The Game: A 3D isometric SF RPG The Problem: Trying to make trade as interesting as combat The Details: Trading in games is normally static. You see a fixed price, you buy / sell. What about a dynamic, real-time system? You dock. You get a list of trade goods that changes on about 5 to 15 second intervals as new ships dock. The new ships change the supply available, and thus the price. As a buyer, you enter your price and quantity. You can wait for the trade computer to automatically buy at your price, re-enter your bid, or choose to buy at the current price. You want to be among the first to buy or sell something. Example: Changing screen, buy at any time Stercasium Ore sells at 150 credits/ton. There''s 500 tons available. 15 seconds pass... Two new ships arrive. They buy up 200 tons. Stercasium is now 190 c/t with 300 tons available. 15 seconds pass... A huge seller arrives. Stercasium goes to 800 tons at 100 c/t. 15 seconds pass... But a huge buyer arrives. Stercasium goes to 50 tons, at 400 c/t. ... something like that. -- The problem I have with this idea is that it''s not very interactive. You set a price, and wait, occassionally choosing to buy or sell if it looks like prices aren''t going your way. -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

sounds like a fun idea, theres a game for the snes (can''t remeber it''s name) that basicly is a RPG where you are a travelling sales man.. really really fun. And well your idea sounds like a stock sim kinda..

sounds like a fun idea, theres a game for the snes (can''t remeber it''s name) that basicly is a RPG where you are a travelling sales man.. really really fun. And well your idea sounds like a stock sim kinda..

My suggestion would be to make trading more like an auction! Imagine: Bids come in every few seconds and the player has to decide whether to go higher or let others get the stuff...

This could be an interesting feature, don''t you think? The player is under time-pressure, because if no-one bids the item (material etc.) will be sold!

Just my suggestion... :-)

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www.BadEntertainment.net

My suggestion would be to make trading more like an auction! Imagine: Bids come in every few seconds and the player has to decide whether to go higher or let others get the stuff...

This could be an interesting feature, don''t you think? The player is under time-pressure, because if no-one bids the item (material etc.) will be sold!

Just my suggestion... :-)

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www.BadEntertainment.net

I think that it sound more realistic if the spaceports are ''informed'' about new arrivals of trading goods... so, what if they were permanent routes between the source of the goods and different spaceports? So the player could try to block the route of a freighter, so that the spaceport will buy the goods transported by the destroyed ship for a higher price...

Your idea could be implemented too... but just if they are some traders like you controlled by the computer: They''ll arrive less often at the spaceports.

Thinking is already a material process

Middlemen are willing to take the risk in hopes of making money. Basically a commodities market where traders buy and sell futures in speculation of rising or dropping prices.

As a seller of goods, you should be able to buy an ''option'' to lock a sell price. It works like this: You are due to arrive at Epsilon IV in 40 days with a load of Stercasium. The price is good now, but you anticipate a saturated market by the time you arrive. So you buy a 2 month put option giving you the right to sell your ''lot'' at the price of 100 credits a ton. The option will expire worthless in 2 months. Assuming you arrive within 2 months to sell your ''lot'', you may exercise your option. If the market price is less than what your option grants you, you use the option and lock in your price. If the market price is better, just sell at the market price.

Where do the options come from? Speculators and dealers like you. Let''s say you''ve got a load of Stercasium again. You can write (sell) an option giving someone else the right to purchase the Stercasium from you at a specified price. If the price of Stercasium goes up, you must sell at the price you offered if the option you sold is exercised. If the price of Stercasium goes down, the option won''t be exercised. Either way, you pocket the premium which you sold the option for.

Any sophisticated market will have options which are decaying in value as they approach the expiration date. Need to know the mathematical details? I''ve traded options and I can help you some more.

quote: Original post by bishop_pass

Any sophisticated market will have options which are decaying in value as they approach the expiration date. Need to know the mathematical details? I''ve traded options and I can help you some more.

Thx! I''d love to hear more about this!

I had thought there should be a notion of a "Trade Pact" that guaranteed profit if a time pressure was met. This sounds similar. I was mainly thinking the player should be able to try to meet some deadline, like shipping a certain quanity by a certain time (thus emphasizing the Navigation gameplay).

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Just waiting for the mothership...

An option for a given commodity or security has a strike price and an expiration date. Here on earth the expiration date is the third Friday of every month.

Examples work best:
commodity X is trading at 100.
Let's say it is January 1st.
Let's say options expire on the 20th of every month.

There can be several options for X. Let's look at the January options.

January Calls for X: Expiration is Jan 20th.
------------------------------------------------

Strike Option Price
------ ------------
80---- 20.5
85---- 16
90---- 12
95---- 13
100--- 10
105--- 6
110--- 3
115--- 1.5

If you buy one of the above calls, you are buying the right to purchase X at the strike price by the 20th of January. The strike is the price that you are locking in on X. The option price is the price you pay for the option.

The intrinsic value is = to MAX (0, price of X minus the strike). In other words, the 95 call has an intrinsic value of 5. The options with a strike above the price of X have no intrinsic value.

The premium of an option is calculated like this:
prem = option price - intrinsic value.

"In the money" options are options with a strike below the price of X.

"At the money" options are options with a strike equal to the price of X.

"Out of the money" options are options with a strike above the price of X.

The following rules can help you build a pricing model for options. It's really not that complex once you understand the concept and terminology.

1) You can always count on "In the money" options to be priced at least equal to their intrinsic value.
2) An "In the money" option closer to "At the money" will almost always have a greater premium than deeper "In the money options.
3) As an option gets further "Out of the money" it's premium will be less.
4) The premium of an option will decay as it approaches the expiration date.
5) On expiration date, options will generally be equal to their intrinsic value.
6) The premiums of options generally rise and fall with regard to the volatility of the underlying security.
7) Options with expiration dates further out will have greater premiums than options with expiration dates closer to now.

Options are traded like other securities. In other words, there is a market or exchange for them. More heavily traded commodities have a greater market of options traded for them.



Edited by - bishop_pass on December 19, 2000 9:10:05 PM

Edited by - bishop_pass on December 19, 2000 9:53:21 PM

quote: Original post by Wavinator

I had thought there should be a notion of a "Trade Pact" that guaranteed profit if a time pressure was met. This sounds similar. I was mainly thinking the player should be able to try to meet some deadline, like shipping a certain quanity by a certain time (thus emphasizing the Navigation gameplay).

This sounds more like a situation of being commissioned to haul freight. In this case, you are not the seller, but merely the cargo service. In this case, the player should charge more for a rush service. If the deadline is not made, the recipient might refuse payment or demand a lower fee.

The options I described above help the player avoid the volatility of the market, or gamble on it if he wishes to do so.

Another instrument is what is known as futures. I havn't traded futures, and everytime I try explaining them, I screw it up, although I understand them in my head. A market with options and futures would be pretty cool and give the player a number of strategies to pursue as he does trade.




Edited by - bishop_pass on December 19, 2000 9:31:12 PM