[crossfire] New crossfire todo list

[Raphaël Quinet]

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:23:58 -0700, Mark Wedel <mwedel at sonic.net> wrote:
> 
>   I've taken a bit of time to go through and make a new todo list of most things 
> that need to be done:
> 
> http://wiki.metalforge.net/doku.php/dev_todo_new

As I just mentioned in another mail, I added a link to the exp_table discussion.
It was linked from dev_todo:game_balance but not from the main dev_todo page so
it was not easy to see that link.

[...]
>   I'd also suggest that it is generally better to actually pull out the useful 
> bits of the conversation and put them in the wiki vs referring to the mailing 
> list - too often, it may be a thread of 50 messages, with most not providing 
> much useful info - its a bit more handy to just be able to see the main points.

Agreed.

> Ability for stores to set different prices for goods
> (The shopitems code only affects how much you can sell stuff for, not buy stuff, 
> correct?  If so, this is still valid)

In general, I think that the shops do not give enough hints to the player about
how cheap or how expensive they are compared to other shops.  Even using
'use_skill baragaining' does not seem like a very good solution to provide more
info.  Tying together the selling and buying prices helps by giving some hints
to the player.

I think that we should update many of the legacy shops and force some
specialization: shops should not sell stuff that they are not willing to buy.
Currently, there are some shops that sell all kinds of items but only accept to
buy a subset of them (e.g., magic shops selling different types of magic items
and only buying potions but not wands or rods, or vice-versa).  It would be
better to remove the shop tiles that do not match the type of items that the
shop specializes in, or to convert them to the right type.  Or maybe move them
to an area of the shop that is clearly marked as a place for "other stuff".
Even the weapons and armour shops in Scorn do not make this obvious enough.
So if a player enters a magic shop and sees only scrolls and books there, this
would be a good hint that trying to drop potions or wands would not be a good
idea (even if it is a magic shop).

IMHO, the fact that a "shop guide" has been created (indicating what shops
are better at buying what stuff) as an out-of-game wiki page is a sign that the
game itself does not provide adequate information.

-Raphaël