I've been developing a fantasy universe for a while now, about two years. I'm at that point where I need to add all those tiny details that are necessary for making the universe credible - that is, details like how the economy works, what sort of police force it has, etc - but, I'm having trouble coming up with what those details are (not so much about coming up with their actual content). I've been told by several people to check history books and such, but I don't know what to search for so I'm still kind of lost there.

You can find all the information I have developed about this universe at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XK9nRByKCZfcX59lm6d0TCQfJmsK_eP1EIech1u5ayE/edit?authkey=CN34wYMM&authkey=CN34wYMM

Hopefully this will explain my problem properly: I have no trouble deciding these details, but I have trouble thinking about which details to include. For instance, a friend of mine suggested the police force detail, but before that I had no idea of that detail to include.

I was hoping to get some help to figure out which details I should include to make this feel more like a living world rather than something artificial, any help is appreciated!

At the moment what you have is basically a Help Wanted/Classifieds thread which will most likely attract a mod's attention.

You might however give consideration to actually asking for help with regard specific questions or points in order to gain feedback. For example

"My Universe is a fantasy based one where all the various mythological and fae creatures live together on the same world. What sort of police force would I have for a universe like this. What types of police divisions might I have in it?"

Answers might then be:

Well your police force should consist of donuts and caffeine beverages who mostly sit around doing nothing while snacking on humans at the local fast food outlet.

or

You might include Air police for all of the fantasy creatures that can fly.

Curse investigation squad.

forensic divisions that include magic.

different species excelling in different arms of the law - unicorns doing crowd control, Succubi doing prostitution traps etc etc

At the moment what you have is basically a Help Wanted/Classifieds thread which will most likely attract a mod's attention.

You might however give consideration to actually asking for help with regard specific questions or points in order to gain feedback. For example

"My Universe is a fantasy based one where all the various mythological and fae creatures live together on the same world. What sort of police force would I have for a universe like this. What types of police divisions might I have in it?"

Answers might then be:

Well your police force should consist of donuts and caffeine beverages who mostly sit around doing nothing while snacking on humans at the local fast food outlet.

or

You might include Air police for all of the fantasy creatures that can fly.

Curse investigation squad.

forensic divisions that include magic.

different species excelling in different arms of the law - unicorns doing crowd control, Succubi doing prostitution traps etc etc

The thing is, I need help thinking about which details to include, not the content of those details. How can I put it in simple terms... I have no trouble thinking about what sort of police force to use, but I had trouble thinking about what details should influence this universe, such as including a police force. Basically, I need help deciding what details I need to include, since I don't have enough experience to know any unless someone tells me some.

Regarding the Help Wanted & Classifieds, I thought that only applied to actual work opportunities, I didn't know this post would need to be posted there. I don't have much experience posting in this site since I barely ever post here tho, so I apologise for the inconvenience..

Regarding the Help Wanted & Classifieds, I thought that only applied to actual work opportunities, I didn't know this post would need to be posted there. I don't have much experience posting in this site since I barely ever post here tho, so I apologise for the inconvenience..

Post in the Hobbyist Projects section

The thing is, I need help thinking about which details to include, not the content of those details.

Do you have something of your universe that you have so far created that you can bring to this post? In the absence of any real information it is very hard to try and provide help/advice.

Hopefully a mod can move this topic to that section then, I didn't even know it existed to be honest...

Regarding whether I have something of my universe that I can bring to my post, I was hoping I didn't have to post this publicly, but I have a google doc with all of the information I have written so far, sort into sections: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XK9nRByKCZfcX59lm6d0TCQfJmsK_eP1EIech1u5ayE/edit?authkey=CN34wYMM&authkey=CN34wYMM

Basically my problem is that I think this universe doesn't really feel "alive" so I want to add some details to it that will help making it more like a world rather than something made up. This is especially important since I hope to make a sandbox game based on it in a few years.

Regarding whether I have something of my universe that I can bring to my post, I was hoping I didn't have to post this publicly,

Copyright is basically automatic these days so your work is protected...which doesn't mean it can't be plagiarised or stolen from though. Only way you can stop that is to never tell anyone or write anything down...and then what is the point in that?

You might be interested in this article, which may allay some of your concerns:

Why you should share your game designs.

Hopefully a mod can move this topic to that section then, I didn't even know it existed to be honest.

A mod won't move this thread to the Hobbyist section as the classifieds utilise a slightly different system as I understand it...beyond the fact that this thread has now evolved beyond that point to a degree anyway.

but I have a google doc with all of the information I have written so far, sort into sections: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XK9nRByKCZfcX59lm6d0TCQfJmsK_eP1EIech1u5ayE/edit?authkey=CN34wYMM&authkey=CN34wYMM



Basically my problem is that I think this universe doesn't really feel "alive" so I want to add some details to it that will help making it more like a world rather than something made up

I am looking at this now - first impression is that you have put a decent amount of work into it. I will get back to you on my thoughts/opinions/suggestions once I have gone through it more extensively. Which means don't stay up late waiting for an answer as it may take me a day or two between other things to get this done.

Sure, that is fine. And thank you very much for taking the time to read it!

Oh and you might want to change the title of this thread to something more inline with what we have been talking about for the benefit of other forum users who might simply jump over it thinking it is simply a recruitment thread wrongly posted -- use the full editor to do that

If Iam following things correctly, basically what you are asking is "How to make a Virtual Economy Work!" I am assuming that you have several worlds, Relate that to countries here on good old Earth. Each Country has it's own resourses with their own values for those resources, and likely they have more than 1 . Mineral resources, with a vaule assigned to each resource, oil, coal, ore and gems. Farming resources which is related to soil content, and weather patterns. Manufactureing resources, which planets have factories and what do the produce. People resources, The more people the better the likely hood of increasing production in any of these areas. Government Taxation to fund your operations, assuming players are going to control certain sectors on certain planets or even the whole planet. Your population would also have a loyalty factor, To much taxation, not enough housing and recreation they would leave reducing your work force and lower your econmic base. Keep them happy and the population grows through reproduction.

If you are looking for inspiration look around our own planet to see how things interact.

This should help me a lot, thanks. Tho I think there is still some confusion regarding what this post is asking: I can figure out something for economy, but until someone suggested that I should describe how the economy works I wouldn't have thought of that. Basically, there are a lot of things that I am missing that I need help figuring out since I don't really know what to describe!

Oh and you might want to change the title of this thread to something more inline with what we have been talking about for the benefit of other forum users who might simply jump over it thinking it is simply a recruitment thread wrongly posted -- use the full editor to do that

Done and done! I also updated my original post so things should be a tad less confusing.