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2:45am - So I'm having a bit of trouble with the next part of developing my game.
The technical problem is to make a Dialogue system, but getting in the way of that is a sort of emotional problem, where I'm stuck because I want to figure out the economic model first. It's kinda putting the cart before the horse, though. Or the mule with a spinning wheel.
The tricky bit is that the reason I want to set up the dialogue system is to enable me to make a simple version of the economic model for testing purposes, so my thoughts are saying 'Figure out the economic model first so that you can test it and make the dialogue system at the same time!' and it's frustrating.
Plus maybe I just want to do the economic system? Or maybe it's because that's the part of the game I'm the least sure about...
3:39am - Time is fleeting. I've almost been out here an hour now and I've mostly been looking at twitter. Alas. Still, I think I can stay up even longer.
Let's think about that economic system, at least.
The idea of the game is to buy goods in one town and haul them to another where they're needed, and turn a profit. The actual main game loop, though, is the encounters you make between the towns. Mostly combat I expect. This is a dangerous fantasy world, so there are random monster encounters and banditry to worry about. But the sub-game that drives the motivation in the main game, apart from the combat and other encounters being fun, is that you're going around trading. So that needs to be sensible and fun too.
I've been tossing a few ideas around in my head about it. The latest idea I've had is to start with three towns with one route between each of them, forming a triangle. That way you can go from any town down two different routes to two different towns that want different goods. The actual game should have a lot more, but I want to keep it small for the prototype.
Originally I was thinking of making just two towns with three different routes to take between them of different lengths and threat levels, but I realized that it would incentivize players to always take the least interesting route. It's bad game design to make the best choice the least fun.
Anyways, with three towns, I figure I can make the player's trades have more impact. When you bring enough stuff from one town to the next, then they don't need as much and the sell price goes down. So, you're encouraged to go to the other town and get something else.
I can also put in a few resources per town, to make it a choice which one you'll carry where, next. Like, maybe Town A has had enough Fish from Town B so you could take a load of Scrimshaw to Town C, but Scrimshaw doesn't refresh as fast as Fish so you can only do it once and a while... Interesting choices, right? On the other hand, once you get to Town B or Town C, you could take THEIR products between them, instead of going back to Town A.
That's what I'm thinking, anyways.
I feel like I should really do a Spreadsheet or something, and math up the products and their balances. But I'm not sure how I'll balance it when I have more than three towns. Maybe I shouldn't? Like, those towns once you've been doing your rounds a few times, are fully satiated and you can only make a little profit off them, but those other towns still need stuff...
Another thing I'm wondering about is other merchants, and other things like that. Like, it would be nuts if these towns were completely isolated except for one brave traveller, but at the same time, it's not safe out there. I don't want to hammer out too many details early on when they might change or be abandonned, but I don't want to just focus entirely on coding systems without any sense of what I'm building up to, either.
Maybe I should make the other merchants into actual characters you can interact with? Then you could keep tabs on who is going where, and there could be rankings and things.
Then there's the encounters between the towns. I figure for the prototype I'll keep the routes to a size where you can have three encounters. Then they could be monsters/animals, bandits, or other travellers. You wouldn't know until you got to that point in your trip what would be there.
I figure the monsters/animals will always be a possibility, but the chance of bandits goes up the more often you do the same route, and when they pop out they'll say 'There's the merchant! Get 'em!' and 'So predictable!' and so on. Things to make you realize, oh, they knew I was coming this way. Then the player might change their route for that reason too, to be less predictable.
I might not do that mechanic though, since it doesn't make a lot of sense. I thought about it early on, but in spelling it out I realize that the Bandits would be there to bandit whatever merchant came by, not just you. So, there's that too. Ahh well.
4:03am - I think I'm going to hit the hay now. Partly 'cause I'm so tired, and partly 'cause I don't think I'm going to get anything else done tonight. I don't feel like working on the dialogue system yet, and I don't feel up to spreading sheets about the first three towns.
So, to bed I go!
The technical problem is to make a Dialogue system, but getting in the way of that is a sort of emotional problem, where I'm stuck because I want to figure out the economic model first. It's kinda putting the cart before the horse, though. Or the mule with a spinning wheel.
The tricky bit is that the reason I want to set up the dialogue system is to enable me to make a simple version of the economic model for testing purposes, so my thoughts are saying 'Figure out the economic model first so that you can test it and make the dialogue system at the same time!' and it's frustrating.
Plus maybe I just want to do the economic system? Or maybe it's because that's the part of the game I'm the least sure about...
3:39am - Time is fleeting. I've almost been out here an hour now and I've mostly been looking at twitter. Alas. Still, I think I can stay up even longer.
Let's think about that economic system, at least.
The idea of the game is to buy goods in one town and haul them to another where they're needed, and turn a profit. The actual main game loop, though, is the encounters you make between the towns. Mostly combat I expect. This is a dangerous fantasy world, so there are random monster encounters and banditry to worry about. But the sub-game that drives the motivation in the main game, apart from the combat and other encounters being fun, is that you're going around trading. So that needs to be sensible and fun too.
I've been tossing a few ideas around in my head about it. The latest idea I've had is to start with three towns with one route between each of them, forming a triangle. That way you can go from any town down two different routes to two different towns that want different goods. The actual game should have a lot more, but I want to keep it small for the prototype.
Originally I was thinking of making just two towns with three different routes to take between them of different lengths and threat levels, but I realized that it would incentivize players to always take the least interesting route. It's bad game design to make the best choice the least fun.
Anyways, with three towns, I figure I can make the player's trades have more impact. When you bring enough stuff from one town to the next, then they don't need as much and the sell price goes down. So, you're encouraged to go to the other town and get something else.
I can also put in a few resources per town, to make it a choice which one you'll carry where, next. Like, maybe Town A has had enough Fish from Town B so you could take a load of Scrimshaw to Town C, but Scrimshaw doesn't refresh as fast as Fish so you can only do it once and a while... Interesting choices, right? On the other hand, once you get to Town B or Town C, you could take THEIR products between them, instead of going back to Town A.
That's what I'm thinking, anyways.
I feel like I should really do a Spreadsheet or something, and math up the products and their balances. But I'm not sure how I'll balance it when I have more than three towns. Maybe I shouldn't? Like, those towns once you've been doing your rounds a few times, are fully satiated and you can only make a little profit off them, but those other towns still need stuff...
Another thing I'm wondering about is other merchants, and other things like that. Like, it would be nuts if these towns were completely isolated except for one brave traveller, but at the same time, it's not safe out there. I don't want to hammer out too many details early on when they might change or be abandonned, but I don't want to just focus entirely on coding systems without any sense of what I'm building up to, either.
Maybe I should make the other merchants into actual characters you can interact with? Then you could keep tabs on who is going where, and there could be rankings and things.
Then there's the encounters between the towns. I figure for the prototype I'll keep the routes to a size where you can have three encounters. Then they could be monsters/animals, bandits, or other travellers. You wouldn't know until you got to that point in your trip what would be there.
I figure the monsters/animals will always be a possibility, but the chance of bandits goes up the more often you do the same route, and when they pop out they'll say 'There's the merchant! Get 'em!' and 'So predictable!' and so on. Things to make you realize, oh, they knew I was coming this way. Then the player might change their route for that reason too, to be less predictable.
I might not do that mechanic though, since it doesn't make a lot of sense. I thought about it early on, but in spelling it out I realize that the Bandits would be there to bandit whatever merchant came by, not just you. So, there's that too. Ahh well.
4:03am - I think I'm going to hit the hay now. Partly 'cause I'm so tired, and partly 'cause I don't think I'm going to get anything else done tonight. I don't feel like working on the dialogue system yet, and I don't feel up to spreading sheets about the first three towns.
So, to bed I go!
