If you could choose the setting for a bokumono game...

[Kikki]

Is setting something you guys care much about? I think it's fairly important, as if the setting is a 'mountaintop farm outside of a small town', we get a game like SoS (1) and it sets some of the game's tone, not just in looks, but in function...how long it takes to get to the shops and where the foraging areas are, what kind of scenery is likely and so on.

I've mentioned this before but the last time was at least a year ago, so since I love this topic, I'm going to see if anyone has any fun ideas, again.

If the devs came along and asked me what setting I wanted a future game to have, I would say 'a hobby or apartment garden/farm in the city'.

City gardens take a lot of ingenuity. I love vertical gardening, and if you only have a balcony to grow on, it's practically a must. I think a setting like that would make the game really fresh. You could farm by rooftop garden, balcony garden, community garden, or all of them. Or you could own a small piece of property with your house, or etc. Animals would have to be creative, too, especially if you want more than just a coop or a rabbit hutch...you might have to do some sort of co-op thing. (It has to be admitted that I have not seriously considered the animals as I could do completely without a single animal in the game and be happy to have loads of time to fuss over my peppers and carnations...so I haven't got many good ideas as far as that goes, yet.)

I'd have a blast modifying my game apartment (or house) to have a bay window to plant an indoor herb garden in, and adding trellises and espaliers and hanging baskets and boxes to the balcony, and a few raised beds to the rooftop, and etc. Your apartment building could, perhaps, be your 'town'...or maybe the whole neighbourhood would be your area to explore. I could landscape and garden in the grassy medians on the streets and rent the yards of people who don't use theirs. I'd love part of the game being to fix the neighbourhood up to be really beautiful and friendly...maybe it could win a competition or something.

I think that would be super fun for me, as a setting. What about the rest of you? Got any settings you've had fun imagining? I would love to try a beach garden sometime, too, just for the change of scenery. But it would have to be fantasy based since very little will grow in potentially salty sand. But I don't mind fantasy-based at all, and let's admit it...bokumono farming is not exactly realistic in the first place.

[JayDucky03]

Is setting something you guys care much about? I think it's fairly important, as if the setting is a 'mountaintop farm outside of a small town', we get a game like SoS (1) and it sets some of the game's tone, not just in looks, but in function...how long it takes to get to the shops and where the foraging areas are, what kind of scenery is likely and so on.

I've mentioned this before but the last time was at least a year ago, so since I love this topic, I'm going to see if anyone has any fun ideas, again.

If the devs came along and asked me what setting I wanted a future game to have, I would say 'a hobby or apartment garden/farm in the city'.

City gardens take a lot of ingenuity. I love vertical gardening, and if you only have a balcony to grow on, it's practically a must. I think a setting like that would make the game really fresh. You could farm by rooftop garden, balcony garden, community garden, or all of them. Or you could own a small piece of property with your house, or etc. Animals would have to be creative, too, especially if you want more than just a coop or a rabbit hutch...you might have to do some sort of co-op thing. (It has to be admitted that I have not seriously considered the animals as I could do completely without a single animal in the game and be happy to have loads of time to fuss over my peppers and carnations...so I haven't got many good ideas as far as that goes, yet.)

I'd have a blast modifying my game apartment (or house) to have a bay window to plant an indoor herb garden in, and adding trellises and espaliers and hanging baskets and boxes to the balcony, and a few raised beds to the rooftop, and etc. Your apartment building could, perhaps, be your 'town'...or maybe the whole neighbourhood would be your area to explore. I could landscape and garden in the grassy medians on the streets and rent the yards of people who don't use theirs. I'd love part of the game being to fix the neighbourhood up to be really beautiful and friendly...maybe it could win a competition or something.

I think that would be super fun for me, as a setting. What about the rest of you? Got any settings you've had fun imagining? I would love to try a beach garden sometime, too, just for the change of scenery. But it would have to be fantasy based since very little will grow in potentially salty sand. But I don't mind fantasy-based at all, and let's admit it...bokumono farming is not exactly realistic in the first place.

I would love a beach farm! I think a tropical setting would be so cool. Sort of like Lulukolo, but your farm was permanently there.They could add floating fields on houseboats or something! That sounds kind of silly, but it might be fun!

[white66]

I really love the ruins in games like RFF and BoTW, so I think it would be cool for a boku/boku-like game to be set in like an abandoned settlement that's been adopted by a new group of people. Maybe you could discover things about the previous people while you play, like finding old journals or recipe books. I've always been fascinated with how we can bring back "extinct" plants, and I think that could be a cool mechanic. Also re-domesticating the animals used on the old farms would be interesting.

Also Kikki I LOVE your idea for an urban farming game, its concepts like that that make really excited for the indie game scene.

[JayDucky03]

I really love the ruins in games like RFF and BoTW, so I think it would be cool for a boku/boku-like game to be set in like an abandoned settlement that's been adopted by a new group of people. Maybe you could discover things about the previous people while you play, like finding old journals or recipe books. I've always been fascinated with how we can bring back "extinct" plants, and I think that could be a cool mechanic. Also re-domesticating the animals used on the old farms would be interesting.

Also Kikki I LOVE your idea for an urban farming game, its concepts like that that make really excited for the indie game scene.

Redomestication sounds like a really cool mechanic! I vote for this idea!

[white66]

I really love the ruins in games like RFF and BoTW, so I think it would be cool for a boku/boku-like game to be set in like an abandoned settlement that's been adopted by a new group of people. Maybe you could discover things about the previous people while you play, like finding old journals or recipe books. I've always been fascinated with how we can bring back "extinct" plants, and I think that could be a cool mechanic. Also re-domesticating the animals used on the old farms would be interesting.

Also Kikki I LOVE your idea for an urban farming game, its concepts like that that make really excited for the indie game scene.

Redomestication sounds like a really cool mechanic! I vote for this idea!

I keep imagining the classic Jack getting chased by a feral bull, lol.

[Mecha-Lollipop]

I want one that takes place on an orchard! Or one where you're left a winery that you have to bring back to its former glory. Especially if they really let you play around woth creating flavor blends. though not sure they would allow winery in a "kid game" so maybe some kinda fruit juice.
I also love the animals the most though so I would be pleased to have a game that focuses on ranching and has lots of animal based events including bringing back horse races and maybe adding jumping contests and some fun dog festivals.

[Bluie]

I wana farm in space. Let me choose a planet from a list and let me cultivate it. Different environments + hazards could make it more interesting. The goal of the game could be to make whatever planet livable for future generations and you could slowly get villagers ala Island of Happiness.

Yee, that sounds like my kinda game.

[Blue Rose]

Island such as AP/ToT. Can never get over how beautiful that game was.

[Guest]

Honestly the location does not matter to me.

I feel like I could be okay with any setting, as long as the characters were awesome!

[JayDucky03]

I wana farm in space. Let me choose a planet from a list and let me cultivate it. Different environments + hazards could make it more interesting. The goal of the game could be to make whatever planet livable for future generations and you could slowly get villagers ala Island of Happiness.

Yes, that sounds like my kinda game.

Oh man! This sounds freaking amazing! It would have a sort of Battle Star Galactica feel to it, I'd think. I would really appreciate some sci-fi bokumono games. I know there's Innocent Life, but I think they wasted an opportunity to go all in with tech.

[white66]

I wana farm in space. Let me choose a planet from a list and let me cultivate it. Different environments + hazards could make it more interesting. The goal of the game could be to make whatever planet livable for future generations and you could slowly get villagers ala Island of Happiness.

Yee, that sounds like my kinda game.

Oooooh, I've thought about this too. I like the idea of a clashing aesthetic between space travel and agriculture.

[Kikki]

I think the idea of getting to choose your own planet is great, with so much opportunity for fantasy plants (and animals, too), and maybe for genetic engineering and crossbreeding for hybrids and so on, but I have a...I'm not sure it's a phobia, but a dislike, anyway, for space. I don't even like looking at the window when the crew visits Ten Forward. So I wouldn't want to farm actually in space or if it were on a space station or on a planet that only has an atmosphere in bio-domes or the like. I don't really even enjoy looking up at the stars from the hot tub, lol. If someone said they could teleport me without me ever having to see a sheet of empty black with stars billions of miles in every direction, then I'll happily fetch my watering can to go off to my purple-soil farm under an orange sky and grow tofu trees and ice flowers.

Also Kikki I LOVE your idea for an urban farming game, its concepts like that that make really excited for the indie game scene.

I've been wanting an urban farm setting for a couple of years, now. If only I could draw! I could handle the planning, plotting, writing and programming okay, most likely, but I am the worst draw-er ever. Everything I draw ends up looking more or less like a very flat lima bean. Cat? Lima bean with points on the top of the front. Dog? Lima bean with a small nub on the back. Bird? Lima bean with stick chicken feet and a tiny triangle on the very front. Yup.

I'd love to make my ideas into games but since I don't like pixel graphics, I can't take the only route I might be able to learn to do. So I'm doomed to never get to play the games I have all planned out in my head, lol. But probably a lot of us would try making our own games if we had all the skills necessary, yes/no?

[Robinstar]

I want a game that takes place in wherever all those tan skinned, white/silver haired characters come from. I want to see that place and I want to see more than one or two of those sorts in one game. And, for once, bachelorettes that look like that. Why are they always guys???

Or a fantasy-like game where you're some sort of sea person with an underwater farm. Or you are human and you live in a dome under water.

I also had an idea about a game taking place on a ship. Like you've got a little area in there somewhere for a few plants and an a couple of animals and you have to make sure everyone has enough food to survive some really long trip. But that's kinda ridiculous.

I like the urban farm, ruins, and space ideas. The space one makes me think that some characters could be alien-like. I... have a little thing against aliens, but it would still be cool. Guess my ship idea could work in space as well, actually.

A new idea just hit me. What if we could be some sort of deity, making you somewhat equal to the Harvest Goddess, and you farm in a world full of those sorts of... people? Like, maybe that world is where the goddesses go when they go into their ponds. And since a "boss" has been referred to before, whoever that is could be the equivalent to a combination of what the Harvest Goddess was to us when we played games as a human, and like a mayor. And we could be summoned somehow to answer prayers/requests for humans.

[Bluie]

I wana farm in space. Let me choose a planet from a list and let me cultivate it. Different environments + hazards could make it more interesting. The goal of the game could be to make whatever planet livable for future generations and you could slowly get villagers ala Island of Happiness.

Yes, that sounds like my kinda game.

Oh man! This sounds freaking amazing! It would have a sort of Battle Star Galactica feel to it, I'd think. I would really appreciate some sci-fi bokumono games. I know there's Innocent Life, but I think they wasted an opportunity to go all in with tech.

Snnrrk, I love how you corrected my 'Yee' to 'Yes'. It was intentional, not a spelling error.


http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yee

[Kikki]

A new idea just hit me. What if we could be some sort of deity, making you somewhat equal to the Harvest Goddess, and you farm in a world full of those sorts of... people? Like, maybe that world is where the goddesses go when they go into their ponds. And since a "boss" has been referred to before, whoever that is could be the equivalent to a combination of what the Harvest Goddess was to us when we played games as a human, and like a mayor. And we could be summoned somehow to answer prayers/requests for humans.

It's not the same as what you're describing, but if you haven't heard of it, there is an upcoming game that has a little of what you're describing. If you haven't seen it yet, keep an eye on Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. I've been peeking at it over on Xseed's forum but there isn't a lot of information, yet. Sakuna is the goddess of the harvest, more or less, and I believe she has to look after the humans in her jurisdiction or something like that, which is why I thought of it. It looks just a little bit like a Rune Facator game since it also has action-RPG elements in addition to the farming/village aspects. I'm not sure what part of the game is the main focus, though...it could be more action-RPG than anything else.