, Jason, but it almost feels like you read this post and said "how can I STOP that from happening?"
http://onehouronelife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6461
Setting out to find a great spot, scouting, migrating as a family are great parts of the game as it is now and with this it would be gone unless you are looking to go to an existing town.
A "pet peeve" is something that annoys someone that they know might not be such a big deal, but they still feel the need to always comment on it.
I didn't know you don't primarily speak English so it makes more sense why you haven't read more of the other posts it's a lot to take in, people here type a lot and don't always say very much.
I'm sad to hear that you have been having bad experiences with the game. I've had times when in a few lives I kept getting killed for no reason and it really wears you down if it keeps happening. And I agree that the combination of the language update with the swords suggests a kind of mean way of playing that I'm not fond of.
I don't think the language update is bad on it's own, maybe, but pairing it with swords is just depressing.
It sucks that you were killed for just standing there. I agree that that isn't really fun at all.
I so glad that you saw this post! That game was incredible and you were an amazing mom. I remember when I thought you'd died and discover that you made it to the new location after all. I was so happy. And I think the Wild family did rather well for it's self. GG always!
I think forcing Eve to use the spring she is given, go to a town or die... would lead to a lot of Eve's just standing there dieing because the spot isn't good enough. Looking for a spot and migrating is part of the fun of the early game IMO.
It could zig zag on an diagonal, or use a creeping polar function that is an overlapping spiral (like a flattened spring. )
Forgive me, but I would like to suggest another solution.What if we had easier ways to build roads?
it can be hard to find towns and its kind unnatural to force eves to have a behave. But it could be easy to find towns if we could construct longer roads in a lifetime, then it would be easy to find the roads, then find the cities and to connect towns. Once you find a town it is hard to get back and to teach people from your original town to get in there. that would be solved too.
A simple change that would make road building a little easier is this one:
Eve camps don't do well in picked over areas. You need wild food to keep you and your kids alive until you can get a farm. Right now if you are Eve and the area is picked over you migrate if you want to have a good camp. And migrating is fun. I was just writing about it.
http://onehouronelife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6461
I like that over time it will become apparent that there are cities and older civs in one direction and wilds in the other. There isn't much point in staying in a bad spot... but choosing between migrating towards civilization or away from it could be interesting.
I do a bit of programming and app building and making a game like this is no joke. The multiplayer aspect of the game is particularly difficult and impressive as is the amount of data being managed in the worlds created. I don't think that making a new game of this scale would be a good first programming project. But modding a game could be more do-able.
I've been working on a much smaller project (a kind of gps based virtual gardening game... think a mix of farmville and pokemon go...) and I've had to re-learn a lot of skills since I haven't made an app for like 4 years.
I've run in to some roadblocks with the GPS libraries, they exist but I can't get them to work. But, this post is inspiring me to give it another go...
What if you had to play on "hard core mode" (one hour one life) to earn eve tokens? So you play the game with this mode turned on in the settings (you only get one life per hour) and if you rack up x total min of play time you get the chance to play as Eve?
pair this change with a limiting of the number Eve's based on server population, so you could still get to be Eve if server population is high enough without using hardcore mode as well.
More seriously, threudorf (though I am serious about not using all caps) you are leaping in to the middle of a conversation that has been going on for about three days without reading or responding to anything that's already been said. Some of the things you are saying have already been said. Some I even agree with. But, I'd encourage you to read some of the threads on the update so you don't come across as just walking in to the room shouting and leaving.
I also don't agree with anyone who asks for their money back because they don't like the content of a game. It's like buying a book or going to see a movie. As long as the book is readable or the projector doesn't break asking for your money back just isn't how buying creative products works.
IDK it's kind of a pet peeve of mine.
But, I'm not a huge fan of the push for violence either. Thing is, most players of this game aren't violent and in the past 4 lives I lead there were no murders, no mayhem, not even when I was in a big city, it was just people working together, caring for each other and everything I love about the game.
So, Jason can add swords and what not but can't force most of us to use them. And most people seem to play this game to farm a little, teach a little and make a few momentary friends. And it's still working that way.
And as long as it does I'll keep playing. No reason not to.
Fences were mostly ignored by most players, (except as community sheep pens) and swords made a bigger splash but they are becoming less common as the new content glow wears off.
There was a sword in one of my lives and I put it in my bag since that seemed safer. But I got annoyed with the item slot being used up so I asked someone else to take it. *no one wanted it* They were like "I don't have room in my bag*
Please don't use all caps in your post titles.
Oblong. I had a string of lives where I kept getting murdered. I've been lucky since the update... and I don't expect it to magically last. Anyway it suck that you have to deal with all that. Not good at all!
It's hard to tell these items apart. I met a player who said "wells don't work anymore" he was frustrated because he made a fresh stanchion kit and could not put it on the dry shallow well. I was confused too for a bit.
Would be nice if they looked more distinctive.
Also, was it always possible to harvest stanchion kits from dry deep wells with a pump valve?
We might be getting some changes to help with the /die issue...
http://onehouronelife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6438
Right after the server reset I lived my favorite life in a long while. My mom was Eve and I was a boy... not a promising start, worse we were in a terrible location. Too many other Eve's nearby and the wild food was being picked away. My mom and I went north, and somehow didn't get separated. I ran along with a triangle stone digging up food for her and the kids she was having. At last we were in a small green area with a bit of wild food, but no water in sight. I told my mom I'd scout for a better location and I (and my brothers) took off to search. But the area was barren and as I ran further and further looking for a spot I thought "there is no way they will still be there waiting by the time I get back" But then, at last, I found a spot! It was a bit far 4 biomes to the north, but it had water, soil and a spring: so I went back to find my mom and little brothers and sisters.
She was alive! And she had a little girl. Soon we got everyone moved to the location I found. We got food growing and I hunted some rabbits. But, then I realized that my sister was the only girl and she just had one little girl niece. Would this be the end for us?
It wasn't. My niece survived and is the mother of *everyone* in this family. It was one of those bottlenecks-- where the survival of a family of 100s came down to just one woman.
I was happy with the game, and I don't often look at my family tree for games where I'm a guy, but for some reason I decided to take a look... this is what I saw:
http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … id=4448841
Amazing! I would have been happy with 5 or 6 generations!
I think what made this game so good was the way we traveled together, the way that we kept finding each other after looking for new locations, and it felt so good to be needed and dig up food for my mother as we made our way north-- I think I just lucked out and had really competent players who were in a good mood and motivated in my family. Normally, trying to scout for a new location results in death. Normally, you come back to look for people and they are dead or lost, but we stayed together. And then --finding out that our family survived for so long...! I wish I could have seen the Wild Village at it's height. Thank you to everyone who came after us for keeping it going.
Did any of you live in this town? What was it like?
I didn't take this seriously at first but if you are really up for a change I think that's great we need more smart interesting people playing anyway. See you around.
I'd like fathers but killing your male babies is not misandry lmao. It's a video game, not real life. Also it is likely your mom and other people from amazonian tribes are males irl, so yeah... don't complain about misandry just because males are not as good as females in ohol.
Fair and true points. But, killing all the boys is still crumby game play, it's not even a good strategy. Take this family I was in. I was one of Eve's son's. I scouted and found the location for the town, brought food and not to brag (OK I'm bragging) this whole linage wouldn't have existed without me. (I was Champ Wild)
http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … id=4448841
OK my mom and sister were pretty tight players too. But, being a dude I was able to do so much for them.
It would be worth to advertise the game better. Esp with the new playing field it displays.
There have been a few people who have said the current promotional material for the game gives the wrong impression. People will be happier if their expectations are met-- the promotional material for the game makes it seem like it's mostly about building a civilization with other people and caring for children. But, that's just one part of the game not the central driving theme. I think maybe it's shifted a bit or that never was the main goal to begin with?
The game is doing OK but it could be doing so much better. If we want real cities and culture we'll need several hundred people online playing the game at any given time, so a player base in the 100k range rather in the 10-20k range. The fluctuations around updates are normal. New content brings existing players back to see what's new. But I don't think the updates are making people say "I want to buy that game" (I don't think the updates are making people *not* want to buy the game either)
I've posted about ways to make this game as popular as it should be before. One of the key vectors is YouTube.
http://onehouronelife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6024
I think there are a few things that keep this game from getting more players:
-not enough youtubers we have Twisted (who is doing great work) and a few others, but videos are a big draw for showing more people the game
-people think it's like "don't starve" when it really isn't at all
-the learning curve on the game is a bit steep, so I think some people try it and then give up before they get to the heart of the enjoyable part of the gameIs it worthwhile to pester some gaming youtubers to give the game a shot? This wouldn't just help the game but also help the existing people making videos. I've thought about making a video myself: but people tend to underestimate how much work making a *good* gameplay video can be. It's not something you can just toss together casually, it takes planning and a bit of creativity.
It might be worthwhile to have a youTube video contest of some kind for example the person with the best video (Jason could judge or we could do a community vote) gets a code based on their name to offer a discount on the game to their subscribers and maybe a small cash prize. Something like that.
What other ideas can expand the community? It's fun playing in kind of a niche game, but if OHOL wants to have a future we want to seem more players coming in and to get to the next level of tech we will need bigger populations in the cities and right now I think there just aren't enough people for that to happen.
Consider Sevtech Ages which is a minecraft mod that has a lot of the tactile crafting ideas that you find in OHOL I think people who like Ages would love OHOL for the most part. The video of this game have 100ks of views, in part because the people playing it are very popular youtubers (yogscast captian sparkles) but also it's good youtube content for people who like such games. OHOL would be even more interesting to watch IMO. So maybe reach out to some of those people?