Crafting on the go via Tablet/phone

*Very old thread, created in March*
*Newer ideas a little further down in the discussion*

I haven't seen anything being crafted yet, so I can't comment on that system, though I imagine it to be the standard:
- X amount of wood
- X amount of iron
- X amount of skill
- Click craft
- Done

BUT I know that RG had stated about recipe style, chopping up vegetables to make a salad mini games that he enjoys playing as do a lot of people. What if there was a mini game app that was created for Android/iOS that you could play to REFINE materials so that they are more durable/magically imbued/stronger/etc.

Each crafting skill would eventually get its own mini game made, but start out with a blacksmithing/cooking/alchemy one first. You play the mini game and REFINE X amount of resource which can be mailed to yourself or another character with a CoD price if you're selling it.

Players can use normal AND refined to craft items BUT if you use ALL refined resources, your item has a chance to increase in some sort of attributes by X amount or something of that nature. Maybe add glowing effects to a shield/weapon through the enchanting mini game or make some ale through the alchemy mini game that causes your game window to be fuzzy/inebriated.

I totally understand this would take a whole new development cycle, $$, time and all that, but I'm tossing this idea out there as something that'd be extremely fun and compelling to play that also integrates with the SotA world.

What are some of your thoughts on this?

 

I think you've got two different ideas going here. I like the idea of refining resources. And I REALLY like the idea that this would be optional. Giving crafters real choices is a great (ultimately perhaps the only) way to diversify crafters and the things that they make, and that is essential to so much of the player economy.

Personally, I don't think I would enjoy the mini-game option, but that's part of player choice. On the other hand, I would hate to see mini-games exist if that took resources away from meaningful crafting additions (as I'm afraid it might have to in any real world situation).

I'm also intrigued with the idea of having multiple interfaces to the game (and game data), but, again, it would take time away from the real game and perhaps more importantly open up new vectors for exploits.

 

After speaking with a few people in chat about this topic, we came up with quite an update to this system of playing on a mobile platform.

Let us say you are the jack of all trades gatherer. You know how to mine in Moria, you know how to chop down the largest Yew tree and you enjoy the smell of the ocean breeze while fishing for dinner.

Now imagine all this on the go! But how could they do this?

What if you were on your tablet and looking down on the world of (dare I say) New Britannia from the world view? You click to the east and your character moves eastbound and sees a mountain. "Oh, I wonder what I might mine here" ponders the tablet owner. Once adjacent to the mountain, the tablet owner clicks on the "Gather Resource" button in the bottom right corner and then selects from a sub menu "Mine here" and the tablet owner begins to mine.

You successfully gathered some Iron ore! You click again and mine some more ore. You click again but UH OH! A prompt appears on your screen that BANDITS HAVE APPEARED FROM THE SHADOWS! You have three options...

- Do you try to run away?
* On failure you lose X% of the resource you were trying to gather
* On success you get away cleanly

- Do you attempt to parley?
* On failure you lose X% of the resource you were trying to gather
* On success you pay the Bandits X gold to part paths

- Do you fight the Bandits?
* Depending on your Exploration skill (a skill that only raises when you are playing in tablet mode)
* You either fight off the Bandits
* Or lose X% of resources

I won't go into details for EVERY skill but hopefully you get the jist of all this. This could be something quite engaging for players to enjoy on the go.

As stated before, you will be connected to the multiplayer mode obviously, so when you finish your gathering and send it to your character, the server will check to make sure it's "authentic" and then charges you a gold fee for processing, and then mails it to a recipient. It could either be to yourself or to a buyer, which will let you place a CoD charge for payment.

Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts? Comments?

 

Ok this is quite a bit different than what I envisioned when I started reading. So basically, if I'm understanding right.. this is a solo-player only harvesting game that allows you to harvest goods for your primary game character?

So the question would have to be.. is this a completely new character or a copy of your existing game character?

What I kind of had in mind was that you could log into your game and actually craft if you had the right tools and materials.. then the finished items would be waiting for you in-game.

I think there is something that might trouble me a bit though.. what about us poor sods who don't have a mobile device. We have to go get our materials in-game. So I think there's a balance issue that needs to be addressed as well.

It is certainly a compelling idea though.

 

If you don't have a mobile device, I'm afraid this just won't be available to you. =( It's more of an optional feature, for SotA to make some extra $$ but also for us to have fun while on the go (aka the toilet some would say).

I think the refining of materials will still be viable, but maybe not for this "simple" mini-game we just came up with in chat. That might be something to do in game, not on a tablet.

I do see your concerns though. Hmm..

 

I think this is another great idea. That's all I probably would do on a tablet anyway. If there was an option to download a full client, and a crafting client... I would choose the crafting client only.

Of course we will want an app for checking the status and viewing our character sheet off-line too.

 

I could see this being an additional feature, not an exclusive means of creation/collection. I'd also make it available for users on their PC, perhaps they just go into a mobile view of the game... RG has already stated there is little reason the Unity engine couldn't run on mobile devices, so it could be "full" game on the tablet, just not all the emersive visual elements.

Super neat, unique idea though!

 

All of this. I like it all.

 

Oh, thanks for bumping this. I hadn't seen it and made a similar thread.
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=is-it-backwards-to-pay-for-housing

I'd thought of this playing many games. My thought further was it could be played by non SotA people to grow the community.

 

@PrimeRib
I was just about to link your thread before I finished reading.

I think this could be awesome! Allow players to also choose to be the bad guy. The combat could be a simple collected card type game. Kids would love this and it might lead them into the larger meta-game as their learning improves.

Not all the games would have dangerous encounters. Some could be cooking or farming.

I see games like mine craft doing this (I think) where they offer a light version on a free game site like agame.com

Miner vs bandit
Pirate vs fisher
Farmer vs racoon
Tamer vs monster

Have several mini games that all connect somehow to buying SotA

Kids also like playing games against the environment like roblocks where you survive fires, tornadoes, and even bad guys (what the kids call slendermen).

I'm a bit of an expert on what kids play because I run an after school program. Believe it or not 5 year-olds can keyboard their way into these games. I only moderate games with handheld guns or blood. It's a battle keeping them off the most violent free games.

 

YES to all this! First off, I have thought this for a long time, when WoW implemented their Armory and banking functions via mobile app, I thought, why stop there. However this game is the perfect game to do it, since the world map is a top down look, its not graphically demanding, just enter the authenticated server, grab your guy, and explore.

The mini games and those type encounters would make this just the right pace for people who aren't at home or away. I am in the Army, I drill once a month and go away for training around 3 weeks in the summer. If im not home, I would definitely be getting my crafting materials stock piled so when I do get home I can craft til my fingers can't click anymore haha.

On the other side, my GF, not a huge gamer, loves her mobile phone puzzle/mini games. So this concept would keep her happy and working on stuff in the game as well.

As for the pairing up of encounters, I think farmers should VS wolves

Also for mobile devices, might as well do all 3, iOS, Android, and Windows, since I've used all 3, and I currently have windows, I know it would be sad to leave any side out of the loop.

Again good idea, thanks for it!

Also for what I think is a great crafting idea to make crafting more of a better option than using what the world creates, check out my idea here https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=player-made-vs-game-made-question-and-idea