Feature request thread

I see there will be an ability to put fish in the sea implemented in the next update. (tomorrow) Let me be the first to post my idea for that.

Placing fish is cool and all, but it's just an aesthetic thing. Now, if would be a source of food for your followers then it'd be more useful. Next you add some predator fish, like sharks for example, that will eat the little fishes.

The more a player uses his god powers to create more fish (no Jesus pun intended), the more food there will be for the predators so their population will also start to grow.

The more fish the followers catch, the less food there will be for the predators so their population will decrease.

It would achieve a nifty balance just as it is in nature. Also there is no possibility for the player to just keep adding endless amounts of fish because the more they do it the more predators will come into existence.

Darn it man, stop trying to be realistic. Less prey means they turn into vicious amphibious fish monsters....Excluding the third, that's what I've been saying in some respect off and on for a few weeks now! Except I went more mystical/spiritual and technological/scientific. The idea being that it's a little bit of a balancing act of giving your followers independence through the latter route or demanding their attention through the former. With one you possibly get a larger and more powerful populace with less divine influence whereas with the other you may get a smaller populace bolstered by divine influence. A more moderate technological and spiritual route through an economic path would be a great middle grounds, I think.

I would hesitate to characterize it as exploratory however, as I think each path should have its own form of curiosity that you toy with.If anything, this design direction is the most humble bullshit Peter's ever done and it's a damn shame. This is especially because for all his imagination of what's in his work, he seems extraordinarily afraid to actually bother trying to be a good designer in the sense of guiding the player through the structure of the game rather than avoiding all the simplifying nonsense and silly tutorials. An example of good design (in the first parts anyway) is the recent teaser/demo P.T. It limits you to a single repeated area, but guides the player through subtle little changes in it that teach you button prompts. It's risky as hell designwise, but it's far more interesting than tossing up a controller diagram with all the buttons' functions described. Similar to this is The Unfinished Swan, it doesn't do jack to teach you (if I'm not mistaken) but lets you teach yourself. Figuring out something for yourself is a thrilling experience that should be worked towards, if you ask me.*

Or maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way, maybe he's being too good of a designer by forcefully guiding the player through everything by limiting them so much. Personally, I think when there's no other way to learn than what the designer provides, at least when it comes to more open games, you're kind of doing it wrong.

*Speaking of this, you know what would be absolutely stunning? Replacing the sculpting tutorial with a playful fellow god. Instead of coming across your followers looking like worthless dolts drowning, have the other god show you that you can sculpt by pulling the land out from underneath them and then you quickly sculpt it back to save them. Eventually, you find that this god is being worshiped by the Astari and while not exactly evil, their god is something of a prankster and so too are they as a result. When you finally come to confront them, you defeat them in some way you choose, and depending on the way chosen you receive something of their civilization and god.

E.g. Baseline reward: followers can climb and swim. Divine reward: if you "kill" their god, you get a certain power/gift set. If you subdue their god, you get a different power/gift set. What these may be would be up to 22cans to decide.

My initial rough thoughts would be something like kill=get the celebratory statue idol thing that requires activation for celebration, subdue=you make the god your slave of celebration to automatically do all the happiness micromanagement for you.

I think, something to look into for the expansion system would be to bring civilization into the world.
Allow followers to wander outside of your influence, but have nature take them out if they do.

Anything from wild animals to the ravaging effects of weather to pure and simple exposure.
While within a 'civilized' area, they can take shelter during storms and they have protection against all but the most daring of natural foes.
If possible, also introduce 'human' opponents. Bandits or raiders could prowl the land and occasionally hit smaller settlements, lone followers or huts etc. And have larger settlements establish defenses against these things.

This would prevent the need of a very distinct 'sphere of influence' as it is in B&W, while still restricting your area at the start.
Afterall, it isn't reasonable for someone without the proper support to go for long distances. Don't have then 'return when tired' - have them get tired fall asleep and die by ravaging wolves or die of exposure. That'll learn them to wander off beyond your limits.


Allowing the player to create waystations and such will allow for a natural expansion. And you can still provide 'natural barriers' to prevent the player from going too far. Anything from a mountainrange that needs a certain technology or ravines. To other obstacles to overcome.
The expansion beacons 'work' but they do not 'fit' - they are just another cheap bandaid solution that doesn't make much sense in the grand scheme of things.

I don't know, the whole god-game aspect heavily relies on the in-game AI.
The better the AI, the less you NEED to micromanage, but since we're pretty much assuming that the AI will never be better than the dirtpoor AI we have right now (and be honest, the pathfinding is horrendous) you pretty much NEED to handhold the followers like the game tries to handhold the player.


Ideally I'd like to have it in such a way that the AI will automatically venture out. You'll have your explorer type units that will roam around. Likely these will be hunter/forager style professions that do so from their own natural perspective anyway. And similar as how ants will find and mark 'resources' they will do the same.
Then as your followers either need certain things to advance or as you 'guide' them. They should in turn go out and go there.

Alternately you could provide 'easy' paths, by terrain manipulation. And as such they will be more likely go venture along these paths.
The big thing is that you're going to get RTS/strategy elements regardless.
Unless you are going to keep the game ridiculously basic, you are going to run into RTS elements such as resources, combat and more.


What is a god-game? I'm getting the feeling that some people see 'god-games' as puzzle games. Where you manipulate the terrain and have your followers just kinda 'flow over' it untill they reach their goal.
To me, a god-game basicly IS an RTS game, but without the direct control over each individual unit. You don't go out ordering soldiers or ordering your individual followers unless you really NEED to nudge them in the right direction.

And doing so will in turn result in them responding to your actions. But for your followers to be able to act without your constant intervention, they need some degree of intelligence in the first place.
I don't think that nature taking out your people is very RNG. If you go out into the forest without proper equipment and wolves attack you, you're going to have a problem. If you're stuck outside at night in the cold, you're going to have a problem.
Your followers will *know* this, meaning that aside from the few idiots. Most will stay where it is 'safe' unless you as a god drive them out to do otherwise.


With that in mind, it'll mostly be singular followers you send on long distance stretches that will die to nature. Not the individual AI, as these will stay where it is safe unless they NEED to expand their current area.
But thats how I'd view it.


As for waystations needing micro-management - I disagree. Followers will get a natural AI programming telling them that *this* is the distance I can travel safely in a day. If I do not have a 'safe' place to get back to overnight and I'm not driven by my god (or other circumstances) to travel out.
I will 'create' my own place before venturing further.
That way, your followers will naturally expand and outposts will form along roads often traveled.
Locations that are beneficial because they are rich in resources will naturally grow into settlements without the need for intervention.

The only *NEED* for intervention is when you as a player/god want to have settlements in a specific place.
I think it is ridiculous that we right now have to designate settlements. Everyone here is complaining how certain suggestions are 'too much RTS and not enough god-game'.
Yet when I look at Godus right now, I see a great need for constant micro-management.

The settlements, expansion, belief collection, wheat collection, ore collection - there isn't a single element in the game that doesn't require some degree of tending. Yet at the same time, the game punishes you for taking a direct hand too often. I feel like I'm talking to a schizophrenic who just doesn't know what he wants. On the one hand he constantly urges me to take action, only to hit me and shout at me angrily when I do...
We have a game that wants to run itself (punish you for sculpting or leashing too much), but with the constant need to collect belief/wheat/ore.
(And allow me to get this straight, I do not consider swiping collection bubbles to be "playing a game")


I think I'm kinda rambling at this point though...
What it comes down to for me, pick either side. Either go full on allowance of micro-management or create a game that is intelligent enough to function on its own and that has you as a god guiding, rather than taking a direct hand.
Godus seems to be very much the former, while claiming to want to be the latter.

Regarding follower pathfinding and expansion drift, I think I made a post earlier somewhere about a cartographer. A follower who scouts out the terrain and maps it (just pretend of course) that would have the effect that other followers will be able to learn about their environment. Initially he'll just map the starting area and so followers will be able to easily find their way around there. Eventually the population will need to expand to a larger area but the terrain is still unknown. The cartographer will then set out and explore and map a new piece of terrain. Perhaps he'd climb to the top of the nearest hill so he'd have a good view over a larger part of land. Once he has mapped a piece of land that would be suitable for people to live on (terraintype/resources) the followers would automatically set off on a voyage to attempt to settle on that land.

That sounds great, but I can't tell from the tone of your post if you're being serious or pulling our legs.

I am fabs(); I do not lie. I also really like floating islands.

Are we talking alien abductions here? #probing



Well, as a god you should be able to find a way to inspire your surveyor to set out in a certain direction. Perhaps the totem could be useful in that regard. Also you might be able to sculpt some land to make it more appealing for your surveyor to go there. I dunno.

Priest! Everyone to the Altars!