inventory panels / npcs
brief thoughts on the inventory system that could lead to better days and i know this is 2 topics but they came at the same time
if you could write 2 new inventory scripts...
1 write new or modify the "bin"s you have now and refining the way your inventory is you could tag bins in the tribe area with a "storage variable" and create a new panel for "storage" the storage panel could easily read like the trade totem but sum up everything you have in a safe "storage" on tribe lands. also using the same storage panel framework make a "tribe storage" panel so you can share the materials with more ease.
2 the next one would be to make the crafting panels link with the "Storage" panels so you can fill the crafting panel material slots from them.
... you could easliy promote larger tribes.
having the abilty to create an npc that can do a one of a few pre set tasks would be neat and would give the players something to do. the set tasks would be
1 offer a quest. the same quest style could be used as the quest totem, however, the quests now are a bit difficult to set up maybe look at making the set up eaier explained or have preset item lists or take off the quality check, unsure .
2 be a vendor. could use the trade totem framework for this.
3 be a post office. grants the ability to send and recieve mail within a set radius.
granted these would change the game drasticly. invisioned as a Typical player the avatar would be placed in an area and left them to preform the task. i would allow placement to be anywhere in the would but each npc created would have an upkeep to be paid each in game week with the updated inventory system you can link this upkeep to auto deduct the materialsfrom the tribe storage. if the upkeep is not met destroy the npc. the post office would be a very good "gold dump" for the game. give each post office a radius = a max tribe lands as long as the radius are touching you can mail letters and items across the distance paying a fee of course can be set by the player in dollar of x per pound or some such thing.vendors would allow you to mirror your trade totems of tribe lands just like the two to make it simple. or you could have a full items list panel for vendors and have options for how many items of what type you are willing to buy and add in the dollor amount your willing to pay for them for upkeep and every week give the option to buy those items since the cash it there to pay for them if not destroy vendor. thinking on that the vendor would need thier own "storage" for ease id make a list panel rather that use the bin system.
giving the players a small area to build a shop for these npc would seem normal to me. a small 8m x 8m x 10m area would be more than enough. now that im rambling good :) linking the tribe land size to an upkeep that you can pick the radius and pay the upkeep to have would be awesome for solo players and give us a change to create larger areas or encompass both the player size and an upkeep for the lack of tribe size if the tribe leader wishes to pay for it. just thoughts