It would be nice if you could buy a phone that you could then use to call anyone who you've reached a certain number of stars with (or bought a phone for--see below for alternate process). This would allow you to just chat with them or, at higher levels, get services. I don't know if cell phones would fit the theme, but if it's house phones then you would only be able to call them when they're at home or at work. Suppose you have 6 hearts with Pierre, maybe calling him would allow you to order items he sells, and they would be delivered. It could work the same way for other characters that provide services. Maybe asking him to deliver would cost friendship points. It could also count for you talking to them that day, but at a reduced friendship reward. If cell phones are part of the setting, then the character could tell you where they are, which would be a huge boon. And they could even tell you something about where they're at: whether there's a lot of foraging items there, who else is in the area, whether there's fish bubbles there). Calling non-shop-owners could do other things for you (at the right heart level). For example, calling the Wizard could tell you whether the travelling merchant is there and what she's selling that day. (Or maybe even give you access to that shop, ie. he picks it up for you.) Obviously, you couldn't call Linus. OR Phones could be a purchasable item, and you'd have to gift one to someone before you can call them. OTHER WAYS FRIENDSHIP COULD BE MORE MEANINGFUL This phone idea could be combined with other ways for friendships to be more meaningful: + When you're at level 10 friendship with someone, you ask them, once a season to do some work on the farm for you. What they would do could depend on who they are: watering, taking care of the animals, harvesting, etc. If you're friends with everyone, you could get a lot of work done this way. + Talking to a friend over a certain heart level could have a chance for them to give you advice, which would buff you in some way for the day. For example, Willy could give you a +1 fishing buff. Haley could give you fashion advice that would improve your friendship gains from talking to someone (in person) for the day. Wizard could buff your immunity. + As someone else suggested elsewhere. You could have a birthday and friends would give you stuff on your birthday relative to how much they like you. + Maybe certain friends could come with you to the mines/other areas on certain days. + Being able to sleep over at someone's house could be a boon if you're out too late and having trouble getting home in time.
I feel like you should be able to have a quest in the community center like complete a phone book or contacts list and you should be able to call Sandy to deliver items from the oasis store to your house but you have to pay for shipping instead of buying a bus ticket and you could have sales on weekends or something
