Devlog #4. Reputation
It’s about time we talk about the shop's reputation, one of the important mechanics in Potion Craft.
[h2]What is reputation?[/h2]
You’ve probably noticed this meter in the top part of your inventory:
This is your shop's reputation meter. It basically shows how much love (or hate) you get from your fellow townsfolk. The higher the reputation, the better: your potion's base price goes up, customers are more patient and willing to haggle with you. Should your reputation go down too much, you'll start gradually losing said benefits. Moreover, if your reputation hits 0 by the end of the day, it's game over, no more customers or traders for you!
So, how do you build up your shop's reputation? By completing orders, of course! But be careful: not all visitors intend to use your potions for good. And if someone uses your "rat poison" to get rid of their husband or wife, the townspeople will surely find out who helped them (spoiler: the only alchemist in the town), and you can bet they won't like it.
Okay, that's the basics. Let's get to the good part!
[h2]3 types of quests[/h2]
There are currently 3 types of quests in game: good, bad and neutral.
[h3]Good quests[/h3]
Let's have a look into how a good quest is set up.
This is the quest editor. You can see the following options available for adjustment:
Desirable Effects determines what kind of potion an NPC with this quest will be willing to buy. In some cases it may be more than 1 suitable effect for the same quest.
Potion Cost Multiplier determines how much gold an NPC with this quest will pay you. 1 means a standard, normal price. The Cost Multiplier is set to 1 for mostly all the good quests in the game.
Reputation Reward Tier N, where N is potion's tier (quality). Depending on how strong the desired effect in your potion is, the reputation reward may vary. For good quests the reputation reward is usually equal to the potion's tier.
Reputation Reward Kick basically means the amount of reputation penalty incurred when refusing to fulfill a quest. When you reject a person with a good quest, your reputation decreases by a certain amount. For good quests the penalty is usually set to -3.
[h3]Bad quests[/h3]
In bad quests reputation reward and penalty are reversed. You lose reputation by completing the quest and gain it by rejecting an NPC with malicious intent. We decided to make the reputation loss from bad quests substantially higher, so the penalty for working with baddies varies from -10 to -30. But, we also set the potion cost multiplier to a whopping 3 to make such deals more tempting to accept (and we feel like it works just fine).
[h3]Neutral quests[/h3]
Neutral quests are just what the name implies: they offer no reputation reward or penalty, so the player is free to handle them as they please. But neutral quests still feature a doubled cost multiplier, so it's still worth the squeeze. Currently, there are only a few NPC with neutral quests. One of them is The Witch.
[h2]How to keep your reputation high[/h2]
To make sure your shop's reputation does not drop to zero, please follow these easy tips:
Read the quests carefully! Don't just skim the text for potion effects needed by the customer. Especially if they ask for some poison.
Always sell your strongest potions! The stronger the potion you sell is, the more reputation you gain. You can worry about if they can handle your potions later *wink*.
If you are running low on gold and have some reputation to spare, it's okay to make a shady deal or two... Just remember to sell a potion of the highest tier possible to make it worth it!
[h2]Stay tuned[/h2]
Follow our Steam Page and make sure to join our Discord so you don't miss other upcoming devlogs!
[h2]What is reputation?[/h2]
You’ve probably noticed this meter in the top part of your inventory:
This is your shop's reputation meter. It basically shows how much love (or hate) you get from your fellow townsfolk. The higher the reputation, the better: your potion's base price goes up, customers are more patient and willing to haggle with you. Should your reputation go down too much, you'll start gradually losing said benefits. Moreover, if your reputation hits 0 by the end of the day, it's game over, no more customers or traders for you!
So, how do you build up your shop's reputation? By completing orders, of course! But be careful: not all visitors intend to use your potions for good. And if someone uses your "rat poison" to get rid of their husband or wife, the townspeople will surely find out who helped them (spoiler: the only alchemist in the town), and you can bet they won't like it.
Okay, that's the basics. Let's get to the good part!
[h2]3 types of quests[/h2]
There are currently 3 types of quests in game: good, bad and neutral.
[h3]Good quests[/h3]
Let's have a look into how a good quest is set up.
This is the quest editor. You can see the following options available for adjustment:
Desirable Effects determines what kind of potion an NPC with this quest will be willing to buy. In some cases it may be more than 1 suitable effect for the same quest.
Potion Cost Multiplier determines how much gold an NPC with this quest will pay you. 1 means a standard, normal price. The Cost Multiplier is set to 1 for mostly all the good quests in the game.
Reputation Reward Tier N, where N is potion's tier (quality). Depending on how strong the desired effect in your potion is, the reputation reward may vary. For good quests the reputation reward is usually equal to the potion's tier.
Reputation Reward Kick basically means the amount of reputation penalty incurred when refusing to fulfill a quest. When you reject a person with a good quest, your reputation decreases by a certain amount. For good quests the penalty is usually set to -3.
[h3]Bad quests[/h3]
In bad quests reputation reward and penalty are reversed. You lose reputation by completing the quest and gain it by rejecting an NPC with malicious intent. We decided to make the reputation loss from bad quests substantially higher, so the penalty for working with baddies varies from -10 to -30. But, we also set the potion cost multiplier to a whopping 3 to make such deals more tempting to accept (and we feel like it works just fine).
[h3]Neutral quests[/h3]
Neutral quests are just what the name implies: they offer no reputation reward or penalty, so the player is free to handle them as they please. But neutral quests still feature a doubled cost multiplier, so it's still worth the squeeze. Currently, there are only a few NPC with neutral quests. One of them is The Witch.
[h2]How to keep your reputation high[/h2]
To make sure your shop's reputation does not drop to zero, please follow these easy tips:
Read the quests carefully! Don't just skim the text for potion effects needed by the customer. Especially if they ask for some poison.
Always sell your strongest potions! The stronger the potion you sell is, the more reputation you gain. You can worry about if they can handle your potions later *wink*.
If you are running low on gold and have some reputation to spare, it's okay to make a shady deal or two... Just remember to sell a potion of the highest tier possible to make it worth it!
[h2]Stay tuned[/h2]
Follow our Steam Page and make sure to join our Discord so you don't miss other upcoming devlogs!