[Human 4.0 Dev Blog] Bonus Part 2: Manors, Guilds And Even.. Districts!

[Senda 472]

Bonus Dev Blog 2: Manors, Guilds and even.. Districts!

 

 

Hello, and welcome to the second bonus blog to the Human 4.0 Dev Blog series! I'm Senda, the person in charge of the Oren construction team, and in today's edition we're going to take a sneak-peak at how one can turn a normal house in the capital.. into something.. bigger.

 

On behalf of everyone involved, I can tell you that we are all incredibly excited to finally start lifting a few of the curtains that will, for the most part, continue to block and obscure the full view of 4.0, till the eventual release.

 

 

=======================================================================

 

 

So, let's jump right into the think of things and take another peek at what houses will look like in the new human capital, come 4.0:

 

 

 

That's right, three-story tall houses (with basements! So, technically, four-story houses) that are each broken up into two 'plots' that can be rented.

 

Someone might choose to live in the lower part of a house (that includes the groundfloor and basement) and turn it into a shop.. or they might want to rent the top half (second and third floors) and make it their home.. and nothing else.

 

Of course, variations of the above choises are completely interchangable possibilities.. and we very much look forward to seeying what kind of dynamic choices will be made by the capital's residents.

 

If one looks closely enough in the above picture, you can make out the 4 different doors that give entry to the four plots that the above pair (yes, its two) houses comprises.

 

 

What we are looking at here is the bare-bones.. the minimum standard.. the 'framework' if you will, for housing of all sorts in the new capital.

 

Residents will claim plots, move in (pay rent when it is due) and generally have complete and total free reign on how they organize/decorate/pile stuff into their homes, same as it has always been.

 

However.. we want the new capital to be more "living, breathing city" then before.

 

We want to see people take an active interest in decorating the outside of their houses, even going as far as to restructure them.. to make it incredibly obvious that their plot is, for instance, a smithing workshop.

 

Just for the heck of it, let's add a small tower to the house on the right:

 

 

 

Now, small towers are all sorts of fun, as they are a terribly great place to hang things from. Things that flutter calmly in the wind, like banners.. but more on that later.

 

Bottomline here is that all of these houses are not built yet. Come the launch of 4.0, a massive effort will take place in the new capital to get the houses built up as quickly as possible, with entire gangs of workers on standby to gather supplies, while a gaggle of masons and carpenters work around the clock in shifts to build the houses up, beam by beam.

 

And that alone gives way to a lot of artistic freedom. Some houses will have a little balcony, others will have a small tower.. while some remain 'bog-standard', yet still of the same building standard as everything else.

 

 

Now.. let's imagine these two houses inhabited by three different groups.

 

The first group is a Gentry-class family within Oren, who have chosen to live in the capital, having no land of their own. They are renting both plots of the right-side house, giving them enough rooms to live with their family of four people.

Being a family with a banner, they decide to decorate the outside of their house with streaming banners, proudly depicting who they are and where they reside.

 

The second group is comprised of a blacksmith and his assistant, who rent the bottom part of the left-side house, where they have set up a large furnace, the piping and chimneywork of which coils through the house, all the way to the top, where multiple chimneys stick out and spew smoke skywards, while the apprentice works the bellows.

 

Lastly, the third group is a lone individual, who has rented the top part of the left-side house, above the blacksmith. Here, this person resides, going about his own business and interests, while ever so occasionally getting annoyed with the smoke seeping from that chimney that was poorly repaired last winter.. and has been leaking ever since.

 

 

 

This.. is but a tip of the proverbial iceberg.

 

Where we had very strict rules on 'not modifying the exterior of a plot' in New Abresi.. in the new 4.0 human capital.. it will be almost the direct opposite. Change is allowed, even encouraged.

 

The only requirement is that after modifications, the house still adheres to the style of the city. Which, barring someone being foolish enough to think they can completely tear down a house and rebuild it as something completely different, gives a tremendous amount of room to people.

 

And there is no real limit to who can do this either. You can be a family, who wants to show their colours (literally) and drape banners all over your house..

 

Perhaps you run an Adventuring Guild, with your own little bounty-board as a key feature on the outside, where people can read about the quests pending completion.. and how they can sign up to take part..

 

Perhaps you can find a way to remodel the outside in such a way, that without a shadow of a doubt.. anyone walking up will immediately recognize your Alchemy Shop..

 

 

And perhaps.. the family who moved in before (in the first example) took some time.. but managed to incorporate the blacksmith into their household. Perhaps he is in a paycheck, ensuring him steady work (maybe he never liked the 'shop' aspect of his work?) .. while the lone hermit upstairs is now with the family as well, using his large collection of books (who knew?) as basis to teach the family's young children to read and write.

 

Perhaps.. the family then sought approval from the Imperial Steward.. and were granted dispensation to merge the two houses into one bigger whole, in recognition for their long stay as reliable renters.

 

Perhaps it now looks a bit like this:

 

 

 

And who knows.. another bit of time passes.. and the family grows in number, renting out more houses next to and around their first one.

 

Banners flutter between the various houses, linking the plots across the road with colourfull detailing.

 

And before you know it.. a District arises within the capital.

 

(Who knows what kind of interesting benefits that will earn you?)

 

 

 

One thing that I cannot stress enough, is this: Your imagination is the limit.

 

We are going to let the city be a framework. A guideline, with a set style of buildings, to ensure it remains a coherent whole.

 

But within that framework lies the potential for some never-before-seen builds of amazing quality.

 

I fondly look forward to the various interested parties surprising both myself and the rest of the stewarding team.. indeed.. all of Oren and the rest of LotC, with unlocking this potential.

 

 

 

And with that, we have reached the end of this second bonus Dev Blog on the human capital.

This one has been a long time coming, with a multitude of people asking questions about how homes might be modified.. if banners were to be allowed, what limits there would be to having entire families inside houses and if more then one could be rented at the same time.. and ultimately, how one would go about 'getting' an entire district.

 

Hopefully, this blog has answered those questions.

 

Should any questions remain, as always, feel free to leave a comment for me to reply to with further clarification. (And if you have suggestions on how things should be done differently, then please send them to me via forum pm. I am all ears to feedback, but require the thread itself to remain clear of it, for the sake of clarity in presentation of these plans.)

[Islam 145]

beautiful

[Ford 1996]

You're being the neighbor Mr. Rogers wanted you to be, Senda. Thanks man :)

[IrishPerson 693]

Sweet

[Kim 1328]

This is going really awesomely :D

[Z3r05t4r 855]

Unfortunately humans are restricted to only two thumbs. So I can not hold up more than two.

[Reckless Banzai Screamer 15456]

Makes me think of making an Easterner district. Imagine all of the ramen we would sell!

[Senda 472]

Makes me think of making an Easterner district. Imagine all of the ramen we would sell!

 

I would personally love to see a return of the infamous ramen shop.  (good noodles)

 

What I found amusing in New Abresi, was that first.. there was that ramen shop.. and later, someone opened a sushi bar across the street, almost leading to a turf war. 

 

 

Best of all, both shops had their merchantile endeavors and preparation of the food fully roleplayed out. 

 

Just sitting at the counter and watching the food being prepared was a show in of itself.

[Rhia 936]

Awesome work Senda! Glad to see 4.0 is looking slick :)

[Redbaron™ 690]

Looks good.

[TheBareSheet 194]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.