Automatons and Advertising

[Daemacil]

Couple of short suggestions.

came across this in the faction details:

Anglean Republic
Buried beneath the snow is an old world perfectly preserved.  The Angleans have made the structures of past civilizations their homes, reveling at mysterious murals and objects that scatter the landscape and float in a case of crystalline ice.  They have even managed to revive some of the found machines and reverse engineer crude automatons to do their work.  Realizing the power of the black smoke that their ancestral machines produce, the Republic hunts down relics from the past in an attempt to restore the world to its former glory.

The northern wastelands are a dearth of undiscovered technologies but the Angleans know that there is more to be found.  The harsh realities of living in the arctic drive them to be resourceful, but most importantly unforgiving and ferocious, when it comes to finding hospitable lands.  A show of their mighty airships and smoking contraptions is usually enough but the Republic isn’t just about show either.  The Angleans take what they seek.

A magnificent way of life is hidden away in the rusted technology.  To truly understand the machine is to unlock wealth and resources for everyone—to finally melt the ice.
Unlock the past, ensure the future.

Made me think that the potential of having automatons replace the AI crew or having Automatons as a playable third gender (Danger: may contain moving parts; Choking hazard) would be awesome.

I'd also like to suggest that the dev's attempt advertising through the band Abney Park. They're pretty big in steam punk music scene and I've seen their name dropped on a couple other threads around here. Seems almost ideal considering that their music fits pretty well with the atmosphere of the game. Realize their music isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'd love to see the community grow further and more active games. Gotten several copies for friends and plugged GoI on Facebook, but there's only so much one player can do.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

I think you are thinking these things would be like androids. Unless Muse says so, if you look at Automatons from a WWI era time period, they were in no way capable of being androids. Now you did indeed have dolls and similar automatons which were very lifelike and advanced. There was even some which could do simple tasks. But nothing advanced enough to become actual crew members. Heck we are borderline with that ability today.

However, if you think Bioshock and the automaton vendor machines, that wouldn't be a stretch to do. In fact I noted a ship theme idea to utilize something like this for Anglea. Those you could toss in some kind of advert or maybe even play music through. Ships with a on board jukebox or other interactive features would be neat.

[Crafeksterty]

Ide love automatons as AI but not as a third gender. Because you can then see PLAYERS as important or something better than Bots, while automatons will always be indentified as Bots. Even in their visuals can make for a more forgiving experience because of the crappiness they deliver in theme with how they look.

[Susurrus]

Ide love automatons as AI but not as a third gender. Because you can then see PLAYERS as important or something better than Bots, while automatons will always be indentified as Bots. Even in their visuals can make for a more forgiving experience because of the crappiness they deliver in theme with how they look.

... I'm not sure this was your intention, but the phrasing in your first sentence seems to suggest that binary gender is superior to alternatives?
(When that's.. potentially disrespectful to individuals and cultures that don't subscribe to that particular myth of male/female binary sex & gender.)
[Intersex, genderqueer, agender, etc. people all exist.]

Be cool to see a third gender option of any sort, I think.

& on the topic of automatons, I'm.. not sure it fits GoIO's world, but I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to the idea if they were either AI or an alternative to male/female.
(I do like steampunky robots; I'm just wary of shoehorning them in to GoIO. I like the current aesthetic/lore.)
Makes me think of Steam Powered Giraffe.