Economy/Crafting System Another of my goals for this world will be to have a very in depth crafting system and economy with a broad range of options to keep players interested and not go stale. I want to avoid the typical mine rocks, sell rocks to NPC, save up money that you can’t really spend on anything trend that you see in many games and other playerworlds. Another thing I would like to avoid is having the entire economy flooded by gold so that it no longer has any worth. I want to attempt to control the economy by keeping the amount of gold attainable from NPC shops limited, with more emphasis on creating and selling goods to other players and colonies. If a player wants to become a successful merchant, it will have to be accomplished by creating and selling their goods to other players.
As far as the crafting system is concerned, I want to provide players with a broad range of skills to improve and goods to create. Many of these skills will be intertwined, for instance to create a sword a player would need to utilize Woodcutting to obtain wood for the hilt, Mining to obtain the necessary metals, Blacksmithing to smelt and refine the metals and combine the materials to make a finished sword. If a player lacked the necessary skills, they could also obviously buy some or all of the finished goods from another player, such as a Blacksmith purchasing wood from a lumberjack and ore from a miner in order to keep his store stocked with raw materials. An unfinished list of some of the crafting skills I would like to include follows, with a brief description for each.
- Farming- Farming is one of the key skills necessary to gain food, and would govern a players ability to successfully plant seeds, tend and harvest crops, and raise livestock.
- Fishing- Fishing is another key skill a player can utilize to gain food, a higher fishing skill would enable a player to catch a bigger variety of fish and use a wider array of nets, rods, and other fishing tools.
- Cooking- Although crops freshly harvested out of the ground are enough to feed NPC colonists and soldiers, and can provide a player with a small amount of sustenance, the Cooking skill allows a player to create complex dishes that can heal more and even boost certain stats.
- Mining- Mining will enable a player to extract metal ores and, at higher levels, precious gems and crystals from the ground.
- Blacksmithing- The Blacksmithing skill allows a player to take raw ore and smelt it, and then combine the refined ores with other raw materials to create finished products such as weapons, armor, and tools. It will also govern a player's ability to repair damaged items.
- Woodcutting- The Woodcutting skill dictates what different types of wood a player can cut down, and how quickly they can do so. Higher quality wood can obviously be used to create higher quality, and thus more valuable, goods.
- Construction- Using the Construction skill a player can build various different structures including Houses, Town Halls, Walls, as well as boats.
- Alchemy- The Alchemy skill allows a player to combine different ingredients found throughout the world, from common food items and other plants to much rarer substances, to create potions that can heal players or fortify their skills.
- Fletching- The Fletching skill will enable a player to create ranged weapons like bows and crossbows, along with the ammunition that goes with each weapon.
- Enchanting- A player will be able to use the Enchanting skill to imbue or enchant weapons, armor, and other items with either magical crystals that can be mined, or captured Elemental essence from certain monsters. They will also be able to create magical Staffs necessary to cast some spells.
- Weaving- Weaving will allow a player to take raw materials such as wool collected from animals and turn it into cloaks, robes, cloth armor, and other types of special clothing.
These are some of the basic crafting skills I would like to include. A player can improve and level up a skill by completing tasks associating with that skill, as a reward for certain quests, or by seeking out and training under a Master Trainer. Basic raw materials and finished goods will be able to be sold to a handful of NPC stores for small amounts of gold, enough for a player to establish a solid business, but to truly become a successful merchant a player will have to sell to other players. My hope is that with a wide variety of crafting skills, raw materials, and goods available players will be able to work together to supply each other, start up businesses, and barter. (Such as a Lumber supply company providing a group of shipbuilders with a high Construction skill with the necessary lumber, or a Blacksmith trading farming tools to a Farmer in exchange for food)
If anyone has any suggestions for skills that should be added, or ones from the list that should be removed, I am very open to input.