Future Pottery (Long post)

[Xandrea]

Definitely a later priority!

Pottery is probably the one skill I have most universally among my characters. Perhaps in large part due that I myself really enjoy it. Occasionally I think about what could be done with pottery on the decorative side. Though for everything I think of with this it's going to eventually come down to the hows.

Obviously this is a complex art. Simple on the surface because of the things it can make but, the complexity comes through desire and design. What we use to shape it has a big hand and what we do to it on each step will only make the prefixes and suffixes get longer and longer. While I would absolutely love to do everything under the sun to a teapot eventually when I pull it out of my bag it will be [X pulls a stout ash-gray painted corn-patterned star-stamped blue striped clay teapot] While that's amazing it's also incredibly long.

This has gotten me thinking that detail shouldn't be compromised but, the short-description requires that. So before anything about detailing gets suggested, perhaps it's "What should show" first. I think the priority in the short-description would be [type] (clay/porcelain) [Colour] (Ash-Gray) and [Object] (Teapot). If there's more than these base three then a digression replaces the size descriptor. [Detailed]. A simple flag that would prompt people to 'look' at the item to get the full list of the effort a potter put into that one piece. Of course you're going to see that full list when 'order'ed on the market too.

Now, where's this all going? This could also be used as a basis. If you're holding a wet clay of an object. (Say I just completed shaping this pretty teacup.) Then the game won't recognize it as an object that starts the drying process until I enter [Complete 'item'] This means any descriptors of the first stage [Stout or other 'shape' prefixes] Can be modified but, once we 'complete' this stage the teacup will now start to dry. We set it on the table, wait a bell and come back for the next steps.

Glazing/Painting. This stage would require higher Pottery or appropriate artsy skill to unlock more descriptors. Paint however? Paint would come from dyes. In pottery a dye will count as 10 points. There are only a limited number of points you can use on a pottery item based on your pottery skill. The higher your pottery, the more points you can spend to put more intricate descriptors and colours onto an item. I'd suggest the first 100 of pottery gives 10 points. (So you get 10 when you first learn the skill.) Then every 100 after that grants you 10 more points. A master potter (the ridiculous 700) could put an insane amount of detail onto an item. Though if they made a clay shot and put 70 points of effort into it, it would just be a mess right? Well here's my solution to that. Points per size category. The potter can put up to 70 points into a given item but, the size of that item can only have so much surface area.

Tiny - 20p / Small - 30p / Medium - 50p / Large - 70p

The process of all detailing. be it shape, colour, painting, anything artsy. Wouldn't need a multi-part system to handle. While it does materialistically (Tools, dyes, and stations.) it's not putting separately examinable items into one.

I'm not going to make a massive table (yet) but, figuring out what these stages are and what can be done at each stage is; what I think. The best question to be asking. If we can simplify the system and agree on what each step of that system allows, then we can start brainstorming what each affords the artist and what compromises may need to be made code-wise.

[nobody]

It'd also be cool if we could attach gems into wet pottery, with text varying by number of gems (and capacity varying by size/materials). Who wouldn't want a ruby-studded teapot for drinking their favorite wine?