Greetings Pilot!
Let us both take a moment to sit back, relax from a stressful day and talk about the future crafting implementations within Solarbots. I’ll be here waiting for you to put on your pyjamas, grab a cup of hot chocolate and get comfortable.
Why crafting?
Before we talk about how we will craft, we should first take a look at why we craft. It may sound self explanatory but these types of questions exactly reflect a lot of the processes in our development. No matter how on-the-nose features may seem, without truly understanding why we want them in the game (and not just to copy others, that surely does not count), can we really learn how we can implement it in a way that feels meaningful and enjoyable? Arguably, yeah - but that’s likely a fluke by just copying established models 1:1, not something we really care to do.
Solarbots is a social meta- and storyverse multiplayer RPG and as such, the influence of every player on the world must be possible to be tangible. Of course there should never be a requirement for players to do things they do not enjoy and as such, playstyles must be optional. Many players just want to slash their way through an engrossing story, others revel in the challenging and competitive world of Player-versus-Player environments and yet others prefer a non-combative alternative. Today I’m talking about only one of the non-combative avenues that will be available within Solarbots and while we have every intention of making much more than one, those are topics for another day.
When it comes to game economies and crafting, there are many viable approaches which elicit different feelings in people. Restricting the player-run economy to their own little auction house will offer players the opportunity to create and sell goods to others, sure, but does it make you feel like you’re a part of the global ingame economy when you know that the auction house is nothing but its own contained environment? It reduces crafting to the problem it’s solving and only the problem. People want something, you create it, you sell it, repeat. In many MMORPGs crafting, gathering and the economy feel more like after thoughts than anything else. Anyone can do it, it’s as easy as pressing a button and there’s a range from minimal to very high but fairly boring in-game financial incentives and what feels like no impact in the greater development of the world.
In Solarbots, everything is crafted by players; for players.
You are the economy.
Maybe this sounds like a negligible change to you, but let me explain why this is more than just a phrase.
Combat pilots require Solarbots to protect Eld from the Abyssal threat. Without engineers, there would be no Solarbots. Solarbots need maintenance and without medics, they would eventually stop working. As the combat pilots get closer to the epicentre of the Sundering, their Solarbots will require multiple enhancements. Without jewelcrafters, enhancers, the Grand Magus or hardware hackers, these Pilots would meet their demise.
In essence: every crafter Pilot contributes to the safety of the Plane of Existence. They are as important as combat Pilots to securing a future for all that lives on Eld.
How will this look?
Currently, there are seven professions planned for the launch of the crafting update:
Solarbots Engineer
Jewelcrafter
Tool Crafter
Hardware Hacker
Carpenter
Material Refiner
Part Enhancer
Medic
Each filling a deep and essential need in the world of Solarbots, but let’s analyse them individually. (please note that specifics are subject to change as development continues - changes will be communicated)
1. Solarbots Engineer
Solarbots Engineers are at the heart of supplying the core foundation of the battle against the Abyss.
Requiring refined metals, as well as woods and Solstones, Solarbots Engineers craft the Base as well as the body parts of Combat and Life Skill (gathering & crafting) Solarbots.
2. Jewelcrafter
Jewelcrafters create one-time use embedding tools to permanently attach a socket to a body part of a Solarbot, as well as cutting the gems to fill the sockets.
Gems will come in various types and cuts, offering many different types of upgrades to allow players to fine-tune their strategy and double-down on certain traits within those strategies.
Some examples for gems and their possible cuts:
Gem types
Ruby - increases HP/Block/Burn/Broken Bones
Emerald - increases Defence/Repair/Corrosion
Topaz - increases Energy Shield/Crit rate/Paralyse
Amethyst - increases Base Attack/Crit dmg/Bound/Charmed
Sapphire - increases Initiative/Evasion/Frozen
Prefixes
Trilliant - increases primary Stat
Trillion - increases secondary Stat
Square - increases status effect duration
Pentagon - increases status effect potency
Hexagon - add % chance to inflict status effect on attacks
3. Tool Crafter
Every guild requires tools to supply for their crafters. Tools are physical installations to place in one’s Guild Hall and will be swappable by the Guild Leader or their Officers. Each tool has a limited lifetime and will require replacement over time. Tool Crafters will also be able to upgrade their tools for:
Longevity
Efficiency
Output
For an additional resource cost.
4. Hardware Hacker
The hardware hackers in Eld have managed to develop a one-time use device to reset a Solarbot body part, thereby rolling the base stats anew. Not satisfied with this feat deemed impossible by even the Blind Society, hardware hackers have decided to focus on giving their Solarbots a unique spin, allowing them to craft their very own visual effects for combat abilities.
5. Carpenter
Every piece of furniture needs to be crafted by a carpenter, including community-created scriptable furniture as we release the Furniture API in the future.
6. Material Refiner
Nearly all professions require refined base resources, as well as further refined materials previously created by refining base resources - for higher level/rarity crafts.
The Material Refiner fills a never-ending demand that should never be overlooked.
7. Part Enhancer
Part enhancers take heavily refined materials and create applicable enhancements that permanently attach into a body part to offer very specific enhancements to the base stats of the respective part.
8. Medic
Medics craft instant-repair kits, as well as instant-cleansing kits to fix structural damage of Solarbots combat units, or cleanse them of debuffs and status effects.
All of these professions will start out with a list of base crafts. The available crafts will continuously increase in number as we roll out the multiplayer PvE dungeons which will offer limited-use recipes for special or potentially unique crafts.
I know there’s still a long road ahead of us before these things get implemented, but I wanted to take a moment to give you a brief look into our planning status as we’re putting a lot of effort into making sure to offer a holistic system in which everyone can find their home.
This system's really interesting! As long as the gameplay feel fluid, I'm all for it.
It would be awesome to get title achievements when crafting to reward people for achieving crafting/gathering goals that are developed by the community so that there's interesting interactions for future potential Solarbots Reddit/Discord roles while larping & immersing themselves in the game in the future.
Anyway, I'm pretty curious how the Mk. 2 parts are going to look like since the current Mk. 1 Solarbots souls are going to be don't have exchangeable parts.
Thank you for keeping us frequently updated!
Thank you for sharing this. Great to see that there is something for every type of player. It will be so fun to play with friends around the world, all working together to fight the Abyss.