Alright, The system for combining different schematics to make different types of items is going to be implemented, and yes crafting at this point includes blacksmithing, woodworking, cloth and leather related crafting, alchemy, seige-craft, architecture, and shipwrighting (you know what I mean). All of these will be designed to allow players to create there own variation of all items. This will also include the aspect of different resources (Berusan Steel vs Villarian Steel) but will not require a specific in the crafting screen, that will be up to the player. Crafting items will still require the three basics; tools, schematics (or a blueprint), and resources. Player and NPC bandits (land routes) and pirates (naval routes) will threaten item and resource transportation and merchants and crafters will be advised to hire plenty of defenders or come up with a very clever way of getting around them. A player will "Invent" a blueprint and prototype. The prototype will have a chance to be superior to the item in the blueprint, a players "invent" skill will increase the statistics of the prototype depending on how well the mini-game was played but not of the blueprint. Creating a blueprint will mean sacrificing all schematics used for it (which are now ever-lasting). Creating a prototype will require that mini-games will be played while blueprints will not. No gems, enchantments, or etchings (player-drawn ornamentation) can be added to blue-print produced items, these will all be ways to slightly increase a weapons stats permanently. Sharpening, Some items will not be blueprint-able (ships, siege weapons, and buildings). Resources will be spread out and transporting them will be dangerous. People will also be able to make different parts of an item without making the entire item. Later, crafters will be able to combine them just like making a prototype but w/ no resulting blueprint. This means it will require an extra mini-game to create the item. Players will be able to learn multiple different crafting skills (blacksmithing, woodworking, etc.) but will have to continue to do them or they will deteriorate. Only one can be taken as a profession however which means that skill can be forwarded beyond the others. This will mean that to get the ideal item you'd have to have the different pars made by whichever specialist could do it best. This would also add to the idea that a player could specially produce a part only. There are many arguments for this method, first of all being that grinding is still included with-out the constant necessity to play a mini-game over and over. This also would mean that a player truly devoted to the fine art of crafting could produce every item as a prototype, creating a much better line of work. It still allows for design element and makes the group of specially made weapons much more improvable. This would make it so a player could get rich off of quantity or quality. Not making any final decisions but here's what I'm thinking for the different mini-games and prototype design phases: Blacksmithing- The mini-game will be hammering out an item as others have suggested, carefully watching the heat and thickness of the metal through visuals. The more strikes, the more "tormented" the metal will be so quick and precise hammerings will be wiser. There's also the fact of heat and players will have to work quickly before it cools down. Once it cools down it can be re-heated, but the more times an item is heated, the more it is tormented overall. Designing items would simply be choosing which schematics to use for the different parts. Woodworking- Woodworking will work in more layers, first sawing (making straight cuts) which will require accurate timing of pushing two different buttons and making slight adjustments to the angle of the saw. Next will be whittling where slices of wood are cut of using strokes the mouse, players will be aiming to take off as much as possible without cutting into the needed wood. Finally a player will sand the wood down, the closer it was to accurate size after whittling is exactly equal to the time it will take to sand. Clothing- Clothing will require cutting different different pieces of fabric from a sheet, sewing them together by moving the mouse from side to side and clicking to stitch, and attaching extras like buttons. Designing items would simply be choosing which schematics to use for the different parts. Alchemy- Alchemy's mini-game will just be mixing in different ingredients, deciding how long to boil them, and grinding them up. There will be a "recipe" which can be produced at the end for a fee, this will work just like a blueprint to skip the mixing phase. Architecture- Buildings will be a little more complex to design and build. A player will first pick a building type and make a "Ground-Plan" by combining and placing different rooms and items, much like a very basic home design. Rather than laying down walls there will be schematics for different objects for the builder to place like furnaces, workbenches, etc. There will be an assortment of different room shapes and sizes which can be combine. Choosing building resources will also strengthen destructible structures (like walls) and add other effects. This will also include making furniture and items to be placed in buildings. This will not require any mini-games, instead the constant supplying of large amounts of resources and the transportation of said resources will be enough to keep them on their toes. This will be a small amount of very expensive sales business. Ship-Building- Ship building will work much like building design, picking a ship type then selecting different items to attach and which pieces to use to construct the ship. Here the player can also arm the ship. Mini-games will include carving out boards and hammering nails by using the mouse to hold the nail strait and striking with the right enough of power. The ideal would be hitting the nail twice, once to keep it in place so you don't hurt your fingers (a slightly time consuming setback which will take extra time) but get the nail in quickly. Siege-Craft- Siege-craft will have the same creative side as some of the others, using a series of schematics for different parts of different siege weapons. However the mini-games will differ greatly. For canons and siege weapons that require lots of metal, choosing the appropriate types of metals and mixing them in the furnace will add extra design to the items, then a game for pouring the molten metal at the right rate will also add to how good the item is. With wood-based weapons there will be the sawing mini-game in large quantities. Crafting a single item will be done after a series of sittings rather than producing one every 10 minutes. I REALLY like the way this system works. From now on I want only constructive posts. If you want to point out one of the multiple flaws then suggest an alternative. Don't bother posting about a whole new system because I don't want to hear it, I like this one. [Edited by - PatchesV on December 6, 2007 11:26:33 PM]

Thanks, didn't see that.

I'm going to implement it if I can't come up with something better. For now I'm trying to find ways to make it better.

And yes, everyone says its a really bad idea but if no one did it there wouldn't be any.

true lol, but this isn't a thread about crack, the darwin awards, or how good of an idea it is to create mmo's. This inventing system isn't good enough yet because it'd get boring fast and I need peoples help improving it, so either comment on the system of please don't posy.

Only 2 ideas I can come up with: creativity and politics. There's a game called Tale in the Desert or some-such that I think is totally combat-free. A lot of the gameplay centers on these 2 areas. I haven't played it yet but it looks really cool. But I think what you'd need to do is find a way to let the players really be creative; not just PommelA + BladeB = SuperLightningSwordG. For the politics, same deal. Let the players actually create their own political structures. I think a game with these 2 elements in addition to standard combat could have a lot of potential. Except with the "Grind-another-2-hours-in-order-to-grind-higher-level-creatures" crowd. Most of them wouldn't like politics being handed down from other players.

why not make a game out of it. I think the main problems with mmos and crafting has been the fact that crafting has always been a side issue where combat was the main thing. if you want crafting to be fun make a game for that. Once you have that thought there are two ways you can approach it. The first will call the puzzle pirates method. That is make crafting a bunch of vaguely related to the task at hand.(they use tetris attack for sword fighting.) or you could go the other way and actually try to emulate the task at hand in an easier and more amusing manner. An example of that is guitar hero, while it may be harder to do with out a prop piece it should be doable with some creativity.

Also don't make crafting depend on combat. That means a good primary market for supplies, or a really good resale system.

But MMO's are a good thing for people to enjoy, people enjoy crack but with a lot worse side effects.

You see I want to incorperate skill into crafting rather than just how good your guy is and how good the resources are. So, here's what i've got so far:

You want to make a cool new sword. So you pay some fighters for some schematics they've gathered while exploring and buy a few basic schematics from a vendor. Next you need the resourses, well you have the Iron mine already so you have some iron but you want to make it a steel sword so you go and buy some steel. So now you have everything you need, schematics for all four parts of the sword (pommel handle guard and blade) and the resources. You craft the item and it comes out great (or crappy, depends on your level and a little on luck). The pommel and the blade you used turn out to be a special combination so it gets an added bonus. So you sell the sword, get some better schematics for the handle and guard and combine those with some leftover steel and the pommel/blade schematics. Make a new sword and this one really kicks. You make three more and then the pommel and blade shematics run out. You sell those and now you can afford even better schematics and land for a steel mine as well.

Now I like this, but I'd like to have something other then just pushing the "craft" button to make the item once you have all the things you need. I need something that requires a little skill. A mini-game might work but people would master that quickly.