Main actors are all crafters?

[Silenity 33]

So I had an idea about having 4 main actors who each had their own crafting system.

Actor 1 (Smith) - Main tank line. Forges and repairs the parties equipment.

Actor 2 (Cook) - Dedicated support. Mixes food ingredients into different goods that are both beneficial and delicious!

Actor 3 (Alchemy) - Magic damage dealer. Mixes herbs and ingredients together to create good and bad concoctions.

Actor 4 (Fletcher) - High damage output. Crafts bows, arrows, crossbows, and bolts which do a lot of damage.

 

Would this be annoying to have to manage so many resources and materials?

Could this be expanded upon further?

What are your opinions on something like this?

 

I was inspired by Glasses' (Mr. Trivel) simple crafting script.

 

[+ CVincent 234]

I'd say it comes down to how well you execute it in your project. I'm working with maybe a much more simplified system, but hopefully my input can help.

 

1.) Would this be annoying to have to manage so many resources and materials?

 

If your menus are clean and easily accessible then there shouldn't be a huge issue. So long as the player has a clear indication of what materials they need to acquire, and have a reasonable way to obtain them then I don't too many problems. If you have any systems in place that limit resource carrying capacity then you'll have to take that into consideration. You should offer different ways for players to obtain resources like stores, battle aftermath looting or by finding them.

 

Also, you'll need to make sure there are no flaws if an actor is removed from the party for any reason. Say you only start off with the Smith, then you shouldn't be able to do crafting for stuff like cooking or alchemy. I've never used a crafting script before so I'm not sure how it works, but it's just something to think about.

 

2.) Could this be expanded upon further?

 

I've opted to have the player be involved mostly in the retrieval process, leaving the other characters to handle the creation. Because of this I can have a slightly more drawn-out and in-depth system by creating events that handle the progression of crafting. For example if the player needed a weapon they would have to obtain replacement parts or would need scraps to make the repairs, higher grade gear requires the player to do quests or missions that would give them the items they need. You could probably work with this idea too, but it'd require a bit of extra effort to handle manually rather than by finding resources after battles.

 

3.) What are your opinions on something like this?

 

For many games crafting is a big selling point and sometimes their downfall. Every recipe needs to be balanced correctly and handled as if you were in the player's position. Consider the amount of time it takes to gather the resources and make adjustments to have the player feel like it was worth their time to get those things. I like the general idea though, it definitely gives value to other characters because they now have functional purposes that affect gameplay.