   Combining items to make new ones.
  This is a concept I have been considering for a while. My long running game project is making good progress, especially since characters no longer walk through walls. (Unless they try really hard). The idea is that you are in a city infested with zombies and other monsters, and you are able to pick up items, each of which has certain scores for attack, defence, and special effects. You can also combine items, to make new items or give old ones new special effects.For example, if you combine the "photo developers chemicals" with the "car battery" you have a silver plating machine. You can then combine this with any metallic weapon to add the "poison werewolves" special effect. Or, you can combine a knife with a broom handle, to make a spear, thus increasing the damage of the knife.Storing these combinations and the individual items / stats would be done via an SQL database, which is not a complicated affair to set up these days thanks to libraries such as SQL lite. The plan is that ammunition for weapons is scarce, and weapons are effective against the rarer monsters and bosses, but zombies can take a lot of punishment before dying, and they are very common. This way, the player is forced to use melee weapons, while still being able to enjoy shooting the vampires and werewolves.So the question is, how many such item combinations can you think of? I think it will need about 50 combinations of items to make this feature worthwhile, as it would prob. add 2 months to the development time, compared with a simple one dimensional list of items.I can think of these combinations:broom handle + knife == spearfrozen meat + microwave == cooked meat (feed it to dogs and they follow + defend you)paraffin spray + blowtorch == flamethrowertorn clothes + "zombie blood(do not drink)" == zombie disguise (at a distance zombies do not recognise you. Does not fool other undead creatures)brick + sock == sock with brick inside. (whack things with it)milk bottle + petrol = molotov cocktailbleach + fertiliser == contact explosives. (shoot it to blow it up)Thanks for any ideas.   
  Knife + Wrench = Knife-Wrench. It's for kids.   ;  What effect does it have on the undead?   ;  So far, I only have one tip: Make sure that:1) Items can be combined with plenty of other items (So you want to use a milk-bottle item set? Then think up 10 things with milk bottles! :D )2) Make it possible to break down (most) items. Destroy the spear, attach bowlingball to the broom handle; bludgeoning weapon! :DI'll give it all some thoughts. Careful though: I can't count!   ;Quote:Original post by SticksandStonesKnife + Wrench = Knife-Wrench. It's for kids.drill + fork = Drill-fork.   ;  broom handle + torn clothes + petrol + blowtorch = torch ?knife + brick = sharp knife ?frozen meat + sock = sock with frozen meat inside (whack things with it) ?sock + sock = whisper walking mode ?brick + milk bottle = sharp pieces of glass ?In short I do not think this is a viable thing to do.  You'd have to think up each and every combination there is and see what it might turn into.  What would happen if I combine torn clothes with bleach?  Will I just have cleaned an area of bleach?  Or does it become something useful?  Maybe some combo's are useful, but you lack the knowledge to recognize it as such.Even shorter: just don't do it.CipherCraftPSIf you only have two items, you can combine them into a third.  You now have three items that you have to investigate the combo's for.  Etc, etc.;Quote:Original post by PouyaCatSo far, I only have one tip: Make sure that:1) Items can be combined with plenty of other items (So you want to use a milk-bottle item set? Then think up 10 things with milk bottles! :D )2) Make it possible to break down (most) items. Destroy the spear, attach bowlingball to the broom handle; bludgeoning weapon! :DI'll give it all some thoughts. Careful though: I can't count!1) That's an excellent idea. (e.g. let them discover that vampires are allergic to zombie blood)So, milk bottles break when you throw them, and the contents go everywheresome things with milk bottles:salt (zombies won't walk on it and die if they touch it)silver nitrate (werewolves won't walk there and die if they touch it){can anybody think of a better name for this? Not everybody will understand "silver nitrate"garlic (vampires won't walk there and die if they touch it)zombie blood (kills vampires that walk there or get splashed)werewolf blood (attracts more werewolves)2) Duly noted, nice idea.   ;Quote:Original post by phantomQuote:Original post by SticksandStonesKnife + Wrench = Knife-Wrench. It's for kids.drill + fork = Drill-fork.I already did this in real life. I was eating spaghetti and the thought came to me: What if I had a fork that spun around to wind up the spagetti?Next thing I knew I was in the Emergency ward with multiple drill-fork injuries to the arms. Don't try this at home, kids.Actually, a drill item set would be interesting. Put things in place of the drill bit for extra damage. Thanks, Phantom!   ;  hmmm, I was just following on the Janitor from Scrub's quotes... but yeah, glad to help [grin]   ;Quote:Original post by CipherCraftbroom handle + torn clothes + petrol + blowtorch = torch ? I only plan to allow 3 item combinations.Quote:knife + brick = sharp knife ?Nice idea, duly noted. Bricks sharpen things.Quote:frozen meat + sock = sock with frozen meat inside (whack things with it) ?sock + sock = whisper walking mode ? No, sock + sock == two socks. They keep your feet warm. The socc - flail idea works with most heavy objects, I suppose, including sock-with-meat-inside, sock-with-human-head-inside, sock-with-broken-glass-inside etc.Quote:brick + milk bottle = sharp pieces of glass ?In short I do not think this is a viable thing to do.  You'd have to think up each and every combination there is and see what it might turn into.  What would happen if I combine torn clothes with bleach?  Will I just have cleaned an area of bleach?  Or does it become something useful?  Maybe some combo's are useful, but you lack the knowledge to recognize it as such.Even shorter: just don't do it.CipherCraftPSIf you only have two items, you can combine them into a third.  You now have three items that you have to investigate the combo's for.  Etc, etc.Of course, I can use the database to give me every combination of 2 items, then spend a few weeks combining them. Then I can investigate if any of the new 3 item combinations work. Of course, the list grows exponentially, but the advantage of using an SQL database for this is that I can add new ones quickly.   