Construction System

[Pamplemousse]

Preface: This idea is for beyond 1.0 when the current roadmap is complete.

 

I was looking at this old video displaying an early concept of what Project Zomboid creative mode would look like, and I saw something of a resemblance to the Sims 4's excellent construction system. However I thought it would be great to take the same mechanics one step further and instead expand upon this system in the normal mode of the game. As of now you place every little wall segment one at a time, meanwhile in what I'm suggesting, you plan/plot out what your desired construction site will look like (imagine what's shown in the creative video except its like 50% opacity) and then to pull it off you can either incrementally work on it yourself, set your construction oriented NPCs to do the job, or work on it with your buddies in multiplayer. I think it would add a much more collaborative aspect to it (as you and your friends can act as the architects) and also make the construction feel more realistic.

 

There's definitely room for additions and there will need to be parts of it that might require regulation (Setting a cap for the amount of these ghost objects of your blueprint you can have at a time, or whether to keep them client or server-side) but I think it would be an amazing addition to the game.

 

Thanks!

-Pamplemousse

 

Side-note: Maybe build templates could be saved too so you could use your usual setup, or download one from the workshop? Could expand into an even bigger community building aspect.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Pamplemousse

[grammarsalad]

Love it. This would also allow us to 'see' beforehand if some aspect of our planned build doesn't work.  Like, I recently tried to create a 'fishing house' only to find out that I could not create a wall on the south (east?) facing floor edge.  I had to have this ugly extra 'appendage' sticking out on that side.  I wouldn't have wasted the nails had I known that was going to happen ahead of time.  

Edited December 26, 2019 by grammarsalad
clairity

[Loskene]

Copy Rust's building grade system. Walls of upgradable material, with the lowest level basically serving as a blueprint. Extremely cheap and quick to build and offering basically no durability, before being upgraded with whatever materials and skills you have available once you're happy with the design. Twig/Thatch -> Wood -> Stone/Brick -> Metal. Feels a bit more "in universe" than having a holographic building outline.

[Pamplemousse]

Quote

Copy Rust's building grade system. Walls of upgradable material, with the lowest level basically serving as a blueprint. Extremely cheap and quick to build and offering basically no durability, before being upgraded with whatever materials and skills you have available once you're happy with the design. Twig/Thatch -> Wood -> Stone/Brick -> Metal. Feels a bit more "in universe" than having a holographic building outline.

 

I personally think one of the fun aspects of the suggestion comes from the 'holographic,' building outline as I think it provides a good way of having the construction oriented NPCs still be useful as they will follow your vision of what the building should be, rather then you having to put each piece together yourself each time.  I think it would be much better to just have your blueprint for an outpost for example then order your builders to build them in different sites rather than doing it by hand each time.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Pamplemousse
Specified who I am responding to

[numbersixthecat]

I agree, something "à la rimworld" would be neat. Also, interruptible, time consuming construction that has at least a minimum amount of physics behind. There was an old mod by @blindcoder for that which is now very sadly out of date.

[Guest]

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Edited February 8, 2020 by Guest