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Resource Gathering

2 replies [Last post]
Sat, 07/02/2011 - 20:17
feNix
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A friend and I were talking about item crafting in games and pltn16's post regarding the gathering of supplies reminded me of the topic. What's are your feelings about gathering one generic resource compared to multiple resources.

I was thinking that the generic something along the lines of some sort of gray ooze that can be shaped and baked and turned into a, b and c.

Multiple resources as in mud, sand, water, grass and whatnot.

Of course, there'd have to be restrictions on the generic gunk. Say, having to put it through a certain process in order to manufacture particular items, probably the rare items, or maybe you would just need more of the ooze to make more of the parts to make that particular piece.

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Sun, 07/03/2011 - 13:12
#1
Maaartin
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Having a lot of resources may be fun, but...

I'm not sure if I've understood the question.

Having a lot of resources may be fun and may force interesting strategical decision, like what to conquer and how to allocate workers and/or other resources needed for production. It makes the game more complicated and you may not need it at all. It may make the game quite terrible, too.

A nice example for both is Settlers, the video game. There are about 10 resources which in fact make the game. You need food for getting iron ore, iron ore and coal for getting iron, etc. There are also alternatives like making coal out of wood instead of mining. But there are also more than 10 different kinds of tools, where the variety brings nothing at all and just makes it overcomplicated and boring.

Concerning the mechanics, do whatever you want. Just do not use too many resources, so managing them doesn't become a nightmare. Feel free to use a single one as games to tend to get too complicated quickly and simplifying is often harder than extending.

Concerning the reality, a game is always very far from the reality. Having a single generic resource or having dozens of them is about equally far, so do whatever you want.

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Mon, 07/04/2011 - 17:16
#2
feNix
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I like how that sounds. I'm a

I like how that sounds. I'm a proponent of the single resource and that's similar, if not the same, as what I had in mind. Have one generic resource that has to be modified to build other things, resources included, and keep going from there.

Maaartin, I was wondering if you could explain, or give an example to what you said here: "simplifying is often harder than extending."

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