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[Shadowlord]

Ah yes, the lottery. That's not really a game, though, even if it is pay-to-play an pay-to-win. 

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Co-op game in world made of blocks. People are broken into teams. Each team needs to make a giant tower, while assaulting and attempting to destroy the other teams tower. The first to reach the clouds wins. It is possible to dig under towers, dynamite them up, etc. So kind of like King Arthurs Gold I guess, only in 3D.

this is just ace of spades with a different objective?

[Fniff]

Survival game ala Don't Starve. Only, it's not the wilderness, but a low-fantasy Dickensian style city in which you have to survive in as a homeless waif.

Hey, guys, remember this? I'm actually working on making this a game.
Here's a thing: remember how everyone was talking about how food hoarding would work in the game? Well, right now I'm working on that. The player has a place (I'm thinking a rundown rotting townhouse; you're essentially squatting) where they can store food. However, there's a few risks. It might get stolen and it may rot. To prevent rotting, you can preserve it... But that has a few methods all with their own problems. I've come up with two:

• Salt the food. This works pretty well, but you have to buy salt and it's expensive.
• Store it in the basement, which is very cold. This would also work but the cellar is more likely to be robbed, so if you keep any food down there if that happens...

I've also come up with the idea of canning things, since that was a new invention at the time. However, that's a bit of a problem because it works too well. The only possible downside is that can openers weren't invented yet (Yes, the can came before the can opener) and you had to bash them open with a knife or a rock. However, that's more annoying then an issue.
Any ideas? I don't have much of a game yet, so I don't wish to make a thread as that would be presumptous. The next best thing would be asking where the original idea was posted.

[Shadowlord]

Canning jars don't require can openers!

[Fniff]

I was thinking of making them jars, as that seems fancier. Perhaps they could get broken more easily then the other options?

[Shadowlord]

Sure. The other problem is that if the seal fails they can spoil - but if that happens the lid won't feel like it's holding onto the jar - it'll be loose and just come off (as long as the lid and ring are separate and you've removed the ring). I.e. They have a chance of the seal failing and spoilage occurring, but you can detect it if they aren't poorly designed and you aren't oblivious.

[RAM]

Well canning would presumably require some relatively specific materials, particularly if you mangle them every time that you use them. Also, there could be a chance of ruining the food wither due to a faulty seal causing unexpected rot or just plain damaging it in the preparation process. Also, a can-only diet is probably going to involve metal-poisoning eventually... Well, I guess you could source high-quality materials that are guaranteed non-toxic, but we a re talking Dickensian urchin here, what would their life be like without metal poisoning...

Really, it seems to me like malnutrition and toxicity would be two constant pressure elements that would act as oppressive factors to limit how much any given urchin can achieve. If you go technology-heavy then you get toxicity from fuel and metals and if you don't spend enough effort on varied food then your health plummets...

[Fniff]

Really, it seems to me like malnutrition and toxicity would be two constant pressure elements that would act as oppressive factors to limit how much any given urchin can achieve. If you go technology-heavy then you get toxicity from fuel and metals and if you don't spend enough effort on varied food then your health plummets...

That's an interesting idea. Especially since one of the few legitimate jobs you can get is working in a mine or being a chimney sweep, toxicity would definitely come up a lot. And malnutrition is basically a given for any homeless person... The idea of cans being expendable also makes sense, but it's a bit similar to salt. Since it'd be obviously cheaper (Salt, in ye olden days, was used as a trade good; they would probably still think salt is valuable due to conditioning), it might need another disadvantage.

Sure. The other problem is that if the seal fails they can spoil - but if that happens the lid won't feel like it's holding onto the jar - it'll be loose and just come off (as long as the lid and ring are separate and you've removed the ring). I.e. They have a chance of the seal failing and spoilage occurring, but you can detect it if they aren't poorly designed and you aren't oblivious.

So you might have to check each jar to make sure it's not spoiled? It could be interesting having the consequences for checking your food being boredom, but knowing that people spend hours doing basically the same thing dressed up as murdering orcs, it might not be as good a disadvantage. If there's one thing you can count on, people will go through endless tedium to experience brief and worthless rewards.

[Shadowlord]

Or make it random chance, but less likely if they've ever seen it or had it happen to them. You can't can something without high temperatures though, or it won't be properly sterilized, so there's also that. I imagine you would salt meat instead.

Also the jars are reusable and you're going to get lead poisoning from all of your everything anyways.

I have no idea when canning jars were invented. Wikipedia probably does, but you can steal from the future or build in an alternate reality if it makes a better game!

[Fniff]

I looked it up. Late nineteenth century. Invented by the French, actually. The first canning factory was actually ransacked. The funny thing is, the process was a complete black box: no-one knew why it worked, it just did due to a lack of knowledge about food preservation.

[Shadowlord]

Heh. I doubt they knew why salt worked either, when salting meat was invented.

[a1s]

I looked it up. Late nineteenth century. Invented by the French, actually. The first canning factory was actually ransacked. The funny thing is, the process was a complete black box: no-one knew why it worked, it just did due to a lack of knowledge about food preservation.

Don't you mean early nineteenth century?
Another fun fact: the can was invented 30 years before the first can opener. Talk about eye candy. You were expected to break the can with a knife, or grind a seam down on a rough rock. Apparently this was still better than the alternative of carrying around a glass jar.

[Fniff]

I looked it up. Late nineteenth century. Invented by the French, actually. The first canning factory was actually ransacked. The funny thing is, the process was a complete black box: no-one knew why it worked, it just did due to a lack of knowledge about food preservation.

Don't you mean early nineteenth century?
Another fun fact: the can was invented 30 years before the first can opener. Talk about eye candy. You were expected to break the can with a knife, or grind a seam down on a rough rock. Apparently this was still better than the alternative of carrying around a glass jar.

My mistake. And I see you read the same Wikipedia articles as I do!

[a1s]

I see you read the same Wikipedia as I do!

Indeed I do.

[Fniff]

It's probably a good sign that people are educating themselves out of their own volition, but not great that it's all from one source.