Preamble: Yes, details provided thus far by TS are sketchy; Yes, TS is made up of radically smart people; Yes, they're no doubt burning midnight oil trying to figure this out, and yes, what they finally unveil will no doubt be amazing.
That said, I've been trying to imagine how it might work in execution, as well; I also know there's a lot of brilliance in these forums, so I'm creating a thread that I hope will capture some of those ideas, and to solicit your feedback on the skeleton of a custom housing user experience.
First, let's parse how housing could work in the new year. One might buy an existing home and then make modifications to it -- ie, drop a basement into one's Rasana 50K. Or one might build a home completely from scratch. I don't think these ideas should be mutually exclusive. Instead, while building a custom home from the ground up might be significantly more expensive than the old 50K home, it would also be a unique avenue for a player's creativity. So what I imagine is that both options will appeal to discrete groups. And perhaps, those groups would crossover over time.
From this premise, then, let's stipulate that there could even be three kinds of homes:
a) Relatively cheap homes that have limited upgrades (say, furnishings and interior decoration, but no architectural expansion).
b) More expensive homes that have unlimited internal upgrades (buy/make all the furniture/appliances you want) and limited architectural upgrades (perhaps a basement, or a second floor); expandable yard, the ability to eliminate animal containment centers to add more tree or crop plots -- these kinds of things.
c) Custom build: You buy the lot, contribute the blocks, the metal, the earth, the lumber, and can build (with some upper limit) the home of your dreams.
I want to explore in this post, how the Custom Build might work from a player's perspective, since it's the most open-ended, and needs the most delineation.
a) A player buys a lot. Where are the lots available? How does one buy one? I'm imagining that lots will be available much in the same way that housing is available now -- lots become available and listed, and purchasable through the existing realty engine. The reason for this is because the code is probably already there, and because if players are allowed to establish lots anywhere, this could lead to a cluttering of streets as we know them. Not saying I'm against players being able to develop where ever they so choose -- I just don't see how this avoids huge clusters of players gravitating toward Groddle, and the Firebogs. More ideas on this topic welcome.
b) Once the lot is purchased, what then? I'm imagining that the lot requires some development. One could clear the lot (removing trees, and piling up resources), level it, dig it out (more resources for later use), and lay a foundation. The foundation would probably be built from blocks. Here a barn-raising effort could happen, where the player could invite or summon friends to help with the building. I'm imagining this could take many days.
c) The foundation is laid. What now? Here's where it might get interesting. What if a player could select from a menu of architectural styles? We already have a few -- Big White 50K, Bog, Cave, Cottage, Treehouse, etc. But what if a range of new architectural styles became available -- with attending supplies needed and costs. One style (let's call it Medieval) might take more bricks & blocks than an all-timber (let's call it Alpine) construction. Another construction (let's call it Japanese) might involve wood and paper (think shoji). The style might mitigate the number of rooms one can construct. After all, if you're going to build tall, you probably need some stonework. Another style (let's call it Persian) might take more earth blocks (research Geltaftan, and Cal-Earth) than stone, and require extensive creation of plaster (off to get more mortar barnacles). There might be straw-bale constructions that use grain, and plaster, but again, cannot be built exceptionally tall owing to load-bearing characteristics of same. Finally, what about geodesic domes, ala Buckminster Fuller? The onion-topped buildings endemic to Eastern Europe? Yurts! Igloos! The possibilities, as you can see from this quick sketch are many, and to my mind, quite interesting.
d) The architectural style has been selected. The player now chooses the number of rooms she wishes to construct, and defines how the rest of the lot will be used: Number of crop plots; number of tree plots; animal pens, whether or not trees will appear in the animal pens, and the like. Now she and her friends have their work cut out for them. Soil needs to be mitigated for agriculture (peat blocks); patches need to be dug and planted; the real barn-raising begins with all the resources needed to raise the rooms according to the plan. This might take days or weeks, depending on the success of that player to rally her friends and raise her resources.
e) Construction (exterior) is finished. Now the rooms need to be decorated and furnished. Tinkering could play a role here (see my earlier appliance thread, and another, earlier thread) in making appliances and furniture. New skills might be added (woodwright, plasterer, furniture maker, painter) to create the interior. Pigments might need to be gathered for paint. Wood for furniture. Metals for appliance making. Now the player must decide whether to furnish it herself, or develop the skills necessary to create her own.
f) Furnishing. There's been a number of eloquent requests for usable furniture in houses. And there's room for a great deal of creativity here. For example: Are there different styles of furniture available? Are these defined by the architectural style? Or are they unlocked based on skill? IE, at low levels of skill, one can make crude furniture; at higher levels of skill one can bang out a craftsman-style armoire. This would connect quite well with 'Xad's Carpentry skill request.
This is a long, wall of text post -- if you've had the patience to read what I've delineated here to the end, thank you, but most importantly, what would you add to this crude sketch? I know the best ideas are still out there in YOUR heads -- I wrote this to tease them out to share with the rest of us.
All best,
~Crash