#Create and decorate your own office

124 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

vast dome
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One of the great tropes of detective fiction is the detective sitting in their office waiting for a case to land on their desk - I think it'd be neat to be able to buy/rent business premises, design the decor with officey things and then have NPCs turn up at your door to give you cases / ask for help for things (or telephone you, or VMail you etc).

It might even come with a small apartment or cot so you could use it as a living space too.

You could even hire a receptionist (probably a bit out of scope, but would at least add another money sink).

You could even possibly tell the game "give me cases of type [x]" and those would show up more often.

It might make more thematic sense than having people ask on public noticeboards for vandals / humiliation / theft etc.

timid oyster
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100% agreed

mighty field
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Can you explain more how your idea differs from the apartment rentals currently in the game? Office furniture can already be bought and placed, and there are certain basement or ground floor businesses that essentially use 'apartments' as businesses, so to me it seems like this already exists and just needs to be expanded upon so that people leave cases in your mailbox or send them to your cruncher, etc.

timid oyster
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basically

silver sonnet
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Yeah, the fantasy is people bringing cases to you rather than the other way around. The only downside is that it presumes the player character is waiting around in their office for business to show up when the game would prefer you be out on the street instead of idle.

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Even if the player is home and clients want to see them, they have to simulate travelling to the apartment before the player leaves.

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Maybe something like an Inbox object with a case. If you accept the case it fast-forwards time until the client arrives.

mighty field
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Apartments come with mailboxes. They're pretty buggy right now, but when they're made more stable that'd be an easy way to get a new case.

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Clients could also just leave notes under the door

silver sonnet
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So accepting them from those sources would trigger the "Client comes to you" event?

warped sable
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This was literally what I posted prior to the Suggestion-box changing.

mighty field
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I would think they'd just leave a job posting for you in the mailbox or under the door, like there already are on bulletin boards, but perhaps these jobs are harder or something

warped sable
silver sonnet
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Actually i dont know how much cheating is done behind the scejes for gettung clients to phones and park benches. Maybe its acceptable to have clients teleport to you

mighty field
mighty field
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In fact, you don't even need a cruncher for VMail. You just need a vacuum tube which are pretty much everywhere

silver sonnet
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I could see the player having a beeper.

plain pebble
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you know what would also be a cool addition to your idea? especially with receptionist, with a receptionist once you get a lead, you could ask the receptionist other additional information on a certain person (using something like the do you know x feature) that the city directory doesn't tell you. I understand it makes things a bit more easy, but that would also be the reason why you could optionally hire them with a wage so it can be an investment for your investigative work

quick crag
quick crag
rocky prawn
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Could be the higher your social credit the more known you get. Which in turn would bring more cases to you

icy apex
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I'm completely in favor of this idea. The two critical elements here are:

  • Having an office area
  • Having clients seek you out.

Technically the office COULD be in your apartment but ... this is not consistent with the classic setting idiom. It'd be great if we could hire a second "apartment" and have that be our office. Maybe there would be a special piece of furniture like an "office desk" which clients would try to walk to to hire you for a case. If you're not there when they show up they can slip a note under your door.

My preference would be to have the "office desk" in the workspace only and my bed in the apartment only. Maybe the office could have a cot but you couldn't be "well rested" there.

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One more thing that would help make this work would be some kind of time passing game so you'd have something to do in your office. Normally I'm not a fan of minigames but maybe sitting there with a racing form placing bets over the phone could pass the time while waiting for clients .... 🐢

rough junco
spring beacon
rough junco
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Another though that came to mind: The office you buy/rent, NEEDS to have one of those frosted glass doors with a private eye symbol on it.

spring beacon
spring beacon
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It could just be one of those things that increases the longevity of the game. As your social credit increases, your reputation as a detective goes up. Office spaces could be expensive, and once you have them, cases you receive are more lucrative.

Maybe you could even name your detective firm whatever you want!

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I'm definitely getting too deep into thinking about this, because now I'm thinking about hiring a secretary/accountant and upgrading your office to get better cases and things, hahaha.

rough junco
spring beacon
nocturne ether
spring beacon
nocturne ether
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Fits a bit better than these potentially legally questionable jobs just being near a public phone

spring beacon
# nocturne ether Totally, would make your office feel like a little hub/sanctuary in the city

It'd be neat to have people on staff that could make solving more difficult cases a bit easier. Or maybe the ones that are close to impossible at least a bit more plausible.

You get some kind of upgrade like, "friend at city hall" or "hack into the government database" and that allows your employee to help with them.

"Boss, I cross-referenced the information you gave me with the government database and I've narrowed it down to 'X' people. I've sent their info to your e-mail! Hope it helps!" And it shows you a list of people who have O- blood and long brown hair.

nocturne ether
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Could also be "traits" for the various assistants

spring beacon
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Or, "Boss, I got in contact with the victim's family and was able to secure you a guest pass into their house," or "Boss, I got you special access to the victim's place of work for a few hours!"

nocturne ether
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Like "Friend at City Hall" is a trait or "Contact at the Phone Company"

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That way you don't just have a magic assistant capable of just winning the game for you lol

spring beacon
nocturne ether
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Totally, swear there was a game with a similar concept

spring beacon
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I feel like it would make the game have a lot more play time.

spring beacon
nocturne ether
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Hah, busy office full of ringing phones is what I'm picturing

spring beacon
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I think I saw one recommendation about building relationships with NPCs and I think that's a neat idea, too.

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I just really want the city to actually feel alive.

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I think that would make this game stand out so much.

nocturne ether
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Definitely, right now the NPCs do feel a little too like robots

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I've also seen the suggestion that they should have daily meal cycles

icy apex
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@grand plinth @coral lynx @austere bramble@pastel dock relevant to your interests, I saw you upvoted a duplicate thread, please support the original thread. It's better to have one thread with 50 votes than two threads with 25 each 🙂

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@vestal talon @timid pendant @quick aspen @west epoch see above

austere bramble
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👍

coral lynx
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Pretty sure I already have, actually!

timid pendant
icy apex
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I was going to @ everyone who voted up the duplicate but I got system slapped for spam. I'm just a no-good moderator 🥹

spring beacon
quick aspen
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yeah I already had

vestal talon
spring beacon
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Really want to keep this thread near the top. It's not my thread, but I'd love for discussion to continue, because I think some really great ideas have been added.

On top of that, it seems like it's something that tons of people are interested in. Hope that's cool, @icy apex. Not trying to spam, I promise. 🥺🙏

wispy void
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I like the receptionist idea that you could hire(maybe a random citizen) to help take certain cases. maybe even have a case where your receptionist gets murdered and you have to find out who killed your employee

balmy widget
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To add to this, I think we should be able to have a pager item so we know if there's a case waiting for us in our office

rain quest
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I especially like the idea of cryptic notes being left in your "inbox", or slipped under the door of your office, or anonymous tips from witnesses. Phone calls to your office could be interesting as well.

stoic parcel
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hell of a great idea. love it.

spring beacon
winter lake
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I was thinking about this as well. If you have a special "Sit in your chair and wait for customers" mechanic, then they could call, email or visit you directly to initiate a case. This would add a lot of immersion for me.

I set up my second apartment as an office with utility objects (Weapons Locker, Phonebook, Phone, Snack Machine) in addition to a desk and chair. I use it mostly as RP to sit in my chair when I do major organizations of my case board, while listening to the in-game music.

true peak
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I really want people to call me on my house phone or send me vmails

spring beacon
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@timid oyster Saw your post about adding sticky notes and such to the world, and was really hope you'd be willing to add your thoughts to this post, since it's gotten a lot of support!

I think your idea is fantastic, and was intending on writing a similar one before I found your post.

Being able to have a physical representation of your case board(s) in the actual world would be awesome, and I think it would fit really well in the 'office' we're discussing in this thread, if it were ever actually added!

true peak
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I keep saying I want to be able to click a filing cabinet in my house and send a file from my caseboard there

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Or add notes to my Micro Cruncher

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Or store my favorite photos somewhere

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Devs PLEASE, let me fill my entire apartment with file boxes and cabinets full of crazy ramblings on my neighbors

spring beacon
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Really hoping there'll eventually be cases that require me to have a case board covered in sticky notes that's impossible for anyone other than me to decipher as I slowly go insane trying to piece it all together.

timid oyster
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i just think having a physical place to store your notes (filing cabinets, physical case boards, etc) sounds neat as hell

spring beacon
balmy widget
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Speaking of, there should be a cork board item that basically shows what's on the ui cork board

spring beacon
surreal isle
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Having an office you can customize where you would have potential cases dropped off for you would be great. You should up, and there would basically be an inbox you can go through with potential side cases.

zenith shadow
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Add we should be able to hire a receptionist to take cases and notes during the 'day' for when we stop by. But yes, this is a great idea.

spring beacon
icy apex
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Perhaps having a secretary could unlock having more active cases at once.

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Or a secretary could enable sorting of incoming cases. Sort by payment offered, sort by case type, sort by difficulty, etc. With no secretary the only way to sort would be by chronological order of job offers.

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Maybe just having an office at all could unlock a higher active case capacity.

balmy widget
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I think what's also really cool is this would add some really good area to use money on/ money sinks

spring beacon
# balmy widget I think what's also really cool is this would add some really good area to use m...

That's what I've been saying! I'm not sure how deeply the developers are willing to dive into it, but there's been a lot of discussion in here that I think are really worth considering!

Myself and others have made suggestions like - paying/upgrading (or hiring more expensive) employees, as well as making upgrades to the office that help with investigations.

If the team is willing to invest some time in it, it could really extend the life of a run!

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Like, imagine if you got one of those impossible arrest missions where you only know a blood type and hair color, but you have an employee that can help you narrow it down from 'literally anyone in the city' to 10 or so people?

surreal isle
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I think part of this would require a massive rework of NPC's.
Right now, they're all generated at world creation and then static. Everyone has their home and work place and basic routine they follow. Not a whole lot changes as there isn't much of an AI to the game. Just routine scripts.
But if the game could be expanded so that at generation many NPC's are created without a job (and some being homeless), that would open things up. Those without jobs could be hired at companies, or even by the player (if we get our own agency) as a secretary/receptionist/janitor. It could also open up the possibility of NPC's losing their jobs and getting new ones. Or even moving. If it gets advanced enough, they could start relationships, or break up. A couple could split and one moves out (would require A LOT more empty apartments than the current 5 or so that seem to be created).

zenith shadow
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There are plenty of unemployed people already in the cities.

surreal isle
zenith shadow
surreal isle
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Basically, it would be great to see a better AI system for NPC's. Doesn't have to be great or revolutionary. Just... you know... there. :p

spring beacon
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I understand that's not exactly what you're looking for, but I think it would make the problem a bit easier to solve!

balmy widget
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Ohh imagine if you could see your own office ad and exploits in the newspaper

spring beacon
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In all seriousness, I love that idea.

icy apex
# surreal isle I think part of this would require a massive rework of NPC's. Right now, they're...

If you're talking about the secretary idea, definitely agree that a substantial rework would be indicated, to allow at minimum for creation of new citizens after city generation (or for current citizens to change jobs). We'd need to be able to somehow request a secretary character to come into being.

I think it would dovetail well with some other suggestions we've seen about citizens immi and emigrating, to have some "churn" over time. Then there would be some kind of system for the player to select a secretary, perhaps something as simple as job board postings by unemployed characters who want to become a secretary (wouldn't require immigration system), or a cruncher application that would allow you to hire someone from out of town (immigrant).

surreal isle
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Yeah, having citizens enter and leave the city would be interesting. But even just keeping it to the citizens already generated, hiring a secretary (and possibly janitor) from any citizen without a job shouldn't be too hard. It would just require them to have their routine changed from what it is to attaching them to your office as a place of work.

An interview process could be interesting. Those looking for the job show up and you get a bunch of questions to ask them that they respond to based on their randomly generated personality.

Could also lead players to snooping around the homes of potential applicants. lol

balmy widget
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Now I'm just imagining running a detective agency but only hiring murderers lmao

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Drop Dead Detective Agency, we make problems to make money

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Jokes aside tho could be fun if that's possible and having to realize your amazing secretary is also a murderer

spring beacon
surreal isle
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I like the idea of citizens changing within limits. If they change too fast it would make the city chaotic.

But I do like the idea of a new citizen moving in say a week after a murder, to keep the population up.

spring beacon
heady python
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opening up an office in one of those basement rooms like an underground PI service would be sick as hell

surreal isle
zenith shadow
wispy void
dim vector
queen walrus
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I'm kind of surprised you can't hang up your whiteboard in your apartment. That would be nice in an office too

static vigil
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didn't see if this was already suggested, but the full crime board could be limited to your office or apartment, and you could see a "lite" version while you're away

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similar to how you can interact with physical objects when you're next to them but only an evidence note on your board after you've left it

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while you're working on your case board in your office, time could pass in game, and that's when new cases could arrive as already suggested (under the door, a visiting NPC, a call, etc)

near thicket
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To add to this, it might be a good idea to integrate the office into the game's main progression path. For instance, make it so the more lucrative (and difficult) side missions can't be found on job boards and can only be acquired through the office. This would give a gameplay purpose to the office besides it just being cool.

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Also, you could add a "wait for a job" mechanic to the office to solve the problem of the player not having much to do before jobs have come in. This could be available from any seats in the office and would fast forward time until a new office job is available.

hollow oracle
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I'd love if there were some option to somehow limit your interaction with evidence to when you were physically at your office, and then you'd do it all on an actual in-game corkboard.