One Hour One Life Forums

Josh, how do you think that the current game would change because of the number of people and their longevity? I've been playing it frequently, and I keep imagining that some of the issues will either be solved by the masses or exacerbated by them, especially when trying to synchronize the things that we would be trying to build together, or amidst a lot of clutter left by others. But when playing and thinking of what feels in-theme, I don't know how to project and resolve it based on player numbers and on-screen items. Maybe some kind of Fits law calculation?

I love, love, love the idea that the elder gets a word from the "game spirit"! It's like an evolution of the word/speech amount... A baby can say a few letters, that grows with age into full words, which would be useful to short commands. However, "thinking" shows up after a while because age allows one to be contemplative. The brain works more than the body does. I've been making a game about the elderly for the better part of this year; I love this subject!

My grandparents, when I was little, would tell me what to go get so that I could then go a thing. Like get a ladder, or get a rope and get a tool... reach where they couldn't. Go catch/feed chicken, go find some eggs. Cook this this way, "make me coffee, dark, with this amount of sugar, like X person". For example, my grandma's "pinch" amount is different than my moms. Pick the chillies, don't eat them (I ate them, wanted to die). "please go get culantro". "where?" I'd ask, "where the dogs pee". "Make me a tea of xyz leaves for my stress".

Now, when I take my grandma (she's 92 minutes old out to check on her garden, she talks and talks, she lists and points to the things that are growing, how they're grown, how she planted them, care for, and how long it's taken to sprout, what kind of thing you can do with the fruit... She also says what she doesn't get to grow in Orlando's climate/dirt vs back home, what she misses, how to protect from rodents. But she can't be out very long, so it's always a short walk before we go to the shade and she tells me to go check on the flowers again, talk about how wonderful her children are, if I'm hungry, then walk out again, etc. "Move this here, fix this here. Bring this to me" all are said often. BTW, I don't get that information while inside the house, we talk about inside things. And she doesn't remember food recipes very well unless she's near food. it's always and almost exclusively while she's DOING something, or near a thing, like muscle memory singing.

When the elders die, you tend to remember their words more vividly, the things they liked, their methods, and memories of what they did or said sprout up when you're near their house/location.

Those aren't bees, they're wasps, "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!", Don't step on that, Don't sit down here, ... i.e. teaching! After a while they ask about my world, "how do YOU do something with a computer", but they really just want you to do it for them... Elders do kinda break past things down into what it has, what its called, and what to do with things. However, elders do both Top Down and bottom Up sharing.

What if in addition to getting the hints yourself (as the elder EVE), others do too while they share the same screen space with an elder... everyone gets near by knowledge?

That would be very useful!

Why not both "bottom up" "top down"? It's like OOP, "is a" or "has a"; this game adds a "does a". Bonus: TD won't require multiple pages, only one single item hint, not all of its possibilities. Complex items would work the same way: Full Car {Empty Car + ...}. i.e. I think players do both BU/TD and create online strategy guides when either is missing.

IRL, I can't make a car, but I can disassemble it. Upon doing this, I will find many things I already know about, though...

IRL, when I stumble on a "hatchet", which I've never made nor seen anyone make, I'm probably going to think of both what I can do with it, and what it's made of, maybe in that order for a hatchet, but not on food, where I'd rather know what's in it and than how it's prepared. A hammer still works this way at the store. I've seen tons different ones, but I'm looking for the one that can do and undo a nail + that is made of a metal and a wood. If I break the wood, I know I could fix it, if I break the metal I would be SOL.

Perhaps this is as simple as putting the material on the name of the item... but that feels clunky.

I often find a small cluster of things that others made, and have no clue about what it took to make it. And not knowing what resources I need to further it, I go on to another place I can make a cluster of my own, since that, at least, gives me something to do.

I've had problems with the know how required for a water bottle/skin (make it, fill it, use it) even though I know it involves rabbit skin because of what I see with my eyes on the screen, not because of what the character helps me discover in the world. Finding axiomatic items (and End items: those that can't do anything else) would also be surprises, a rabbit is made of {rabbit}; i.e. one wouldn't see {rabbit != meat + fur}.

IRL, I would think it takes a fur, some heat, and needle and thread, and I'm sure I'm not that far off. Now, ingame, the game's thought process doesn't get revealed much, and that may be what you like, which I can understand it especially if it's mostly about moving forward throughout civilization... then it doesn't need to teach about the world, just about what one can do, much like a playground one visits.

However, i feel characters are somewhat intelligent and know things about the world. So, when dedicating contemplation/study on an object for a couple of seconds (weeks for an Homo-OHOL), I wish they would share both what you could do with it AND where it's made of.