Traders
Years ago, when I played through Fallout, I used to long for the traders to reflect a more dynamic world. For example, in a standard RPG, the merchant has a standard stock of items - some of which replenish and others don’t - plus the items or cash that you’ve given to them as part of a transaction. If you leave for a quest and return a while later, you can rely on the shopkeeper having that same inventory.
And I found that a tad jarring. Why hadn’t the trader conducted any other business while I was gone? Wouldn’t it be cool if the rare weapon I sold him was now being wielded by the town sheriff? Or maybe the trader has purchased another rare item from some wanderer who passed through town while I was gone - which means I can now buy it.
We’ve been trying to implement a system like that in The Wanderer, but to be honest, we’re failing to achieve a satisfactory player experience. Turns out, it’s actually annoying if a trader changes his inventory all the time, and runs contrary to a feeling of player progression. As a player, if I see a cool new weapon in the trader’s inventory, but I can’t afford it yet, I figure I’ll save up and come back and purchase it. That’s a nice little goal I’ve created for myself, a self-generated quest. But when I return to the trader waving my cash and demanding the weapon, he explains he sold it yesterday, and that’s very unsatisfactory.
I don’t know what the answer is to this one yet. On face value, it seems like a fixed inventory for traders is necessary for player progression in the game, even though it runs at odds with a feeling of a deep, dynamic, and realistic world.
(Posted by @GrantTheAnt)