The fun of adding new items to the game
More than 1 year after the magic weapons were introduced to the game, I came up with the idea that they should finally be manufacturable by the players.
Actually, the idea came a while ago, which is the reason I have implemented the modable weapons, which are a byproduct of the weapon manufacturing process. That is, there is a very small chance whenever you make a weapon that you will obtain a modable weapon, rather than a normal one.
But anyway, in the past few days I've worked at their formulas and knowledge books, and now some of those weapons can be made (that will take effect on the main server once we restart it, probably tomorrow).
Adding new manufacturing formulas is a very simple, but extremely tedious process, which I am going to explain here:
The first step is creating the knowledge required for the new formulas. This means editing the knowldge definition file, and adding entries for each knowledge type.
The second step is editing the item definition file, to add the new books which store that knolwedge.
The third step is adding the manufacturing formulas to the manufacturing formulas list, which is a big pain in the ass, because you have to crossreference it with 2 files (knowledge file and items file).
The next step is creating the definition of those new books into the server code, using #define.
An example would ne: #define ITEM_BOOK_OF_SWORD_OF_FIRE 420
420 is the index in the items file for that item.
Finally, those books must be somehow made available to the players, either via NPCs, monster drops, harvest events, or a combination of those 3. Of course, we could be evil and not make them available in the game for free, but only via our online shop. However, I don't want that, we already are making a decent amount of money by selling what we sell now, and even though our special swords won't sell as good now that they are manufacturable by everyone, we feel that it is in the best interest of the community to have those books obtainable in the game.
I am not going to say which method[s] I am using for those books, so the players will have to find out for themselves.
Anyway, we hope our players will enjoy the new addition more than I enjoyed working at them :D It has been a huge pain in the ass, it is one of the most boring things someone can do.
Actually, the idea came a while ago, which is the reason I have implemented the modable weapons, which are a byproduct of the weapon manufacturing process. That is, there is a very small chance whenever you make a weapon that you will obtain a modable weapon, rather than a normal one.
But anyway, in the past few days I've worked at their formulas and knowledge books, and now some of those weapons can be made (that will take effect on the main server once we restart it, probably tomorrow).
Adding new manufacturing formulas is a very simple, but extremely tedious process, which I am going to explain here:
The first step is creating the knowledge required for the new formulas. This means editing the knowldge definition file, and adding entries for each knowledge type.
The second step is editing the item definition file, to add the new books which store that knolwedge.
The third step is adding the manufacturing formulas to the manufacturing formulas list, which is a big pain in the ass, because you have to crossreference it with 2 files (knowledge file and items file).
The next step is creating the definition of those new books into the server code, using #define.
An example would ne: #define ITEM_BOOK_OF_SWORD_OF_FIRE 420
420 is the index in the items file for that item.
Finally, those books must be somehow made available to the players, either via NPCs, monster drops, harvest events, or a combination of those 3. Of course, we could be evil and not make them available in the game for free, but only via our online shop. However, I don't want that, we already are making a decent amount of money by selling what we sell now, and even though our special swords won't sell as good now that they are manufacturable by everyone, we feel that it is in the best interest of the community to have those books obtainable in the game.
I am not going to say which method[s] I am using for those books, so the players will have to find out for themselves.
Anyway, we hope our players will enjoy the new addition more than I enjoyed working at them :D It has been a huge pain in the ass, it is one of the most boring things someone can do.
posted by Radu at 1:25 AM
2 Comments:
Oooo Sounds like fun, I remember all the constants I had to learn when working on the PvPGN servers and all the code I had to read in order to work on certain sections of the code when needed to like adding the Diablo II Game lookup code since there were constants for the names.
Sounds like a good feature, and since people will be able to make the once buyable items you could always have someone work on making new not craftable items that you can only buy from the online shop.
Well back to work for me, I have some more delphi code to write in order to load some files and read them, I'll have to get on later and check out the new feature once its in the release.
Being the prime person behind the Eternal Lands fan site... and having to add all the items and inter-link them to all the other areas of the site every time Radu decides to drop a dozen items on us... I have to agree, it's a lot of work.
I have automated half of the process to help me out. But there is so much that is cross connected. On top of that not all skills work like each other leading to plenty of exceptions to deal with.
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