the best thing id say is to fix the bugs and do some more re-balance the Pricing a bit. and most of all make the saving more Optimal. as well as it would help to make all of the UI a bit more friendly as well. like if i hit ESC i should see my mouse with out having to click after opening the menu, Can tell me how many times I've accidentally clicked on something i did not wont to click on.
Hey, if you want to make it a little bit more authentic I'd suggest rotating the anvil 180 degrees.
I'm a blacksmith irl and that's the way an anvil should be oriented if your righthanded. The reason for it is that you hold the thongs in your left hand and you don't have to move about as much if you need to use the pointy bit on the anvil. (haven't the foggiest what it's called in english)
Cheers!
Please please please tell me you're gonna make the black weapons on the racks intangible and automatically grab the matching weapon type into its place when approached with one, similar to how ready ingots lock to the anvil... Getting weapons on the racks is kind of difficult right now because they don't have any auto-placement feature (and in the case of daggers, potentially impossible since they're so small they just fall right through the rack with certain heads)
Auto-placement might prove entirely useful, both for the player and you as the developer, in determining when weapons are already properly stocked in the shop so that NPCs can be shown to take weapons off of the racks and buy them directly -- and certainly a lot more reliable than the area check at the counter, which I often struggle with when weapons are premade for some reason.
edit: Okay, I just noticed that when you load a save, all of your assembled weapons fall apart too. @_@ You having trouble figuring out how to get the engine to treat them as a single item or something? Is that something in the way hampering weapon rack development? Gah...
Just a few ideas from me after playing until I got $10k. Great game, by the way. Absolutely loved it!
- Cycling through the weapon heads can be time consuming, and strength upgrade doesn't help reduce the number of strikes, maybe have a selection wheel or bar for the intended output of your hammering before you begin (you can still cycle, but you choose which one comes out first).
- Since the main focus of this game is "make money", the experience mechanic doesn't fit well. It would make more sense to buy upgrades with your earnings. Like a bigger/stronger hammer that takes fewer swings, more storage space, new blade/hammer designs (which means you'd start with just the basics), better shoes for speed increase, the ability to use the more expensive materials (you really shouldn't have the ability to forge steel stuff the moment you can afford the ingots). You could even have an "order requester" upgrade tree such as more orders per day (you'd have a limit at the beginning, forcing you to stock up ahead), the ability to buy better materials, etc. I'd say remove the experience mechanism and make people spend their hard earned money on making the shop or your character better.
- The money really comes rolling in after you're done with copper, but the distance between copper and tin is a factor of 10 and it's no more than a factor of 2 between all other materials. I'd say make tin a little cheaper, and make the other materials even more expensive. I didn't spend much time with iron at all, moved right into steel/mithril after tin.
- I noticed the papers all reset to default locations when loading up the game. First thing I do is move them out of the way and they keep coming back. I understand the need to instruct new players by strategically placing the paper instructions, but maybe save their locations for returning players.
- The snap-to feature on the anvil is wonderful! This would be helpful for other parts of the shop, such as displays that the customers can take from. I gave up positioning weapons and just handed things to people as they requested them. Also, the pole arm displays above the door are a little hard to reach, the zoom doesn't always get you far enough: you have to drop the weapon, step away from it, then pick it back up. Maybe replace the decorative shields display wall with stuff for sale as well.
Well, that's probably enough ideas to keep you busy for awhile! Great work so far! Can't wait to see how awesome this can get!
Hey Dasius I have bought your game a couple times so hopefully now that I have an account I can get on with it. Anyway I am 15 and I actually do real blacksmithing as a hobby and soon to be job. I have a lot of ideas and would like to try to contact you through email or something to go through detailed steps and offer assistance free of charge.
I didn't go through all of the suggestions, since there's 140+, but I've got a couple of ideas to make the money in game mean more to the player than just making better weapons to then get more money.
I wouldn't be surprised if this had been suggested already, but I think there should be more levels of grips and guards. For guards maybe add some things that look like THIS or THIS. I also think fancy grips should cost more since by default when I start out I use them for everything to the point there's either no point or the other ones, or no point for the fancy ones.
I think there should be upgrades to certain elements of the shop. Maybe upgrades to the forge so it smelts faster, upgrades to the anvil to allow for different heads, upgrades to the shop front to entice richer customers (see next suggestion), and upgrades to the inside of the shop like chairs to make customers sit down and wait longer for the item, which would be necessary later in the game if you don't like to rush.
Another idea that should go along with both the last one and the next one, is a grinder/sharpener. You'd be able to buy and upgrade a sharpener to sharpen blades. The sharper the better, meaning the happier the client and more they're willing to pay. Also a higher rating which I get into on my last suggestion.
I think there should be different levels of wealth for clients. Perhaps they come in with a budget or wearing a certain level of clothing, like royal robes for people that are very rich, and burlap for people that just want a bronze dagger. It's kind of easy right now to just server customers with the richest of metals to keep making the most money. This also kind of segways into my next and final suggestion.
I think a cool way to have a popular shop would be with ratings. Obviously in the age we're set in people aren't posting on Yelp with a review and a 5 star rating, but people would talk about it. If it's a really nice blade people would want to come get their own from you.
This would also combat people just skipping lower tiered customers because they'll get a bad rating. There could also be upgrades to your shop to help with rating, like posting signs around town, making your house look better, and things like that.
Obviously I know this stuff will take a while, but I figured I've got stuff in my brain, may as well share it! :)
tl;dr
More grips and guards
Upgrade things in shop
Add a sharpener
Classes of customers
Rating/popularity for the shop
material proficiency skills (novice/apprentice/master/legend) the more you are proficient the better and more expensive the weapons you make
going between materials is too easy right now as well. i recommend to have to upgrade your forge and/or level up strength skill grants you access to new material
here are some of my ideas:
-add the making of shields
-add the making of Mage staffs (maybe it could have something to do with those three crystals, mora about that later)
-Add the option to deny a customer an order and also add a communication option that makes the customer pay more for the weapon they order
-Add the possibility for bigger, higher paid orders(as in customers ordering more than one item)with a longer time span
-add fancy finger guards as well as the fancy handles that you already have
-give a point to those three crystals other than just lighting up the store sometimes
-Add maces
-add armour(this might be a big ask but make it so you could maybe make individual plates and they snap together on the purple table
-add bows, arrows and crossbows
-oh and sword sheiths
-maybe make the tree crystals have elemental powers an the customers can ask for special weapons with magical enchantments for specific battles or needs
-do absolutely nothing I ask of and tell me to go away if you wish as this is only some suggestions from a thirtee-I mean random person online, but I really do love the game and can't wait for any new features to be added in the future. Also some of the stuff I suggested might be ridiculous or would take a very long time so it's cool if you say no:
would like to see bronze swords like the Khopesh, Apa, and Hallstatt D. maybe by adding a copper and tin on the anvil? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age_sword
Suggestion: make a main menu and there will be multiplayer wich has a town with 4 blacksmiths and there will be a server list and you can get games at max 4/4 and if you press tab it will show the player list there names and there money and you the blacksmith guy it will flash on your name please read
Thanks Dasius if you read this plz repley
