cooking system stuff

[11:58 AM] lavendersiren: I have ideas for foodstuffs but there's so much jumble and thought on implementation that it's just aaaaaa
[11:59 AM] lavendersiren: basically, I want food items to be equippable like held items in pokemon, but, I'm not sure if I should also give them the option to be consumed somehow and I'm not sure how I'd make a consumable "armor" in rmxp
[12:00 PM] lavendersiren: not to mention I still need to put together the food crafting system and menus and aaaaaaaaaaaa
[12:00 PM] Madame Delsin Tenkosheep: D:
[12:00 PM] lavendersiren: have I mentioned that I've hardly even made any menu thingies before, only edited them?
[12:01 PM] Madame Delsin Tenkosheep: equippable consummables tend to get overlooked tho
[12:01 PM] Madame Delsin Tenkosheep: players tend to ignore em if they don't use em much
[12:02 PM] lavendersiren: I'm planning on having it be a requirement to have the player equip the party with meals every night after each level
[12:04 PM] lavendersiren: meaning that like, the gameplay progression waits until all four party members have a food equip at that point in the gameplay loop
[12:05 PM] lavendersiren: each food item has different attributes that it imparts on a party member. they will not be able to be removed from the equip menu manually, and will automatically disappear after the level is over
[12:06 PM] lavendersiren: materials to craft these meals are found during the levels, where challenges are encountered. all party members have food preferences which make certain foods work better or worse for them
[12:08 PM] lavendersiren: the basic lines of these preferences are told to the player right away, though the nuances will need to be found out during gameplay through a mix of trial and error and talking to them during downtime (which requires resources because the main character has social anxiety)
[12:09 PM] Madame Delsin Tenkosheep: you must find the mystic tomato for the holy blt
[12:10 PM] lavendersiren: if a favorite food or an extremely liked food is equipped, a party member will be able to perform a more powerful version of their main skill, however, they will likely only be able to do it once.
[12:10 PM] Caz: Why not do something like Tales Of games where you don't actually craft foods, but you assign someone to be your party's chef and they'll cook stuff based on what's in your inventory?
[12:11 PM] Caz: And so every now and then, a pop-up comes up saying "hey I made this food it came out awful"
[12:11 PM] lavendersiren: well, I'm planning on doing something similar to that sorta thing, where it only gives you choices based on what you have, but the player will have to choose what meals to make and equip to the party. and it's this choice that's a big part of the game
[12:12 PM] Caz: Yeah I think in Tales Of, you get to pick from like.. a set menu or something and they'll make something random.
[12:14 PM] lavendersiren: like, one party member will only eat vegan meals, so you'll have to make something that has no animal by-products for them to get the most out of it, and depending on what ingredients you have, you can craft different meals which temporarily raise certain stats, most likely mentioned explicitly in the menu when selecting to craft.
[12:15 PM] lavendersiren: so like, while carrot salad would raise one stat for a day, cucumber salad would raise a different stat for a day
[12:16 PM] lavendersiren: I may make it so the same food cannot be equipped to the same party member two days in a row though
[12:17 PM] Caz: Maybe make it so that it's possible to do that, but the effects aren't as strong?
[12:17 PM] lavendersiren: possibly
[12:18 PM] lavendersiren: yeah, that makes more sense than out-right restricting
[12:18 PM] lavendersiren: will need to remember to tell the player about that thing tho
[12:19 PM] Caz: Is there a way you can actively update it in the menu? So say you're equipping that meal, the game knows it's the second day in a row and the menu will reflect the decreased effects by showing it in red and maybe a 1/2 symbol or something?
[12:20 PM] lavendersiren: I'd have to figure out how to track that. I'm guessing maybe just track which equip was used the previous day with a variable set to the id in the database or something
[12:21 PM] lavendersiren: and then somehow make something check that variable. a painless but messy way would be to swap out the full power version of the meal for a half power version of the meal before the start of the next phase, but that would mean using twice as many database entries.
[12:22 PM] lavendersiren: another method would be to find everywhere where the equipment is put into account and put in a check there, though that would be tedious
[12:22 PM] Caz: Yeah depends on how you're doing the items and their stat application when in use.
[12:23 PM] Caz: Like if you're using events to apply the stats, that'd be easy enough. But if it's done through the item in the database, not so much.
[12:23 PM] lavendersiren: they will be used for scripted challenge events and in regular battles
[12:24 PM] Caz: It's hard to say what's best having not seen how the game works, but I imagine doing two separate items for each will be such a pain to keep track of.
[12:24 PM] lavendersiren: another option that'll probably be way easier is just to have a state that's applied that lowers stats at the beginning of the next day if a dupe is detected
[12:25 PM] Caz: Yeah that might be best.
[12:26 PM] Caz: Or maybe have a feeding time at the start of each day so you have to pick a meal for each party member, and do the buffs through events?
[12:26 PM] Caz: So the stats apply at the start of the day and wear off at the start of the next day.
[12:26 PM] Caz: So then when you pick the same meal twice, you'll have a variable to tell you that's the case and you can reduce the stats if you try to feed them the same.
[12:27 PM] lavendersiren: maybe
[12:28 PM] Soul / Zetaform Games: wait you were the one who made the cooking game?
[12:28 PM] Soul / Zetaform Games: i thought it was someone else for some reason
[12:29 PM] lavendersiren: someone else was also making a cooking game I think
[12:29 PM] Caz: I am basically trying to force my cooking game ideas on everyone yes.
[12:33 PM] lavendersiren: :v