Disregarded Demographics: Shoemakers

The art of shoe making is dying.  Long live the factory lines.  Take a look at our high streets, once upon a time shoe makers were a regularly found business, but with labour being cheaper in third-world factories the demand has plummeted.  How do you get a job in a jobless market? Bring back a lost career! Time for Disregarded Demographics to hop in to save the day and attempt to resurrect a profession again.

You may never have made use of a shoemaker.  More likely you’d have wanted a repair done rather than having an entire new pair of shoes made, in which case a cobbler is your best friend.  Thankfully these talented people are still about, but it’s not a massive consolation to anybody who wants some custom footwear.  Our idea this week will take gamers on a journey through the rich history of the profession to stir up some new interest.

Remember how you moved through different time periods in Civilization? That’s a nice idea, isn’t it? Which is why it’s something I’m nicking off with this week and applying it to something completely different.  So, shoe making.  You could be traveling through the ages learning how to create all sorts of different shoes: fur boots and sandals for Romans; clogs for Northern Europeans; moccasins for Native Americans.  I can’t tell you exactly how all those types are made, because I’m not trained, hopefully I will be after somebody makes this!

Throughout you would have to set up businesses to furnish everybody with lovely new feet-clothes.  It doesn’t matter how well you can make shoes if you can’t offload them to the public and turn out a profit, so pick your ideal location, choose how to put yourself out there, set up your store front with some of your products.  You could also accept requests for customized, unique shoes; hope for a commission from somebody who likes crazy clothes and is willing to pay ludicrous amounts for said garments and go wild.  Somebody like Lady Gaga.

Sony needs to look into this one as a launch title for their motion controlling wand.  Why? Well, you’ve got to make the shoes, of course.  I’ve chosen Playstation 3 for this one because it will soon have the necessary equipment to let you pretend to hammer imaginary nails, or spread shoe cement in mid-air to fit your craftiwork together.  With 1:1 motion it should also be accurate enough for you to weave those stitches perfectly.  However, there’s a more critical reason, the company’s use of augmented reality technology is perfect for this idea.  Get your Playstation Eye, whack it on the table and prop your foot up before it.  With your foot displayed on screen there’s no need for a shoe maker’s last, you can just mold your virtual shoes directly around your own foot.  If you want to make shoes of a different size all you have to do is go and track down somebody of the correct proportions and convince them to sit in your living room for a bit while you pat around them with a piece of plastic with a fluorescent light bulb on the end.

This stuff could get tiring with running the business side as well. So there will be times where you might begin to fall behind with your work.  Not to fear, though: if you get into a spot of bother, your reputation is on the line and you’re collapsing from the pressure, you’ll be fine so long as you’re pure of heart – you can always call on the elves to give you a helping hand, provided you leave the parts cut out for them and occasionally make them some teeny foot protection of their own.  Better yet, give the patron saints of shoe making, Saint Crispin and Crispinian, a shout.  They created by night but preached Christianity by day, so they could probably put a good word in for you to reverse your fortunes.

It’d have crazy motion control, multiple time periods, mystical creatures and footwear – what could possibly go wrong with a shoe making game? Unfortunately, it’d be so exciting it’d probably have the opposite effect to the intended one – people would be too engrossed playing this than actually going out and being proper shoemakers.  It’s destined to make a victim of those who it wishes to save.

Images: Country Joe’s Collectible Stuff, Xavier Footwear, Stock Photography