Overhaul time! While it is not coming today or tomorrow, I am on spring break. This means that I'll be able to get a considerable amount of work done.
You might be asking: what happened to the adopt overhaul? (sickness, death and "fairy dust") That will require more work on the needs system than I have done right now in order to work the way I want it to, so that update on the site has been put on hiatus. Hang in there!
Here is what I have planned for this current overhaul, which makes use of what I can do currently.
-Energy-
Introducing a new variable on pets: Energy. Training and entering contests will take energy (as well as exploring), and once your pet's energy hits 0 you won't be able to explore or enter contests until the next day. So regardless of whether you've explored that day or not, if you don't have at least 25% energy you won't be able to explore. Use energy wisely!
-NPC contests-
I don't have the knowledge to make live multiplayer contests between players, but it isn't too difficult to make NPC opponents to go against in contests. To make use of the unused stats on pets (they are there, but no visible as of right now), whether or not you will be slightly random based on the stats. So if you enter, say, a race then a higher speed stat will increase your likelihood of winning, but it will never be 100% guaranteed. Finally there will be another reason to breed pets besides breed-only adopts! This will also make use of the needs system, so low mood or unhealthy pets will not be able to enter contests or train.
Winning a contest will allow you to move on to the next difficulty level. They are structured like so:
- County
- State
- Regional (North, East, South, West)
- National
- International
Each level has the basic ranks: Beginner --> Intermediate --> Pro --> Championship. You must win each rank to move on.
-Residence-
Possibly the most major aspect of this besides contests. Users will be able to choose which part of the world the get to live in. This will affect the adoptables, items, and contests available to you. So sadly you will not be able to get a kangaroo adopt unless you chose Australia or bought it from another user. This in-game world will be divided into counties, cities, regions, and countries. Each will have their own leaderboard, to add incentive to winning contests. Imagine having your pet be the #1 competitor in the world! It replicates the real world, with all the major countries and cities, but counties will be fictional to avoid any issues that could be related to that. I plan to have area-specific explore zones as well.
What if you want to move though? Well you can, though it may be expensive! The farther away your next destination is, the more it will cost to move there. But beware! Moving will make you start from square one on the contest ranks, so it's back to county beginners with you! The bright side is that you keep all of your winning trophies. Maybe you can strive to get all the trophies from all over the world!
-Player Shops-
Since users will only be able to buy pets available to them in their region (besides the starters, which will be available everywhere), users will be able to sell their pets to other users by setting up a shop. Want a pet but you can't get it where you live? Buy one from a user who has it! Or get lucky and find one in the pound (which is universal), your choice. Each user shop will be able to have a custom description, prices, residence tax (you get to choose if non-local buyers have to pay a higher fee), and shop owner NPC (basically an image). Sell your prized pets!