Crossfire Forum

I finally remembered an idea I had for a pet shop.

Basically, you can drop gold on an altar for a pet (monster that is friendly and will follow as non-hostile). You could buy a dog, cat or horse (another idea: riding).

hehe, i actually an idea similiar to this a while back, and i think i discussed it with Ketche(it could have been someone else, my memory's bad :/)

but my idea's a bit more complicated.
Creating a new petsystem not replacing the current one
- you'd have to go to a petstore and buy a pet(or maybe tame a monster or something, i'm not sure on how 'getting the pet' should work)
-there'd be a limit to the number of ppets you could have(1 would work)
-when using the command 'killpets, it won't kill this pet.
-the only way to kill the pet would either be A) give it to someone else(maybe have some sort of ownership card in inventory?) B) sell it back to the petshop (again, the owner card, and after the card's given away, the pet walks into it's cell or wherever, but if it's ownership card is just dropped on the ground, it'd just stay in that area until someone picks it up.) C) A monster kills it and permadeath is enabled(if it is not enabled, then you should be able to goto the petshop or maybe even a vet, and your monster will be there so you can pick it back up)

Experience:
-The pet would be able to gain exp the same ways you can(well, from killing monsters, and possibly identifying items(?))
-It'd basicly share exp as if you were in a party with someone
-when you first get the pet, it'd be a puppy(if it's a dog) and the title could change as it levels up
the pet:
-there could be a whole new set of items/weapons/armour made for pets, that can be bought at a petshop. For instance, you could buy a collar which could act as a container and you could put an inscribed scroll inside it with who the pet originaly belongs to, etc. or maybe, you could buy a saddle and be able to ride the pet for an improved speed and faster travel across the world map(i dont know if you'd still be able to attack while riding, realisticly you could, but it could lead to abuse). maybe different armour they can put over their paws/feet/hands to improve attack or something.
-Weapons: a four-legged animal wouldn't really be able to weild a sword or bow or the like. they'd have their fangs and their claws as natural weapons. a dagger could be a possibity(a dog could hold a dagger by the handle and jump to slash somethin, right? ) something would have to be worked out to give pets their own unique weapontypes
-Spells: the pet would be able to learn new spells, but they would have to be 'taught' how to cast a certain spell. So you could A.) Cast a spell often enough and kill lots of monsters, and after a while the pet will learn it from it being done(this may not be the best way to achieve this). B) take your pet to the petshop, or vet, or maybe a pet school. pay a small fee, and place a spell book on an altar, and then a trainer will take your pet into a backroom or something, and give you a ticket and tell you when you should come back to pick it up(anywhere from a few minutes to a few days, depending on the spell and pet's exp and Int). When you come back, if the pet failed to learn the spell for any reason, the shopkeeper/trainer could give you a refund.

Sorry, tthe post was too long for one message. So to anyone who reads All of it, i'm sorry to waste your tiem if you dont like the ideas

AI:
the pet's AI could simply be the same as it is now with a few exceptions like if it's owner card is laying on the ground, it'd stay near it. and it'd follow whoever possess's the card(if you wanted to be really complex, the pet could like it's original owner to the point you no longer needed the card, and if you tried to give it to someone else it'd be reluctant)
-there's plenty of more complex things that i'd like to see in the pet's AI, such as being able to teach it to organize every item in a room into different piles based on some crateria(heh, i need a maid for my apartment most of the time ). Or teach it to keep everything valuable and the rest, either sell or turn into gold and put it somehwere.

Change to shops/apartments/etc:
my first thought was to add an extra place in the apartments for your pet to rest/eat/play/etc. but then i figured alot of places dont allow pets IRL in apartments. So why not have player-owned houses(i heard someone was making some of these, right?). the player could let their pet run around in the house freely(it'd know not to pick everything up in your house hopefully) or make it stay in the backyard, or in a special room, or something. it could also work as a guard(dog) keeping rats or bees or ants from invading your house.

I realize these ideas aren't entirely organized, but i tried to at least make it readable(if it's a bit too long). If anyone else likes these ideas, could you give me some comments on what is good and what's bad about them? I'd be willing to (attempt) to make a patch to incorporate at least some of this, but if someone else wants to, that'd be great as well.

Thanks
-Des

(i'll email this to the mailing list later maybe)

I like your ideas.

Some random comments/suggestions:
* pet should have a max level capped by a fraction of its owner's level. This to prevent the pet being higher level than the player
* also, the pet shouldn't give too much experience to player, wouldn't want to make it too easy to gain levels!
* i like the idea of it learning to sort junk & such, would be _real_ useful lol
* the pet shouldn't be influenced by the 'mood' tiles, else too easy to lose it
* death penalty like player, losing experience. And, to make things harder: the player would have either to do a quest to resurrect his/her pet, or pay some rare items, something like that.
* also, when you die, must decide what happens to your pet: respawns with you (ie teleports), or stays where you died?
* as for learning spells, sounds good

obviously, some here like B&W

All of those ideas ore great; I also had those thoughts but I don't know to program because I am lazy.[/quote]