I say that it's just a game and we should probably just relax.

A season in the past would be an interesting challenge. Crafts would be one thing, but there are also books and buildings and geographical changes. Not to mention historical events that couldn't be changed, unless we're talking about an alternative history (which might be fun too).

what about crafts that aren't accessible because the clan isn't playable?
I'm gutted kadius isn't playable. Some of their clan locked crafts are fantastic. I'd spec app if I could play an ex-kadius employee that knew their exclusive crafts.

There are some items that are universal and basic designs, cups, bone swords, etc, that can be hand swiped away, but say the crossbows/arbalest for the hgs, that is a specific type of weapon tech that isn't basic and even in our world took time to develop. Going into the future is less of a problem than going backwards. Also, if we do a significant jump into the future, or past, will we get access to future tech/past materials (metal) and crafting skills for them? It may not be applicable for this first Season, but it's something worth considering. I play crafters, primarily, and it would be cool if staff just listed prohibited/added materials/crafts in a noticeable place before a season started and made it a self-regulating sort of thing.

Based on comments from upper staff, the idea is that maybe they'll do a short season 100 years in the future, or sometime in the past.

Its not going to be linear between seasons, just between chapters WITHIN the season.

Assuming linear time, you don't even need to track a start date, just the IG date the item was added. If the season is before that time, the item doesn't exist yet. If the season is after that time, feasibly the item could exist if only as a relic / rare item in a buried chest somewhere

Quote from: Riev on May 15, 2024, 01:39:40 PMIt could be as simple as making any custom craft have a keyword for the current season. Like how in the past, a master-craft item would be tagged <Riev_2020> or something similar.

If staff could follow that convention, then they could have a list of items that were created in a particular season, to determine if they should be deleted, or kept.

The struggle I see would be if a future season would add those items back in ... is there an easy way to do so?

Another option would be an extra line on the code to automatically note the date-stamp of the first manual save of a crafted item.  So in roll-back seasons, you can just order the game to reject load-up of any item with a date-stamp between [start_date] and [end_date] of a season that took place in the future.

It could be as simple as making any custom craft have a keyword for the current season. Like how in the past, a master-craft item would be tagged <Riev_2020> or something similar.

If staff could follow that convention, then they could have a list of items that were created in a particular season, to determine if they should be deleted, or kept.

The struggle I see would be if a future season would add those items back in ... is there an easy way to do so?

Classclown definitely brings up a good point.  It's not a matter of if/when it's a for sure going to come up issue when changing the time-line between seasons, especially backwards.  I've been rolling the problem around in my head for a while now and I don't think there's any easy way staff are going to be able to keep track of which items were made in which eras?  We've never had a reason to omit or include items before of any kind, either they exist or they no longer exist...

So it will likely come down to the decision of having to delete every PC made item after each season, or.. let them all exist.  I think we're all fans of growth here and it would pain me to see everyone's hard work on their items land in the waste basket, so you know where my vote stands.

One afterthought I'm having now.. I suppose one way to at least 'govern' which items can be crafted from staff side would be to remove certain craft components from the game world during each season?  ie: copper

Edit: Because I don't see the "ask the staff" thread anywhere, did we nix that for some reason?
I wanted to ask the staff which of allllll the custom crafts over the years holds a special place in  their hearts as their #1 tippy top most very favorite?

We haven't moved far enough in time to have crossed that bridge yet. We'll cross that bridge if/when we need to.