[Miscellanous / Other] A sort of Shopkeeping Simulator with RPG influences

[Sapprine]

Disclaimer: I suck at triggers, my motivation and dedication is too low to make anything like this, but I feel it could be a good/fun idea, feel free to use it for inspiration and alter it in any way you like.


The basic concept:
You are a shopkeeper in the Lordaeron Capital City (or another location) and a mix of commonfolk, farmers, soldiers, wizards, elves, dwarves, WoW-inspired adventurers, ect will visit your shop. Your shopkeeper is like a worker who can build potion shelves/armor stands/tables/weapon racks/ect out of lumber, shelves have inventory slots allowing you to put items in them. Abilities on the shelves themselves would allow you to do stuff like mark-up the price, quickly transfer items to storage, ect.

Various trash/stains/dirt/debris/mud/ect would spawn around customers and the conditions (hp) of your shelves would decay over time, lowering the amount of gold customers are willing to pay on items. Increasing the price will discourage customers from buying, especially if your shop is in an unkempt state.

Once you got that framework sorted out, you can start thinking about mechanics like ordering supplies: Order herbs/potion ingredients, ores, lumber, leather/hides, grains, ect and then you'd have like a backroom with a cauldron, forge, tanning, oven, brewery casks, ect which would unlock and be upgradable over time.

Every time you sell something, clear some debris, ect you'd earn a bit of EXP and leveling up would unlock the selection of raw materials you can import. Think better ores, alchemy ingredients, honey to brew meads, more extroardinary animal pelts, magic gemstones for staves, ect.

Leveling up would also let you upgrade your shelves/shop interior, backroom crafting commodations, possibly even incorporating crafting materials from the stuff you import as upgrade materials. The higher level the shelves you place the stuff to sell on, the more the base sell price of the items on them would increase.

Anyway, now you can brew healing potions/mana potions, bake bread, forge swords, stitch leather, make bows, brew beer/ales for dwarves, make staves for elves, ect.

Taxes would have be paid periodically, bigger/the more upgraded the shop is, the more the tax cost would increase.

Alternatively, add a garden/outdoor area to the back of the shop where you can grow your own herbs/grains, build bee-houses, ect. Maybe in late-game the capability to extend that garden and then you'd import seeds.

Once you got that framework sorted out, you can start to think about mechanics like thieves trying to make off with your goods, hiring staff NPCs to keep your shop secure/tidy (think cleaners, handimen repairing shelves, soldier to guard the entrance, ect), the capability for the shopkeeper to use crafted items/potions to halt thieves or gain better means to clear dirt/debris. Maybe in the late game even hire a smith, baker, alchemist?

And then you can think of fun stuff like trying to sell illegal/black market goods (maybe Cult of the Damned figures or characters like Garithos could start visiting your shop, ect). Maybe also an expedition mechanic where you hire an adventurer and give them quests to go on (you'd provide them with gear, potions, consumables, ect from your own crafting facilities and then do combat with them in a different part of the map). They'd have their own EXP/level, stats, ect and then return to you with sums of gold, unique weapons/armors/animal skins or even herbs/ores/seeds/ect which can't otherwise be imported.

Or maybe even a sacrificial pit you'd throw left-over crap into to appease some demon who'd grant boons or curses? idk, sounds fun

And lastly, you could make a map like this multiplayer, like a competition possibly or a co-op with multiple shopkeepers, or make other players able to buy stuff from other player's shops? Idk, but a map like this could be very very fun.

 

[Scias]

Pretty cool idea, I personally don't have the skills required either, but I'd like to see something like this made.

I especially liked the direction of having a chance to sell items to different groups of people, like cultists. I'd suggest brainstorming this further, making it kind of like a tech-tree progression, if you pick to sell some items for cultists (for example Rod of Necromancy), your shop will be avoided by another group, like for example wealthy people who seek luxury items. So if you select one option/variety of items to sell you potentially weaken or lose options to sell to some other class of customers. Each customer class could have it's pros and cons.

Some ideas:
Peasants could bring steady income but purchase low price items, and they would make the shop dirtier (maybe spawn Rats, Rat infestations to deal with?)
If you maintain the cleanliness of the shop you can still manage to sell to Wealthy class, but if it's entirely left unkept and untidy then you'll lose the interest of the Wealthy people.

Wealthy people could bring good profit because they purchase expensive goods, however their presence brings thieves, so you have to increase safety of the shop and forever combat the thieves guild to maintain your profit and keep your business afloat.

Cultists could be good for profit also but they chase all other customers away by bringing ghosts and skeletons who spook your customers. This could have fun progression into the idea of creating a sacrificial pit and spawning demons through your shop, but it could also attract Paladins and other law-enforcers who will destroy your shop and put you in prison.

You can go more creative with the concepts, like Goblins requiring Wood cutting tools, and Elves hating the Goblins.. Could also include Dwarves, Trolls..

 

[Sapprine]

Pretty cool idea, I personally don't have the skills required either, but I'd like to see something like this made.

I especially liked the direction of having a chance to sell items to different groups of people, like cultists. I'd suggest brainstorming this further, making it kind of like a tech-tree progression, if you pick to sell some items for cultists (for example Rod of Necromancy), your shop will be avoided by another group, like for example wealthy people who seek luxury items. So if you select one option/variety of items to sell you potentially weaken or lose options to sell to some other class of customers. Each customer class could have it's pros and cons.

Some ideas:
Peasants could bring steady income but purchase low price items, and they would make the shop dirtier (maybe spawn Rats, Rat infestations to deal with?)
If you maintain the cleanliness of the shop you can still manage to sell to Wealthy class, but if it's entirely left unkept and untidy then you'll lose the interest of the Wealthy people.

Wealthy people could bring good profit because they purchase expensive goods, however their presence brings thieves, so you have to increase safety of the shop and forever combat the thieves guild to maintain your profit and keep your business afloat.

Cultists could be good for profit also but they chase all other customers away by bringing ghosts and skeletons who spook your customers. This could have fun progression into the idea of creating a sacrificial pit and spawning demons through your shop, but it could also attract Paladins and other law-enforcers who will destroy your shop and put you in prison.

You can go more creative with the concepts, like Goblins requiring Wood cutting tools, and Elves hating the Goblins.. Could also include Dwarves, Trolls..

put up signs in front of your shop

"Elves welcome!"
Increases elf patronage by 15%, but Lord Garithos will occasionally blackmail your shop

 

[Scias]

I wonder if it would be interesting to utilize the food and upkeep mechanic for the items? Like imagine each item would take different "food" supply (but think of food as something else), and they would change upkeep the same way or similar as it works in normal gameplay, reducing your income. This way you'd min-max with profits and supplies, avoiding having a stagnant shop full of goods that aren't being sold.

The "Elves welcome!" could be part of a event system, if the time/days is calculated in gameplay, could make it so each week you get a option to pick between 3 events. The events could relate to different Hero characters, like Garithos in your example.