There are a couple of things I'd like to be able to do with ForgePlanner now that I've been messing with it a bit on my dedicated server. I'm going to narrate the experience I'm thinking of and suggesting possible ways to address them so that I can keep the idea straight, but I'm just trying to start the conversation and help with any possible ideas. I think this probably needs to be broken up into smaller capability chunks, but I figure painting the big picture will help that process if you agree with the vision.
As a user, I want to plan which weapons and armor we want to build for our group of four players. We only have bronze equipment at the moment, but we have unlocked iron recipies by smelting a bar and holding it. Two of the players already have a level 1 Iron swords. One guy has a level 1 banded shield.
- I add four iron swords, chest, leg, and helments to the plan. I also add four banded shields. We want everyone to have level 2 for all of these, so I set them all to level 2 on the Plan List.
- I "Record building progress" which shows a Progress Plan list that is a duplicate of the Plan List, with any item with 2+ QTY that can be upgraded shown with a collapsable header with sub-items containing only the level boxes of what is planned. Totem updates are handled through a "check totem" or some other method to keep those updates 1:1 with the other mod rather than diving into manual edits and then handling edge cases, too.
Plan view for Iron Sword Line: Iron Sword - | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Qty: 4
Building Progress for corresponding line:
> Iron Sword - | 2 | Qty: 4
Expands to:
┬ Iron Sword - | 2 | Qty: 4
├ Iron Sword - | **1** | 2 |
├ Iron Sword - | **1** | 2 |
├ Iron Sword - | 1 | 2 |
└ Iron Sword - | 1 | 2 |
When I mark the 1 box, this subtracts the total difference of supplies from the plan list remaining totals. This "finalizes" my starting plan without the crafted items already in existance.
Now I look to see what I already have in components: If it's pulling from all chests, it's possible that not everything around me in chests are "free for use" in this build, do I need to do the following steps to
- I see the listing of what the nearby chests have that could apply. These are shown on the Building Progress list where I can mark the amount of those totals to formally mark as removed from the build plan remaining.
- Once i've marked what I want to take from the store chests around me, I click "Prepare a Project Cart". A cart is created and all of the supplies I marked on the Building Progress are added to the Cart. The cart glows or has some other identifier to tell it apart when I have the corresponding plan active.
- The plan is now tied to this cart; new supplies added to the cart will be reflected in my collected totals each time I open the cart. This way other players can add things to the cart even between my sessions and they automatically get counted in a controlled way. If counted things are removed from the cart, they are added back to the list as needed on the pin in my screen or read out at the bottom.
- I pin the list and all users on the server can decide to pin it as well.
- The list has the offical quantity left based on what is in the project cart, but show in parenthesis what the user has in their current inventory at any given time on the pinned line. Put it in the cart if you want it to be removed from the pinned total needed.
- Optional client setting to hide pinned lines when your inventory total is equal or greater than the needed number, just to keep it QoL.
Error Handling / Complications:
- When on a dedicated server, the plans likely need to be saved on the server itself. What if the author disappears or the character it was tied to disappears? Admins can change ownership?
- What happens when one cart isn't enough? Is it possible / easy to add X carts?
- What happens if a cart gets destroyed? My first expectation would be that whatever link is broken and the quantities now show back on the build list as if you didn't have them.
What do you think?