Stroam

Looks good.

maybe an item that works like a metal detector. It beeps more frequently the closer you get to ore. Might make finding ore in a 3D environment easier.

First off, thank you. I hoped such a system would be flexible enough to cover many use cases so that players can use it for whatever ideas they may have, be it skills, achievements, etc. A list would be great. Like the one in the handbook for items and blocks. I agree the less the player needs the wiki the better. I did mean for perks to take anywhere from zero to multiple slots. Hopefully, my edit makes that more clear. I also changed the name from activation requirement to activation condition. I agree that is more clear. The reason the equip time cost is there is because I dislike how the perk system in the Fallout MMO allowed you to instantly swap out perks. It allowed players to swap out perks mid-battle and whenever obstacles came up. You also recognize that it breaks gameplay if perks can be moved around too easily. I think unequipping/swapping out requirements could be another solution to issue but could get very complex very quickly. Still, I'll add it as a note at the bottom. The timer solution is simple and represents the time it takes to learn a new skill. The timer can be set to zero to have perks instantly equip. Nearly everything in this system can be set to zero or left out to tailor it.

I've seen many proposals for skill systems, character systems, learning systems, etc. So there is a want by some of the community to have some sort of system to play around with. I also have experienced several different systems from many different games ranging throughout gaming history. This gives me a wide and deep pool of knowledge to pull from, however, I'm not as big of a gamer as I use to be. My knowledge of current skills systems and what is popular is limited. Knowing that let's move forward with the suggestion. First, a brief overview. Players gain perks by performing game actions or reading manuals. Players are allowed to equip a limited amount of perks. The perks offer benefits to the player if the perk activation requirements are met. Now for the longer more detailed explanation. A perk consists of 4 parts: unlock requirements, equip cost, activation conditions, effects. Unlock requirements is the requirements needed to get acquire the perk. On the easiest side of the spectrum, this might be nothing which might be the case for perks found in ruins. On the most difficult you may need to have certain perks equipped which then gives you a 2% chance to unlock the perk when killing locusts with a copper sword. Once unlocked, the perk goes into a list from which the player can select perks to equip. An unlocked perk cannot be unlocked again. When attempting to equip a perk it checks if that player has enough perk slots open to meet the perks slot cost(may cost more than one), has any required perks already equipped, and doesn't have any incompatible perks equipped. These costs could be zero slots and no required equipped perks. If the player meets the requirements then the perk starts to equip. This is represented as a timer that only runs down while the player is logged into the server. When the timer runs out the perk will then be equipped. If the player doesn't have enough perk slots open then may select one or more perks to swap out for the perk they want. This then unequips the selected perks when the timer runs out, however, the player will not benefit from any equipped perks being swapped out and the timer will be equal to longest equip time of the skills chosen. Timers may be canceled at any time. A perk that is a requirement for the perk being equipped, or for a perk already equipped, cannot be swapped out. Some perks auto-equip and some perks won't be revealed to the player until they equipped. Once equipped a perk will not function unless it's activation conditions are met. The perk may have no conditions, meaning it's always active or may have very specific requirements such as having fewer than 5 health and is in water. Finally once equipped and the activation requirements are met the player will gain an effect. This could be anything. The ability to swim, ability to craft a specific item, break stone faster with pickaxes, grant a temporary bonus before becoming locked again, etc. Only coding knowledge and imagination limit what the effects can be. Each player starts the game with a limited number of perk slots. The number of slots can be increased by equipped perks. Some perks may have unequip requirements. This provides a very flexible system that can work well with a JSON layout so that once the requirements and effects are programmed, even those not good with coding can craft can use those to mod their own perks. The perks can also be added to the handbook just like items and blocks.

The place should ideally fit within a 16x16x16 area.

I could see that fitting into a fatigue system at some point but it's difficult to tell how that'd play out since it requires game changes in code I can't see or change.

I had this idea for the eventual implementation of armor. Why is it that you always see big heavy strong people wearing plate armor and not the weaklings? Simple. It's not effective for them. Instead of being a benefit it becomes a detriment. What do I mean by this? In order for someone to use heavy armor effectively, they need to be strong enough to move around in such equipment at the same speed and as their lighter counterparts and the endurance to continue to do so. It makes no sense to go into battle with a weapon that you swing half as fast as your opponent and armor that tires you out after a few bouts. To that aim, I suggest a moment debuff relative to the effective weight of the armor such that lighter armors have less of a penalty than heavier armors. This penalty is reduced based on the player's nutrition level in a linear way such that someone who has a nutrition level high enough to eliminate the penalty for light armor may still have a penalty for heavy armor but more reduced than it is for a player who still has a penalty for light armors. The reasoning being those in better shape can bear the weight more effectively. I understand that this is not realistic. There are many realism holes that can be pointed out in this idea but it does fit nicely into VS. It gives another reason for having good nutrition. It enforces that RPG trope of heavy armor wears being tanky. Thanks for reading

I don't mind refining raw ore and I think such a game design can be used to great effect as a hudle for various ores for the purposes of extending the progression tree. I agree with Ashantin that time costs for processing that make the player actively hold down a button and wait are best avoided and those costs would best be extracted different ways. I think an issue with open world games is pacing. In story driven games the pacing can be controlled with the story. In open world games it's left up to the player to control pacing which is great as long as the game has a large variety of activities with different pacing. Ore processing is a great opportunity to add in a different pace. If you look at some other games you'll see many activities have stations with mini games whoes outcome determines the output in some way. Adding in a different pacing is why they are there.

The large trees are very pretty and the fact that the player can't produce more of them adds to that beauty. It makes it truly something special instead of something planned.

That is the current goal and so far it is on target.

In this mod you also need to use binding as well such as twine, glue, sinew strips, etc.

Most of the games listed on the epic store aren't even available yet. If VS were to get on it within the first year it'd do well because I haven't seen another game like it on that store. On the other hand, I might wait a couple of months just to wait and see if there are any surprises.

eh, there are a few different steam competitors in which VS would be the only MC clone on which might be better such as the discord store or epic games store.

You really shouldn't see a performance hit from the clouds but I agree about the night sky being too cloudy too often.

I want to extend this to consistent controls for almost all blocks and items. Left click is to violently touch something be it punch, swing, etc. Right click is the use/interact button. For turning the quern, opening a chest, etc. Shift+Left click is to softly touch something. Used for softly moving things. So picking up and placing down. Shift+Right click is to Secondary use/interact. Or something like that. Currently, have no use. I see your point. Those are fairly iconically Minecraft but as long as they look different and serve different purposes I don't see an issue. For instance if the furnace only provided warmth to a surrounding area. (No current warmth mechanics yet) Agreed. Seeds would be cool to use in cooking and maybe a very small chance to produce a sapling when planted. Having saplings appear around adult trees and eventually grow up into adult trees would be neat. Being able to pick them up by right-clicking with a shovel with a sack in the inventory would also be neat so you can transplant them. I've already suggested this and am told it would take a fundamental change in the engine to implement. I specifically for using the axe and sword wanted swing time to add more depth to the combat and make all the actions feel more deliberate.