The right vendor buyback price

[Nathaniel3W]

Hey everyone, I'm working on my vendor system:

In that animation, you see the character approach and talk to a shopkeeper, and then you can browse the shop's wares. The shopkeeper doesn't have an inventory yet, but you can browse and filter the player's inventory.

I'm about ready to start putting prices on things and I got started thinking about vendor buyback prices. Do you have a preference for a buyback system, and do you think one works better for a type of game (in this case, a Japanese-style SRPG)?

To get started, I thought of these options:

1. Set price for buy, half price for buyback: This is probably the most common in Japanese RPGs. It might also be the easiest to implement. It might work best here because that's just what players would probably expect.
2. Calculated price based on stat boost, small percentage for buyback: This is the system at work in a lot of MMOs, making sure that item prices are balanced. Throw in a lot of loot after a battle, and you have an exact copy of World of Warcraft's vendor-trash economy.
3. Supply-demand economy: This is definitely the hardest to simulate, and it might be the most interesting, but it could also just be unappreciated effort. For every item there's a base price, and then based on the availability of that item in a given city, adjust that price up or down. So with every item you offer back to the vendor, he'll offer you a lower price. This is the system at work in Mount and Blade, one of my favorite RPGs.

By the way, the items in your inventory are listed individually, and not stacked. The reasons for this are varied, but one reason is that I want to include weapon level-ups at some point. Basically you can enchant your items, but only after you've leveled them up through use in battle, and different enchantments requiring different stats (including one powerful enchantment that will require at least one previous wielder to have died). There will be a popup window that appears on mouseover to show you an item's stats, so you know not to sell that sword that's about ready for a new enchantment.

But that's all pretty far down the road still. For now I just have to decide on how to calculate the prices. Any thoughts? Also, so long as I'm here, any thoughts on the look of the shop menu?

 

[J1M]

Think about the purpose of selling something to a vendor. Is the goal to incentivize a player to pick up every scrap of garbage? Is it a mini-game where the player has to learn which types of items are worth taking back to town? Is it because gold rewards in the game are tuned to be just short of what the player will need, and they are expected to sell something to top-up to the required currency amount?

Essentially, ask yourself if selling things to a vendor even has a place in your game. Most games suggest that players scrounge and sell items, and then offer them near-zero useful items that can be obtained with the same currency. It doesn't serve to make the game better.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Thanks so much for helping me think through that. I guess I'll have some more thinking to do, but one thing I want to guarantee is that if there's going to be money in the game, I need to make sure that there are things the players will actually want to buy.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

On top of what J1M said, I'd consider adding a certain "specialization" to the vendors (e.g. farming vendor will pay very little for any kind weapon, but the weapon vendor will pay more (and depending on the type of the weapon), because he knows about it).

 

[Ranarama]

On top of what J1M said, I'd consider adding a certain "specialization" to the vendors (e.g. farming vendor will pay very little for any kind weapon, but the weapon vendor will pay more (and depending on the type of the weapon), because he knows about it).

You've successfully introduced micromanaging without also introducing an interesting choice to be made. Well done. The boring overhead of visiting town just longer without any actual benefit.

Is there a puzzle as to what is a weapon? That might make it interesting. You know how most RPGs gloss over characters shitting? Well most RPGs gloss over finding the right store to sell to. It's only interesting if you can discover the occasional bit of corn, otherwise, why bother?

You could make it interesting though. Perhaps you don't just sell to a vendor for a bit of money, but the benefit of them making money gives them a benefit. They could even level up if they get enough vendor XP and provide more services or better goods. Then the player choice of who to sell to actually matters.

 

[deuxhero]

On top of what J1M said, I'd consider adding a certain "specialization" to the vendors (e.g. farming vendor will pay very little for any kind weapon, but the weapon vendor will pay more (and depending on the type of the weapon), because he knows about it).

I'm not a fan of this. Forces a lot of notes and runaround for the player while encouraging hoarding stuff till a vendor who will give you good prices comes around, all with little gain. Farmers just not buying your old swords is better unless there is actual cost to travel (fuel, food, meaningful in-game time).

 

[Mustawd]

What it does do is give locations more individual flavor. So a town will feel like a town, a scrap of huts will feel like q shanty village, and a City will feel like a legit city.


EDIT: An alternative would be to make only a few specialty items location specific. But other items would be pretty ubiquitous

 

[Zep Zepo]

Include a "Buy Back for same price you sold it for" Option. I can't tell you how many times I accidentally sold things and the vendor wanted 3 times as much to buy it back.

Time limited or forever, I don't care, just have it as an option.

Zep--

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Thanks so much for helping me think through that. I guess I'll have some more thinking to do, but one thing I want to guarantee is that if there's going to be money in the game, I need to make sure that there are things the players will actually want to buy.

As long as there are some interesting and tough decisions to make about what you buy and when you buy it, then the in-game economy is on the right track. You don't want players picking up so much gold that is loses meaning as they can afford anything they want, but you also want a reasonable sense of progression and meaningful upgrades. Exactly how the player decides to upgrade their characters should be left to them and ideally it would never be completely black and white. A give-to-get system usually provides more interesting options (i.e. The Greataxe does 10 damage but this Handaxe does 7 damage and a small bleed-per-turn.). This leads to a sense of crafting a unique character and has the player take into account the playstyle they want to use, the way they are developing their character as well as how the item in question compliments the rest of their party/characters as well.

 

[DrDigej]

0.

Vendors dont buy your shit aside from uniques maybe. They sell. You get money by winning fights, not collecting trash.

Zep--