Artistic Direction
Overview
Artistic Direction is the patron's primary tool for shaping the settlement's creative culture. It is a single setting with four modes that influences how the Curator makes decisions about role assignment, composition encouragement, and settlement priorities. The direction does not force any specific outcome -- it nudges the curator's judgment toward a particular aesthetic value.
You cycle through directions by pressing 'd' during normal gameplay (not in Look mode, where 'd' controls the camera).
How It Works
The Four Directions
| Direction | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Balanced | Bal | No preference -- the curator decides freely based on settlement needs |
| Favor Mastery | Mas | Prioritizes high-skill elves as composers; values technical excellence |
| Favor Originality | Orig | Encourages experimental, inspiration-driven work |
| Favor Emotion | Emo | Values emotional resonance over technical skill |
The default starting direction is Balanced.
Pressing 'd' cycles through them in order:
Balanced --> Favor Mastery --> Favor Originality --> Favor Emotion --> Balanced
Source: src/sim/components.rs, ArtisticDirection;
src/model.rs, cycle_artistic_direction
How the Curator Interprets Direction
The direction is communicated to the curator in two ways:
-
System prompt context: The LLM Curator receives the direction as part of its system prompt under "Patron's Direction," with explicit guidance:
- Favor Mastery: "nurture your most skilled composers"
- Favor Originality: "encourage avant-garde elves"
- Favor Emotion: "protect your deeply-feeling artists from creative block"
- Balanced: no specific instruction
-
Dummy Curator rule: When the direction is non-Balanced, the Dummy Curator ensures the best musician (highest music skill) is assigned the Composer role if no Composer has been assigned yet. This applies equally to all three non-Balanced directions.
Source: src/sim/curator/prompt.rs, build_system_prompt;
src/sim/curator/dummy.rs, artistic direction handling
State Snapshot
The current direction is included in the settlement state snapshot sent to the curator each consultation cycle:
patron_direction: "FavorMastery"(or Balanced, FavorOriginality, FavorEmotion)
This means the LLM Curator sees the direction every time it evaluates the settlement and can adjust its strategy accordingly.
Source: src/sim/curator/state.rs, patron_direction field
Values & Formulas
Direction Does Not Affect Composition Scores Directly
Artistic direction does not modify the quality formulas. Mastery is always driven by music skill, originality by inspiration total, and emotional by mood. The direction works indirectly:
| Direction | Indirect Effect |
|---|---|
| Favor Mastery | Curator assigns high-skill elves as Composers, who produce higher mastery scores |
| Favor Originality | Curator encourages conditions for high inspiration (gardens, varied experiences) |
| Favor Emotion | Curator protects emotionally-driven elves from creative block, maintains positive mood |
| Balanced | Curator optimizes for settlement health without bias toward any quality dimension |
Interaction with Audience Evaluation
While direction does not change evaluation weights (those come from individual elf aesthetic positions), the compositions produced under each direction tend to score differently:
| Direction | Tends to Produce | Audience Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Favor Mastery | High mastery scores | Appreciated by structured, traditional elves |
| Favor Originality | High originality scores | Appreciated by innovative, low-tradition elves |
| Favor Emotion | High emotional scores | Appreciated by emotional, social elves |
| Balanced | Even distribution | Moderate reception across the board |
Patron Taste System
Artistic direction is one part of the broader Patron Taste system, which also includes:
| Feature | Description | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Artistic Direction | Bias curator decisions | 'd' key |
| Favorite Compositions | Mark compositions you value | Composition interaction |
| Interesting Elves | Mark elves you want the curator to focus on | Elf interaction |
| Named Locations | Place meaningful names on the map | Map interaction |
The curator sees all of these when making decisions. Favorite compositions that are performed at revels trigger a special patron notification event.
Source: src/sim/components.rs, PatronTaste
TUI Display
The current direction is shown in the status bar with a short label:
| Direction | Status Bar |
|---|---|
| Balanced | Bal |
| Favor Mastery | Mas |
| Favor Originality | Orig |
| Favor Emotion | Emo |
Source: src/render_terminal.rs, direction label rendering
Interactions
- Compositions -- Direction biases which compositions get created through role assignment
- Revels -- Composition quality affects revel outcomes; direction shapes what is composed
- Roles -- Non-Balanced directions influence the curator to assign Composer roles
- The Curator -- Primary consumer of direction; both Dummy and LLM curators respond to it
- Aesthetic Position -- Audience evaluation weights are per-elf, not direction-dependent
Tips
- Balanced is the safe default. The curator already optimizes for settlement health. Only switch to a specific direction when you have a deliberate artistic vision.
- Favor Mastery is strongest in established settlements with high-skill composers. In a young settlement where everyone is skill 1-3, the mastery ceiling is too low for direction to matter much.
- Favor Originality works best when you can supply high inspiration. Build gardens, encourage wandering, and ensure varied experiences. Without inspiration sources, the direction is aspirational but ineffective.
- Favor Emotion is the defensive choice for settlements under stress. Emotional compositions with high mood tend to get broad audience approval, which boosts satisfaction and prevents departures.
- Direction changes take effect on the next curator consultation cycle. There is no delay or transition cost -- switch freely as conditions change.
- The LLM Curator interprets direction more creatively than the Dummy Curator. Where the Dummy Curator simply assigns the best musician as Composer, the LLM Curator might rearrange multiple roles, suggest garden placement, or write messages explaining its artistic reasoning.
- Watch the composition quality breakdowns to verify your direction is working. If you favor Mastery but compositions still have low mastery scores, the problem is likely insufficient music skill, not the direction setting.