Simplify, people!

Everyone's throwing around ideas for intricate systems involving multiple levels of quality and minigames and so forth, but the most fun I've had with crafting systems is with ones that were simple. IMHO, the best crafting system is the one from <i>Arcanum</i>: You get a blueprint saying Item A + Item B = Item C, with a skill level in the appropriate craft skill. You grab Item A and B, make the skill check, push the button, and presto, Item C.

Very straightforward, but allowed for a lot of detail. For example, you can learn a little about electical engineering, scrounge a capacitor from a junkyard, strap it to a quarterstaff and have a cattle prod to shock your enemies with. In a few more levels, when you know more about engineering, you can hunt down a Tesla Coil in a shop somewhere, wire it to your electrified quarterstaff and have a Tesla Rod that shoots ball lightning. Chance upon a blueprint in some shop, you can then strap the contraption atop a rifle and have a gun that shoots lightning. All done with simple one-click crafting actions.

A level of complexity above that is Atelier Annie, which adds details with out getting away from the basic mold: You find the recipe, pick an appropriate tool (forge for weapons, flask for potions, the cauldron makes anything in a pinch, etc.,) gather the items and click. You could make items in batches, or add supplements to provide attributes, but the principle is the same: two items, one result, one click and no mess. That's all we need. More complications just means more work designing, coding, balancing, and bug-testing, plus players complaining that the process is too convoluted.

 

I recall Richard saying that crafting would not be a minigame when he was on Ustream yesterday.

 

I invent, I don't need recipes.

 

It's gonna go by recipes, no matter how they try to do it. Asheron's Call tried keeping things secret and letting the players find them through experimentation and cleverness. How it worked out was, about a week after any given crafting content was released, the community had figured it out and the recipes were widely known, at which point anyone who wanted to know just looked it up on the relevant websites, message forums, or -- as technology advanced -- the community wiki.

This is not to say that devs <i>shouldn't</i> keep recipes secret; for that first week the crafting fanatics were invigorated searching for the new content. Those who found it first were rewarded with their names on the front page on the fansites, received a round of metaphorical applause and kudos, and a good time was had by all. But if you're expecting there to be undiscovered realms of innovation to explore, you're going to be disappointed. The playerbase is ten thousand human brains working together; nothing stays hidden from them for long.

 

I think you can make research and recipes both work, and I think you can do it without offending the people who like the idea or research or the people who have absolutely no use for it.

The basic idea is that you need an actual recipe to make anything, but there are multiple ways to get one. Basic recipes would be in your "recipe book" when you first learned a skill. More advanced ones would be available from NPC guild masters. Specialized ones would be available via researching or buy purchasing them from someone who went to the trouble to research new items.

That's the idea in a nut shell. It's fleshed out quite a bit more in this article: <a href="http://laurenandlloyd.com/lloyd-stuff/i-want-to-forge-swords/">I Want to Forge Swords</a>.

 

This (along with the fishing post) is another area that I agree... simple is better. Oh sure the game could use some of the convoluted methods of creating items, but is it NECESSARY? Just have the list of needed ingredients, the use of a tool, a skill check, maybe a slight time delay and done.

Ok, maybe it doesn't have to be THAT simple, there's room for a little more complexity for higher end items, but I doubt anyone is going to want to spend five minutes on seven different steps just to make a simple sword.

I would say that the "time sink" of crafting items in general should be the search for the required materials and the skill needed to craft the item. Once those are obtained, crafting the item shouldn't require an overly intricate process.