ID:154413
 
I've somewhat recently started afresh on my RPG project, and am about to redo NPC interaction and such... so I'm wondering whats everyone's preference on how to interact with shopkeepers?

My previous version was all done through talking to the NPC as if it were an actual player, like this:

Player: What are you selling?
NPC: I am selling swords for 10 gold, and shields for 20 gold.
Player: I want to buy a shield.

The system was pretty intelligent about figuring out what you wanted, and forced players to use most of a sentence (so "buy shield" wouldn't work, but "I buy shield." would). But does anyone actually like this interface? Its slower for players than most others, even if it is a little more realistic. Is this an instance of unnecessary realism?

Other possible systems are:
1)items for sale appear in statpanel/browser.
2)items for sale appear in popup. (I dislike this one)
3)items are actually around the store, and you choose them there.
4)...? I'm sure there are many others I'm not thinking of.

Has anyone thought about this any?

-AbyssDragon
Last I heard, the statpanel shop system was the one everyone liked the most.
AbyssDragon wrote:
I've somewhat recently started afresh on my RPG project, and am about to redo NPC interaction and such... so I'm wondering whats everyone's preference on how to interact with shopkeepers?

My previous version was all done through talking to the NPC as if it were an actual player, like this:

Player: What are you selling?
NPC: I am selling swords for 10 gold, and shields for 20 gold.
Player: I want to buy a shield.

The system was pretty intelligent about figuring out what you wanted, and forced players to use most of a sentence (so "buy shield" wouldn't work, but "I buy shield." would). But does anyone actually like this interface? Its slower for players than most others, even if it is a little more realistic. Is this an instance of unnecessary realism?

Haven's system exactly duplicates yours, except it has ADOM's flavour to it as well. People can pick up items and the shopkeeper will quote the price, and then the person can tell the shopkeeper he/she'd like to buy it, hand over the chump change or barter goods, negotiate for a lesser price if desired, and walk off with their new equipment.

The players can chat with the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper will happy banter away about various new items in stock, and hopefully encourage players to part with a hard-earned silver legion or two.

(My system also allows people to shoplift. Of course, them shopkeepers have pretty keen eyes, and my NPC memory system (not yet implemented) will allow them to recognise and remember people.)
The system was pretty intelligent about figuring out what you wanted, and forced players to use most of a sentence (so "buy shield" wouldn't work, but "I buy shield." would). But does anyone actually like this interface? Its slower for players than most others, even if it is a little more realistic. Is this an instance of unnecessary realism?

Well, players are in all likelihood going to set up macros for common items and partial-macros for general buying, so you might as well simply allow them to use simple verbs and then feed words into their mouths; i.e., a player types "buy sword" and their character automatically says "Prithee, good shopkeeper sir, I wouldst liketh to purchase a broadsword. And a good l33tsp34k-Olde Englishe translation guide."

Other possible systems are:
1)items for sale appear in statpanel/browser.
2)items for sale appear in popup. (I dislike this one)
3)items are actually around the store, and you choose them there.
4)...? I'm sure there are many others I'm not thinking of.

Has anyone thought about this any?

I'm for #3, because I don't like statpanels and popups that much. They're fine for games that don't have a strong realtime element. Then again, I think that should be the case in a good RPG anyways.
In response to Leftley
Leftley wrote:
Well, players are in all likelihood going to set up macros for common items and partial-macros for general buying, so you might as well simply allow them to use simple verbs and then feed words into their mouths; i.e., a player types "buy sword" and their character automatically says "Prithee, good shopkeeper sir, I wouldst liketh to purchase a broadsword. And a good l33tsp34k-Olde Englishe translation guide."

Agreed here. I think "buy sword" is plenty coherent enough for most players, and is also good for real-time situations. Maybe a good way of doing this would be for the shopkeeper to offer items at higher prices to people who don't bother with better sentence structure, treating them like... well, the way I think most of us think of DBZers. Maybe even offer discounts for customers who use "please" or perhaps extra special items not available to the general public.

3)items are actually around the store, and you choose them there.

I'm for #3, because I don't like statpanels and popups that much. They're fine for games that don't have a strong realtime element. Then again, I think that should be the case in a good RPG anyways.

I don't like the idea of statpanel buying either. When I play a game like this, I tend to keep one statpanel in view most of the time so I have easy access to the most relevant information. (I can't help but wonder if there'd be a way to do this with the output text, though, like a link, that would work about as well.)

Lummox JR
In response to Lummox JR
Maybe even offer discounts for customers who use "please" or perhaps extra special items not available to the general public.

Hmm. You could do some interesting things with this idea... it makes a lot of sense, after all, that a shopkeeper would steer well-spoken customers with refined manners towards higher-quality goods than they would a crudely spoken peasant.

I don't like the idea of statpanel buying either. When I play a game like this, I tend to keep one statpanel in view most of the time so I have easy access to the most relevant information. (I can't help but wonder if there'd be a way to do this with the output text, though, like a link, that would work about as well.)

A good HUD would work for most games, I think--simpler games could show all of the most relevant stats, and even relatively complex ones could probably work something out with clickable sub-menu buttons. For RPGs or strategy games that are particularly complex it'd probably be rather clunky regardless of how you worked it, though... another very attractive alternative might be to export relevant player info to the browser window in webpage format, which I've heard of people experimenting with (well, I've seen plenty of puzzle/arcade games with high score lists and the like displayed in nifty HTML displays, but never, say, a character sheet). When/if (I think when) HTML support for tables and such gets added to statpanels, this would lose a lot of its pointfulness, though, but by then it'll largely be a moot point since you could organize information so much more effectively.
In response to Leftley
I've seen plenty of puzzle/arcade games with high score lists and the like displayed in nifty HTML displays, but never, say, a character sheet).

Ooh. That's a neat idea. Too bad that I can't really apply it to Haven, since it wouldn't fit into the current interface. =(