Chunking the game

[+Colibri]

This is already something from the Roamap part 1, which I will post in detail after the big cleanup is complete. But we can start ahead of time, to kind of get a clearer picture already.

The game as we know it, is a giant blob of various features, systems, mechanics and so on. To have a better overview of this complexity, I am going to make an big picture view of everything that exists, and each of the components can then be placed into one or several categories. This will then be useful for example, if there's a bug report with the Wax Refiner, or an idea to improve Magery, we can sort these things according to where they belong.

Initially, it would be good to figure out the top-level stuff. Combat, Crafting, Skills, Housing, Pets... Then later, we can drill down and expand each of the sections.

Below I have written a quick draft of how I see things. Not just the top level stuff, but went down a few levels, just as an example how things can be expanded.The list can then be fully expanded when we also have a content-management-system to handle this tree structure. Certain things can be in multiple locations, for example the Recall Spell would go both under Movement, and Magery Spells.

I'm looking for input on how you see these things should be sorted, or organized, which are the top-level ones and which go below. Please keep in mind:
- For now, we need just the top-level stuff, or perhaps including the 2nd-level as well.
- There should be a manageable number of sections in each category. Optimally between 5 and 10, but there will be some categories that have just 2 items inside, or some that naturally have over a dozen with no logical way to split those into groups, but those should be exceptions.





~ Base mechanics ~
Movement
- By foot
- Mounts
- Recall/Gate travel
- Bag of sending / bracelet of binding
Trade
- Secure trade
- NPC vendors
- Player vendors
- Currencies
- - Gold
- - Tokens
- - ED
Potions
Spells
Pets
- Taming
- Breeding
- Biopets
- Imprisoned pets
- Golems


~ Combat ~
Fighting with weapons
- Melee weapons
- Ranged weapons
- Special moves
Spells
- Magery
- Necromancy
- Cleric spells
- ...
PvP


~ Skills ~
- Alchemy
- Evaluating inteligence
- Snooping
- ...


~ Game locations ~
Facets
- Felucca
- - Towns
- - - Felucca Britain
- - - Felucca Cove
- - - ...
- - Dungeons
- Trammel
- ...
Towns
- Cove
- Britain
- ...
Dungeons
Open spaces (Deserts, forests, islands..)
Random points of interest


~ Crafting~
Craft engines
- Classic craft system
- Craftarium (our improved craft system, used in e.g. alchemy
Crafts
- Blacksmithy
- Inscription
- Tailoring
- ...


~ Housing ~
Classic houses
Customizable houses
Yard wand system


~ Quests ~
Quest engines
- RunUO quest engine
- Xml Quest NPCs & books
- Excelsior's quest system


~ Other game stuff ~
Guilds
Plants
Beekeeping


~ Platforms ~
Shard
Portal
Forum
Wiki
Social media
- Facebook
- Instagram
Discord

[Xavian]

I think it looks like a pretty good start. Just be sure to include auctions in there somewhere...

[tank]

i honestly dont understand all of those are even an issue,maybe im missing something. i mean the quests yes adding some other content. other than that i think youve got everything working properly... jmo

[Xavian]

i honestly dont understand all of those are even an issue,maybe im missing something. i mean the quests yes adding some other content. other than that i think youve got everything working properly... jmo

He's not saying there are issues with all of these things, it is just an organization method. It helps to categorize things so that when troubleshooting bugs/issues/upgrades, you know everything that is impacted by those changes.

[Joshuashw]

I logged on and went hunting a little, something I noticed since I’ve been away so long is the gap in loot for regular dungeons. Gold drops are small on most things compared to Balrons and if memory serves me right the next good steps are peerless, peerless key monsters, black Lich, yamadon, and so on. There are things to do to earn revenue but there’s almost no value to hunting skeletons, gargoyle’s, hell hounds, and so on.

A lot of equipment is fairly easy to attain and long time bets like myself aren’t good for new players because it’s possible to boost new players to upper content and no skill cap also makes things easy.

Just a little input, some here won’t know me because I don’t spend a lot of time talking on the forums or caring about Titan hammers and I’ve taken some breaks but I have 11 years here.