City RPG Slim | Version 0.1 | Community Input Please!!!!

[Master Matthew²]

City RPG Slim | Version 0.1 | Community Input Please!!!!

Next Version 0.2
Goals Met: 0/3
Sub-Goals Met: 0/7
Current Script[Last Updated 4/14/2018]:

Code: [Select]

// City RPG Slim
// Created by Master Matthew (BL_ID:10373)
// Current version: 0.1
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------//
// Objectives for version 0.2
// 1. Active Save Management System that saves to an external file
//    a. Use Save Managment to search for User's BL_ID upon joining server
//    b. If user is not in database, create default data.
//    c. Allow for data updates mid game, changing Job, Cash, Bank, etc...
//    d. Autosave to text file periodically using data from Server Preferences.
//    e. Load from File upon server Startup.
// 2. Allow for simplified job editor, IE modifying text file.
//    a. use Q/A system in text file, skip question in code to read answer.
//    b. Job Name, Job Description, Job Abilities, all in simple text format.
//    c. All in ONE text file, formatted to be readable and distinguishable
// 3. Test and Validate that this basic system works.
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------//
//setting data file locations
$saveFile="/data/saveData.txt";
$jobFile="/data/jobData.txt";
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------//
//keeps count of how many users are in the save file.
$userCount=0;
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------//
//
$playerList[Category,Data];



function idCheck(){

    for(%i=0;%i<$usercount;%i++){

    }


}



[Ad Bot]

[Conan]

the core problem with cityrpgs is that in the end its an accumulative gamemode. the longer you play the more you accumulate. this means that whoever plays the most ends up buying out everything regardelss how big the map is

[Master Matthew²]

the core problem with cityrpgs is that in the end its an accumulative gamemode. the longer you play the more you accumulate. this means that whoever plays the most ends up buying out everything regardelss how big the map is

I suppose you could have a property limit...
Ie 3 plates maximum

Previous op:

City RPG Director's Cut | How to Fix and Improve City RPG

The Blockland City RPG Addon is an addon with many attractive qualities, but also faults. This mod wouldn't have ever been so very popular if no one liked the game. City RPG is a Tycoon Type Add-On for Blockland, introducing various things to a basic DM Minigame. Such as adding a GTA mechanic with wanted ratings and rewards for catching wanted criminals, the obvious and previously mentioned tycoon element with money and the ability to create your own buildings for a game like GTA mixed with Sim City and any given Tycoon game. But it has it's various faults, Beginning the game is way too slow, some mechanics feel chunky and useless like hunger, the omni-present bottom bar telling you information is very out of place, and unless you have patience and tons of free time, this game mode isn't fun until you've made some headway into the game.

1. Alter the Hunger Mechanic.
Hunger is a Negative Response mechanic forcing players to play the game actively instead of having to wait for money to build up, which is alright as an anti-afk mechanic... but really if you're this intent anti-afk you could just have an afk kicker. It's really fustrating to be halfway the police station to pay off some demerits or about to place a brick when you hear a click and you just seemingly randomly die and drop your money.

Remove the NEED to feed yourself and us an altered jump jet with limited fuel that doesn't refill automatically, then link food to usage of said jump jets. It would be like the Hunger Mechanic in Minecraft, but instead of hurting or killing you when you are low or starving, it will just slow you down.
 
2. New Baseplates
So... Let's be real, we've all spent something like a day and a half to get to the point where we build in this broken game mode... but it's not great and usually has high taxes and other issues. But I have a solution.

Either put a brick limit or a height limit on cheaper bricks with lower taxes, and limit the lower tax bricks to 16x16, or 16x32 and 16x16, and have progressively increasing tax bracket sets of bricks with different limitations until you reach the highest tax rate, and the after have the elusive tax-free bricks, with no limitations, but an insanely high placement price.

Second, if for some reason, at any time your base plate breaks, you will be refunded the exact cost of said brick as soon as it breaks, and it will be placed in your account.

Third this is less of a game mode edit and more of a managment notice. YOU DON'T HAVE TO RESET YOUR DAMN CITY WHEN IT'S FULL. this system should deal with that itself, people will manage their property by buying and selling it, with various options to choose from for placing new baseplates if need be, such as buying a crap house, refurbishing/demolishing/rebuilding it and selling it.

if this still doesn't solve that issue, you need a bigger city.

3. Change the Clothing System.

Clothes should not be mandatory, but they should implemented in such a way people WANT them. how?
Add new clothes objects like custom models for each piece of the player than you can unlock and buy. probably would require a new datablock... good thing you'd already need that for another mechanic fix I had previously stated. but how would you manage all this...

Well...

4. Custom GUI

A simple custom GUI to put all your money, stats, owned properties with limited teleport options and of course, the advanced avatar menu.

In the City RPG menu admins can manage important stuff, and users can buy from it using the in game currency (can be disabled and swapped with ingame store options instead of gui menu stores.)

all these options would give the City RPG the energy boost it would need to revive as a solid game mode.

[Col. Burton]

I suppose you could have a property limit...
Ie 3 plates maximum

There usually is a maximum property limit, but once you own a gun/food/clothing store in the center of town you basically own the server.

[Col. Burton]

Here's my extended reply to this, please feel free to reply as you see fit.

1. Alter the Hunger Mechanic.
Hunger is a Negative Response mechanic forcing players to play the game actively instead of having to wait for money to build up, which is alright as an anti-afk mechanic... but really if you're this intent anti-afk you could just have an afk kicker.
Aw man I have to play the game and provide a purpose to the food-selling jobs? What the forget!

It's really fustrating to be halfway the police station to pay off some demerits or about to place a brick when you hear a click and you just seemingly randomly die and drop your money.
It's a roleplay, you need to feed yourself if you are an actual human in a town/city. If you die because you are literally starving its nobody's fault but yours.

Remove the NEED to feed yourself and us an altered jump jet with limited fuel that doesn't refill automatically, then link food to usage of said jump jets. It would be like the Hunger Mechanic in Minecraft, but instead of hurting or killing you when you are low or starving, it will just slow you down.
I mean, I can see the use for this, but you suggesting this completely invalidates your entire argument above about removing it completely, what do you want exactly?


2. New Baseplates
So... Let's be real, we've all spent something like a day and a half to get to the point where we build in this broken game mode... but it's not great and usually has high taxes and other issues. But I have a solution.

Either put a brick limit or a height limit on cheaper bricks with lower taxes, and limit the lower tax bricks to 16x16, or 16x32 and 16x16, and have progressively increasing tax bracket sets of bricks with different limitations until you reach the highest tax rate, and the after have the elusive tax-free bricks, with no limitations, but an insanely high placement price.
The larger the base plate the higher the taxes are, that's already how it works. The values of "price" for anything can be edited by the host of the gamemode if they have any knowledge of how to change a value on a .cs file in N++. My CityRP has the price for taxless lots like 10x the price of regular lots, making people work for the lot instead of just grinding the mine for money until they can avoid taxes.


Second, if for some reason, at any time your base plate breaks, you will be refunded the exact cost of said brick as soon as it breaks, and it will be placed in your account.
This seems like a good idea, but I have no idea why your baseplate would break unless you are extremely careless in using the wand.


Third this is less of a game mode edit and more of a managment notice. YOU DON'T HAVE TO RESET YOUR DAMN CITY WHEN IT'S FULL. this system should deal with that itself, people will manage their property by buying and selling it, with various options to choose from for placing new baseplates if need be, such as buying a crap house, refurbishing/demolishing/rebuilding it and selling it.
This is actually how it is supposed to work, the only issue is; instead of putting their lot up for sale using the extremely broken Real Estate system, they just stop playing the server and leave the lot to sit unused until the server gets reset. This can be avoided with good administration. Making sure lots are used and up-kept instead of left to stagnate by marking them for deletion.


3. Change the Clothing System.
Clothes should not be mandatory, but they should implemented in such a way people WANT them. how?
Add new clothes objects like custom models for each piece of the player than you can unlock and buy. probably would require a new datablock... good thing you'd already need that for another mechanic fix I had previously stated. but how would you manage all this...
Well...
One answer: replace clothes with hats. This could be done, but it's all up to the host who is smart enough to edit values in the .cs file.

4. Custom GUI
A simple custom GUI to put all your money, stats, owned properties with limited teleport options and of course, the advanced avatar menu.

In the City RPG menu admins can manage important stuff, and users can buy from it using the in game currency (can be disabled and swapped with ingame store options instead of gui menu stores.)
Once you make this let me know I'd be glad to use it, otherwise, I don't know a single soul who would even bother making a GUI for this gamemode.

[Master Matthew²]

Here's my extended reply to this, please feel free to reply as you see fit.

The point of refining hunger doesn't invalidate my desire to have it removed because it fixes the problems i had with hunger.

This isnt a city similator its an rpg, and what part of a game about pseudo lego people in a pseudo lego world gave you the impression that realistic mechanics would make sense. Realistic mechanics arent fun because reality sucks.

With the tax plates i meant to have barying degrees of taxable plates.
Ie $50 with 3% tax but a 500 brick limit or 20 brick height limit.
$100 with 5% tax but a 700 brick limit or 30 brick height limit, etc.

So a bit more variety, and making this default would make servers more likely to use it. Telling the owner to "git gud kid" won't make them fix their mod, theyll likely either blow you off or flip stuff.

Well id like to expand on the brick refund thing after i tack on one more idea...

If there is A Daily counter, that can have the limit set by the host, which will increase each day a player doesnt return to the game and when that limit is reached the property is automatically put on the market.

This could be a week or a month, but considering how long city rpgs last or should last id say a week wouldbe a measuee, but again it would be up to the host, and the user would be fully refunded on said baseplate should they return.

This seems like a fun project idea, but i think ill have to work my way up, i think ill be investing some time into torquescript in the near future.

But its nice to have people to toss ideas back and forth on.

[Shift Kitty]

No one ever wants to do it though.

[Col. Burton]

The point of refining hunger doesn't invalidate my desire to have it removed because it fixes the problems i had with hunger.
Removing hunger would instead force you to remove jobs people use, essentially removing like 5 jobs from the job list. It would do nothing but hurt the game mode.

This isnt a city similator its an rpg, and what part of a game about pseudo lego people in a pseudo lego world gave you the impression that realistic mechanics would make sense. Realistic mechanics arent fun because reality sucks.
Here's a quick definition of "RPG" for you: A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development. Basically, a "roleplay game" can be as realistic or non-realistic depending on who is roleplaying/hosting the roleplay.

With the tax plates i meant to have barying degrees of taxable plates.
Ie $50 with 3% tax but a 500 brick limit or 20 brick height limit.
$100 with 5% tax but a 700 brick limit or 30 brick height limit, etc.
Oh I see what you mean now, a brick limit per plate. That seems like it would take a lot of checks to see the amount of bricks above the baseplate, and that would probably spam the console creating un-needed lag.

So a bit more variety, and making this default would make servers more likely to use it. Telling the owner to "git gud kid" won't make them fix their mod, theyll likely either blow you off or flip stuff.
The thing is, you can't make it "default" because it is a failed add-on. If you post it, it will be fail binned and you will most likely be banned since everyone already knows its a failed add-on. This gamemode should really only be hosted by people who are competent enough to know how it works.

Well id like to expand on the brick refund thing after i tack on one more idea...
If there is A Daily counter, that can have the limit set by the host, which will increase each day a player doesnt return to the game and when that limit is reached the property is automatically put on the market.
This could be a week or a month, but considering how long city rpgs last or should last id say a week wouldbe a measuee, but again it would be up to the host, and the user would be fully refunded on said baseplate should they return.
This actually seems like a great idea, but another thing that would be easier than coding in a whole counting system would be just to tell the players to put a date/time their build was made somewhere (either in print bricks or events). I know it seems like a simpler and chunky approach but it works, it's how I did it.

[Tezuni 2.0]

No one ever wants to do it though.

ya i agree, and it's because the benefits do not justify the labors
the blockland playerbase is a shadow of what it used to be and is a dead game most of the time.
and so you spend countless hours, days, and weeks coding and testing a gamemode for that?  
nobody who possess that level of skill wants to commit that time and energy for this game.

a few years ago i put several weeks worth of time into my own CRPG edit and it was a massive improvement over the original but still didn't get enough players to justify continuing development because there just aren't that many players left to start with.

[Col. Burton]

a few years ago i put several weeks worth of time into my own CRPG edit and it was a massive improvement over the original but still didn't get enough players to justify continuing development because there just aren't that many players left to start with.

I literally just edited values and jobs and stuff and my CRPG boasted like 40 players every day in 2016 so maybe it's just you?

[Shift Kitty]

ya i agree, and it's because the benefits do not justify the labors
the blockland playerbase is a shadow of what it used to be and is a dead game most of the time.
and so you spend countless hours, days, and weeks coding and testing a gamemode for that?  
nobody who possess that level of skill wants to commit that time and energy for this game.

a few years ago i put several weeks worth of time into my own CRPG edit and it was a massive improvement over the original but still didn't get enough players to justify continuing development because there just aren't that many players left to start with.

And even if there were as many players as there was then... A large number of players have a pretty negative opinion on City RPGs. They don't really have the motivation to spend time into one, even if you did a lot of work into improving it. I know I wouldn't join one, even if it were claimed to be the best City RPG ever.

[Tezuni 2.0]

I literally just edited values and jobs and stuff and my CRPG boasted like 40 players every day in 2016 so maybe it's just you?

yeah that happens with any decently setup iban crpg for about a week.
i'm referring to long term player retention.

no way in hell someone wants to spend a few hundred hours developing a mod for a week of player activity
and that activity trend applies for iban copies and developed edits all the same
so it's simply not equitable to spend time improving the mod
and simply changing values and stuff is just garbage

[Col. Burton]

yeah that happens with any decently setup iban crpg for about a week.
i'm referring to long term player retention.

I had that amount of players for more than a month what are you talking about

[Tezuni 2.0]

I had that amount of players for more than a month what are you talking about

MAYBE in the summer on a weekend you'd get 40 at the peak 3 daytime hours.
Otherwise you're certainly exaggerating, believe me, I know blockland activity

[Col. Burton]

Otherwise you're certainly exaggerating, believe me, I know blockland activity

okay lol