How should I handle equipment? in Design Philosophy

ID:265952
 
Nov 18 2009, 3:03 pm
I'm not asking "how do I make an equipment system?", I've no need for help in that. I'm going to ask this:

Should their be multiple versions of each equip, possibly with random stats for some versions? This is another feature I like d from Rise of Heroes (which my game takes quite a bit of influence from), the various equips could add more replay value for perfectionists.

I'm not sure how far I want to go with the random equips, however. Maybe for swords, there'd be like:
Sword of [insert element] | Boosts the usual attacking stats, and adds some to your elemental damage.
Strong Sword | Adds more attacking stats then usual.
Sword of Piercing | Same attack as a regular sword of it's kind, but increases critical hit-rate and accuracy

Sword of Chaos | Every stat, including certain elements, attack stats, etc, is -25% - +45% higher then the above three kinds.

Again, those are just ideas. What are your thoughts on it, BYOND community?
#1 Nov 18 2009, 4:47 pm
Variety and randomness is always good when it comes to equipment. There should almost always be an advantage and disadvantage when equipping certain armors/weapons.
#2 Nov 19 2009, 1:04 pm
Let the players design their own weapons via blacksmithing.
#3 Nov 20 2009, 7:33 am
I definitely think randomly varied equipment is a good idea, particularly if equipment can break.

A sword for instance can vary greatly in weight, density, sharpness, etc. even if you don't factor in enchantments. Swords can rust--how quickly depends on the metal they're made from and how well they're cared for--and lose their edge. A good adventurer would do well to carry a stone for sharpening and removing rust. Swords can also become notched or damaged when striking hard objects like armor, which could increase their brittleness and perhaps decrease their effectiveness, requiring a skilled weaponsmith to repair them.

In addition the basic design of the sword can give it fundamentally different properties of how it does damage. A saber for instance is capable of slashing, but best at piercing, and is likely to be highly ineffective against armor. Yet it's very light and easy to swing, increasing the number of hits a skilled swordsman can get in. It also is effective at parrying similar light weapons. It's a good weapon for carrying around town. A broadsword however is heavy and likely enough will do more damage by slicing than by stabbing, and it will damage armor it comes into contact with. It is unlikely to penetrate the toughest armor except by piercing.

A truly great equipment system would probably be able to handle all of these aspects, giving weapons a basic design that has very strong effects on its capabilities, then augmenting that with a bit of random "drift" for each weapon that could be attributed to construction quality and how well the item is cared for, then finally following that up with enchantments (which themselves could work the same way, having a base design and then quality and maintenance concerns).

Lummox JR

Lummox JR
#4 Nov 20 2009, 9:39 am
With my equipment system, every piece is randomly generated.

There is the kind of equipment.
The Material.
The Rank.
The Enchantment.

A weapon could be a Novice Sword, a Master Copper Sword or a Legendary Copper Sword of the Dragon.

Players will be able to also pick up and put jewels into the hilt of their swords, thus increasing their power and ability even further.

Right now, there is a total of around 2,500+ different kinds of equipment a player can find in my game. These are not counting special sets of equipment like named weapons or quest items you find that are not unique.