Developer Journal : Crafting Systems

Crafting Systems

 Along the way in 9Dragons, you will find plenty of items that you can use, and some that you can choose to make into other things. For example, there are plenty of swords in 9Dragons; however, only the greatest of masters have weapons of enchantment that deal extra damage.

In 9Dragons we have four distinct crafting systems in the game: item enhancements, weapon refining, enhancement crafting, and item enchanting.

By the way, there is also an elixir system that can permanently affect your stats - positively or negatively!

The first thing that you should know is that in 9Dragons, your clothes have pockets - that should not be a surprise really! You will get used to using them to put things in - probably lint and chewing gum. Similarly, a lot of items have hooks and loops to which you can attach things. This means, for example, that if you find a special ornament that helps improve a sword's balance, you can attach this to the hook and improve the weapon. It is worth noting, however, that before you buy an item, you cannot see how many hooks and loops it has. This means it is a bit of gamble with every item you buy. You may get lucky and find something with four slots, or you may be unlucky and find that it has none. These things will all enhance the value of the item to other players should you wish to trade them.

Now that you have something that can be enhanced, you need to have something to enhance it with! Some enhancing items can be bought from the shops, but if you want the good stuff, then you have to either find it by hunting, or better still, from competing quests.

When you have an item and something to enhance it with, you then need to get an enhancing tool.

You didn't think you could fix something by just tying it on, did you? Don't worry, a lot of shops sell the tools you need.

The process from here is quite simple. Double click the tool and you get a window. Put your item and the enhancing item into the window. Then just click the combine button, and you have your finished item. This process never fails, unlike some of the other crafting systems. We are currently working on the system for players to make their own enhancing items for their weapons. 

The next thing to talk about is the weapon refining system. Everyone knows that if you have a more powerful weapon, you have a big advantage in combat... I am sure that there is a deep Freudian meaning there! The refining system can create a greatly enhanced weapon for you, but there is a risk that you will destroy the whole thing in the process. How badly do you want your favorite weapon improved? It can happen that in your desire to make it that bit better, you destroy your beloved axe just when it was getting to be awesome! This is what causes the most highly enchanted weapons to be of great value. 

But let's say that you want to give it a go. There is only one place in the game where you can get your weapon enchanted. You need to go to find the master craftsman who can refine your weapon. She - yes, an attractive young lady - will work on all kinds of weapons. She can improve common weapons, precious ones and even masterpiece arms. However, rare artifact weapons cannot be improved because they are already pretty darned powerful. Don't get greedy! 

There are  stages of refining a weapon in the game currently, and each needs special material to accomplish it. These materials can be bought from shops, earned by quests, or found while hunting monsters. The most important refining material is blood essence

When you have your blood essences and your weapon, you need to talk to the master craftsman. She will tell you how much gold she will charge for the work. Often, it will depend on the level of the refinement you are asking for. If you have the right amount of gold and materials, she will gladly do the work for you. However, be warned. Success rates will go down drastically as refining levels go up.

If the refining is successful, the weapon will have more attacking power depending on the level of the refinement. If the refining failed, the weapon will be destroyed... but if you're lucky, you may get some blood essences back.

Different effects are added to enchanted weapons, and different colors symbolize different levels of refinement.

One final note is that in the game, you can find elixirs, which will permanently affect your statistics.  However, a player takes an elixir at his own risk; if he's unlucky, his stat points can be decreased. Higher-level elixirs are really rare, so players who want those have to conquer monster-filled dungeons, which is the only place you will find them. But if a player gets all five levels of strength elixir for example, and takes them successfully, then he could increase his strength points , which makes him one awesome fighter! Just like with refining weapons, this is a high risk, high reward strategy.