Playing the Market in NEStalgia
Back in my WoW days I probably spent half of my time working the Auction House (the player auction system for buying and selling every type of item imaginable). Warcraft's amazing economy is essentially a game in and of itself - and a fun one at that. Recreating that type of experience in NEStalgia has been on my to-do list for forever... and thanks to Silk Games' master coder tenkuu, it is now a reality.
tenkuu took charge of implementing what we call the "Marketplace" system into NEStalgia, and the end result is incredibly cool. All items in the Marketplace are put up for sale and priced by other players. Once you list your item for sale, the Marketplace does the rest, and the item will be available for potential buyers to browse 24/7.
To put an item up for sale all that you have to do is talk to the listing merchant, set your price, and walk away. The item will stay in the Marketplace for 2 days. If it is sold, the profits will automatically be deposited in your bank. If not, the item will be placed in your vault upon expiration.
Browsing and buying items is simple. All purchases are immediate - there is actually no back-and-forth bidding on items in NEStalgia's Marketplace. From the buyer's point of view, buying items on the Marketplace isn't much different than buying them from any other NPC merchant (apart from the nifty interface of course). You can choose to view all of the available items at once or browse specific item types.
Need a better sword? Found a rare or unique item that you're not going to use? My guess is that most players will be spending quite a bit of time at the Marketplace. As usual, tenkuu has done a brilliant job creating a system that will blow people away.
***********
Just a note -- I now have a specific date planned for NEStalgia's release, and I've already made the necessary preparations. However, because my 'professional' work schedule is incredibly fluid and subject to change, I am resisting the urge to announce that date until we are just a bit closer.
 The marketplace in Balzackia |
 Clicking on an item while browsing |
tenkuu took charge of implementing what we call the "Marketplace" system into NEStalgia, and the end result is incredibly cool. All items in the Marketplace are put up for sale and priced by other players. Once you list your item for sale, the Marketplace does the rest, and the item will be available for potential buyers to browse 24/7.
 Putting an item up for sale and setting the price |
 Checking out your current for sale items, with the option to cancel anytime. |
To put an item up for sale all that you have to do is talk to the listing merchant, set your price, and walk away. The item will stay in the Marketplace for 2 days. If it is sold, the profits will automatically be deposited in your bank. If not, the item will be placed in your vault upon expiration.
Browsing and buying items is simple. All purchases are immediate - there is actually no back-and-forth bidding on items in NEStalgia's Marketplace. From the buyer's point of view, buying items on the Marketplace isn't much different than buying them from any other NPC merchant (apart from the nifty interface of course). You can choose to view all of the available items at once or browse specific item types.
 Showing Off Hand pieces of armor |
 Showing weapons only, clicked on the "Caster's Delight" staff |
Need a better sword? Found a rare or unique item that you're not going to use? My guess is that most players will be spending quite a bit of time at the Marketplace. As usual, tenkuu has done a brilliant job creating a system that will blow people away.
***********
Just a note -- I now have a specific date planned for NEStalgia's release, and I've already made the necessary preparations. However, because my 'professional' work schedule is incredibly fluid and subject to change, I am resisting the urge to announce that date until we are just a bit closer.
Posted by SilkWizard (Lead Developer) on Monday, February 08, 2010 12:04PM
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#20 SilkWizard:
> Does this mean a public release is in the near future
That's the plan!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 02:36AM
#19 Disturbed Puppy:
>...We're just working out any kinks and balance issues in the last of the new content before we start up the final full-fledged test.
Does this mean a public release is in the near future>
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 09:15PM
#18 SilkWizard:
> I'm a little curious about your hosting plans ;]
I was actually browsing your plans just a couple days ago, and the top level plan looked perfect. I'm going to host two primary servers myself to start with, but if we need more or if hosting myself turns out to be an annoyance, you'll definitely be hearing from me!
EnigmaticGallivanter wrote:
> It's up right now for close testing. I'll keep hitting reconnect until the game takes pity on me and gets me in
It will "take pity" on everyone in the near future ;)
Fugsnarf wrote:
> It won't take pity on me anymore.
Don't worry, you'll definitely have access when we bring up the main testing server again. Right now the only people testing are Jaredoggy, tenkuu and myself. We're just working out any kinks and balance issues in the last of the new content before we start up the final full-fledged test.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 05:34PM
(Edited on Tuesday, February 09, 2010 05:53PM)
#17 Fugsnarf:
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 04:28PM
#16 EnigmaticGallivanter:
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 04:21PM
#15 Airjoe:
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 04:20PM
#14 Magicbeast20:
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 10:44AM
#13 Fugsnarf:
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 07:31AM
#12 Mikoikill:
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 02:55AM
#11 SilkWizard:
> Wow, top notch work here, Silk. Your progress looks amazing.
Thanks! Considering the scope of NEStalgia, it definitely wouldn't be possible without everyone else on the team. tenkuu deserves all the credit for the Marketplace.
Monday, February 08, 2010 09:15PM
#10 Shadow Serpent:
Monday, February 08, 2010 07:30PM
#9 SilkWizard:
> "Soggy Merchant Sack", har har.
The funny thing is that I didn't even catch that it could be interpreted that way until you just mentioned it (and now it's ridiculously obvious)! I've been trying to name the unique items based upon the area they're found in, so with Piatta being a seaside town and all... yeah.
My mind is a scary place at 3 AM. Or sometimes at 3 PM, depending upon whichever whacked out sleep cycle that I happen to in the middle of.
Monday, February 08, 2010 06:37PM
#8 tenkuu:
> Looks awesome Silk.
> As long as we don't have to tread through the Balzackian jail again, I'll be happy. :)
"Soggy Merchant Sack", har har.
You don't have to do the jail, but it's still there. This time you go into the jail instead of the game placing you in there and you needing to escape.
There is a mandatory "evade the sentries" portion later on in the pirate area, however.
Monday, February 08, 2010 06:22PM
#7 Flame Sage:
As long as we don't have to tread through the Balzackian jail again, I'll be happy. :)
Monday, February 08, 2010 04:11PM
#6 SilkWizard:
> also, judging from the second screenshot, is there going to be a "Nestalgic Sword" in AA's secret 2012 release?
NEStalgia is full of little easter eggs and fan service stuff for people who have stuck around since the DWO days :)
Monday, February 08, 2010 02:45PM
#5 SilkWizard:
> What I mean is that are you going to use the marketplace to help monitor worldwide gold supply and inventory?
At this point that type of system would be an unnecessary over-complication. To be honest, we already don't quite know what to expect when it comes to NEStalgia's economy, so implementing a system like that would only make sense after observing how things work out in the first couple months. Also, just in general I'm not a fan of artificially controlling the odds like that.
If we see a flood of items on the market, the best solution will probably be to take yet another page from WoW's book and make rare and unique items "Bind on Equip", which means that once they have been equipped by one player they can no longer be traded or sold to another.
Mista Mage 84 wrote:
> This looks pretty awesome. Keep up the great work, Silk. Can't wait to try this game out.
EnigmaticGallivanter wrote:
> But this is pretty god damn impressive. I'm sure this game will top pretty much every game BYOND has to offer that is Multiplayer.
Thank you :)
My hope is that NEStalgia will set a new standard for BYOND games in the sense that it will look, play, and feel like a legitimate independent game. The fact that it was made with BYOND should not factor in to what people think about NEStalgia one way or the other.
In other words, I hope for people to play NEStalgia and say "Wow, that's an awesome game!", and not "Wow, that's an awesome BYOND game!".
Zaole wrote:
> are there any gameplay videos released that show combat? i'm curious to see how quickly it goes (ie if it requires lots of keypresses and clicking)
Combat is pretty straight forward, and actually moves at a fast pace. You click on the ability that you want to use, then on the monster/player you want to target.
In the near future I'll be posting a short promotional video for NEStalgia, which will show a lot of footage from the battle system, including a party facing off against a boss. I think that part of the reason we won over Sariat (who warned me that he disliked turn-based RPGs) is because the battle system isn't tedious. It's actually a lot of fun.
Monday, February 08, 2010 02:37PM
(Edited on Monday, February 08, 2010 02:43PM)
#4 Mista Mage 84:
Monday, February 08, 2010 02:27PM
#3 Zaole:
also, judging from the second screenshot, is there going to be a "Nestalgic Sword" in AA's secret 2012 release?
Monday, February 08, 2010 01:39PM
#2 EnigmaticGallivanter:
But this is pretty god damn impressive. I'm sure this game will top pretty much every game BYOND has to offer that is Multiplayer. Hopefully after all the Anifail-Game owners see this game and hopefully play it they'll either kill themselves because they know they can't beat this, or be more and more motivated to do a better job on there development so they can have a chance to better appeal to the masses.
Hopefully the release date is near my birthday.
Side Note: the Anifail comment should be disregard to the DBO II team, as they are actually doing a good job.
Monday, February 08, 2010 12:40PM
#1 Bootyboy:
Quick question, do you have a mechanism to feedback auction inventory and prices to the "drop equation" in the game? What I mean is that are you going to use the marketplace to help monitor worldwide gold supply and inventory?
Monday, February 08, 2010 12:10PM