Author Topic: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures  (Read 7229 times)

Online Solarius Scorch

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Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« on: November 07, 2015, 03:24:53 pm »
This is my first idea from the "Wild Fantasies" series, which are impossible but cool ideas for the Piratez. I've been thinking about it for a bit, then chatted with Dioxine about the idea, and here's what we came up with.

Chapter One: The Markets

We get rid of the purchase screen. Well not entirely, since you can buy the very simplest stuff there like metal pipes and maybe chemicals, but no real weapons, nothing that a peasant wouldn't have, because the screen represents dealing with your immediate neighbours - most likely rural folk. Anything above that requires a proper supplier.

Where to find such suppliers? In cities, of course! You need to actually go there to talk to the sellers, meet interesting people, and possibly get some action! (More on it later.) At first you only have access to several cities nearby, but can unlock more by beating a Pogrom there or through some other means.

Of course you need to actually go there in your craft.

Chapter Two: The Marketscape

When you get to the market, it is a static background with some characters on it, like in Reunion, or Freelancer, or Star Trek Online, or Adventure Quest:





The characters are sprites superimposed on the background. They are traders, passer-bys and special characters. Clicking on a character brings up a menu - for example, clicking on a trader will initiate trade, clicking on someone else has other effects (usually conversation).

An important concept: haggling. It's a skill check based on Voodoo Strength (or some new stat, we've discussed this but I'll omit it for now) which determines the outcome. Twist: the more people you send to the market, the lower your effective haggling is; this is to create a situational choice, so you have to decide if you want better haggling or better protection (see Chapter Four: The Adventures).

Chapter Three: The Characters

As explained before, the characters are sprites with associated names, so they represent individual people.

Let's start with traders. Each trader has a specialization, for example Doctor Hybros sells medicine and psychoactive substances, Boris the Brute has low-level heavy weapons, Granny Martha sells some mundane basic stuff, and so on. The trick is, there are many traders and only three or four stands, so you get a random collection of goods (though Granny Martha or someone with the same wares is always there, so you can always buy your smoke grenades and pistol clips). If you want something less common, well, tough - come back later or try another castle mutant community.
When you click on a trader, you have the option "Trade". Ideally there would be more, like "Chat", "Steal" and whatever, but right now this would go too far even for a Wild Fantasy. :) Whey you initiate trade, in goes like in any generic RPG game (you can sell everything you have in all your bases, or at least everything this trader deals in), but there's a small chance for a special event (see below).

Other characters have less defined roles; some are just dudes you can harass, some will have a business offer for you, and some will attack you outright because you're on their hit list or something. They normally include: other gangsters adventurers, local folk, military/police representatives, mysterious strangers and perhaps even celebrities. (Plenty of opportunity for shout-outs and pixel art stealing.)

Chapter Four: The Adventures

Adventures are additional market-related stuff. It can be initiated on several stages: sometimes before you even get to the damn place, sometimes when you interact with characters. Here's some examples:
  • Ambush: Before the marketscape is generated, you may get a sudden battlescape, with you in the middle, some enemies around the map, and your craft as an exit area (puts you back in the air). If you kill or subdue all attackers, you may proceed to the marketscape. Note: the more protection money you extract from countries, the more hardcore your ambushers get! At first they are low-level bandits, but when you're really famous, might as well be some Mercenaries. This adventure should have 5-10% chance of happening.
  • Random encounter:  After clicking on a passer-by, it turns out he is actually looking for you, and wants to kill you for some reason (well, there are many possible reasons). A battlescape is generated and you fight. This adventure has a low chance for happening, but it varies a lot between citizen types (generally, do not harass government agents... but they also give quests!).
  • Help, I'm being robbed! When you click on a trader and want to trade, the trader begs for your help - apparently someone already wants his goods for free. You may defend the store (battlescape starts) or walk away; if you fight and win, you get a decent discount for the day or maybe some freebies. This adventure should be at like 2%, because it's not realistic to have it happen all the time.
  • Arena: You are offered an arena fight. One person, melee only (a generic variant, there may well be others). Win big money or die trying. Takes place on a special battlescape map.
  • Quest: A more elaborate scenario, where you are transported to some battlescape map and are supposed to either kill a specific target or recover some McGuffin. Worth plenty of cash and normally isn't very hard, but it can be tricky.
  • Pogrom! A Pogrom is initiated right when you are there, minding your own business. Starts a normal Pogrom. A very unlikely mission, as it breaks the mission mechanics, but cool/evil enough to add it.
  • Special Special: Something else entirely, with non-typical events - for example, "a stranger gives you a Small Drill and walks away" or "you wake up in an alley and your equipment is gone".

Of course it's probably not a complete list, but it's a start. :)

Chapter Five: The Cities

Just to complete the model, we can have trader types somewhat dependent on city type (city being a loose word, since they are shady communities of outcasts - you have nothing to do in a real city). "Cities" in the Piratez setting differ by type, including: a shanty town just by a real city's outer wall, a free mutant village built among the ruins, a local crime lord's den, and so on, and of course they have different terrain if you have an adventure or a Pogrom there. This is related to the current "Contacts" mechanics. which has a part in what cities are unlocked.

Unlocked cities are cities where you can trade. In locked cities, either you don't have a contact or the people are hostile to you for some reason. The only option you have when you click on a locked city it "Raid City", which is basically a Pogrom: you fight some local forces, get some loot and lose a shitload of points. With an unlocked city, you also have the option "Go Trade", which starts the marketscape.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2015, 03:36:30 pm by Dioxine »

Offline Arthanor

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2015, 06:27:00 pm »
hum.. interesting, but a bit too rpg-y for me. Although our Piratez operation is small scale, it's bigger than Han Solo scale (multiple bases, multiple crafts) and also all these resources are concentrated on one planet. Once you meet a supplier, why can't you just get their aye-phone number and ring them up later when you need more stuff?

One thing I do like is the evolving market idea, where establishing contacts unlocks purchases (like how the Mutant Association and Mercenaries contacts do). It could be interesting to have more of those, like a Blackmarch contact who can sell you SMGs and (special?) ammo, a canadian contact for rifles, etc. Some regions could sell you materials, slaves, crafts, armors/uniforms, equipment (fancy booze from France/Jamaica/Russia), HWPs, different soldier types, etc.

There's a big DIY component in Piratez, but I agree the trading part could be improved and could complement what is here now quite well. I'd just rather keep things on the strategic level than go down to personal level.

Offline DracoGriffin

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2015, 07:42:39 pm »
Lotta neat ideas.

It'd make the experience very different to be sure.

Online Solarius Scorch

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2015, 02:05:47 pm »
hum.. interesting, but a bit too rpg-y for me. Although our Piratez operation is small scale, it's bigger than Han Solo scale (multiple bases, multiple crafts) and also all these resources are concentrated on one planet. Once you meet a supplier, why can't you just get their aye-phone number and ring them up later when you need more stuff?

Yes, I thought about that too, just sort of forgot to mention it. Basically, once the contact is established, you can order most things online, but it costs a lot of money to transport - a few times as much as base transfer (probably integrated with the traditional purchase menu). Which means that you'll still be buying most of stuff like that when you have enough cash, but you'll be missing on quests and stuff, so you'll probably be going to the market anyways.

As for it being too RPG-y or annoying - well, yeah, it's not like I'm not battling with these thoughts. But right now it's Wild Fantasies, so we have plenty of time to consider, discuss, polish and possibly ditch it - in fact, probably all the time in the world. :P So I'm not a very serious designer here.

One thing I do like is the evolving market idea, where establishing contacts unlocks purchases (like how the Mutant Association and Mercenaries contacts do). It could be interesting to have more of those, like a Blackmarch contact who can sell you SMGs and (special?) ammo, a canadian contact for rifles, etc. Some regions could sell you materials, slaves, crafts, armors/uniforms, equipment (fancy booze from France/Jamaica/Russia), HWPs, different soldier types, etc.

Yeah, it all is doable.

There's a big DIY component in Piratez, but I agree the trading part could be improved and could complement what is here now quite well. I'd just rather keep things on the strategic level than go down to personal level.

Well, I presented a model how to make trading detailed... But not necessarily the best one. :) It gives you a lot of fun tools, but also is a significant weigh on the entire game. Tough choice :)

Offline Arthanor

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2015, 03:30:45 pm »
Tough choice indeed.. I think there are more contacts research than I have seen in Piratez, but I haven't gotten there yet. I am curious to see what else is currently available, and read all the region flavour text to find out what could be possible.

And there's no requirement that can be set for buying alone, right? So if you could buy a BlackMarch SMG but it requires BlackMarch contact, then using a SMG you find in the field would also require the contact, which doesn't make sense.. Maybe Yankes can make a "requiresBuy" property, that is additional to the "requires"?

Too bad you can't use contacts for selling as well, it would complement this as well. Want to see 15000 bottles of rhum a month? Gotta have some kind of a merchant contact. I guess there could also be a "requiresSell" :)

Offline Dioxine

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2015, 03:33:27 pm »
And there's no requirement that can be set for buying alone, right? So if you could buy a BlackMarch SMG but it requires BlackMarch contact, then using a SMG you find in the field would also require the contact, which doesn't make sense.. Maybe Yankes can make a "requiresBuy" property, that is additional to the "requires"?

It's been implemented since ages ago, all 'contact' weapons are blocked by requiresBuy :)

Offline Arthanor

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2015, 03:41:05 pm »
Aah.. well.. I should have looked into the extended/X-Piratez stuff before saying that then! Good to know :D

So.. can we hope for more contacts? I love contacts adding stuff to the marketplace! (and really like the mutant alliance contact addition for dogs and advisors)

Online Solarius Scorch

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2015, 04:01:20 pm »
Too bad you can't use contacts for selling as well, it would complement this as well. Want to see 15000 bottles of rhum a month? Gotta have some kind of a merchant contact. I guess there could also be a "requiresSell" :)

I've decided it would too much of a pain; if you have the goods, you can sell them. But sometimes merchants will offer very good prices on a specific merchandise, like "I pay triple for Slave AI today" - I forgot to write this. :)

Offline LytaRyta

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Re: Wild Fantasies: The Market Adventures
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2018, 02:06:02 pm »
Hail, so whats going on, with all these RPGy ~CityMarketsScape ideas, how it progress?
lol
(just the very last thread (last, but not th least)