This is our *Experimental* crafting system. Really early, not remotely working yet, and might end up a cut feature depending on a lot of factors later on in development. But it's a feature we'd like to try.
It has a trait inheritance and mixing system where each ingredient is tagged as a type of substance. A <bulkIngredient> forms a base, and donates some properties like a base nutrient value and a trait like "bland food" or "dry powder." Those combine with other tagged traits when put through a workshop that provides some mutually shared modifier to result in some item.
In this case it's: Ashes, Flatbread, Wheat Bread, Herbal Wheat Bread. More ingredients equals more work and more cost to make, but if you combine them right you'll get cool results.
This will be especially useful in Food and Medicine, where you can improve mood and prevent boredom, or craft more or less powerful fever reducers and painkillers.
We can ensure that mutual traits also produce more or less byproducts as well, so you're looking to maximize your results while eliminating unwanted side effects.
Fessik Bane for instance is a poisonous weed freely growing in the grassland biomes of the Fragment, and will kill you if ingested raw. But put it through a distillery and you separate the <bitter liquid> and <painkiller rank 1, nerve toxin rank 1>.
Filter that again with Salt and you get <painkiller rank 1>, which you can then give to people safely to reduce pain when they are injured, which can mean the difference between life and death when people are sick or recovering from combat stress. (Or if you have crimes in mind, hand craft it with Pine Resin to keep that <painkiller rank 1, nerve toxin rank 1> and off you go to apply it to your knives & arrows.)
Since this is pretty complicated stuff, it really depends on how people respond to a system like this.
So just in case that complex top layer is cut, we still have the much less complicated bottom layer where simple standard issue items can be crafted simply and quickly with no hassle.
There are even a bunch of Quality of Life features built-in, based on experience from other games where crafting became an unwanted and annoying chore *cough*Minecraft*cough*RimWorld*choke*.
My favourite is the ability to set Input and Output for each workbench, and copy/paste it to other jobs in other workstations.
Say you have a bunch of Large Wooden Storage Crates in a room in a building you've designated as your warehouse in town. Select that Stockpile Zone the crates are in, and then select which job it is to feed, then select some empty crates in another building you've designated for your Merchants, and set those to be filled with the product.
Now the whole thing is automated, and you never have to futz with it again. You've set up an engine.
Your characters will haul the raw ingredients bought or stolen or mined, etc, and put them in the warehouse. Your crafters will get the goods and take them to the workstation, produce the item, and drop them off at the storefront, where your merchants will sell them, and put the money in another box.
You set it up once, and off you go.
At least -- that's the plan.
As always that's subject to change, but it's cool enough that I think it brings a lot to the table compared to games in a similar genre, and gives enough depth to be exciting and get your brain going, but simple enough that new players can pick it up and dip their toes in without drowning in it.
Sandwich247
2021-06-16 12:13:03 +0000 UTCHpf3
2021-06-16 07:43:39 +0000 UTC