New Content - Implemented Shops in the Elvish Paradise should be Coinmasters
- Thread starter Veracity
- Start date
Every time KoL comes up with a new Coinmaster, they add some new wrinkle to it and I have to refactor the code. This is no exception.
Currently, we believe that there is a one-to-one mapping between type of token and the Coinmaster we present in the GUI. Here, the token is "lunar isotope" but there are three different shops, each with its own URL, that trade in it. I see two choices:
1) Make each shop - dollmaker, lunch, isotope armory - its own coinmaster (and refactor to allow that)
2) Make one coinmaster which handles everything which trades in isotopes (and refactor to allow different URLs for the three categories of goods).
Neither looks particularly easier or harder. The question comes down to: which is best for the user? Opinions?
Another wrinkle is that you require a status effect to be able to even get to the shop. We have other coinmasters with conditions: the dimemaster and quartersmaster require you to wear a particular outfit, Big Brother requires you to breath underwater, the bounty hunter and the game shoppe require access to the Distant Woods (although I don't think we enforce either), and so on. We have a "check" button on the frame which will suit up and visit.
I assume that the "check" button will use a transporter if you are not Transpondent. There are other reasons to want to have that effect, other than simply buying from a shop, but if the user proactively presses that button, it's a command.
What about "acquire"? That (actually, InventoryManager.retrieveItem) has special knowledge that allows you to retrieve a coffee pixie stick by trading tickets to the arcade and to trade in snack vouchers at the game shoppe. I assume we'll want similar code to trade lunar isotopes for food, drink, and potions from the lunch counter. But, again, we run into needing the status effect to actually GET there. If you have the Transpondent effect, the stores are available, we can trade isotopes for consumables, and I can make "acquire" (and the Food & Booze panels of the Item Manager) do that.
But what about if you DON'T have the effect active? If you don't have a transporter, no problem: those items are not accessible and are not shown in the Item Manager. If you DO have a transponder, should I show them as available - and use one if the user asks for them - and expect the user to understand that? I may very well want to use one of the consumables rather than something I already have - if I can see and compare.
I guess it's sort of like the other thing we've discussed recently of showing Fancy food and drink even if you do not (yet) have the right tool in your kitchen, as long as you have enough Meat to buy the tool when you first ask to make a Fancy item. Here, the "tool" is Transpondent, the "Meat" to acquire it is a transporter in inventory, and "buying" the tool is using the transponder.
But, I have a niggling feeling that it's not QUITE the same, since that effect allows other things - in particular, adventuring in Spaaace - than simply acquiring a consumable, and you might want to be careful with your Spaaace turns.
Thoughts?
Currently, we believe that there is a one-to-one mapping between type of token and the Coinmaster we present in the GUI. Here, the token is "lunar isotope" but there are three different shops, each with its own URL, that trade in it. I see two choices:
1) Make each shop - dollmaker, lunch, isotope armory - its own coinmaster (and refactor to allow that)
2) Make one coinmaster which handles everything which trades in isotopes (and refactor to allow different URLs for the three categories of goods).
Neither looks particularly easier or harder. The question comes down to: which is best for the user? Opinions?
Another wrinkle is that you require a status effect to be able to even get to the shop. We have other coinmasters with conditions: the dimemaster and quartersmaster require you to wear a particular outfit, Big Brother requires you to breath underwater, the bounty hunter and the game shoppe require access to the Distant Woods (although I don't think we enforce either), and so on. We have a "check" button on the frame which will suit up and visit.
I assume that the "check" button will use a transporter if you are not Transpondent. There are other reasons to want to have that effect, other than simply buying from a shop, but if the user proactively presses that button, it's a command.
What about "acquire"? That (actually, InventoryManager.retrieveItem) has special knowledge that allows you to retrieve a coffee pixie stick by trading tickets to the arcade and to trade in snack vouchers at the game shoppe. I assume we'll want similar code to trade lunar isotopes for food, drink, and potions from the lunch counter. But, again, we run into needing the status effect to actually GET there. If you have the Transpondent effect, the stores are available, we can trade isotopes for consumables, and I can make "acquire" (and the Food & Booze panels of the Item Manager) do that.
But what about if you DON'T have the effect active? If you don't have a transporter, no problem: those items are not accessible and are not shown in the Item Manager. If you DO have a transponder, should I show them as available - and use one if the user asks for them - and expect the user to understand that? I may very well want to use one of the consumables rather than something I already have - if I can see and compare.
I guess it's sort of like the other thing we've discussed recently of showing Fancy food and drink even if you do not (yet) have the right tool in your kitchen, as long as you have enough Meat to buy the tool when you first ask to make a Fancy item. Here, the "tool" is Transpondent, the "Meat" to acquire it is a transporter in inventory, and "buying" the tool is using the transponder.
But, I have a niggling feeling that it's not QUITE the same, since that effect allows other things - in particular, adventuring in Spaaace - than simply acquiring a consumable, and you might want to be careful with your Spaaace turns.
Thoughts?
You can get to them at level 1 with a direct URL. KoL doesn't give you any links there though.
As far as your actual question, I think the answer will be different in a month or 2 when transporters settle down around 4k or whatever than it is right now with them at 30k (since people want the tattoo NOW).
I would guess that most people looking to spend isotopes want a certain type of item, and showing the other two stores will mostly be clutter, so three separate stores seems to make sense. I never use the Coinmasters interface though, so none of this will actually affect me.
Yes and no. You won't see the actual UI, but the Coinmasters is the mechanism by which we track trading tokens of various sorts for items. I.e., until I get this hooked up, buying something on the moon will not decrease the number of lunar isotopes in your inventory.
Bale
Minion
I prefer the second choice. Fewer tabs is better. Also, I think a failure message is the correct choice if the user needs to use a transporter.
And god bless those people who need the tattoo! I made about 4.5 million meat in two days. It's like my personal Crimbo! I can only hope they stay this hungry for lunar isotopes just a little longer...
Honestly, I would probably say Option 1. There's about 7 items per shop, and you have to consider how to sort it all (split by price, item type, shop) if you lump it all into 1.
That would mean more tabs, but this does bring up something I've been meaning to ask. It's a slightly divergent point about the use of tabs in the Coinmasters UI.
Do you think it's time that you might abandon tabs outright? I mean, they were good back when it was just the 3 (dimemaster/quartermaster/BHH).
Right now there's about 8 tabs in the UI, all sorted by when the shops were released, and not regards to how useful they are. It feels like there's a lot of wasted space and flow for the player as it stands....since unless you really stretch the window out, you have to constantly shuffle in between the different tabs. It just feels kind of clunky and there's a lot of wasted space.
Why not make it closer to the inventory manager and use a vertical listing of shops instead.
That would mean more tabs, but this does bring up something I've been meaning to ask. It's a slightly divergent point about the use of tabs in the Coinmasters UI.
Do you think it's time that you might abandon tabs outright? I mean, they were good back when it was just the 3 (dimemaster/quartermaster/BHH).
Right now there's about 8 tabs in the UI, all sorted by when the shops were released, and not regards to how useful they are. It feels like there's a lot of wasted space and flow for the player as it stands....since unless you really stretch the window out, you have to constantly shuffle in between the different tabs. It just feels kind of clunky and there's a lot of wasted space.
Why not make it closer to the inventory manager and use a vertical listing of shops instead.
Bale
Minion
Seconded. This would improve usability.
I've been thinking the same thing - regarding number of tabs, not that particular solution, which is good. I'd been considering a dropdown like we have on the Adventure Frame to select between Session Results/Encounters/Locations/Daily Deeds and so on.
I think I like your idea better.
I think I like your idea better.
Take a look at Revision 9443. This redoes the Coinmaster frame but does not add the new shops yet. It uses the same kind of selection as the Item Manager. I have the following categories:
Alway Available: the Bounty Hunter Hunter - and eventually Mr. Store.
Ascension: the Dimemaster and the Quartersmaster
Aftercore: Big Brother
Item of the Month: Arcade Ticket Counter, Game Shoppe, Game Shoppe Snacks - and eventual Elvish Paradise shops
Special Events: A. W. O. L. Quartermaster
Removed: Altar of Bones, Crimbo Cartel, CRIMBCO Gift Shop
I should probably, well, Remove the "Removed" category, but I added it because I could; all the old panels were still there.
Feedback welcome.
Alway Available: the Bounty Hunter Hunter - and eventually Mr. Store.
Ascension: the Dimemaster and the Quartersmaster
Aftercore: Big Brother
Item of the Month: Arcade Ticket Counter, Game Shoppe, Game Shoppe Snacks - and eventual Elvish Paradise shops
Special Events: A. W. O. L. Quartermaster
Removed: Altar of Bones, Crimbo Cartel, CRIMBCO Gift Shop
I should probably, well, Remove the "Removed" category, but I added it because I could; all the old panels were still there.
Feedback welcome.
Revision 9450 adds the 3 Isotope Masters: the Isotope Smithery, the Dollhawker, and the Lunar Lunch-o-Mat. I've only tested the last of those, so far.
The only thing remaining for this is to make the Food and Booze panels be willing to get things from the Lunar Lunch-o-Mat. Of course, we need consumption data for those things in fullness.txt and inebriety.txt before we'll consider the items to be food or booze.
The only thing remaining for this is to make the Food and Booze panels be willing to get things from the Lunar Lunch-o-Mat. Of course, we need consumption data for those things in fullness.txt and inebriety.txt before we'll consider the items to be food or booze.
Revision 9456 will now list the items in the Lunch-o-Mat as being acquirable if you have isotopes and are either Transpondent or have a transponder. In such a case, they will show up in the Booze and Food panels of the Item Manager.
We do not currently USE a transponder to get the effect if you ask to get the item and are not Transpondent. Considering that the price of the transponders has plummeted, we should do that, and I expect I'll make it so, by and by.
We do not currently USE a transponder to get the effect if you ask to get the item and are not Transpondent. Considering that the price of the transponders has plummeted, we should do that, and I expect I'll make it so, by and by.