Hey. Since the addition of some sort of a sandbox mode’s being discussed in a different thread, I figured out I’d retrieve a somewhat old idea of mine on the topic and rework it into a proper suggestion.
I suggest a “creative” or a “sandbox” mode is introduced, in which one could build without item limits. However, unless the author would obtain all the items they used in the construction at a later date, the only option available to them would be uploading their build to an official database.
The best uploaded builds, either handpicked by the devs or voted on by the community, would then be added into a map rotation of an official “Condo Showcase” server. The author would get credited, of course. Imagine their and the condo’s names appearing when you join the server or the map gets changed, as well as them being in the corner of the screen during your stay.
However, they wouldn’t be able to control when their build gets to be hosted, as that would be decided either randomly or by the players present on the server voting. The older (or less popular) maps in the rotation could get periodically replaced with newer ones, or they could keep adding up.
Also, to prevent people from taking screenshots of the builds they’ve made in creative mode and claiming they’re build with legitimately obtained items (because I know a lot of people are againts that), every item placed down in this mode could have a ghostly see-through effect applied to it.
The authors of the selected builds could also get an in-game reward, like a special item or a big sum of units, but I’d imagine that would be a bit more controversial and could create unnecessary drama.
This would allow builders to create awesome stuff for everyone to enjoy without needing to grind and give the rest of us a really cool, always changing place to hang out in.
This would be a bit different, though. It’d be closer to building a public condo for the game’s community, rather than a private condo for yourself. And if the issue is that people who like building could use it to get their enjoyment without the need to grind, well… what’s wrong with that? Let them have fun. It’s not like they could claim ownership over any items they don’t own, or even feel as if they got them without paying units.
Let’s say I start up Tower Unite and spend hours using creative mode… Even 30 minutes, and I build something cool. Am I going to want to rebuild that for units? No.
The purpose of video games is to grind to get something. Tower Unite is that kind of game. If everyone had the freedom to build anything without grinding for units then nobody would play it.
If you’ll want to host it and show it off to other people yourself, with 100% certainty, at whatever times you choose, then… well, yes. If you’ll want to take screenshots of it without every item having a see-through effect ruining it, then… also yes.
Also, you wouldn’t have to rebuild anything, pressing a single button to “fill” the save with the obtained items would be enough.
The purpose of video games is to have fun.
Sure, grinding and getting rewards can provide a lot of satisfaction (fun) to a lot of players, but those who just want to build shouldn’t be dragged into it. Currently, Tower is catering mostly to the former group and every idea we come up with to change that is at least partialy going to decrease the enjoyment it gets from the game, but I think this system would be a great middle grounds. Both sides could get their satisfaction, without feeling like they’re being cheated too much.
Also, let’s not forget that actually putting builds together is hard work. Making sure those willing to do it and provide the community with cool builds (and the game with potential free publicity or good public’s perception) have to jump through extra loops sounds plain wrong to me.
Our plan for Workshop condos is to allow condo creators to upload their entire condo save to workshop. Other players can then download their condo in preview mode. They can’t build on it, or save any part of it for themselves, but they can host it for other players. Being on Workshop, players can vote on what they think is the best condo.
Going from that, we’ve also talked about grouping condo items and being able to upload them as what we call a schematic. Other players can then download these schematics and place them down in their own condo as long as they play the Unit cost of the schematic (sum of all the items).
It won’t.
While mac’s plan adresses some of the things I wanted to adress with my suggestion (and is pretty cool on its own), it won’t change a thing about dedicated builders having to grind for hours on end just to be able to work hard for even more hours to create something cool. It will just allow them to share their creations more easily and get more recognition for them. Which is great, of course, but not exactly what I hoped this suggestion would accomplish.