Tales of the Shireoffers players the chance to live in the charming hobbit village of Bywater. This includes all the trappings of hobbit life such as gardening, fishing, cooking, and customizing their own hobbit hole. Customization and decoration are likely to be major draws toTales of the Shirefor many players. The customization options for both hobbits and their homes appear to be incredibly robust, especially when it comes to furniture placement.
Cozy sims often offer robust customization tools, andTales of the Shireis no different. It may even have an advantage over some other established cozy games, such asAnimal Crossing, thanks to its placement system which removes grid placement and allows players to rotate objects a full 360 degrees. This is agreat sign forTales of the Shireand its customization options, especially when it also promises to have gameplay that intersects with customization such as cooking.
Comparing Tales of the Shire’s Furniture Placement Mechanics to Animal Crossing’s
Animal Crossing’s Item Rotation System
In other cozy games, such asAnimal Crossing, furniture customization snaps items to a grid, and can then only be rotated by 45 degrees. While this works well forAnimal Crossing’s art style and mechanics, and the grid is largely invisible and unobtrusive for much of the gameplay, there isn’t as much freedom as there could be in gameplay. In contrast, the furniture and items inTales of the Shirecan be placed anywhere, without being limited to a grid, with a full 360-degree rotation. This gives players an incredible amount of freedom to customize their hobbit’s homes, with furniture placement completely up to the player’s whim.
The Importance of Rotating Items in Tales of the Shire
With decor and furniture inside hobbit homes ranging from cooked meals to conventional furniture like cozy armchairs and fireplaces, there’s amassive range of potential for players' hobbit homes. Gardens are also likely to be fully customizable, with the same amount of freedom of placement.Animal Crossinghas a massive amount of variety in decor, plants, and furniture, and ifTales of the Shirecan matchAnimal Crossing’s offerings, it could prove to be a serious contender.
How Tales of the Shire’s Item Placement Could Be Implemented in Practice
Ascooking is such an important part ofTales of the Shire, creating a perfect kitchen that is both aesthetically pleasing and functional will be an essential part of gameplay. The ability to rotate items 360 degrees within the home and especially the kitchen is a game-changer for this section ofTales of the Shire.
Dinner parties are connected to the cooking mechanic inTales of the Shire, and the player can decide how the dishes are presented on the dining table over the course of the dinner party. This is possible, in part, thanks to the lack of a placement grid, as well as a system that previews the dishes before placing them on the table.
Systems such as these give the player more control over their creations and are an essential part of building a cathartic experience for players within the cozy game genre. With such apositive feature already in the works forTales of the Shire, players should hopefully look forward to creating the hobbit hole of their dreams next year.
