[Opinions] Different Mining Concept Using Alloys

Hello!

I just need opinions on a game mechanic that I'm designing.

A player would be able to mine ores, which can be smelted down into certain metals. Each type of ore has a percentage to yield certain metals when smelted. This part of the concept is much like EVE Online's mining mechanic, although this game is not in a futuristic setting.

Each metal would have certain properties, Metal A would be light but not very durable, and Metal B would be heavy and durable. The player would be able to combine metals through smelting to form an alloy, which could be used to craft items like weapons and armor.

This idea presents a few obstacles for me, which is why I need opinions! So a few questions,

Is this too complicated?

What would be the best way to name the ores? And if I were to completely make them up, would that further complicate things?

 

Sounds neat to me. I would base the names and properties off real metals as much as possible. This saves you the trouble of making up names, saves your players the trouble of learning made-up names, and generally leverages our common knowledge of the real world to let people get to the fun parts faster.

 

Realistic is probably the best way to go if you don't want to get super creative. And getting creative would mean naming things for properties that have nothing to do with their stats. If you don't like puns or aren't etymologically inclined, it'll be better to stay away.

That's going to dependent on your numbers, both the number of ores and metals and the number of properties that are important to using the metals.

 

Most game players will have no idea how metals are extracted from ores (in real life) or how alloys are formed by metallurgists.. Apart from a few specialist sims I don't know of any games that are even remotely realistic in this area. So be creative and entertaining. Few, if any, will care if it is realistic.

 

Do some Google searches for information about how Dwarf Fortress handles this (and other crafting, actually). The game itself is not something you'd likely want to imitate (or probably even play) but their approach to mining and ores and alloys is pretty extensive and reasonably well documented online.