Sorry for the long delay in answering. First I was away for a week, then quite busy with other things.
Thanks, AnthonyMyers and Cemkalyoncu, for the offers to contribute, in a while more items and graphics surely will be very welcome. But first I should get more of the coding done ... currently I'm trying to make a new shop background, with a better storyboard with boxes for small, medium and large items. And I need to decorate the shop a bit.
@Raymond Eternal:
A good name is helpful for any sort of game. I must admit, in this case I haven't really put any thought into a name yet, but I'm sure that sooner or later I can come up with something. And if I can't I can always ask for help on a forum.
I'd like the player to be the shop owner, so the AI boss probalbly won't be needed. Item storage is there, and it will be part of shop upgrades to get more storage space. There are two types of storage, places fopr items in the shop to advertise them for sale, and a storage in the back of the shop, where everything else is kept.
The idea to move to a new (bigger?) town is good, that will help to have some variety in the game, with different customers and different requests foritems in the different areas. But I'll start with one shop, and try to get the code and graphics for that. But I'll keep the idea in mind, that the game code needs to be able top handle different shop frontends.
A bestiary is a nice idea. There was the idea of a museum for items, too, so maybe the shopkeeper at some point could try to buy trophies from adventurers to show them in the museum, too. Writing a book about the beasts with help from the adventurers is a nice idea on top of that, must see how to integrate it with the rest.
Thanks for all the feedback and ideas! Since this seems to be a smaller project, compared the the full blown RPG that I had in mind originally, there should be a chance that I can make it work.
Blender is a tool that I just can't get used to. Still I manged to render two models from OGA so that they can be used as customer. CDmir's monk and the brigand from Anthony Myers.
I'm unsure if I should work on a better shop background now or wait till I have more code written and a better idea of all the possible interactions with the shop.
Thanks, that is a good suggestion. The basic objective "make money" is probably alright, but looking at it this way it becomes clear that there should be more objectives.
A few came to my mind:
- Customers show up with quests for the shop keeper - provide item sets at a gioven time, e.g. to equip a party for a planned raid.
- Have a sort of a museum, and collect ancient/rare/magig items to show there, just for the fame to have them, or maybe to attract more customers to the shop.
- Someone had items stolen and gives the shopkeeper a quest to retrieve the items, and track who sold them.
... maybe some more will come to my mind. But it was definitely a good idea to look at it this way.
@MedicineStorm:
The running costs are a good idea. While I hate them in real life, it's the sort of basic challenge that such a game needs. I'm sure there can be added enough variation to make it interesting. I particularly like the idea of heating. A freezing cold shop won't see many customers.
Also a good idea to restock the shop on a nightly base, and then serve customers next day from the shelves. Selecting the right items for the next day is a nice mini-game in the game.
Thieves - like the monthly rent, I hate them, but I see the game needs such. Maybe a shop also needs an assisten who keeps an eye on the waiting customers while the keeper is negotiating prices.
Shop ugrades - I like the idea, but unfortunately it also put a a sort of "end" to the game, when a player has bought all available shop extensions. But it is a good idea for sure.
@Malifer:
I like the idea that orders take a while. This allows a some strategy, but also challenges - e.g. if you order more than you currently have in copper/gold, and pray that your shop will be earning enough till the order arrives. That should be quite thrilling for some types of players.
Thanks to all, that are some quite sound suggestions :)
Many, particularly the older isometric games use pre-rendered art (or drawn), so that there are sprite sheets with the animation phases. Basically you draw or render each character in all the required poses and directions, and then just draw the correct frame on screen at a given time.
This is easy to code but ends up with fairly lareg sprite sheets.
The correct height depends on the viewing angle. Usually I don't dive into the math for that though, but chose a height that looks good, e.g. shows nice proportions.
if you have example screen like the one shown, you also have examples of good character proportions and can use them as templates for your own art.
If you are into 3D modelling, many tools like Blender or PovRay offer an orthographic camera, which you can use to render isometric views. This is the approach that I used most in the recent years.
Absolutely amazing, Surt. A pity there are no "add to favorite" buttons. CC0 is very generous, and plenty of these are useable right away. You have my admiration :)
A shopkeeper surely needs some business partners.
Blacksmith:
Tailor:
Cook:
Alchimist:
Magician:
Priest:
Rogue:
More ideas for business partners that a shopkeeper might want or need?
Sorry for the long delay in answering. First I was away for a week, then quite busy with other things.
Thanks, AnthonyMyers and Cemkalyoncu, for the offers to contribute, in a while more items and graphics surely will be very welcome. But first I should get more of the coding done ... currently I'm trying to make a new shop background, with a better storyboard with boxes for small, medium and large items. And I need to decorate the shop a bit.
@Raymond Eternal:
A good name is helpful for any sort of game. I must admit, in this case I haven't really put any thought into a name yet, but I'm sure that sooner or later I can come up with something. And if I can't I can always ask for help on a forum.
I'd like the player to be the shop owner, so the AI boss probalbly won't be needed. Item storage is there, and it will be part of shop upgrades to get more storage space. There are two types of storage, places fopr items in the shop to advertise them for sale, and a storage in the back of the shop, where everything else is kept.
The idea to move to a new (bigger?) town is good, that will help to have some variety in the game, with different customers and different requests foritems in the different areas. But I'll start with one shop, and try to get the code and graphics for that. But I'll keep the idea in mind, that the game code needs to be able top handle different shop frontends.
A bestiary is a nice idea. There was the idea of a museum for items, too, so maybe the shopkeeper at some point could try to buy trophies from adventurers to show them in the museum, too. Writing a book about the beasts with help from the adventurers is a nice idea on top of that, must see how to integrate it with the rest.
Thanks for all the feedback and ideas! Since this seems to be a smaller project, compared the the full blown RPG that I had in mind originally, there should be a chance that I can make it work.
Blender is a tool that I just can't get used to. Still I manged to render two models from OGA so that they can be used as customer. CDmir's monk and the brigand from Anthony Myers.
I'm unsure if I should work on a better shop background now or wait till I have more code written and a better idea of all the possible interactions with the shop.
@Arcanorum:
Thanks, that is a good suggestion. The basic objective "make money" is probably alright, but looking at it this way it becomes clear that there should be more objectives.
A few came to my mind:
- Customers show up with quests for the shop keeper - provide item sets at a gioven time, e.g. to equip a party for a planned raid.
- Have a sort of a museum, and collect ancient/rare/magig items to show there, just for the fame to have them, or maybe to attract more customers to the shop.
- Someone had items stolen and gives the shopkeeper a quest to retrieve the items, and track who sold them.
... maybe some more will come to my mind. But it was definitely a good idea to look at it this way.
@MedicineStorm:
The running costs are a good idea. While I hate them in real life, it's the sort of basic challenge that such a game needs. I'm sure there can be added enough variation to make it interesting. I particularly like the idea of heating. A freezing cold shop won't see many customers.
Also a good idea to restock the shop on a nightly base, and then serve customers next day from the shelves. Selecting the right items for the next day is a nice mini-game in the game.
Thieves - like the monthly rent, I hate them, but I see the game needs such. Maybe a shop also needs an assisten who keeps an eye on the waiting customers while the keeper is negotiating prices.
Shop ugrades - I like the idea, but unfortunately it also put a a sort of "end" to the game, when a player has bought all available shop extensions. But it is a good idea for sure.
@Malifer:
I like the idea that orders take a while. This allows a some strategy, but also challenges - e.g. if you order more than you currently have in copper/gold, and pray that your shop will be earning enough till the order arrives. That should be quite thrilling for some types of players.
Thanks to all, that are some quite sound suggestions :)
Many, particularly the older isometric games use pre-rendered art (or drawn), so that there are sprite sheets with the animation phases. Basically you draw or render each character in all the required poses and directions, and then just draw the correct frame on screen at a given time.
This is easy to code but ends up with fairly lareg sprite sheets.
The correct height depends on the viewing angle. Usually I don't dive into the math for that though, but chose a height that looks good, e.g. shows nice proportions.
if you have example screen like the one shown, you also have examples of good character proportions and can use them as templates for your own art.
If you are into 3D modelling, many tools like Blender or PovRay offer an orthographic camera, which you can use to render isometric views. This is the approach that I used most in the recent years.
Is there any hope for on-site search to be repaired?
If not, is it possible to provide a google based search by a link, that only searches this site, like Arcanorum uses to do?
I keep discovering a lot of good art, but rather randomly.
Works fine again. Thanks!
Excellent work!
Well done!
Absolutely amazing, Surt. A pity there are no "add to favorite" buttons. CC0 is very generous, and plenty of these are useable right away. You have my admiration :)
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