Item Distribution in my game [Advice Thread]

[GoodSelf]

Hey there community! I'm in a bit of a pickle.

Currently, I have a limited number of items strewn about the maps, and it doesn't make sense for there to be a shop in the setting of my game (let alone a currency). One of my friends asked me, "What if they player doesn't have the item?", I said, "Well, they would have to look around and find it."

"But what if there are no more?" he asked. And that got me thinking - since there are a limited amount of items, and I can't possibly predict how the player will use them, what is the best course of action to ensure that the player has the tools they need, when they need it. Since a shop would be out of place, here are a couple of ideas-

-Have a very simple Agriculture system where you can grow more items.

-Have the resources respawn after a certain number of steps.

-Simply include more items than necessary in the maps.

I'm looking for a system that cant be cheated (or at least is hard/time consuming to cheat), but one that is engaging to the player and makes them feel like if they need to find something, they can.

 

[Rhaeami]

I had something similar to this in my last game - you'd collect resources and use them to progress, but could miss some along the way. My solution was to make the items non-consumable and gate the player's progress by having battles that required certain amounts to overcome. It got really messy by the end. I don't recommend it.

Another solution is to take the Resident Evil 4 approach - dynamically adjust the item rewards based on the player's situation, such that they receive more if they're running low, and reset them to a base amount if they fail completely. May or may not be relevant to your case.

You could also try limiting the variance in player power by having items only work for the level they're found in - that is to say, reset the player to zero after each major milestone. This way, if the player absolutely bungles through and has nothing to fight the area boss or whatever, then they only have to take a few steps back to restock. Conversely, if they find *everything*, then that abundance doesn't carry over into the next area's balancing.

 

[Kes]

@GoodSelf Please remember that General Discussion is not for soliciting advice on individual projects. For that you need to post either Features Feedback or in your game thread.

If the discussion is here, then it cannot be tied to a specific game, but needs to be far more wide ranging.

However, it seems to me that this is more a discussion of how to design a game mechanic which takes into account limited items. Therefore...

[move]Game Mechanic Design[/move]

Please note that also in this forum, discussion cannot be restricted to one project if Members wish to take the conversation in a wider direction.

 

[GoodSelf]

@Kes Sorry for the confusion, thanks for the help.

@Rhaeami
For the resident evil 4 approach, that could work - giving them different items based on how many they have, how low their health is, etc. but now can't really control over any player would have at any given time.

The final approach, I intend for the player to jump back-and-forth between different sections of the temple. You might find a clue and one section that help to complete a puzzle and another or an ability but allows you to access places you couldn't go to before. I feel like resetting the count wouldn't work if they're moving back-and-forth a lot.

Thanks for your input!

 

[bgillisp]

You can, with some creativity, work a shop into a game I'd say 99.99999% of the time. Maybe a merchant is lost? Maybe there's a Fairy that needs gold to go home, and can only get the gold by selling you stuff? Or maybe there's a lost vending machine that sells stuff? Any of those can work. So what you may need to do is find a creative way to work a shop into the game so the player can have things if they really have to have them.

In fact, I used the vending machine approach in one of my dungeons that you cannot leave (for plot reasons) once you arrive. This way the player who is low on stuff can still buy the necessary items and not be totally in a bind if they run out of healing potions.

 

[Wavelength]

One of the most obvious solutions would be to have monsters/enemies drop any items the player could need.

In a very linear, tightly-balanced game where the player isn't expected to do much open-world trekking or backtracking into previous areas, you could ignore the "running out" concerns entirely and just make sure that the player basically has everything they need for a particular scenario/dungeon run.

Like bgillisp mentioned, there are almost always ways to work a "shop" into the setting (even if you don't use traditional currency) - perhaps a local trade union will give you things in appreciation for wiping out threatening monsters (based on how many enemies you've killed), or an eccentric rich patron will periodically offer you supplies in return for tales of far-off lands (based on how many other places in the game you've explored).

But consider, first, how the shop is (or isn't) instrumental in the gameplay before you worry about the setting - its presence generally implies that there is always a place to fall back on for advantages if you need them, which serves most generic RPGs well but might not suit the play of your particular game. I do include a "shop" in my current game timeblazer, but the gameplay dynamic I'm offering there is choice rather than fallbacks - the player doesn't need to spend anything per se at these shops, but is limited to choosing one item from each category at each shop and has to choose between several things that may be helpful.

 

[lianderson]

All games are made up nonsense, so just make up some nonsense like a tree that will give you an apple or whatever when you have no healing items left. It´s your game. Physics don't apply here, and reason only halfway does.

 

[Arithmetician]

If one has an agriculture system, then that would imply towns, which in turn implies shops.

But drops from enemies is probably the simplest way.

 

[GoodSelf]

Thank you all for your feedback!

I've decided on implementing A couple of new features, such as giving the player excess ingredients in crafting that can be used to make more items and sold later to a character, and wandering souls that act as mini side quests with item rewards.

Thank you all for your input, and I hoped down the road this helps other people with their game their game as well.