Update 15 - Clan Chiefs and Personality!

Hi Everyone,

Update 15 is now live!

This update is all about making improvements to the Clanfolk as Individuals, showing how they feel, and also showing exactly why they feel that way.

The Clanfolk now try to simulate how real people form opinions about each other and events. They experience their history with each other based on Personality Compatibility, Current Mood, Family Ties, and Previous Events. Each time a new relationship event happens, these four factors will adjust how the memory is formed and remembered by Clanfolk.

The goal is to make players care more about each Clanfolk as they watch their lives develop and their expression of these new emotions. With the Clanfolk becoming more unique, the Story and Game Events will then also become more impactful.

Clanfolk Quirks and Maximum Skill Potential are now also varied and more likely to be Inherited from their parents, making partnering choices much more important.

These Important choices now flow through the Clan Chief. Currently the Chief picks the Wedding Partners as well as being the new point of contact for important Messengers. Longer term, the Chief will be making more decisions about the Clan's direction, which will spawn story events based on how these decisions are perceived.

The final piece of Update 15 is the Grief and Mourning System. It bothered me that after a long and eventful life, the Clanfolk were just dumped into a hole and forgotten. Now, based on the relationship history mentioned above, the Clanfolk will feel Grief and express that through Mourning at the Wake Table or the Customizable Tombs.

There were many new systems needed to support all this, so I will give a high level outline below, and then provide further details down the page under the same header.

Note: The UI Scale changed in Update 15 to about 80% of the size previous size. If you prefer the larger UI, in Settings/Video at the bottom of that page there is a UI Scale slider. Slide it all the way to the right for the original size.

New Stuff!

• The Clan Chief System
  • The Clan Chief is picked by the player and will make critical decisions for the Clan.
  • The Clanfolk will then be able to react to the player's decisions through the Clan Chief.

• Family Tree Upgrades
  • The Family Tree now supports a Clan Leader History as well as Showing Relationship History between all the Clanfolk.

• Personality and Relationships
  • Clanfolk now form Relationships over time based on how compatible their personalities are.

• Personality Quirks
  • A Clanfolk's personality is built from their combined Quirks. Examples Include being Hard Working or Lazy. Similar personalities will be more compatible than opposed ones.

• Four Factors of Compatibility
  • Similar Personality Quirks: Hey, they are just like me! I like that!
  • Current Mood: I am angry and therefore annoying things are even MORE annoying.
  • Past Events: Oh, they are usually so nice to me, I think they are just having a bad day, benefit of the doubt.
  • Family Ties: Ok that was a terrible thing to do, but since they are family, I will excuse it.

• Relationship Events
  • Relationships change over time based on Relationship Events (currently conversation, but soon much more)
  • How these events are interpreted is based on the Personality and Compatibility factors mentioned above.

• Skill System Upgrades
  • Skill Aptitude and Quirk Inheritance from parents. Picking complementary partners is important now.
  • New Potential Maximum Skill Tiers (Basic, Skilled, and Advanced)
  • Draggable Skills!

• Grief
  • Clanfolk will now experience Grief when a loved one dies.
  • The severity of the Grief is dependent on how close of a relationship they had.
  • Grief will expire over time proportional to the severity of the Grief.
  • Grief is outwardly expressed via the new Mourning Attribute.

• Mourning
  • Grief will slowly drain the Mourning Attribute over time.
  • As Mourning becomes more critical, mood will drop and work effectiveness will suffer.
  • To refill the Mourning attribute, Clanfolk will visit Graves or the Wake Table.

• Wake Table
  • The Wake Table is a place for Clanfolk to say their final goodbyes before a loved one's burial.
  • Attending the Wake provides a long term boost which slows the rate of Mourning attribute loss.
  • Wake Tables and Graves can also receive Memorial Flowers.

• Memorial Flowers
  • Bringing Memorial Flowers to Graves or Wake Tables provides another long term boost to slow the rate of Mourning Attribute loss.
  • Flowers will be collected and delivered automatically if available as a part of the Mourning process.

• Customizable Tombs
  • Clanfolk can now be set to rest in Stone Tombs that can be customized to better reflect their memory.

The Clan Chief System

• The Clan Chief will be the central person through which all clan decision making flows.
• Currently players can select the Clan Chief via the Family Tree Menu.
• The Chief will remain the Chief until Death or being removed via the Clans Menu.
• Clan Chiefs have Support and Opposition values when being selected.
• The two most supported Chiefs are highlighted, but any hereditary member of the Clan who is not a baby can become Chief. (though they may not have any support)
• The Support/Opposition system will introduce a mechanism to promote some family strife as clans increase in size.
• Support tends to follow hereditary lines, but may factors are taken into consideration when picking the best replacement Chief.
• The support calculation factors in Persuasion/Intimidation Skill, Age (Adult being the best), Number of possible heirs, and hereditary lineage.
• The first born child gets the most hereditary support, but also the Sibling of the Dead/Removed Chief will also have a valid claim and this is where interesting dynamics may develop.
• If a Chief is removed, they will no longer be highly supported as they are seen as a failed Chief
• Negotiations will now be handled by the Chief as well.
• Going forward the plan is to make the Chief have a key role in decision making in the Clan. Chiefs/Story Elements will be very interconnected.

Where This All Leads: (Next Steps)

The final goal is to have the Clan Chief be a logical point from which conflict from within the Clan can develop. The Chief will make choices, and not all of the Clan members will approve of those choices. This will lead to cases where the Chief needs to appease certain sub families or risk further consequences.

Over time as Clans increase in size, faction may develop who feel that they have been left out. This would lead to more opposition towards a hereditary line. So a story develops based on the personality and family line of the Clan leader but also the decisions that have now made new allies or opposition.

This ties very well into the negotiation mechanic for dealing with disputes within the Clan and of course there is also potentially a brawling component if things get too far out of hand. The whole Clan Chief system is very fertile ground for new Story Element ideas, and most importantly, Story Elements that have long term consequences internally to the Clan itself.

Fun Future Ideas:

So the Clan Chief system is very much still in development, and I would love to hear ideas from the community as well here on Steam or on Discord. Here are a few ideas that I am toying with currently to add some extra flavor to the system.

• Leadership Quirks such as "Born Leader" vs. "Follower." These could complicate who gets the support for example if someone outside the accepted family line is a much better candidate.
• Chiefs selecting the partners for workers vs the current "best guess" picking. This also could have long term consequences for those who feel passed over.
• Potential for Messengers from other Clans requesting Partners, also associated dowries.
• Members leaving the Clan due to high opposition to the leadership, perhaps even entire family branches if things get too far out of hand. This could be a good way to deal with oversized Clans as well where some family branches do not feel represented.

Family Tree Upgrades

• The Chief selection takes place in the Family Tree. The Family tree needed an overhaul to make this a less frustrating experience. Here are the changes.
• The Family Tree now has a zoom function (+/-) at the top left
• The Family Tree now has a History of Chiefs on the left side panel. This is also ordered by Support when selecting the next Chief.
• There is also a Search function similar to the Ideas Panel, so it should be much easier to find people in there
• Finally connection LINES! Wow this ended up being fiddly, but there are now lines connecting family nodes in the tree. The Lines always point to the Clan member who is a blood relative

Personality and Relationships

The Personality and Relationships system is accessed via the Family Tree panel.

My main goal has been to make the Clanfolk feel like real people living in an immersive and functioning world. We are getting closer, but a large missing part has always been interpersonal relationships. Clanfolk have always known how they are feeling, but now they know how they feel about each other, and why.

Personality and Relations are a major improvement that will tie directly into the new Clan Chief's decision making system as well as triggering and responding to Story Events.

High Level Details

• Some Quirks now have a personality component to them, like Optimist, Pessimist, Lazy, Hard Worker.
• Personality Quirks are sometimes more or less Compatible with similar or opposing Quirks.
• Clanfolk Compatibility is based on the combination of Mood, Personality, Past Events, and Family factors.
• Highly Compatible Clanfolk will tend to get along better and will make better Partners.
• Highly Opposed Clanfolk will tent to argue and will make miserable Partners.
• Relationship Events are interpreted based on the Compatibility at the time when the event occurs. This means that emotional state will modify how events are interpreted.
• Some Relationship events are permanent, like Familial Bonds and others a will expire over time, like bad conversations. In general, the more important the event, the longer it will remain in a Clanfolk's memory.
• Familial Bonds differ greatly based on where Clanfolk reside in the Family Tree. There can be Marriage Bonds, Sibling Rivalries, Angry Teens who are annoyed with their Parents, loving Grand Parents, or Outcast In Laws etc.
• Conversations are the main source of Relationship Events right now, but there will be many more in the future.
• When Socializing outside of work hours, Clanfolk will now weight talking to their Friends much more highly, but when working and making small talk, they will interact with whoever is closest, so this can lead to arguments on the job.
• Since some Relationship Events expire over time, keeping Clanfolk who do not get along apart will allow them to cool off naturally.
• On new maps, Clanfolk will start with a United Purpose this Relationship Event will last a few days and provides a good kickstart to the relations system.
• When speaking on the job, Clanfolk that like similar/enjoyed skills with tend to talk about those skills and form friendships.
• The most important thing to remember about the Relationship System is that opinions of other Clanfolk form over time and are further reinforced based on current feelings. The same event can be interpreted differently based on the relationship between the two Clanfolk.
• Confirmation Bias is alive and well within the Clanfolk.
• Phase 2 will be about adding more Relationship Quirks as well as Story Events that can trigger based on relationship states between Clanfolk and also with the Chief. A good example here would be a Wedding or a Funeral.

Personality Quirks

More Personality Quirks are going to start being added with Phase 2. Right now, each Personality Quirk has an opposite quirk, like Optimist and Pessimist. This means that personality compatibility tends to be the same for both parties.

What I think could be quite interesting though would be Quirks that break this balance. Some relationships may seem great on one side, and awful from the other. I could also add an Opposites Attract Quirk for example.

There is a bit of non opposed quirking right now with Sibling Rivalry vs Sibling Bond. If one Sibling has a Rivalry, it does not ensure the other does, which tells a story on its own. Note: Half siblings will have an even greater chance of rivalries.

Another very important component to the Personality Quirks and their Compatibility is the Chief. The Chief picks who partners up, and now, some matches that may be great in terms of strategy may be terrible in terms of relationships. The Chief would need to weigh the result they want vs. the happiness of the couple and in turn their future support of the Chief.

Beyond that, there is a new Skill System (which is described further below,) so the Chief picking the best partners can lead to much better inherited skill/quirk potential! There is strategy in picking couples to more likely produce children with desired traits, but that may be in direct opposition to how they feel about each other. The Chief will have difficult decisions to make. :)

Four Factors of Compatibility

Similar Personality Quirks

Trying to figure out what makes people compatible and how I could simulate it took some thinking...

First off, checking Personality Quirks obviously made a lot of sense, similar personalities tend to get along, and opposites tend to conflict. I for example am quite introverted, and I am much happier sitting in silence with someone than making small talk. If I know the other person feels the same way, it is very comfortable, if the other person is outgoing on the other hand it becomes stressful because there is pressure to maintain some level of small talk.

So Similar Personalities are Compatible, CHECK!

Mood

Next I thought of Mood. Thankfully Clanfolk has a robust Mood system so that is easy to track. I know from personal experience, the worse my mood, the bigger of a deal I will make out of any negative event. But this lead to further thinking that was less obvious.

Past Events

So when stuff is going wrong and ANOTHER thing goes wrong of equal magnitude, it does not FEEL like equal magnitude, it feels worse, and the next one is even worse. So my PAST experiences are adjusting my interpretation of the event. This, I think, is the coolest part of the new system and makes the Clanfolk think emotionally like people. They develop opinions and have confirmation bias!

This means first impressions can play a very large role in how two people end up interacting! Two people destined to be friends due to very compatible personalities will likely always drift there, but those people just on the edge could go either way and the first few interactions and then subsequent confirmation bias ends up defining their relationship.

Family Ties

Somewhat embarrassingly, this one did not occur to me right away. I had actually spent a couple days prototyping different methods to show relationships between a wide array of people at once before I finally settled on the Family Tree because in the end it was important to know how the people with the relationship were related. Even the words are similar and it went over my head until I was testing.

So anyway, I had a little popup window at that point showing Compatibility with Mood, Personality, and Events components, but it just felt wrong when I saw it in the tree... All things being equal, I personally would give a Family Member more benefit of the doubt than a stranger, and I needed a way to represent that feeling.

Well a very nested "if then" function later, we had a Family Compatibility Factor as well. I never knew just how many weird facets there would be to track beyond Parent and Child. There are also Grand Parents, Grand Children, Siblings, Half Siblings, and Blood Relatives vs Outsiders. Probably more, but there are only so many curly brackets.

Beyond that, Familial Bonds change over time, and I wanted to represent that as well. So a Parent's Bond with a new baby is very strong, but over time it would still be there, but be less overwhelming as children become able to better care of themselves. On the other hand, many children go through a phase where they just cannot stand/understand their parent's foolishness. So we needed that too.

I would actually like to have some quirks come into play here as well as ALL children are not the same and some parents smother while others are aloof. So there are many options here that all tell a story as well.

Relationship Events

Relationship Events can be just about anything that a Clanfolk has feelings about. There are Familial Bonds that are permanent fixtures in Relationships, but also things like Conversation, though temporary can change how Clanfolk feel about each other, shaping how the next conversation will be interpreted.

Fun Future Ideas:

Events like Weddings and Funerals would also be great opportunities to distribute relationship events. Even something as simple as caring for a baby while the parents were too busy elsewhere could start to trigger a change in relationship. Tending someone's wounds as well. Even a nice meal.

It could be that a Clanfolk has a Caregiver Quirk, which makes them form bonds with those they take care of. Right now, the opportunities here feel sky high. As long as we have a theme and a way to detect it, it can become a personality trait and then further differentiates the characters.

I also like the idea of Grand Gestures. In some cases, the Chief could set up opportunities for some large scale Relationship Event, as an example the Wedding above. Once married, the couple will have one of these Familial Bonds: Good Match, Wedding Bond, or Bad Match.

Now in the case of a Bad Match, (which we picked because we needed these two together to breed the next generation of super logger) we couuuld cushion the blow. Imagine a grand wedding right before the Permanent Bad Match relationship event was applied. The Bad Match event would be muted by the fact that the couples' moods were very high and there was this recent grand event. The compatibility of the couple would temporarily be high, right when we need it when the memory was formed.

So whereas the Bad Match could be a permanent large negative effect on the relationship, the fond memory of the wedding limited the relationship damage. In numerical terms a -100 becomes a -20 in their memories. A -20 is easily overcome, but a -100 is an anchor.

Beyond that, some Relationship Events could even be passed down through the generations. Imagine some family member being passed over as Clan Chief. (because their potential for intimidation and persuasion were very low - another positive for the skill limiting and inheritance) So going down the generations, this becomes a family story and a relationship event for all descendants, though likely diminishing over time. This could also lead to factions forming within the Clan, and eventually branches wanting to leave.

This then leads back to the Chief, persuading/intimidating them to stay, or not!

Skill System Upgrades

The picture above is probably worth a look to explain what is happening and why now.

So, Finlay and Cirstan both have an aptitude for hunting. This made it more likely (but not guaranteed) that Cristane would inherit or even improve upon this skill, and she did.

Cristane also inherited the Tireless Quirk from her parents, but Gloomy snuck in there as well from Finlay.

Now looking at Beak, she inherited aptitudes in both Hunting AND Doctor from her parents. The Hunting line appears to be very strong in this family with high aptitudes through the generations.

On the other hand, Colen is a bit of a rebel. The Tireless and Hard Working parents and grandparents caused a somewhat uncommon flip in the inherited trait, and it turns out that Colen is lazy, and beyond that not much of a hunter, though he did inherit some joy for doctoring from his father, Malcome.

This picture shows a pretty good example of how Quirks and Aptitudes can now be passed down, and picking partners with the desired traits for Clanfolk can influence how the children will develop.

Aptitude Improvements:

• Added Aptitude Inheritance. The higher the Aptitudes of the parents, the greater chance to see Aptitudes in the children.
• If both parent share an Aptitude, then chances are even higher in children as well.
• Up to two Skill Aptitudes are allowed now, if one of the Aptitudes is passed down from a parent.
• Task enjoyment is now more weighted towards tasks with High Aptitude (people like doing things they are good at)

Quirk Improvements:

• Quirks now have a 70% chance to pick a random quirk from the parents, BUT there is also a 25% chance in that case to pick the opposing quirk (rebellious children)
• Parents who share Quirks will make them even more likely to appear in children.
• Clanfolk are more likely to get at least 1 quirk now.

Skill Improvements: (The Skill Potential System)

• Skills are separated into 3 bars now vertically, 1-5 is Basic, 6-10 = Skilled, 11-15 = Advanced
• Skill Potential is shown as empty black boxes, and skill level is shown as gold boxes. This allows seeing at a glance everyone's potential in the Skills Index
• Everyone can attain skill levels 5. (Basic)
• Clanfolk also get 4 skills that can become level 10 (Skilled)
• The Advanced Tier is only available with Aptitude Skills that receive an XP multiplier. These can reach up to level 15
• Skill Tiers (Basic, Skilled, Advanced) open the potential for future recipes requiring minimum skill levels :)

With the new Tiers, XP rates needed adjustments as follows:

• Aptitude Bonuses: 8x->4x (Max Level 15), 4x->3x (Max Level 14), 2x->2x. (Max Level 12)
• Lowered Skill XP rate to 70% in Standard Points Mode (Idea Points mode was already 50% so I left that alone)
• Increased the Base levelup cost to slow down the early levels a bit since the first 5 levels used to just fly by, but are now important.
• Used to be 5000 Base, and 5000 per level, now is 25000 base, and 5000 per level. Note: this is modified by a multiplier per skill level since some Skills level super quickly while others level slowly. Those modifiers have not changed. So level 1 now costs about as much as level 5 used to etc.
• XP Rate changes likely require more tuning due to the overall levelling slowing by 70% as well. Please let me know how it all feels.

Skill Dragging!

• It is now possible to Drag Skills around in the Unit Select window AND the Skills Index

Notes:

• Added toggle for New Variable Potential vs Old Skill Potential called: "Variable SKill Potential" to the World Setup Options.
• All old saves will continue to work and use the Old Skill Potential System maxing all Skills to 10, instead of some to 5.

Grief

• Clanfolk will now experience the Grief Affliction when a loved one dies.
• The severity and length of the Grief is related to how unexpected the death is, as well as the relationship with the deceased.
• This means that Grandpa dying is not that bad and easily managed, but a child starving is a major problem, especially for the parents.
• The Grief affliction can be targeted to multiple Dead Clanfolk at once and is cumulative.

Mourning

• Grief (the inward part of loss) is handled with Mourning (outward expression of loss)
• The need to Mourn is represented by the new Mourning Attribute Bar
• Note: The Mourning Bar if only visible when there is an active Grief Affliction.
• Once the Wake or Burial begins, Clanfolk will have their Mourning Bars emptied based on how close they were to the deceased. This means close relatives' bars will be very low and they will tend to want to mourn right away, while others will finish out their work day first.
• Over time the Mourning Bar will decrease based on the strength of the Grief Affliction.
• As the Mourning Bar empties, there will be larger Mood Penalties.
• To Refill this Mourning Bar, the Clanfolk can visit a Grave OR the new Wake Table.
• The severity of the Grief afflictions and their length likely needs some tuning, so please let me know how it feels!

Wake Table

• The Wake Table is a place to display a dead Clan member and for their loved ones to say some final goodbyes.
• Attending the Wake provides a positive affliction that will offset the Mourning Attribute decay caused by the Grief Affliction.
• This allows Clanfolk to better handle the loss and maintain a higher mood for longer.
• Wakes happen one by one, not in large groups. Each Clanfolk takes a turn to say goodbye. This also prevents the Homestead from grinding to a halt when someone dies.
• A Wake will last until everyone who wants to attend has attended, or 1 day.
• Sometimes there will not be a wake in the sad case where no one wants to mourn.
• Having the Wake Table be more central to the Homestead will cut down on travel time.
• Only Critical Mourning (Grief Stricken) will interrupt work.
• On Time Off mode, people can Mourn at any time of day.
• Graves and Wake Tables ignore zones (so everyone can mourn as needed)
• Clanfolk now have an Auto Bury and Auto Wake toggle that defaults to on when they die.
• If auto Wake is active or a Wake spot has been picked, Clanfolk will not be buried until after the wake, otherwise into the ground they go.
• When the wake is complete, the deceased will be bagged up in the usual 2 sacks and a rope. At this time, they will also be stripped of clothing.
• This means, for each wake to start, the Table needs to be reset with 2 sacks and a rope.
• The Wake Table can be decorated with Rushlights (which are only activated when the wake is active)
• The Wake Table can also receive a Decorative Hide or Decorative Tartan.
• When the Wake is active, there are also many slots for Flowers.

Memorial Flowers

• Graves and Wake Tables can now receive Flowers.
• Flowers provide an important long term positive Mourning effect that further helps slow the Mourning Bar drain over time.
• Each Wake participant will have the opportunity to bring Flowers if they are available and there are slots available at the Grave/Wake Table.
• Flowers obey Zone rules so if there are no flowers in a Clanfolk's zones, they will not be able to bring them to the Gravesite.
• Having am Herb Rack near the Wake Table will make flower delivery even more efficient
• The types of flowers being delivered can be controlled similar to how stockpiles can be set to allow different items. This is only for aesthetic reasons. (Bluebells/Thistle look the best to me)
• The Flowers and decorations on the wake table do count toward room beauty, so no need to hide it away somewhere.

Customizable Tombs

• Stone Tombs are built from Large Stones and Iron Ingots.
• The Covers of the Stone Tombs can be customized to tell a story once the Tomb is Filled
• Just Click on the Filled Tomb and Adjust the Four Sliders to select the Glyphs.
• The Tomb Covers have a Top, Middle, and Bottom Glyph with do not overlap, but also can have a Large underlay Glyph.
• Some of the Large Glyphs work well with glyphs on top while others do not, so feel free to experiment.
• Tombs work like graves, and can be decorated with flowers from mourners.
• Tombs can also be given a Rushlight. This may be placed before the Tomb is filled, but will be activated on the Tomb is filled.
• Tombs can be placed on Stone Floors 🙂
• It is possible to dig up old graves (use the bomb button) and move the bodies to Tombs. (But only if you care about them)
• To manually pick a Tomb for a deceased Clanfolk, click on them, and then untick the Auto Bury tickbox. Then find the Tomb you want them in and click on their image there.

Going Forward

For Update 16, I am currently leaning toward the following: (This is just a current best guess)

• Adding Events/Difficulty Modes to increase the challenge for long time players.
  • (Note: I plan to make these togglable before starting a map)
  • Likely it is time to start unleashing Plagues and Crop Blights.
  • Probably a mode to limit effectiveness of Mushrooms and Freezers.
  • Perhaps the Refugee and Rustler Story Events.

• It may be time to Introduce the King.
  • Addition of Taxes and Conscription.
  • Demands from the King/Favor system.

• More work on the Chief Story and Relationship Events.
  
• More Personality Quirks.
  
• Maaaaybe Beekeeping Finally :)
  

Road Map

There is a lot more to come! Please take a look at the Road Map for further long term details as well.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1700870/view/3388412789658793666

Diving back into the code now.

Thanks very much for playing Clanfolk!

Andrew Hume (Blorf)
MinMax Games Ltd.