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Nardival Regular Shmoe

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#1 Feb 27, 2013 at 00:06 UTC - 0 likes

Sup Mapsters.

Been a while since I've delved into mapping, and as always, I'm trying to push the boundaries of what I know / what the editor can do. So i'll just jump right ahead and shoot:

Banks allow for player-data to be saved (locally?) - so, in the simplest example, your 'exp' and 'level' are tracked persistently while you play through a custom arcade map many times.

What I was wondering was whether or not it would be possible to build this functionality into a sort of marketplace for a 'proof of concept', space-rpg type map. I think it would be easiest if i just listed a few examples and outcomes:

A custom game is started and players, A, B, C and D join to play for the first time.
Players - as usual - download and play the map. The first time they play, they create their character and all that good stuff is saved.
Would it be possible for then, during game, a player places an item (record-based) into a (trigger-based) inventory list, alongside a price.
This item is then stored in another bank, that is shared and copied across to all other players in the map at that time.
The game then ends. And each individual Character Bank is updated, alongside the 'global' Marketplace bank.

Another game launches this time with players, A, B, C and X.
Player X is a veteran and has played over 50 games with a combined total of say 100 unique different players.
The game loads each individually stored 'marketplace bank', and merges them somehow
Players A, B and C can now use the Marketplace and browse all items being sold by their friend D, along with X and his 100 other stored selling lists.

Now for the only pitfall / downside to the system:

Player B decides to buy an item that was listed 3 days ago buy player E (from player X's list).
He uses the interface and pays 550 credits for the item.
The global marketplace bank stores this amount and the player ID for Player E.
For player E to recieve his credits, he HAS to play with players A, B, C or X.
OR, any subsequent player who then plays with A, B, C or X (as their global bank would update without the item, only the amount due for E)

Thoughts?

Last edited Feb 27, 2013 by Nardival

MasterWrath Regular Shmoe

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#2 Feb 27, 2013 at 00:43 UTC - 0 likes

@Nardival: Go

I've thought about stuff like this before. There are additional issues.

Let's say that Player Z plays with Players A, B, C, and D, and puts an item up for sale. Then Player A plays a game with Player X, and Player X buys the item. At the same time, Player B plays a game with Player Y, and Player Y buys the same item.

Player X and Player Y both just bought the one item that Player Z put up for sale, because they played with different players who had both played with Player Z recently.

This would be a fairly common occurrence. You would have to create some sort of system to at least prevent Player Z from getting paid twice in the event that he/she ran into both Players X and Y in the future. There would be no way to prevent the spawning of multiple copies of the same sale, but at the least you could prevent double payments.

Edit: Also, these bank files would get pretty massive.

Last edited Feb 27, 2013 by MasterWrath

Trigger, layout, interface specialist for Aeon of Storms.

Nardival Regular Shmoe

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#3 Feb 28, 2013 at 07:55 UTC - 0 likes

@MasterWrath: Go

Yes, that concern crossed my mind also...

But, theoretically it is possible to have a multiplayer bank that merges and updates itself - thereby sharing it's information with subsequent players?

In that case I think I will reconfigure the marketplace.

Instead of individual items being sold by individual players. Players sell their items instantly, and amounts sold/bought are tracked in the bank, allowing for fluctuation in market prices. As you play the game more, your character advances and gains access to more valuable items, and as you are playing with more players, the marketplace bank should expand accordingly. Ie, in the early game (with a smaller market bank), most items you find will be cheap but sell to the marketplace for decent amounts. Later on, these same cheap items will be flooded in the market place (as you've played with more players), and lose their market value. I am toying with the idea of there being 3 separate Space Stations with individual markets. So trading can be an effective way to bolster your income - ie. buying low from Market A and selling high to market B.

MasterWrath Regular Shmoe

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#4 Feb 28, 2013 at 09:08 UTC - 0 likes

@Nardival: Go

Well, I'm not sure what you're asking. It isn't possible to have a shared bank, you would have to manually load, merge, and then save the information between players each game.

I like your new idea, though. It's particularly nice because it provides incentive to play more and as early game items become cheaper making the boring parts of the game faster.

DrSuperEvil Moderator

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#5 Feb 28, 2013 at 22:09 UTC - 0 likes

Banks are limited to local for now so each bank would need to take every player in the world into account on each persons comp. It would also need a system for adding new players to it. This would also raise issues with player playing frequency. With sales you could add a system of adding an auction house where if two bids are the same it delays the purchace for an extra round of gaming but that assumes frequent playing by all parties.

There are the camapign save triggers that might gain more functionality for multiplayer.

Last edited Feb 28, 2013 by DrSuperEvil

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Bank and Record-driven Marketplace