Fishing system

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krazyjakee
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Fishing system

Post by krazyjakee »

Ideas for a fishing system.

My idea: (I know there are many ways to do this)
The player needs a rod and bait, the same way a bow needs arrows.
The player casts off at water edges and what they catch is dependant on where they are, what bait they are using and the type of rod.
Each castoff uses bait whether a catch is made or not.
Animations can be a simple water splash after casting off and also maybe the odd fin in the air to suggest that water has fish in it.

We are getting closer to the port town northeast of hurnscald and I thought this would be a good time to start thinking about it.
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Crush
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Crush »

The actual gameplay of the fishing systems of most MMORPGs is very boring. You click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched... hour after hour after hour.

Feels more like assembly line work than fun gameplay.

Don't you have an idea how it could be made more interesting and challenging?
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Kage »

Crush wrote:The actual gameplay of the fishing systems of most MMORPGs is very boring. You click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched... hour after hour after hour.

Feels more like assembly line work than fun gameplay.

Don't you have an idea how it could be made more interesting and challenging?
We don't want to make basic stuff too challenging.
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krazyjakee
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Re: Fishing system

Post by krazyjakee »

Crush wrote:The actual gameplay of the fishing systems of most MMORPGs is very boring. You click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched, click, see what you catched... hour after hour after hour.

Feels more like assembly line work than fun gameplay.

Don't you have an idea how it could be made more interesting and challenging?
You could say the same thing about attacking anything in an rpg, you attack and see what the damage is... or finding herbs you click and see what it drops.
But for a more challenging experiance I would say you have fish npcs in the water and hold the attack button to increase cast distance and the aim is to hit the npc, and even then there is a chance it might not bite. That would be fun :)
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Crush »

Kage wrote:We don't want to make basic stuff too challenging.
You mean your intention is to intentionally make parts of the game boring? :?
krazyjakee wrote:You could say the same thing about attacking anything in an rpg, you attack and see what the damage is... or finding herbs you click and see what it drops.
But you have to move your character around and search for monsters and herbs. In the fishing systems of most RPGs you just have to stand in front of a water surface and press the same button over and over again. Yes, I know, there are places in TMW where you can level by doing exactly that, but I consider this a major flaw in the game.
But for a more challenging experiance I would say you have fish npcs in the water and hold the attack button to increase cast distance and the aim is to hit the npc, and even then there is a chance it might not bite. That would be fun :)
That sounds more like an interesting system.
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Savi »

Instead of using a fishing pole you use a fishing net or fish trap. You throw the net or trap in and leave it there. You return later and retrieve your catch. You would have to have some type of bait to put in the trap to attract your catch. At least it is less boring this way.
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Enchilado!
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Enchilado! »

Or fish swim around fast, occasionally surfacing (the bigger the fish, the rarer they surface and the faster they are) and you have to click right on them to catch them. Of course, this would need moving NPCs, probably...
Just another suggesting, while I'm on a roll, not sure if this is the right place, but Collision Tiles (for maps) seem a bit limited. I would have, if this would work, several types of Collision Tiles for different purposes:
Wall C-Tiles -- nothing can walk on these

Thin-walled C-Tiles -- you can stand on them, but you have to walk off the same way you went on. (IE, you can't walk right across them. It's like there's a thin wall that's less than one block wide.)

Water C-Tiles -- Some monsters can walk on them, you can if, eg, you can swim or have a Dinghy or a Raft or something.

Monster C-Tiles -- Monsters can't walk on these, but you can.

Also, (really don't know if this is the right place, but...)
Characters walk on the Fringe layer of a map, I think. But if they were layer-transferable (a square in the map coding that says something like "char-set 'fringe01'" for example) with several fringe layers (fringe01, fringe02) and single fringe layer collision tiles (Fringe01 C-Tile, Fringe02 C-Tile) this would allow for, say, bridges over other paths, and you can walk up a staircase onto the bridge or you can walk underneath it. This would make the game appear kind of 3-D. I don't know if it would work, but if it would it sounds like a good idea to me. If anyone understands it.

Anyway, as well as fishing, I designed a very basic way of cooking which would require no extra coding, just a few new items and a specially designed NPC:
There is a type of item called a Recipe, and there a lots of Recipe notes which you can collect. There is an NPC called Oven, which looks like an Oven, and you click on the Oven. Then, according to which Recipe notes you have, you can make a dish. EG, if you have the Broccoli Sauce, Pike-on-a-stick and Sugared Squirrel's Tail recipes, the Oven would say:
What would you like to make?
and then
Broccoli Sauce
Pike-on-a-stick
Sugared Squirrel's Tail

And you select what you want to make, and it says something like: Sorry, you need a Squirrel's Tail to make that. Come back when you have all the ingredients.
And each recipe has a slight chance of burning, and the more complex the recipe the more likely you are to burn it.
Just a few ideas, here because I didn't know where else.

~He who has decided that things like Smithing could also be very easily done with no extra coding,
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Superkoop »

Would it be possible to do something similar to those handheld fishing games? Where you have to have the right bait/fishing line depending on the fish, and you have to keep the tension on the line without going too tight while reeling in.

It would require a sort of mini-window pop-up thing, and the player could press buttonX repeatedly to reel in, and use the up/down arrows to keep the tension taught. Depending on the weight/type of fish it would be tougher to keep the tension right, and if you get a better fishing rod it gets easier as well.

Just an idea.
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Crush
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Crush »

I would prefer to use the normal game engine as much as possible instead of writing a completely new game engine for a fishing minigame.

Also remember that the game logic must be server-sided. Otherwise the player can cheat easily.
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feline monstrosity
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Re: Fishing system

Post by feline monstrosity »

Animal Crossing handles it very well (the DS version - I haven't played he console versions) - and it's built in to the engine. You can see the fish swimming around as dark shadows under the water and you have to cast your line so that the bait lands just in front of the fish, or in it's movement path (requires predicting skill), so that the fish notices the bait and decides to bite. The fish then swims up to the bait and swims around it nudging it before it bites. You have to press A immediately after it bites to haul it out or it will take the bait and swim away (not realistic I know because on a real line it could not escape the hook) and so that part requires reflex. Overall it's not difficult to catch most common fish, but the rarer ones are more easily scared away and bite faster.
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Rotonen »

KISS.
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feline monstrosity
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Re: Fishing system

Post by feline monstrosity »

The way I describe it makes it sound more complicated than it is. It really is as simple as "tap the screen to cast the line in to the water, wait for fish to bite, tap the screen to pull the line from the water". Also remember that that is a game that revolves almost entirely around menial tasks like fishing, so it has to strive to make them good.
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Rotonen »

Well, it requires realtime location data exchange between the client and the server. I'd like to see how well our combat system (playability-wise) performs in real conditions before trying to build something like that.
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Re: Fishing system

Post by feline monstrosity »

Ah. Did not realise this was a technical issue.
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Re: Fishing system

Post by Savi »

If you used docks to fish off of, would that reduce the location data points? Each section of dock would have 2 data points one per side and the end of the dock would have 3 points.
Another option would be to have specific spot set along the shore or beach. If you are not in the correct fishing location when you cast nothing happens. If you find a spot that is fishable you hear a casting sound.
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