Remaining Civilized: Add mood benefits to eating with cutlery, off plates and bowls and at a table

[AleristheSeeker]

Hi everyone,

 

as the designated cook in my group of Survivors, I tend to worry about food a lot. A good meal can not just give the body the energy it needs but also turn into an exciting flavour adventure (good or bad) that lifts the spirits of those who eat it. One key aspect of meals, however, is often neglected in those "live-or-die" situations: civility. Chugging down cold beans straight from the can might be efficient, but it's not nice. Even the most exciting meal, when chugged straight from the pot, looses some of its charm.

 

So, here are my suggestions regarding the matter:

1. Make more foods "splittable", using plates instead of bowls and perhaps add larger containers for drinks that can likewise be split up into cups.
2. Add a modifier to any food's impact on mood when using cutlery, plates and other technically unnecessary amenities.
3. To that end, my suggestion would be introducing a "Dinner Table" as a "machine" using the upcoming Crafting Overhaul that allows setting the table, increasing the mood modifiers for food eaten as part of this "machine" depending on what is present at the table. Perhaps this could even extend to work with multiple "courses" of different dishes, turning "food" into "meals".
4. To combat the relatively easy increase in mood this could bring, I would suggest reducing the mood granted by food outside of these settings by some value.
5. Leaving the field of strictly foods and hooking into 3, a general hook for "machines" to influence the moodles of a character would be a great asset for modders, potentially even allowing for things such as arcade machines and the like to be made.

 

Food in PZ is already very exciting and interesting and, while there is a lot that could still be added (adding "vitamins" to nutrition, adding different moodle values to ingredients), it is already a lot of fun to cook and bake in the game. Getting together as a player "family" and enjoying a meal together would be significantly nicer and would add to the benefits of having a base that is not just a room with all crafting materials stuffed into boxes.

 

Overall, though, I love PZ and all the love and labour that has evidently gone into it. Keep up the good work!

 

Cheers,

Aleris

 

 

[getstoopid]

Yeah, totally agree about the family thing and I like the idea very much and I would add that eating while sitting on a chair should make a difference also.