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### Topic

#### New Housing System

While most glitchen look forward to a new housing system, there seems to be a common myopic opinion that houses are simply large glitchen drop boxes with resource nubs, and that an ideal abode would be a prettier 50k house with bog resources. But houses can be so much more; Tiny Speck has the chance to add a whole new level of game play with an update. What follows is my particular, delighted thoughts on a potential new system:
I think it would be wonderful to see a housing system that worked similar to the skill system. Rather than plunking down a lump sum for a certain class of housing, houses would begin small and bare. A glitch would then build out the house according to her fancy. Building would take time in addition to money and/or resources, with more complex structures taking more time and/or money to add.
As an example: I might start out with a tiny one acre hovel with just a trophy case and a backyard plot with enough room for one feature (a single tree patch, a four-plot garden, or a tiny pigpen to hold a single pig). I could choose to upgrade my hovel to a hermit's lair which includes a cupboard. Or instead, I could build out my backyard to two acres for a bigger pigpen or two tree patches, etc. After adding a few acres, and upgrading my domicile a few times, I might gain the option to dig out a basement for an herb garden, but I'd need Soil Appreciation VI to do so. Eventually, I could learn certain skills to improve my type of house. I could become a "Peater Patter" to build a bog-style shire home. I could learn "Plankster 1" to build basic wood homes. Or I could learn the "Mortartician" skill if I wanted to build brick homes or a castle. Of course, I would have to expand my land by a certain number of acres to fit bigger and better houses, with each acre expansion taking more time. Houses also might require blueprints for various rooms I might build. I'd pay 150k for a room with more cabinetry, but I'd also need to contribute 500 planks and 100 bricks before waiting the 18 hours (or however long) for the room to be built.
This type of system would be expandable in all directions. Property would be customizable. Some additions would be decorative and simply cost resources. Other additions would add various benefits to your property. A banquet hall might increase the amount of energy food gives you while munching it there. Or you might build a chapel to house your shrines, decreasing the amount of tithing necessary. You could then add a giant statue to that chapel to amplify shrine benefits given. Backyards could be expanded beyond pigpens, trees, and gardens. Use up one acre to add a catapult to fling yourself anywhere in Ur. Or clear away a tree patch and add a barbecue pit that could convert one piggy into a hundred meat instantaneously. Someone might own a simple house with a giant orchard. Another glitch might own a grand tower with no backyard at all. Want to paint your house? Learn the painting skill, and collect the right resources for the right color. Or top your many turret towers with collectible pennants of varying rarity, a perfect hobby for the obsessive compulsive vexillologist in us all. Potions could be brewed to augment housing development or tools built to speed up building time. A deconstructing skill could be learned to tear down walls to make way for expansion, and a moving van could even be hired to tranport your property to a new part of Ur. While any type of structure could be built in any neighborhood, certain zones might offer benefits according topography. A house in Chakra Phool might give a slight bonus to the time it takes for herbs to grow, while a house in Groddle Forest might yield slightly more harvest from trees.
The sky is the limit here. You could literally build a castle on a cloud. Or a moonbase. Or a pirate ship in a harbor. Add-ons and new designs can be piled on, without rocking the structure of the game.
But those were just possibilities, the build out could look completely different. My main point is that houses would no longer be static, but something a glitch would constantly be working on and improving, pouring time, money and resources into. And perhaps most importantly, a glitch could take real ownership of the property, creating a home that may be similar to, but not exactly like their neighbors'.
I realize my wishful thinking translates to hard, hard work and testing on the part of Tiny Speck. And in all likelihood, they've got something even better planned for the road ahead. This post is perhaps more of a veiled argument for a future reset. If Tiny Speck roles out a major new system like this, there may be some initial hiccups .For instance, they may discover every glitch has built up a Hearstian mega-mansion within a week of a housing reboot, or they may realize everyone abuses the new system by creating giant pigpen factories, pigs being such a cash cow. But I'd rather they take some risks and make some bold new changes in the hopes of a future version of Glitch that is even better and is truly infinitely expandable, even if us early glitch pioneers have to spend a couple months relearning the original skill set, and give up the hoarded resources we've been amassing.

Posted 13 months ago by Jessup | Permalink

### Replies

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- +1
  Bunches of awesome ideas! Seems you've spent some time thinking on this. hehe
  Posted 11 months ago by Wynella | Permalink
- I love all these ideas! The only worry I would have is that players would be more or less stuck with their (sometimes sucky) locations. What are the chances that someone would ever sell their home? I know I won't if I spent so much time, energy and resources pimping it out for my particular gameplay strategy. Yes, IRL, people usually are stuck with their locations, but there are actually reasons why they may move and sell (money problems, emigration etc). With this system, what could possibly cause someone to move? And how many people would find that customised place particularly useful? How many will be willing to pay for amenities that a certain house has, that they don't find useful? I'm guessing that the street projects would help alleviate this problem. I hope so.
  Posted 11 months ago by Trinitaria Starr ™ | Permalink
- This would be nice for people that sit here 24/7 and get bored from doing the same things. But I don't have time like this to spare to and to have all of this to make a house , would be a huge problem for me. It would take me a year to make a halfway decent house, lol. No thank you! 18hrs to make a room. It does sound like farmville to me and I havent played that in ages. While I applaud the detail in thinking up all of this, this is not a option for me.
  Posted 11 months ago by Queen Zipporah | Permalink
- Moving home is quite a hassle, maybe a solution would be something like one time only moving-boxes (or an one-ride Glitchitranslocatorvan™, can already see them buzzing chopper-frogs spinning around). A place for bazzilion of hoarded treasures, only able to put stuff in, then transport, and also one time only pulling your massive load out.
  Maybe quest-related, bit o bureaucracy-troubles, expiring of a certain time or expensive, but this way its doable to pick a nice new spot without too much hassle.
  Posted 11 months ago by Jemmet | Permalink
- I appreciate your creativity and enthusiasm however, I too do not care to spend that much time building a mega fantasy mansion. I like puttering around the house but I get the most enjoyment from being out in the world. I don't want the house to become all consuming.
  --I'd like furniture I can move and interract with (table for food, drink bar).
  --Interior doors I can lock so I could throw stuff in a room, lock the door and have a big ol party.
  --Ability to grow crops and herbs
  --Ability to customize # of patches / size of crop
  --More than one cabinet if I want
  --Display shelves for a collection where items cannot be removed by visitors. (too bad locking is necessary, but it is)
  --Have a growing potted plant for decoration that is also useful in game
  --A choice of furniture and wall color / style (like wardrobe for houses)
  I'd like to move easily so I can live in the different areas and landscapes.
  In other words, buying a house would become more about where do you want to live rather than the constraint of the style of housing available.
  My 2 cents...
  Posted 11 months ago by Ooola | Permalink
- What Miso George said.
  I don't want to have to learn eleventy billion new skills to have the house I want. I like my current house just fine. I just want some personalization. Like maybe flower pots so I can decorate my homes or the ability to make furniture that people can interact with. (Like chairs you can sit in or something.)
  Instead of making this an "everyone has to do this" thing, what about having people who WANT to build a house purchase building permits that gives them land that comes with a hovel? That way people who don't have the time, or the desire, to trick out their homes don't have to put up with a tiny home.
  Posted 11 months ago by Sindee☆Cyanide | Permalink
- I am enamored with this idea so much, I think I'll marry it!
  Best Idea Ever!
  Thanks for putting so much thought into it and for sharing.
  Posted 11 months ago by Minkey | Permalink

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