Building Better Crafting Systems
Video Statistics and Information
Views: 415,119
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: Games, Video Games, Gaming, PC Gaming, Adam, Adam Millard, Architect, AoG, Architect of Games, Review, Analysis, Game Design, guide, FF14, Final Fantasy 14, Crafting, Gathering, Best crafting, Worst Crafting, Fallout, Fallout 4, The Last of Us, The last of us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Minecraft, Mincraft mining, Diamonds, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Valheim, Valheim Smithing, Horizon Zero Dawn, Runescape, Levelling
Id: Nj7EaryBgak
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 18min 23sec (1103 seconds)
Published: Sun Aug 29 2021
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.
With all the points he made about good crafting systems, it feels like he should have propped up the Atelier games for having near-perfect crafting systems, since they hit every good "mechanic" except for the minigame stuff that FFXIV has.
I think one of the most important points discussed in the video is that not all games need a crafting system. Unless it's actually incorporated into the game itself and there's a reason for it being there, you shouldn't have such a system just for the sake of having it.
Animal Crossing was a good example of it just being completely unnecessary and detracting from the laid-back nature of the game.
And then Resident Evil was also given as a good example of how a crafting system actually detracts from the horror aspect of the game by ensuring you always have bullets you can make in your back pocket, so the sense of urgency on your supplies is greatly lessened.
Unless the game is focused around crafting, I'm probably not going to enjoy the crafting and will more than likely ignore it entirely.
If anyone is interested in another video/opinion on crafting systems in games I didn't mind Razbuten's video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np9IGvSAgIM&t=54s
Could be the nostalgia, but Star Wars Galaxies had a crafting(and resource gathering) system back in the day that Iβm surprised never caught on more. It really highlighted the sandbox nature of that game.
TLOU2βs crafting/upgrade system is one of my favorites ever simply because itβs so satisfying to actually go to a workbench and your character physically cleans and upgrades her weapons.
The animations in that game make everything feel fucking awesome
I'm still waiting to see anyone iterate on Minecraft's workbench. IMO it still is the best implementation of crafting in gaming. Just gathering resources and filling number requirements is fine, it's satisfying in that lizard brain way. But actually playing with the materials and physically mixing and arranging them to create things, plus experimenting to find new recipes, that is top tier.
This was a great video!
So many anti-crafting sentiments are expressed as "crafting systems suck!" or "crafting just doesn't belong in games because it's dumb!", but what that really usually boils down to is one of the few following factors:
1) That person isn't actually interested in the collection or crafting aspects of gameplay, no matter how well they're done, and just wants to skip to the "usage" aspect, so is asking for a "crafting" system that lets them pull that slot machine lever and get that reward they want with ease.
2) The collection aspect is done poorly , or the collection aspect in SOME game they played was done poorly, so now they're just concluding that if you have to collect things, the crafting system is already bad.
3) The crafting system is done poorly, or the crafting system in another game was done poorly, so now they're just concluding that if you have to craft things and it's not an instantaneous reading of your mind or skip to the Usage component, it's bad.
4) Piggy-backing on 3 here, the Crafting component has a "stupid minigame." I've made this argument SO many times, but combat is a "stupid minigame." Just, if the combat's good, then it's a good part of the game (if the game makes sense to have a focus on combat), and if it sucks, then it sucks. The fact that you're utilizing a select set of powers/tools to accomplish a goal (the death of a foe, victory in a battle, etc.) is not the problem, or ALL game systems would be bad.
Number 4 is my least favorite, because it leads to circular arguments. "Crafting is so boring! All you do is choose resources and click a button! It's so tedious!" So, you put in an active component that's actually engaging. "OMG, I can't believe you have to actually do the thing every single time! I hate it! Why can't I just quickly craft 1,000 things instantaneously?!" Well, which is it? Do you want to skip the crafting, or do you want to partake in the crafting and have it be fun and engaging?
I really think the biggest problem with crafting gripes is that a lot of people have absolutely zero interest in the idea of crafting, at all, but just want to get cool things. They want to obtain the craftables without paying someone else or waiting on someone else to do it. It's just a cheaper way to buy things. In real life, you could build your own riding lawnmower, but it would be difficult and costly. However, in a video game, it's offered as a relatively easy thing. Go kill X thingies, trade X thingies, etc., and get these 6 components. Then grind up your crafting skill to Y, and now you can craft lots of things. Yay! So people get super upset when it "takes their time."
Recently, experience with a bad crafting system: Control. It actively makes the core gameplay worth. What's cool about Metroidvanias? Finding upgrades, so the people behind Control thought it is a cool idea to get rid of finding cool upgrades and give you meaningless, boring-looking craft loot instead of actual upgrades.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 has a pretty decent crafting system until you get to end game... then the menus/organization gets a little crazy