Today's date is included in the title because this system is likely to be heavily changed over the coming days. Currently in The Forged Kingdoms the general economic/crafting flow works like this:
1. Harvest materials in the form of hunting, collecting, mining, recycling, etc.
2. Process raw materials into forms that are more desired, such as wood into paper, steel bars into steel chain mail, wheat into dough, etc.
3. Craft items and buildings using materials.
Step 2 is an intuitive process with an internal physics and chemistry system. Items are used to mix, melt, and shape materials into new forms. Exotic materials may require dozens of steps to produce. After a new material has been discovered, the process is saved just like cooking in BOTW. Also like BOTW, the process is simplified and skips minor steps when possible.
Step 3 is exclusively an assembly step and doesn't transform materials into new materials. Assembling an item/building has different requirements depending on the materials. For example a hut made out of stones can be assembled just using a player's hands, while a hut made out of steel ingots would be very difficult to make. Most of the time it makes sense to use materials that are specifically designed to be easy to assemble, such as steel sheets instead. After finalizing the design and placing it in the world, it works mostly like traditional survival game crafting where materials are brought to it. In the case of massive buildings, materials need to be brought to their specific locations.
Materials include a lot more than I initially planned. Most baking is now in there for example. Essentially they include everything where the entire object is the same. Cheese, ale, banana bread, stew, etc. This change paradoxically brings the game closer to its initial vision of crafting everything from everything. Sure materials now have specific recipes to produce, but the things that matter like buildings, weapons, and clothes can be crafted in millions of different ways. A butter house is possible once again.
I've also removed procedurally generated items. Initially I wanted players to have the ability to adjust sliders and "design" their own clothes and weapons by putting in different material combinations. To save time I'm planning on skipping the procedural middle man and letting players design items directly. I think players will prefer this method anyway.
1. Harvest materials in the form of hunting, collecting, mining, recycling, etc.
2. Process raw materials into forms that are more desired, such as wood into paper, steel bars into steel chain mail, wheat into dough, etc.
3. Craft items and buildings using materials.
Step 2 is an intuitive process with an internal physics and chemistry system. Items are used to mix, melt, and shape materials into new forms. Exotic materials may require dozens of steps to produce. After a new material has been discovered, the process is saved just like cooking in BOTW. Also like BOTW, the process is simplified and skips minor steps when possible.
Step 3 is exclusively an assembly step and doesn't transform materials into new materials. Assembling an item/building has different requirements depending on the materials. For example a hut made out of stones can be assembled just using a player's hands, while a hut made out of steel ingots would be very difficult to make. Most of the time it makes sense to use materials that are specifically designed to be easy to assemble, such as steel sheets instead. After finalizing the design and placing it in the world, it works mostly like traditional survival game crafting where materials are brought to it. In the case of massive buildings, materials need to be brought to their specific locations.
Materials include a lot more than I initially planned. Most baking is now in there for example. Essentially they include everything where the entire object is the same. Cheese, ale, banana bread, stew, etc. This change paradoxically brings the game closer to its initial vision of crafting everything from everything. Sure materials now have specific recipes to produce, but the things that matter like buildings, weapons, and clothes can be crafted in millions of different ways. A butter house is possible once again.
I've also removed procedurally generated items. Initially I wanted players to have the ability to adjust sliders and "design" their own clothes and weapons by putting in different material combinations. To save time I'm planning on skipping the procedural middle man and letting players design items directly. I think players will prefer this method anyway.
