After taking a serious look at the main farm screen and coming up with some new ideas I've had to put some time into designing the new stable screen. The basic idea of the stable screen is that it takes the place of the cow inspector but also allows for job/activity assignment. In the act of combining and shifting the purpose of some screens I've come to new conclusions and ideas you guys might find interesting.
With the simplification of stats such as health into ability points, there's a few opening for different interactions with this ability point resource. One idea I struck on was using points for funding levels of physical activity that your cow girls will perform besides their job/activities. The basic idea is to have neutral non-effecting level and to have sedentary and active levels. Going down either way would cost additional AP (doing nothing can be limiting too) but provide different bonuses. I'm still figuring out what kind of bonuses there will be, but I'm imagining that sedentary lifestyles will promote bonuses to certain types of growth while active lifestyles can help control/ maintain figures. There could also be other types of bonuses and possibly demerits but I think it would be nice if they balance out making either choice useful in its own right.
I also wanted to add the ability to talk with your cow girls. These will be one sided conversations for the most part, but will demonstrate their mood or hint at secret stats and the like. I also plan for this to be a particularly important option for special characters that will have story lines or deeper interactions than your standard affair cow girl.
The visual layout will be more dependent on select items from collapsible drop downs. It's a bit complex on my end, but I want for it to be easy and intuitive for the player. I have some crude layouts on paper but the closer I get to building these elements the clearer these layouts will become. I also hope to use a much better scroll bar that I've developed that more closely resembles a classic one like on the side of your browser.
On some side notes I'm just giving a heads up that I'm going to be super busy this weekend so output will be low as well for the rest of the next few weeks. I'm looking at a new job prospect and I'll be doing some extra homework to get myself up to speed. If this works out I'll be pretty much be doing the same level of work as I am now for significantly more pay. Wish me luck!
And on a final note I wanted to share this cool game that Muhznit brought to my attention.
http://primalemotion.deviantart.com/art/Cow-Girl-Game-v-0-5-319386070
It's a fully animated flash game all about milking cow girls! Its quite similar in theme as I'm trying here so undoubtedly you should go and check it out.
I definitely support a conversation option, mostly because I like to at least have the option of treating the cowgirls as willing participants in the farm rather than just property. I understand others may not care to do that, but I would like to have the chance, at least.
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DeleteGood luck with the new job!
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