Ghosts of Mistwood Design Tips byAkatala
Okay, so if you haven't figured it out by now, then here's your news flash. While Ghosts of Mistwood features awesome quests involving talking to ghosts to find the long lost aunt that the estate is deeded to, the fact of the matter is that this is, at its core, a farm and village sim. That being said, the unique features that make up this game make the task of designing the layout of your estate a puzzle for you to fit together as you go along.
Beginner's Design Guideline Basics
So you start out with something that looks like this:
[Of course, minus that gift beside me that visitors will leave after they've clicked 5 things to boost for you while gaining rewards for being nice, helpful neighbors.]
Right off the bat, you need to start thinking of your land like the inside of a house that you are restoring. Each object and building is an object or appliance in that house. So you need to start looking at the guidelines they've given you. Use these guidelines to help you start mapping out your estate. You'll need to keep in mind that this estate isn't just a property. It's like a property under a lord with it's own little village along with the master's manor as they do in England.
Here, I have re-used the above image with the guidelines marked out over the top.
* Mausoleums like the one under the top most yellow + disappear after being investigated/opened. So ignore that building.
Red: Fog-based Property Boundries
Green: Streets
Blue: A possible continuation of a pathway.
Orange: Object Spaces
Yellow: Open Land (After Clearing dead trees, weeds, etc.)
Your time at the estate always starts with cleaning up any debris and overgrowth that has appeared while you were gone. Every town needs it's streets cleaned, lawns mowed, dead trees and other troublesome natural objects removed. Do not frown on this as it is to your benefit. It seems like a chore, but you gain precious coins, experience, and resource items with each debris piece you remove!
After you've finished cleaning the property grounds within the fog boundaries (red box in guideline image), it's time to start making use of those nifty guidelines to rearrange your buildings and objects. You'll quickly discover that the Design Toolbox is your best friend, especially the three tools in the middle of the column: Store, Rotate, and Move. Please note, you will only be allowed to Store items that you have gotten as gifts from neighbors or purchased in the Market. Items that are Stored will be found in the green Inventory pouch next to the General Store register.
Next you need to answer these vital questions using your guidelines.
Where will the gate go?
Where will the houses go? (Including the huge mansion that you uncover in the fog.)
Where will the crafting buildings go?
Where will the garden go?
Where will the orchard go?
Where will the animals go?
In this way, your estate will begin to slowly take shape as you move the puzzle pieces into place. Keep in mind that in order for your estate to look tidy, you need to place your buildings and other objects in ways that dictate where the people of your village will walk. Even if the avatars in the game decide to move about in ways other than what you have laid out.
I still don't know why my helpers decide it's cool to cut through my cemetery just to collect from the last two duplexes in the vertical row along-side my square. :P Or why they take the scenic long route around the stables and cemetery, through the square, and then down main street just to get to an apple tree on the other side of the road from the orchard instead of just walking four paces across the road and through the arbor. :s However, that is a completely different matter.
The point is to build your estate to look like a tidy functioning estate instead of a pile of buildings animals and trees all crammed together to look like a pile of building, flora and fauna vomit. Each time you use up a bottle of lantern oil, you want to be very careful to use it where it will most benefit what you've already set up. You can make the design and layout of your estate as fancy or as laid back and rustic as you want while still keeping looking like a place you could actually live in. That's really the key of estate management in the end, building it like a place you would want to live in if that person was you stuck with the estate in the middle of a foggy forest in the middle of no-where with a batch of ghostly residents along with whatever helpers you gather along the way.
Okay, so if you haven't figured it out by now, then here's your news flash. While Ghosts of Mistwood features awesome quests involving talking to ghosts to find the long lost aunt that the estate is deeded to, the fact of the matter is that this is, at its core, a farm and village sim. That being said, the unique features that make up this game make the task of designing the layout of your estate a puzzle for you to fit together as you go along. Beginner's Design Guideline Basics
So you start out with something that looks like this:
[Of course, minus that gift beside me that visitors will leave after they've clicked 5 things to boost for you while gaining rewards for being nice, helpful neighbors.]
Right off the bat, you need to start thinking of your land like the inside of a house that you are restoring. Each object and building is an object or appliance in that house. So you need to start looking at the guidelines they've given you. Use these guidelines to help you start mapping out your estate. You'll need to keep in mind that this estate isn't just a property. It's like a property under a lord with it's own little village along with the master's manor as they do in England.
Here, I have re-used the above image with the guidelines marked out over the top.
* Mausoleums like the one under the top most yellow + disappear after being investigated/opened. So ignore that building.
Red: Fog-based Property Boundries
Green: Streets
Blue: A possible continuation of a pathway.
Orange: Object Spaces
Yellow: Open Land (After Clearing dead trees, weeds, etc.)
Your time at the estate always starts with cleaning up any debris and overgrowth that has appeared while you were gone. Every town needs it's streets cleaned, lawns mowed, dead trees and other troublesome natural objects removed. Do not frown on this as it is to your benefit. It seems like a chore, but you gain precious coins, experience, and resource items with each debris piece you remove!
After you've finished cleaning the property grounds within the fog boundaries (red box in guideline image), it's time to start making use of those nifty guidelines to rearrange your buildings and objects. You'll quickly discover that the Design Toolbox is your best friend, especially the three tools in the middle of the column: Store, Rotate, and Move. Please note, you will only be allowed to Store items that you have gotten as gifts from neighbors or purchased in the Market. Items that are Stored will be found in the green Inventory pouch next to the General Store register.
Next you need to answer these vital questions using your guidelines.
Where will the gate go?
Where will the houses go? (Including the huge mansion that you uncover in the fog.)
Where will the crafting buildings go?
Where will the garden go?
Where will the orchard go?
Where will the animals go?
In this way, your estate will begin to slowly take shape as you move the puzzle pieces into place. Keep in mind that in order for your estate to look tidy, you need to place your buildings and other objects in ways that dictate where the people of your village will walk. Even if the avatars in the game decide to move about in ways other than what you have laid out.
I still don't know why my helpers decide it's cool to cut through my cemetery just to collect from the last two duplexes in the vertical row along-side my square. :P Or why they take the scenic long route around the stables and cemetery, through the square, and then down main street just to get to an apple tree on the other side of the road from the orchard instead of just walking four paces across the road and through the arbor. :s However, that is a completely different matter.
The point is to build your estate to look like a tidy functioning estate instead of a pile of buildings animals and trees all crammed together to look like a pile of building, flora and fauna vomit. Each time you use up a bottle of lantern oil, you want to be very careful to use it where it will most benefit what you've already set up. You can make the design and layout of your estate as fancy or as laid back and rustic as you want while still keeping looking like a place you could actually live in. That's really the key of estate management in the end, building it like a place you would want to live in if that person was you stuck with the estate in the middle of a foggy forest in the middle of no-where with a batch of ghostly residents along with whatever helpers you gather along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment