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Aquaria => General => Topic started by: Wintermancer on December 21, 2007, 09:24:54 am

Title: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Wintermancer on December 21, 2007, 09:24:54 am
I think it would be helpful if the recipe cookbook would show the function of each of the recipes beside the entry.  This would save from having to keep my own written list, especially when I've used up all of a certain type and don't have examples to decide what to make more of.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Hiro on December 21, 2007, 11:22:15 am
To save space I think it should show you the effect of recipies when you hover over them.

I support.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Xaith on December 21, 2007, 04:14:51 pm
I support this idea (with mouse-over).
I missed this when I was in boss fights and didn't know which recipe has which effect.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Passive Fist on December 22, 2007, 12:51:44 am
It's not my way to write a /signed post, but that's basically what this is. Having a tooltip pop out when you mouse over any item in your cookbook would be awesomesauce.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Sirensongstress on December 22, 2007, 06:57:23 am
I also have thought this would be a great addition to the game's menu system; would also like a description of what the marks are for the songs, foods/ingredients, pets, and treasures are.  For a long time I didn't know what the treasure menu was supposed to be for.  Would also love to see the list of foods in the recipe book in a certain order, like their function, or their type (loaf, cake, soup, roll, etc.).  Also being able to rearrange the item list would be awesome (for the food list anyway, the others don't really need it).

I've also wondered about editing the map system so that the maps were color coded completely instead of just the jewel markers.... since some areas have more than one map.  Also, the names of the places would help as well.   Being able to choose where you want to go when you ride an Ancient Turtle would be a great addition, too ;).  Sometimes I want to go to a certain place, and I just keep riding them until I get there, but since my computer is a bit older, sometimes that takes a couple of minutes.

Happy playing :D
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: wwarnick on December 22, 2007, 09:40:31 am
Agreed.  I hardly ever cooked because I didn't know what anything did and I didn't want to risk wasting my ingredients on something I don't need.  Fortunately I was able to play most of the game without cooking.  More of a challenge.

I think the world map can be improved by allowing the player to toggle which depth he is looking at.  Often I would want to look at a particular map, but it would be all but overwhelmed by another map of another depth on top of it.

Despite any complaints I might have, this was one of the most memorable games I've played in a long time.

wwarnick
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: smjjames on December 22, 2007, 07:42:51 pm
I think Alec said he was going to try and put it in the next patch, but anyways, he definetly knows about this and also thinks it's a cool idea.

Anyways, I completely agree here, it would make finding what you want/need easier.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Danger Mouse on January 05, 2008, 10:26:07 pm
Definitely a much needed update.

I support this too, definitely would end some frustration. :)
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: EmperorNick on January 06, 2008, 05:38:17 am
Pretty cool idea (with mouseover). Support'd! (Perhaps as a mod?)
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: megablake on January 08, 2008, 04:15:22 am
I don't really think it's needed to show the effects of food with a mousehover, I mean you could still browse your food menu and look up effects while recipes were open.  But I would really have liked some way to click on recipes make them auto cook, or place the ingredients (if you have them) into the cooking circles.  Also nice would be some way to organize foodstuffs.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Glamador on January 08, 2008, 07:51:36 am
Well, you can't really have auto-cook recipes b/c there are ALOT of them that just say "any oil" or "any meat" or something like that.  I suppose it would have been nice to have to just click on ingredients to place them in the circles though, instead of dragging them.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Ratatat on January 10, 2008, 10:04:32 pm
I'd like an option where you could select the quantity of the food you want to cook, instead of making the same food one by one.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Alphasoldier on January 10, 2008, 11:45:02 pm
Or how about just clicking the recipes, opening up a tab, see how many ingredients you need for it and click the create button, so that is made with the ingredients you have, also have to choose what ingredient you use as oil or veggie or something. But I think most of that is still not worked on, so put up a pretty face for Alec to see if he will make that. xD
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Glamador on January 11, 2008, 04:32:09 am
These suggestions are born of pure laziness and I don't think that the devs put too much thought into how much people would dislike having to drag ingredients...I mean really, that's quite a bit of extra coding to implement some of the stuff you people are suggesting, not to mention some UI changes if you're going to add quantities and such...that's a big hassle.  The most I think we can hope for in regards to "more efficient cooking" would be something in Aquaria 2.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Alec on January 11, 2008, 09:22:21 am
Actually Derek suggested adding food descriptions in the recipe menu and an auto cook feature. We were also talking about a food sort button.

In the end, all of that would have taken too much time, but I was also against the auto-cook feature on the principle that it seemed to make cooking to automated and thoughtless. It also would be a complicated thing to implement. (would it let you cook a crappy recipe with a really powerful ingredient? etc)

I think recipe descriptions in the recipe menu are something I'd add in a patch.

Food sorting in the main food menu may also be possible.

I still don't like the idea of an auto-cook feature.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Alphasoldier on January 11, 2008, 01:27:35 pm
Naw, Auto-cook is still something that's AND too complicated AND too simple, which ain't fun.
Food sorting would be absolutely awesome, Seeing I'm always searching for what I want to eat.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: RobertWalker on January 11, 2008, 06:10:06 pm
Just for my two cents, I always thought it was strange that the raw ingredients and completed food items weren't separated. I suppose the reasoning would be that more advanced recipes typically involve combining one or two raw ingredients with an already completed food item, and there is that oddball Swordfish Steak.

The other thing I thought would be kind of cool is allowing you to combine two recipes if you have three cooking slots available. Let me explain using letters in place of ingredients to avoid spoilers. Let's say you want to make food item D, and the "recipe path" is to first cook ingredients A and B, then take the result and cook it with C to get D. In other words:

(A + B) + C = D

What I'm suggesting is that the game should, if you have three slots available, allow you to do this:

A + B + C = D

...thereby allowing you to produce D with one cook instead of two.

The only problem there is that there could be some instances where that would be ambiguous. In this case, A + B + C means (A + B) + C, but it could also mean A + (B + C) or (A + C) + B. It may be all the same in math, but I don't know if there are any recipes in Aquaria that conflict in this way.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Glamador on January 11, 2008, 06:50:42 pm
Well, I often wanted something along those lines as well.  But you make a valid point.  I think I'll check and see if there are those kinds of conflicts.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Alphasoldier on January 11, 2008, 10:01:47 pm
Actually, I think the only reason is is that there will be more recipe entries, which are pretty much useless, which would ALSO mean, if you get the legendary cake, that you would also know the recipe of every ingredient below that, so I don't find it usefull at all.
But that's just my opinion.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Hiro on January 11, 2008, 11:43:50 pm
Auto cook....kind kills it. But seeing what stuff does if you look in the recipe book is pretty good. One could argue that if you really cared you could just remember (thats what I did!) but meh.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Alec on January 12, 2008, 01:24:55 am
The other thing I thought would be kind of cool is allowing you to combine two recipes if you have three cooking slots available. Let me explain using letters in place of ingredients to avoid spoilers. Let's say you want to make food item D, and the "recipe path" is to first cook ingredients A and B, then take the result and cook it with C to get D. In other words:

(A + B) + C = D

What I'm suggesting is that the game should, if you have three slots available, allow you to do this:

A + B + C = D

...thereby allowing you to produce D with one cook instead of two.

The only problem there is that there could be some instances where that would be ambiguous. In this case, A + B + C means (A + B) + C, but it could also mean A + (B + C) or (A + C) + B. It may be all the same in math, but I don't know if there are any recipes in Aquaria that conflict in this way.

Yeah, I tried adding that at one point, and it quickly got too complicated for its own good.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Sirensongstress on December 10, 2008, 07:42:11 pm
I don't like the (A + B) + C thing... sometimes you have to cook things in different ways and then add them together.  Would you want to make a steak that has carmelized onions on it and yet just throw them together and cook them all at once?  Some things would be burned, some things wouldn't be done, etc. in situations like this.  Like... if you're making a soup, sometimes you put some of the veggies in last, so they don't get turned into nasty mush while your meat is all nice and juicy and tender after cooking for like... 3 hours.  Also there's always the fact that some foods aren't safe to eat until cooked a certain way, or prepared a certain way (like Fugu (blowfish) must be cut a certain way to avoid toxic parts of the fish, or you could die).  Also what was already said.  I do still like knowing what things are for when I'm looking in the recipe book, but most of the time (now anyway) I just remember.  Probably because I've played through like three times now, and explored quite a bit as well.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Danger Mouse on December 10, 2008, 10:45:54 pm
Ooo Nice Gravedig. ;) Was an interesting read. Thanx
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Chibi on December 11, 2008, 12:34:33 am
Man the last time this happened ... was around the time I joined ... maybe they come in waves? awkward I don't mind this series though: I've never seen this thread, and it's pretty interesting.  :)
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Sirensongstress on December 11, 2008, 02:19:53 am
Well, I've been looking at responses to threads I've posted in - it just happens I don't get to come around too often (I'm currently procrastinating on doing final papers and projects, etc >.>)... so I love to answer on these anyway, even if they're sorta dead/dying.

Besides, some of these are really nice threads ;)  I know the new version is out/being beta tested, but that doesn't mean I can't still speculate, hehe.

Anyways, happy playing, and off to do projects for me!
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Tolkienfanatic on January 19, 2009, 06:10:16 pm
Just to throw in my extremely late two cents here, I think an auto-cook function would be awesome.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Titch on January 21, 2009, 12:47:17 pm
I've been thinking, instead of an auto-cook feature. How about a once more/all at once button. So if you cook something, when you click 'once more' as long as you have the same set of ingredients Naija automatically cooks another of the same thing, you can keep clicking it to repeat as long as you have all the stuff you put in the first recipe. 'All at once' is similar, but creates the maximum possible/allowed with the ingredients you used. You would have to throw in a warning for '?' recipes, it would suck using the all at once button and accidentally use a bunch of ingredients to make 8 sea loaves. It would save time and wouldn't take away from the magic of cooking.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Xiagan on January 21, 2009, 06:34:11 pm
I like this idea. :)
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Chibi on January 21, 2009, 09:58:17 pm
Yes, it seems like a fairly foolproof solution to RobertWalker's point.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Tolkienfanatic on January 22, 2009, 10:04:23 pm
I like the idea, Titch, but I do not see how it is all that different from going to your recipe list and being able to make whatever you want simply by clicking on the entries (providing you have the proper ingredients, of course).
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Titch on January 22, 2009, 11:10:26 pm
It's different because it clears up the ambiguity of what ingredients are going into the recipe if its "Any Oil" or "Any Egg" or what have you. If the player just clicks the icon in the recipe book the game has to use it's discretion if to use Small Eggs or Rhuk Eggs, Fish Oil or Jelly Oil. Using what I suggested the player has proscribed the exact method they want to use to make the final product. So there is no risk of accidentally burning a rare ingredient making a sea cake; and there isn't any ambiguity over which oil IN PARTICULAR gets used. Gamers hate seemingly random exceptions to rules.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: silverflagon on January 23, 2009, 12:06:01 am
Nothing wasted if you keep your sea loaf quote full though ;)
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: silverflagon on January 23, 2009, 12:07:50 am
I've been thinking, instead of an auto-cook feature. How about a once more/all at once button. So if you cook something, when you click 'once more' as long as you have the same set of ingredients Naija automatically cooks another of the same thing, you can keep clicking it to repeat as long as you have all the stuff you put in the first recipe. 'All at once' is similar, but creates the maximum possible/allowed with the ingredients you used. You would have to throw in a warning for '?' recipes, it would suck using the all at once button and accidentally use a bunch of ingredients to make 8 sea loaves. It would save time and wouldn't take away from the magic of cooking.
I prefer to have a choice about what is cooked though, so would your idea cover that Titch?
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: delve on January 23, 2009, 01:38:24 am
I presume you're still free to cook the old fashioned way. Me? I'd be using the 'one more of those please' button.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Tolkienfanatic on January 23, 2009, 03:47:57 am
Ah, good point, Twitch, I had not taken into account that some recipes can use multiple ingredients.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: silverflagon on January 23, 2009, 10:41:09 pm
Ah, good point, Twitch, I had not taken into account that some recipes can use multiple ingredients.
cough! I think that you mean 'Titch' TF lol

By the way I am also a Tolkien fan though it did take me three tries to get into the first book :o And interesting fact, Tolkien loved the UK's Staffordshire countryside and based the Hobbits home on the Countryside around there, and I live 5 miles from the Staffordshire boarder (a useless fact added onto the other fact) lol
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Chibi on January 23, 2009, 11:21:51 pm
Another fairly useless tidbit  - I read the complete series in the 1012 page single-book version in about half a week.  :) Overdosing on Tolkien lol
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Nava on January 24, 2009, 01:58:15 am
Mmmm, I want to read LoTR and the Hobbit again... it's been too long.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: silverflagon on January 24, 2009, 08:09:22 pm
Another fairly useless tidbit  - I read the complete series in the 1012 page single-book version in about half a week.  :) Overdosing on Tolkien lol
Damn that is overdosing on reading, how the heck did you find the time to sleep and take in the story fully :o
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Chibi on January 25, 2009, 02:42:48 am
By reading all the time - I read in the car, while eating breakfast, and in the evening. I'm a fairly fast reader (about half a minute per page).  :)
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Xiagan on January 25, 2009, 10:42:01 am
Fast reading ftw! I once read an 800 pages book in one day - but that really was crazy and it was in the holidays, so I wasn't distracted by anything.
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: silverflagon on January 25, 2009, 03:02:32 pm
I was a fast reader at one time, finishing an average sized book in one day was nothing but somehow I just can't class Tolkien as a fast read? I was reading before I started school and I was so adicted to it that I would read the cerial packets over and over while eating (Books were not allowed at the dinning table!)

I have found that I still can't just sit and eat even now.. ::)

Damn have we deviated or what lol
Title: Re: Recipe list should show the function of the individual recipes
Post by: Tolkienfanatic on January 26, 2009, 12:10:06 am
I've read LoTR in a week as well and re-read it annually.  I also have a massive collection of Tolkien literature, perhaps I'll post a thread on it someday...

But anyway back to the topic at hand, I was thinking that if there was a way to prioritize what ingredients would be used over others in an Auto-Cook feature then that would remove the problem that Titch referred to.  For example, if you are making Hot Soup, you would obviously want to use Fish Oil before you use Eel Oil or Jelly Oil.

Of course, the "Cook Again" idea that Titch had is also a good one :)