Kingmaker - The Art of the Deal

The latest update for Pathfinder: Kingmaker tells us about the vendor interface.

The Art of the Deal - Our Vendor UI

Hi Pathfinders,

Ahh yes, to be an adventurer! Exploring the Stolen Lands, battling hordes of of bandits, trolls and other baddies, fighting for the cause and never forgetting what's most important in life: fat loot! But since you have a finite amount of sword-swinging arms and you can only wear so much armor - what are you going to do with the tons upon tons of extra gear you collect on your travels? The hint is in the title of this update!

Today we're telling you all about how we're designing the interface you'll be using to interact with the merchants of Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

No cRPG is complete without a merchant. Whether you need to replenish your rations, stack up on potions or purchase a rare magical blade, this classic character is always there for you. Of course, the merchant is also more than willing to help you unburden your bags of all the unwanted loot, and will reward you handsomely for your trouble.

It should be noted that when we speak of "merchants", what we mean is not a special kind of NPC, not an honorary title and not even a separate occupation - many characters can be considered merchants simply by virtue of having goods to sell. Thus, when we talk about merchants we mean exactly them, the characters of our game, and they are much more than just a list of items to buy and sell. Whether it's a hermit mage trying to fund his arcane research by selling scrolls and wands or an actual professional merchant from the capital, you will interact with both of them through the vendor interface.

Many ways to implement a trade interface have been developed to this day, and we are no innovators in this area. Drawing on the principles of convenience and immersion, we have decided not to go down the path of invention and to steer clear of exotic solutions. We wanted to make sure that once you saw the vendor interface, you would quickly understand how it works based on your experience with other games. Apart from that we tried to preserve the immersiveness of the Pathfinder universe, which meant we had to stick to certain technical frameworks and develop a vision of the future artistic layout.

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