Skill Books, Reading and Learning

[Strider]

I just loaded up PZ before and read a book so my bloke wouldn't be unhappy.

 

I've had the idea of using an EvE Online method of learning new methods from books.

An example:

The player is level 0 in carpentry.

The player picks up and reads a beginners guide to carpentry.

The player spends the rest of the day farming.

The player rests in a chair from exertion or goes to sleep[1][2] and in this time they learn more of the book.

 

You could even set it so the player stars reading a book. If you save and quit the player keeps learning. This could be done by simply equating real time to game time. So for 10 hours you've been out at work the player has spent 10 hours learning a book. You come home and the player has a huge multiplier to carpentry.

 

[1] If the player slept for say 8 hours you could designate 1 or two of those ours were spent reading.

[2] You could even have the learning rate increased or decreased based on luminosity. Does the player have a candle, no, 20% the normal learning rate.

 

Understand, this is not how I think it should be. I, as ever am just throwing ideas around with recklessness. I don't care where my ideas fly or if one should happen to land in some girls banana daiquiri. Don't hurt me, k?

[BayCon]

It is very unlikely that anyone will hound you here for your ideas, whether they agree or not. My opinion? I don't think Project Zomboid is the kind of game designed for offline progress in any way. Although I hear you're just tossing ideas about, so I don't wanna shoot it down..

[Strider]

It is very unlikely that anyone will hound you here for your ideas

 

[CaptKaspar]

I'll be happy with being able to 'rest' and read at the same time. Right now you can't do anything while 'resting'. I think we should at least be able to eat and read while resting. But I guess thats a little off topic.

 

I don't personally love the idea of offline progress.

 

I think if you could read while resting you could kill two birds with one stone though. Right now I think its a drag on game-play to have to do nothing at all while your resting progress bar creeps across and then have to do nothing while your reading progress bar creeps across.

 

In short; I think we should be able to eat and read while resting.

[Strider]

I'll be happy with being able to 'rest' and read at the same time. Right now you can't do anything while 'resting'. I think we should at least be able to eat and read while resting. But I guess thats a little off topic.

Contextually, eating while resting is perfectly fine. I see no reason why other things couldn't be tagged onto the things you can do while resting.

 

My concern would be that you spend too much time resting. If that happens then you'd spend most of your time with your finger on the speed time button.

I don't personally love the idea of offline progress.

I understand. It was just an idea and I throw them out there. I don't think all of my ideas are great but if I fire enough off eventually some of them resonate with the peoples in this forum. I know then that the idea is a good one.

I think if you could read while resting you could kill two birds with one stone though. Right now I think its a drag on game-play to have to do nothing at all while your resting progress bar creeps across and then have to do nothing while your reading progress bar creeps across.

 

In short; I think we should be able to eat and read while resting.

It begs the question, what else could be done automatically whilst resting that isn't happening now.

 

* Automatically changing a bandage?

* Checking a weapon for wear and tear or just cleaning it so the mechanism is clear?

 

I'm sure there are other things a player could be doing which aren't intensive. Sort of sit in bed and chill odd jobs. I can't think of any others at the moment but I'm sure there are a few things the player could be doing.

[CaptKaspar]

 

My concern would be that you spend too much time resting. If that happens then you'd spend most of your time with your finger on the speed time button.

 

But this is what you do anyways in SP regardless, at least what I do. I don't want to sit there staring at my screen doing nothing but watching a green progress bar. For me, its just not fun gameplay. I do understand why our characters need to take breaks and rest and why reading a skill book takes time. I just fast forward it when I can so I can get back to actively playing as soon as possible. The process of resting or reading skill books isn't interactive and therefore its not as fun for me as other aspects of the game.

 

In MP you can't speed things up. Because of this our server agreed to speed up the skill book reading speed. We decided it was more fun to play other aspects of the game together.

 

Just throwing an idea out there like you did and seeing if it sticks; what about if while reading skills books you were actually displayed textual information about that skill? So the player could read something just like their character was doing. I think this would be cool for immersion. The average joe player would learn something about the skill for real life while their character was gaining an XP bonus. There could be a couple of textual lessons on each subject level that you can cycle through so you are not stuck with the same lessons each playthrough. Maybe even have player provided content? The Zomboid community could teach itself everything they collectively know about surviving the Z-Apoc while playing in a simulated Z-Apoc Lessons from players found in books about real world cooking, carpentry, electrical, first aid, fishing, etc that would be useful during the Z-Apoc.

 

This would definitely be a unique system. No other game has anything like it that I know of. I think it could be an awesome way to strengthen the PZ community as well!

[Strider]

But this is what you do anyways in SP regardless, at least what I do. I don't want to sit there staring at my screen doing nothing but watching a green progress bar. For me, its just not fun gameplay. I do understand why our characters need to take breaks and rest and why reading a skill book takes time. I just fast forward it when I can so I can get back to actively playing as soon as possible. The process of resting or reading skill books isn't interactive and therefore its not as fun for me as other aspects of the game.

To be clear. My point was not to have the option to move time forward more quickly. My hope is that it's seen that spending too much time resting is time where your character is doing nothing. It might be accurate since laziness is an evolutionary advantage (conserve energy) but it doesn't make for engaging gameplay. Put simply, resting is a good solution to the tired problem but care should be taken so this mechanic is not over used unless it could be spiced up somehow.

 

<snip>

Just throwing an idea out there like you did and seeing if it sticks; what about if while reading skills books you were actually displayed textual information about that skill? So the player could read something just like their character was doing. I think this would be cool for immersion. The average joe player would learn something about the skill for real life while their character was gaining an XP bonus. There could be a couple of textual lessons on each subject level that you can cycle through so you are not stuck with the same lessons each playthrough. Maybe even have player provided content? The Zomboid community could teach itself everything they collectively know about surviving the Z-Apoc while playing in a simulated Z-Apoc Lessons from players found in books about real world cooking, carpentry, electrical, first aid, fishing, etc that would be useful during the Z-Apoc.

I really like this idea but I worry as it sounds like a lot of work. On it's own merits though it seems like a good idea and certainly addresses my other point about how resting would otherwise be boring.

This would definitely be a unique system. No other game has anything like it that I know of. I think it could be an awesome way to strengthen the PZ community as well!

Oh I dunno. I learnt little titbits about say, the wonders of the world from Civilization through the years

That said, I can't think of too many games that I found educational.