I asked Chat GPT to give a quote about building and it wasn’t bad: “Building is not just about bricks and mortar; it’s about shaping the future, one cornerstone at a time.”
I have been thinking about how to handle building… should it be voxel based or premade 3D models? Voxel based gives so much flexibility to the player, but it so much more challenging to program and balance from a gameplay perspective.
Building a wall is cool, but if the enemy can just easily tunnel under it then it doesn’t do much good. Wait, why didn’t people just always tunnel under walls in the middle ages? Oh, Chat GPT has me coved there too!
Moving earth and tunneling needs to be difficult, probably for both the player and the computer. Building strong walls and moving earth needs to be time and resource intensive so the player has to prioritize where they spend their labor and resources. So no wacking a stone a few times with a stick to collect it and carrying around hundreds of stone blocks.
Thinking the resources need to be collected by the NPC and brought to the building site. This could have interesting gameplay as the NPCs need to travel back and forth carrying materials not just for gathering, but for building too. Maybe we need horses and carts? Or maybe NPCs are some type of creatures that evolve to suit different needs like carrying tons of materials? So many options, this why I love game development!