For example, if a cool sword costs 1,000 gold, the player might grind to save that up or think that costs too much and ignore it. By making the currency exchanged for a given item rarer, or available only at a certain point in the game, the designer can disguise the true cost of the object. This system can also provide a balancing function to the game by allowing additional control over what the player has access to. It's an effective way to add flavor and color to a market system, as the metaphor of turning raw goods into products can be richer than that of purchasing products with money. Because it leverages existing systems, it also makes it easy to implement, and sometimes even employs the exact same interface that shopping with "money" uses. The inputs and outputs of the system are clear and unambiguous, so the system requires little or no explanation. Advantagesĭue to its simplicity, this type of crafting is immediately familiar and easy to grasp. This is generally indistinguishable from an in-game market system, but instead of using a money themed resource like gold coins, we're using a raw material themed resource, like iron bars, oak logs, or wolf pelts. The so-called crafting here is abstract: you hand over some units of wood to a craftsman or workbench, and they hand you back a wooden shield. Here, the player pays for a desired item or upgrade, with resources that they've collected, in a fixed and transparent exchange. This is the most common way games feature crafting, but it's actually only "crafting" in a conceptual sense. Type 1: "Money by Another Name" Crafting in Dungeons of Dredmor.Īs Seen In: Dragon Age: Origins, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Blacksmithing), The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Assassin's Creed III, Terraria, Dungeons of Dredmor, Kingdom of Loathing, Bioshock, and many more. In this article, I categorize these systems into five approaches, and highlight what works best about each and how they are best used. Though widely used, there is substantial variation in the appearance and implementation of crafting systems. There's something thematically appealing about transforming base resources into useful goods, and players enjoy the strategy and choice that customization can enable. It's now not only used in nearly every RPG, but also in first-person-shooters, action games, driving simulators, and even Steam's user profile badge system. Besides video games, Birlew also enjoys Japanese films and dining with his family and friends in the restaurants and clubs of Las Vegas.Crafting has expanded from an rarely-seen mechanic in role-playing games to a nearly ubiquitous inclusion in all modern titles. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. He now resides in Las Vegas with his wife of seventeen years. Louis, Missouri, and has lived in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California. Birlew says of his passion for games, “I love exploring video games, the industry, the culture, the fans - and there is so much of it about which I can analyze and write.” He also bears a strong desire to publish fiction, and is currently working on a novel concerning the paranormal.ĭan Birlew is a native of St. Birlew says, “It was as though I had won the lottery.”īirlew has authored over sixty published video game strategy guides and seeks other methods of publication, such as review columns, articles, and other non-fiction video game-related books. Based on the merits of his very first submission, he was hired by a major publisher within 24 hours. He sent writing samples to several publishing companies. Upon receiving an overwhelming number of positive responses from other Silent Hill fans, and after some gentle nudging from his wife, Birlew decided to set aside his acting and directing activities to establish a career as a video game strategy guide author. “The game’s story was somewhat vague, and demanded that someone try to explain it,” says Birlew. Dan inadvertently created an online persona for himself when he wrote and self-published on the Internet a plot analysis of the highly popular survival horror video game, Silent Hill.
He enjoyed publishing online documents regarding games, known as “FAQs”. Video games always excited Dan since he was seven years old, but at the age of twenty-six he began honing his playing skills with the goal of becoming an expert gamer. His original career goals included acting and directing. Dan Birlew is an author and video game expert who has been writing official, published video game strategy guides since 1999.
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