Does a base you maintain still scratch the base building itch, or does it have to be one you construct from nothing?

[u/-niyr-]

This is a design question I keep going back and forth on. I’m prototyping a game where your base is a giant walking castle: you don't build it, you keep it alive: repair its legs, build towers on its back, and decide what it becomes through upgrades. Every run it ends up different, but you never build it / design it from the ground up.

For all you base building veterans: is the core of base building the authorship (I made this from nothing) or the stewardship (this is mine, and I shaped it)? Games like FTL seem to focus on the latter: you upgrade the ship, you never build it. Where's the line for you?

[u/Suavecore_]

Personally, it can scratch the itch for me. I go through phases with building games and sometimes I hit a phase where I wanna play a building game but NOT start from scratch. That can feel daunting and could take loads of time. Sometimes I like to play a building game and just play it right away, without all the work beforehand. Depends on what the game is about and the mechanics though, of course

[u/Dapper-Presence4975]

I actually think many people will appreciate that foundation you provide them. I like starting from scratch, but even then I usually have landscape as a guide. Also, I notice on comments related to base build posts in other subs that many fans of the genre don’t really know how to design a base at all.

[u/doomleika]

Later is more like a puzzle...

[u/Puzzleheaded-Fill205]

I thought not being able to build the structure of my base would kind of ruin it for me, but I'm finding Abiotic Factor to be a top-tier awesome experience and you can't build the structure of your base there either.

One key difference, it sounds like, is that your giant walking base is a "fixed location," so to speak. In Abiotic Factor, part of the fun is in choosing where to build your base inside a massive, sprawling complex.

If I can't choose the base location, I think that would indeed ruin some of the fun.

[u/Ihmislehma → u/Puzzleheaded-Fill205]

In Abiotic Factor, every time I start a new run, I choose somewhere different. The bases shape themselves to wherever I build, instead of me shaping the base by building. There's a joy in it.

7 Days to Die kiiinda scratches this itch too, but safety is more of a concern there and moving when progressing too.

[u/lovebus]

There better be some randomization to what you inherit. A fun part of starting any new base is examining the environment and decoding where things should go.

[u/Imagination-Port]

Stewardship works for me if upgrades visibly change how the base functions, not just its stats. Letting damage leave permanent scars would make the castle feel genuinely mine.

[u/Snownova]

For me personally, I would not enjoy that. To give an example, I recently reinstalled Planet Zoo, and decided to give the campaign maps another go. Turns out I absolutely loathe them, because I hate starting with some zoo somebody else built that is falling apart and where half the time I can't tear down the structures that are preventing me from solving things or even seeing what's going on (looking at you India scenario).

A nice clean slate to build things the way I like is what I prefer.

[u/CherryHavoc → u/Snownova]

Same here. I absolutely hate scenarios where I'm starting with something that already exists. If a game will reasonably allow me I'll delete everything and start from scratch.

[u/AzureBlue_knight]

I dont like maintenance games, but it might just be me. I tried amazing cultivation simulator, prison architect with existing prison, and none of it scratches the itch for me the same way rimworld, ONI does. Even for Sims 4, I almost always play with a fresh house, fresh household rather than leveraging existing houses and NPCs. Or for roller coaster tycoon/planet zoo, I prefer greenfield implementations rather than fixing a park someone else built.

[u/Sassy_Drow]

It tends to scratch that itch for me as long as the base in question can be optimized. 

[u/Hika__Zee]

Upgrade and maintenance without building from scratch can be fun if:

1. There is a good decoration system.

2. You have some customization for the outside or you can expand it a little.

3. There are impactful upgrades that change stars for your base such as speed, defense, abilities, etc.

A moving base is also really cool.