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Full The Looter update
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Repeated intro
Hey Looters,
What changed
- Gameplay
- Balance
- Maps
- Store
The Looter changes
It’s Walczak again. This article is about crafting, game currency and some game mechanics related to resource management.
Why crafting?
Crafting became the must have mechanic in most of the adventure games. Survival horrors like Resident Evil or The Last of Us allow players to assemble useful tools or healing items from scraps. This mechanic is so appreciated among gamers that it was introduced even in the series that never had it before like crafting feature making "debut" in Elden Ring while it was not present in previous Fromsoft games.
The Looter is no different. So the brutally honest answer to the question “Why do we have crafting in The Looter” is “Because it is a cool and widely appreciated game mechanic”. Hell there was even a whole TV series MCGyver dedicated solely to crafting as the ultimate problem solving method.
Crafting menu
Benefits of crafting system
My favourite definition of a video game is “Solving problems for fun”. In this case the problem is limited resources. We offer some solutions: upgrade your weapons so you deal more damage and conserve ammo, buy some ammo from the vendor, or buy the blueprint available early in the game and use these cheap and easily obtainable materials.
Another benefit is the flexibility. Our goal was to craft materials to be utilised for different types of items. For example sulfur and saltpeter can be used to produce different types of ammunition. If the player prefers to use shotgun over pistol he will use those materials for shotgun ammo. He will not be left behind with stacks of pistol ammo he barely uses. Alcohol can be used for making antidotes as well as molotov cocktails. Prey is a great example of this flexibility, allowing players to craft items that suit their playstyle from four types of materials Another example and heavy inspiration is The Last of Us where you had about 10-ish crafting materials and different combinations of those were used for a variety of items.
Player can produce 4 different items by combining 3 crafting materials. It gives the players’ flexibility and allows playstyles they prefer.
The next good thing about crafting is that in our system the player needs to obtain the blueprint first to be able to craft an item. It gives the ability to spend game currency on something. What is the point of currency when there is nothing to spend it on. The blueprint can be also utilised as the treasure found in the hidden area but we rarely do it because of the importance of this item.
Last but not least is that crafting makes the game world more interesting and believable. It is more likely that survivors in the post apocalyptic world came up with some ways of producing items using knowledge from the past.
Realism of Crafting
Crafting in The Looter is grounded in real-world logic, but never at the cost of fun. Pistol ammo, for example, uses saltpeter and sulfur, not a full chemistry lesson, but enough to make scavenging feel believable. Alcohol and herbs are used for antidotes which also is reasonable as many medicines consist of those ingredients. In The Looter explosives like flashbangs and frag grenades are created using tin cans, similar to jam tin grenades used by British forces in WWI.
Jam tin grenades
Key items crafting
Sometimes the player will need to craft key items in order to progress the game. This adds a variety to the quests and some more immersion making crafting not only gameplay mechanics but also part of the game’s story. For example, the protagonist has to craft an item for an NPC in trouble. We had to make little tabs in the crafting menu so the key items and consumables are separated and it does not create unnecessary mess and confuses the players.
Key items crafting
Looting as mechanic and lore element
From a lore perspective, the protagonist’s main goal is to collect as many useful items and materials as possible to sell. Rather than collecting a set amount of currency, every loot item has some short description. It was inspired by The Final Station style of picking up valuable items that were instantly “converted” to a game currency. It adds some depth to the world and makes picking up “game gold” more interesting.
Example of loot items names in game
Uses of the Loot
The loot can be used for a variety of things. Just like in the Souls series our game will charge the players some currency every time they need to make some progress. Loot will be needed for upgrading weapons and accessories or buying new ones in the shop. In my opinion it is better to show some items to the players in the shop first, then let them acquire some money and then decide for themselves what they want to spend it on. When the players will miss some hidden areas they will most likely miss some loot but not the important item.
Another way of making sure the players are aware of hidden items is the treasure map feature we added later in the game. If such a map is acquired the checklist appears on the map menu displaying the number of available loot, gear, key items and lore findings on a particular scene.
Improvisation
As I mentioned in the Devlog #6 on designing survival or the biggest and most difficult challenge is to balance the game flow and find the sweet spot between having limited resources and situations where the players have zero resources to progress the game and they are stuck with melee weapons or just running past monsters hoping there will be a pack of ammo in the next room.
Map with the feature showing collected items
Game flow mechanics
To combat these problems, we added some mechanics that will help players when they are in trouble. The first solution is to set the respawning crates on the levels. The monsters will respawn every time the players choose to rest at the bonfire to replenish medkits, ammunition and regain health. Some crates containing ammo, crafting materials and other resources will also respawn. Monsters can also drop such items when killed. These respawning sources of items can give extra resources necessary to go through the next stages of the game when dying many times or just got lost exploring.
Another safety net is “magic ammo boxes”. Sometimes the player needs to shoot the padlock to unlock the ladder. Those boxes will give two or three bullets only when the player is out of ammo. This will avoid the softlock situations or annoying backtracking to the last bonfire.
Supply crates and magic ammo box
The last situation when the players can run out of ammo is during the boss fights. Every boss was designed to have some source of ammunition. For example, the large larva boss ‘Slither’ occasionally hits the wall, causing cocoons containing ammo to fall from the ceiling.
Final thoughts
In conclusion, my goal while introducing mechanics like crafting and looting was to make the players be able to choose the way they want to play The Looter. It’s up to them how they spend the resources to fit their style. We also tried to make mechanics semi realistic and imbued in the game’s world.
Source
Changelog.gg summarizes and formats this update. How we read updates.