[DEVBLOG#275] So, about Insanity...
Added 2024-08-28 19:36:09 +0000 UTCHey everyone!
As you know, we're working on a cool Insanity mod that should really enhance the Anomaly experience. My biggest inspiration is the work of H.P. Lovecraft which I think shows. That's also why the hero image for the mod is the depiction of an insane mr. Lovecraft... I mean, Howard Hysterical. He's not an actual storyteller, as I don't have an idea how to make him unique.
I'm pretty excited to dive into some details about that mod. It deeply integrates the concept of Sanity into your game, affecting nearly every aspect of gameplay. It's not just another meter to manage; it's a fully-fledged system that's woven into the fabric of how you interact with the world.
The Core of Sanity
Sanity in our mod reflects a character’s mental and emotional connection to human values and life. It's influenced by a plethora of factors, from environmental conditions and social interactions to the events unfolding around your characters. The unique twist here is the dual nature of sanity management—maintaining high sanity means a focus on humanistic values, while lower sanity levels can lead to dangerous behaviors but also lead to... unique storytelling opportunities.
Dynamic Sanity Interactions
Sanity is a fluid system with multiple triggers and effects:
Social Dynamics: Every conversation and interaction can impact sanity. Positive engagements like deep talks or simple chitchats can bolster it, while negative interactions or exposure to unsettling events can diminish it.
Anomalous Influence: Pawns lose sanity if you decide to interact with Anomaly content beyond the standard 'find and kill' gameplay loop. Studying entities, living around entities, touching creepy obelisks or reading ancient tomes is bound to have a toll on your sanity.
Behavioral Consequences: Characters with low sanity might engage in erratic or harmful behavior, influencing not only their own fate but also the dynamics of the entire community.
Managing Insanity: Straitjackets and Gags
A new feature we're introducing is the use of straitjackets and gags. These items are crucial in managing characters who have tipped over the edge into madness:
Straitjackets: These prevent insane characters from physically harming others or themselves. They're a non-lethal way to handle severe outbreaks of madness, ensuring safety without resorting to more drastic measures.
Gags: Equipping a character with a gag stops them from spreading disruptive thoughts and maintaining the spread of insanity through harmful social interactions. It’s a way to mitigate the impact of one individual’s deteriorating mental state on the broader group.
Integrated Systems
The sanity system is not isolated—it interacts with virtually every system in the game:
Fighting and killing entities is the universal way of triump over the unknown, and is bound to increase sanity for everyone involved. Base game and modded traits and effects interact with sanity in unique ways, offering both challenges and opportunities.
Gameplay Strategy
Managing sanity requires a strategic approach. Decisions need to balance the immediate benefits of risky actions against the potential long-term cost to a character's mental health. The introduction of items like straitjackets and gags adds another layer of strategy, allowing you to actively manage the consequences of dwindling sanity.
The integration of sanity into so many systems means that it’s not just another stat but a pivotal element of your gameplay experience, influencing decisions, strategies, and outcomes in profound ways.
We didn't want Sanity to just be another need though. As such, Sanity is a stat that will take years to change. The actions you do have such a miniscule effect, that it will take a very, very long time for the sanity to drop to dangerous levels. This also means it will take just as long for Sanity to get back up.
It's an exciting mod and I think it adds quite a bit of depth to the DLC itself. I also need to figure out the integration of the Corruption need from Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Memes and Structures. All in all, I think you will all enjoy it, and I will be back here soon to talk about it some more.
Comments
storyteller could generate random artifacts/creatures that cause irreversible insanity on colonists, or nightmares
Gustavo Righetti
2024-09-04 19:07:23 +0000 UTCHoward could take a page from Eternal Darkness (old-school Gamecube game) and as your colony's average sanity decreases, the fourth wall starts to break and you get things like your colonists suddenly appear all headless (cosmetic only) or you get what seems to be an impossibly massive raid, only for it to disappear and be a trade caravan or something.
Foefaller
2024-09-04 03:23:33 +0000 UTCI can’t say I agree or that I want to connect the two systems directly like that.
Oskar Potocki
2024-09-04 03:01:52 +0000 UTCBut perhaps a version of this? It would make sense for friends and family dying/ other personal catastrophes to make pawns more vulnerable to Eldritch horror insanity. Eg. Increase the amount of sanity change for those below a mood threshold or with very large negative moodlets
Thaddeus McClatchey
2024-09-04 01:19:29 +0000 UTCMaybe the storyteller could make the game harder, if you haven't done any related anomaly content in a while. Essentialy forcing you into madness but I don't know if this would be doable.
Ludmila Martínková
2024-09-02 14:32:38 +0000 UTCYou have to strip them and leave clothes in their cell.
Davide Celli
2024-09-01 06:50:03 +0000 UTCSanity is only tied to anomaly horror content and nothing else. It won’t be reduced by anything that happens in the colony naturally. It’s a very controllable stat.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-31 08:22:06 +0000 UTCWe don’t want to tie the sanity system to anything other than anomaly horror content. Vanilla Health Expanded will add cyberpsychosis.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-31 08:21:21 +0000 UTCNot within the scope of this mod, and I don’t know enough about the system under the hood to know if it won’t cause any other issues
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-31 08:20:38 +0000 UTCAh Alr
fat boys
2024-08-31 08:20:28 +0000 UTCThey do drop manipulation, but I don’t think there’s a way in the base game to force prisoners to wear something. Slaves, yes, prisoners? I don’t think so
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-31 08:19:54 +0000 UTCWhat you are referring to is essentially mood mental breaks which is already covered by the base game. Our sanity has nothing to do with mood. It’s exclusively ‘how influenced by evil Archotech someone is’ and I think it makes very little sense to tie it to anything other than anomaly horror content. - someone’s family died - suddenly they started etching horror etchings in the floor and releasing anomalies from captivity Makes little sense I think.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-31 08:19:14 +0000 UTCIt would be so cool if non-anomaly things could also rarely cause insanity, like if several of a pawns loved ones die they can go insane
fat boys
2024-08-31 06:30:33 +0000 UTCYeah it makes sense not to have an angry person interact with something angrier, but if you look at the SCP universe, they always have prisoners and slaves interacting with these "objects". Why risk a good researchers health and sanity by touch the ominious sphere of death when you can have Shitbag McGee who just got done ravaging your component stockpile and stabbing your cat touch it for you.
Frank Cotton
2024-08-30 18:10:58 +0000 UTCCan we force prisoners to wear straight jackets to prevent them from attacking people during prison breaks or if they go berserk? It would be great if straight jackets dropped manipulation to 0% so that anyone wearing one couldn’t land melee hits.
p t
2024-08-30 11:25:54 +0000 UTCI think it makes sense they can't. Would you really want to send someone that really hates you to work on something that also really hates you, if not more? Like that sounds like a containment breach by spiteful human waiting to happen.
Truperton
2024-08-30 10:26:20 +0000 UTCHey is there any way that you can have the ability for slaves to research anomalies? If there is going to be a chance that a pawn goes insane, why not have a slave go batshit instead? It seems very cultlike and lovecraftian to me.
Frank Cotton
2024-08-30 06:48:41 +0000 UTCMaybe have prosthesis have a negativ impact on Sanity. Its Hard to stay human and not go full cyberpsycho, when you are physically a demigod. Sorry, playing a lot of cyberpunk lately
HeinrichK
2024-08-30 05:14:23 +0000 UTCAwesome idea, seems like it could be really fun to play with VE: Memes. Excited to see how eldritch cult interacts with this!
Rhaenys
2024-08-29 17:49:48 +0000 UTCVery interesting... Here's me thinking it would just be another need. My main question is how would this interact with ideologies? Particularly the child enslaving cannibal cult kind. Kinda makes sense that commiting atrocities would lower sanity but also sticking to the "faith" should bolster sanity... Hmmm...
Spoder
2024-08-29 17:43:07 +0000 UTCI'm honestly surprised a system like this wasn't part of the Anomaly expansion. Love the graphic. Keep up the good work.
Alissa DeWitt
2024-08-29 13:44:28 +0000 UTCGotcha
SysGabriel
2024-08-29 11:53:29 +0000 UTCQuick thought, maybe pawns with psychopath, iron willed, sanguine, psychically deaf etc could be partially immune to sanity penalties. Also maybe add a chance for pawns looking at some particularly horrible entities (fleshbeasts, revenant, gulpy boy and chimaera) to gain some lasting mindfuck only removed by slaying one of those things.
Maurits Franken
2024-08-29 10:56:54 +0000 UTCIt's related to traits, so yeah, every pawn will be affected differently. Sanity increases through many different ways - succesfull colony celebrations, conversations, deep talk with others, childbirth etc.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-29 09:34:20 +0000 UTCOnly Anomaly-related incidents affect Sanity. Mood, mental breaks, cannibalism, none of that touches our system.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-29 09:33:06 +0000 UTCThis will be... interesting. :D Do different pawns have different odds of going insane? Will it be related to psychic sensitivity? (Which would mean a not-insignificant hit to psycasters). Will there be other ways to increase sanity besides defeating entities? You write about social interactions, which is reasonable but not always controllable. Will a beautiful environment help pawns stay sane? (Is this the "environmental condition" you mentioned?). Are additional *active* measures planned to restore sanity? (Therapy; singing happy songs together to strengthen bonds (-> social dynamics); successful ideology celebrations, etc.) Oh and by the way: Wonderful artwork of "Howard Hysterical"! Right to the point!
Deggial
2024-08-29 09:22:36 +0000 UTCI think the worry is that stuff like cannibalism is going to lower sanity even if colony views cannibalism as acceptable. That being said the article doesn't mention actions like eating humans or executions as influencing sanity at all so maybe the worry is unfounded.
Arthan
2024-08-29 08:29:56 +0000 UTCthanks for the reply. For what its worth i am pretty excited for this upcoming mod. Always enjoy having more things to keep in mind for my pawns well being and well sanity XD.
chase fox
2024-08-29 08:25:18 +0000 UTCNo, mental breaks do not reduce sanity.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-29 07:37:37 +0000 UTCIm not sure I understand. Ideology pretty much has no interaction with sanity… same way ideology has no interaction with hunger or joy. Completely separate systems.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-29 07:36:55 +0000 UTCAs always, our mods are meant to provide more tools for storytelling. It’s not decreasing or increasing difficulty per se, it’s adding more depth!
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-29 07:36:02 +0000 UTCFor Howard Hysterical... perhaps he could include something like a tarot card mechanic? Where every once in a while you are given a chance to perform a "tarot reading" for specific colonists (perhaps with Howard showing you what each colonist's sanity is at so you can choose which once can handle a tarot reading). Each reading has you and Howard draw cards for the colonist and depending on the outcome, certain events start happening directed at said colonist or the people around them? Or, instead of simple tarot cards, it's more like piecing together text into a tome? So you select cards or bits of torn out text and arrange them into a sort of prophecy directed at a specific colonist?
Rossum
2024-08-29 05:08:42 +0000 UTCMy idea to make this story teller unique is to make ambient stat will interact directly with this storyteller mechanic. The insanity value can be pawn stat but I think this could be just mod mechanic not the storyteller one. This ambient stat (lets call it “distortion” for now) value depends on amount of entity on the map (eg contained entity, obelisk) morbid art (eg skull spike , gibbet cage) and thing that express humanity reduce distortion (mainly art stuff) it can also be affected by event such as mood break increase this value (yes make it even more death spiral) while inspiration decrease this value. Distortion value will also be hidden from the player to play into “unknowable” trope Distortion will determine which insanity event is available for storyteller to fire. Distortion value will also be hidden from the player to play into “unknowable” trope, not all event will be bad here some example idea Phantom attack, a high distortion event that simulate hallucinations enemy attack This event is like manhunter mix with sightstealer, similar to sightstealer only nearby colonist can see but this entity cannot be detect with proximity detector. This entity attack doesn’t cause bleed, this entity won’t attack structure or even if it attack it deal no damage (because it isn’t “real”), it leave no corpse and no drop, it will leave after certain period has passed. Low distortion event “Something is watching”, a ambient event that do noting… unless you select a pawn will give massive mood debuff “something is watching me” and when you draft a pawn give mood rebuff “something is controlling me!” This event is mostly just for favor. Make player and eldritch entity just for fun. High distortion event called “Distortion” a pawn with extreme break risk turn into a monster called “Distortion” you will get pawn back when monster is defeated (this idea is from library of ruina/lobotomy corp) Low distortion event Cheese rain just cheese rain, cheese for everyone! Low distortion event Chanting, random pawn (maybe low mood one) begin chanting horax spell! If let pawn complete chanting result is the same as void provocation (or fires some event?) generally high distortion also mean more anomaly event.
Thitipong Kunnajak
2024-08-29 03:46:24 +0000 UTCI have a question good Oskar. Is this a mod primarily designed to increase rollplay potential with the anomaly dlc? Or is it more about making the dlc harder/more challenging? I am good with eaither/neither I just want to know more your intentions with this mod. And thank you and the others for the amazing mods you make. Definitely improved my rimworld experience.
chase fox
2024-08-29 02:53:17 +0000 UTCWould hope that it takes this into consideration. Wouldn’t make much sense for a cannibal colony to lose sanity from eating people
Eggpie
2024-08-29 01:16:18 +0000 UTCBut Oskar, you are a storyteller that changes stats randomly already... (In 1.4) And you have an excuse to play chaos with the graphics, UI, and stats now... (I don't know enough about modding, but it would be neat to corrupt text with Zalgo or the UI gets a little unreliable with low sanity and gaslights the player)
Muronelkaz
2024-08-29 00:47:49 +0000 UTCIf I were going to have a sanity-based storyteller, I'd have it push more Anomaly encounters as the sanity across the colony drops.
onetrueping
2024-08-29 00:17:01 +0000 UTCSome interesting ideas for sure... but I am a little concerned how well it's going to integrate into Idiology, I can see a lot of builds just death-spiralling into everyone going insane and becoming largely unmanageable.
Robert McPherson
2024-08-28 23:52:19 +0000 UTCOh I like, it adds a reason to keep colonist pawns in jail long-term if they've gone insane, also I could stick a prisoner into my entity containment room for years and make him go crazy
fat boys
2024-08-28 22:58:26 +0000 UTCBasically you can inhumanize a pawn by making him have mental break after mental break?
SysGabriel
2024-08-28 22:32:58 +0000 UTCUmmm probably not, for the same reason there aren't weapons that do hunger or mood damage.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-28 22:05:52 +0000 UTCI hope colonists with the Masochist trait enjoy being gagged and thrown in a straitjacket like they do with the Ideology slave apparel
Starei
2024-08-28 22:05:28 +0000 UTCOh wow. Will be there weapons to do insanity damage? Me thinks this will be very welcome for those who are fans of lobotomy corporation.
SysGabriel
2024-08-28 22:00:56 +0000 UTCWell I did alright with turning Royalty into a must-have DLC with our mods so hopefully I achieve a similar effect with Anomaly!
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-28 21:47:34 +0000 UTCHuh, these are some very creative ideas. Keep up the amazing work, I’m taking a break from Rimworld for a while but still get excited at every blog post you make, can’t wait to dive back into the old addiction once you’ve pushed out some more Anomaly mods. I felt the DLC was a little lacking and I have no doubt your work will make it fantastically fleshed out. Thanks for the detailed response!
Anthony Nero
2024-08-28 21:44:36 +0000 UTCInterestingly, losing Sanity does not actually directly increase amount of mental breaks. We're trying to keep the two systems separate. Mood =/= sanity. Losing Sanity however changes the mental breaks that can occur, and the social interactions the pawn will do. Essentially, lower sanity means different behavior, and not necessarily more mental breaks. When Sanity reaches 0, pawn becomes inhumanized. Inhumanized is also not necessarily a drawback - there are major perks from being inhumanized. It also reverses the need bar - the pawn will want to keep their sanity low, otherwise they will be at risk of rehumanizing and losing their Inhumanized effect. Low sanity also increases the speed of Anomaly research, as well as improves variety of Anomaly mechanics. There is a handful of new interactions, such as: Twisted Words, Slander, Vicious mockery etc. These occur instead of other interactions if Sanity is low. They usually also result in loss of sanity for recipients - hence the gag item, which will allow you to stop your insane pawns from speaking to others.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-28 21:40:31 +0000 UTCExcuse my skepticism but how will this be functionally different than mental break thresholds other than taking longer to occur and fix? Are there going to be unique new mental breaks?
Anthony Nero
2024-08-28 20:35:27 +0000 UTCWonderful, my prisoners will be able to keep their legs!
Sir Florida Man
2024-08-28 20:24:41 +0000 UTCI feel like we have that already with all the cool anomaly stuff coming up.
Computica
2024-08-28 20:18:20 +0000 UTCHaha Being a psychopath and being an insane psychopath are two different things. One is perfectly functional, the other is unstable.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-28 20:15:57 +0000 UTCLow sanity means your pawn can become Inhumanized. Whether you see inhumanized as a debuff or buff depends on you.
Oskar Potocki
2024-08-28 20:15:06 +0000 UTCGone will be the days of cutting out the tongues of pawns with Annoying Voice, with this mod we'll be able to gag them! I feel like this mod also could be a neat place to tie back into Ideology with a new meme or precept concerning Insanity.
Steven
2024-08-28 20:13:04 +0000 UTCWill there be any perks to low sanity (raised mental break threshold, lower sleep need, stronger combat, etc.), or only cons?
idle snow
2024-08-28 19:48:17 +0000 UTCHoward hysterical should lower the mental break threshold so you experience sanity breaks more often, but pawns should become significantly tougher. Like how every game with a sanity meter, your character takes sadomasochist levels of bodily abuse and disfigurement. Maybe he also significantly increases the chance that events will include anomalies
The Dragonborn
2024-08-28 19:46:45 +0000 UTCI mean remake one of the classic mods, go full HP lovecraft on this one
BrenTenkage's Gaming
2024-08-28 19:41:08 +0000 UTCI feel like Psychopaths should be immune from sanity checks.
Computica
2024-08-28 19:40:34 +0000 UTC
