The Castle Doctrine Forums

gumshoe

Member

Registered: 2013-08-18

Posts: 54

Education!

So right now the game is obviously in a much better place than its been in a long time, but now theres an onus on the home owner to make their house worth robbing by leaving some money in their vault, which is kinda silly. Why not have the player start with 2500 at the start, 2000 is theirs to spend, the other 500 hundred would be a college fund!

When the college fund reaches a certain goal,(like say 10000) one of the players children will gain a profession or trade (at random I would think to avoid balance problems), if they became a carpenter walls might be half as cheap, If they become a bioligist or zookeeper maybe exotic animals become available. Or they might just dropout and join a gang, in which case guns and crow bars are cheaper XD.

It makes defending your children important for the endgame. As for the fund itself, it would start at 500, you would be able to put as much money into it as you like but you cant take any out, and the money in there would gain interest unlike standard cash(interest depending on how large the base amount is). This would ensure that theres always something worth robbing from a house, and it would make a nice goal for the home owner. Any thoughts or takers?

jasonrohrer

Administrator

Registered: 2013-04-01

Posts: 1,235

Re: Education!

I think I'm okay with players being able to chose to spend down to $0 sometimes, or chose how much "bait" to leave behind to attract robbers.  I think that's an important and rich part of house-building strategy.  I know that I'm thinking about it as I build my robber-trap houses...

As for professions, or art dealing, or any other side-mechanical systems, it's really important to me to keep this game as pure and as stripped-down as possible.  I'm just not a game designer who likes lots of bells and whistles---it's not my design style.

Any player who spends down to $0 will see the repercussions of that move (no one will come in their house, and they'll have no money left over to spend on robbery tools).  That's an emergent consequence that has to be learned by each player, but I like emergent consequences.  I like that the game leaves room for you to screw up and play it wrong.