Amber's shop improvement ideas

A fantasy crafting/dating sim https://www.winterwolves.com/ambersmagicshop.htm
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jack1974
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Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by jack1974 »

I'm not talking about the game that is NOT out yet :lol:
But the actual Amber's Shop in the game itself! :mrgreen:

The main gameplay loop will be:
1) get ingredients
2) craft stuff
3) sell stuff in the shop

From time to time, people will come to the shop with special requests. "Can you make me a love potion of quality at least >90"? Or "do you have any figurine for sale?" And so on. Those are "tasks" and have a time limit, but give greater rewards.

Other mechanics: Amber has 5 skills to learn/improve, the ones you see in many screenshots: Jewelcrafting, Woodworking, Metalworking, Potionmaking and Enchanting. Recipes have minimum skills requirement. Skill improves as you craft recipes of that skill.

I am also going to add a "Fame" or maybe use another word. Money shouldn't be the only problem, since I think will be easy to find some good recipes and make money quick enough. There should be also another value that is tied with getting access to recipes.
Recipes could be bought at the market but the most powerful ones are stored in the Wizards Guild. They would sell them for a price, BUT also require some Fame/other value. I am thinking to tie the Fame with completing tasks, but also improving your shop.

And here comes the main thing of this post: the shop itself. I can't do a full "builder sim", however, I plan to ask an artist to draw a sort of blueprint of it, with several rooms which you can build and/or improve. A bit like XCOM if you have played that game: the shop size and number of rooms it's always fixed, but you can decide in which order to build stuff.

I am thinking to have the lab/storage in an underground part, while the actual shop in the base / ground level.

I want suggestions for rooms and bonuses/use they could provide :)

Currently I have:
LOWER/UNDERGROUND AREA
- Storage: you'll start with a basic storage. You can then expand it to store more items, and upgrade to allow storing certain items (like some magic items that need special storage)
- Lab: this of course it's the one with most possibilities. Currently have upgrades in quality,
- Magic Garden: from a suggestion of Bob, I think could be interesting if Amber could make an underground magical garden, in which plants or mushrooms grows. Various upgrades could be for the item type/level, though it would be randomized a bit, or require money/fame to get the seeds etc. (otherwise could be dangerous and become a sort of cheat-mode!)
UPPER PART/GROUND FLOOR
- Shop: once again size (slots you can fill items with), but also quality. A better looking shop, more refined/luxurious, would attract also nobles and people with more money. Also maybe some special slots for precious items, or dangerous ones (sort of magical containers for very dangerous items like explosive potions, etc).
- Staff: in the game Amber works alone, but in the shop she might hire some people to help selling. This would basically take care of replacing the empty slots automatically as the items are sold. At same time she could hire people to deliver goods automatically from the market (of course she should have money to pay!)

And that's it. I'm out of ideas. If I implement ALL the ideas above, it should be already good though. However if you have any ideas/suggestions, feel free to tell me :)
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GarbageCollector
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by GarbageCollector »

What about catching Thieves? Could have Amber run into Thalia or something...
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jack1974
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by jack1974 »

That would be fun, but this game happens 22 years later QoT events: http://aravorn.com/index.php?title=Timeline
Thalia would be at least 40 :shock:
Also I'm looking in particular about improvements on the gameplay/simulation part, the story is all done :)
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Franka
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by Franka »

Just brain storming:

Astrology Chamber/Observatory: For predicting auspicious times to enchant your stuff/whatever, improves odds of good results.

Dissection Chamber: For cutting up those magical beasts and harvesting blood, guts, and eyeballs.

Test Chamber: Where we throw all our volatile alchemical solutions at test dummies, and Blow Things Up, lower chance of disastrous results (if you put such a thing in the game).

Distillery, Carpentry Shop, Textile Shop, Forge: Specialized rooms for working our ingredients, gives bonuses to such.
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jack1974
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by jack1974 »

Haha those are good ideas, thanks :)
morgan502
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by morgan502 »

As far as alternate names for "Fame", Renown or Reputation would make good alternatives. More influential people within society would want to do business with Amber as she gains renown as an alchemist.

Also I'm assuming Amber lives in her shop as well so you could add a living quarters (bedroom dining room etc.) and make it upgradable. The upgrades could be purely cosmetic or they could add some kind of bonus i.e an increase in quality for being well rested.
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jack1974
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by jack1974 »

Yes Renown or Reputation are both good substitutes.
Amber will indeed live on the second floor above her shop, so I guess I could make those upgrades. There's a "go to sleep" mechanic, I guess I could add some tiring stat or simply reduce the quality of items made or the speed if you don't rest enough :)
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DarkWolf
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by DarkWolf »

Me brainstorming:

Maybe add some puzzle mini games for those free ingredients gathering and dissection, or for some rare crafts. Or maybe have the number of leftovers ingredients that goes higher the more you craft and when you get enough of them have some like try your luck where you try to use them to get items and items you get would be random and maybe even unlock some new recepy that way. Also maybe adding time that ingredients are usable, like when time passed their quality drops and if you don't use them in time they go bad and eater disapire or just turn to leftovers if you combine it with previous idea. Also maybe selling on big, like for when you have a lot of items that don't sell well you sell them all on big for less money. Also you never said what we will use money for other then baying ingredients that we will ultimately use to earn more money (I guess building/expending house/workshop would also cost money) but maybe add something other then that so people would have more reason to want more money (like baying new close, or going to special dates). Also maybe add some like mini RPG elements for those free gathering of items and if there is not to much of it should also be easier to make it more interesting/complex like every battle there is being like boos battle.
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jack1974
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by jack1974 »

Some of those ideas are too complex to make and would delay the game by several months. I will try to add some variety but the main focus is the shop/crafting simulation :)
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jack1974
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Re: Amber's shop improvement ideas

Post by jack1974 »

Image
this is a mockup, already old since I made some more progresses :) You can zoom in/out in realtime in the game with the mousewheel (but I'll also add buttons for the mobile version).
That test room is the library room. This month will be split between coding that, and while I wait for the art, do more Undead Lily stuff (I have all the RPG rules to design... that will take a while!).
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