I'm Ryan, the game director, and today I want to talk about something a lot of you have been asking about since the combat demo launched: how do you repair your items in Never's End?
The combat demo doesn’t currently include a way to repair items, and it’s something we get asked about fairly often. The full game does feature a repair system, but we’re still working on the user experience. It will likely be patched into the demo at some point, but let's dig into how it works in the full game!
Everything degrades with use in Never’s End. That applies to the bodies you possess, as well as your gear. The repair system lets you restore hit points of weapons and armor.
Item degradation helps keep the game from getting stale. It creates opportunities for you to change gear and adapt to each item’s strengths and weaknesses. We want it to be difficult for players to optimize around one specific strategy and stick with it forever. Each fight should present something unique: the terrain shape and materials may change, the enemy composition may change, the weather may change, your crew of warriors may change, and your gear will change.
To master the game, you need a deep understanding of how all these pieces interact. Ideally, just as you start to master one configuration, something changes and creates a new situation to learn.
We currently have two separate repair methods: self repairs and artisan repairs.
Self repairs let you repair your own items whenever you want. This ability can be learned for a small fee very early in the game. It is the most accessible and common way to repair gear, but it comes at a cost.
Each time you repair an item yourself, the item takes a small reduction to its maximum hit points. This limits how many times the same item can be repaired. Eventually, there will come a point where it’s better to buy something new or swap the item out for loot you find along the way.
To perform a self repair, you need repair materials. Any item with a matching material type can be used. For example, if you’re repairing a wooden shield, you can use other wooden shields or even a log, because both are made of wood. If you’re repairing an iron shield, you’ll need to use iron items.
Each repair material you select increases the hit points of the item being repaired. However, if the material item has low hit points, it will only restore a small amount. This makes some materials better for repairs than others. A nearly broken weapon with 2 HP won’t do much. A log with 4 HP will repair more. High-quality lumber with 20 HP will be much more effective.
Artisan repairs are performed by master craftsmen who travel the roads. These artisans unlock as your world progresses and you restore more towns and other centers of industry. For example, if you have a functioning tannery and multiple towns, a leather repairman will begin traveling the roads.
These repair services are harder to rely on because they may not be nearby when you need them. But when you do cross paths with an artisan, it’s worth taking advantage of their services. You don’t need repair materials. Instead, you can pay silver to restore your items back to their maximum hit points without any degradation penalty.
As part of the design for this system, I wanted to separate the methods and locations used for repairing gear from the ones used for purchasing new gear.
If you head into town, stores will sell you new items, but they won’t help you repair old ones. When the same location offers both repairs and new items, it can be confusing for players to determine which option is the better deal. Players often fall back on repairs because sticking with familiar gear feels safer.
By separating repairs from towns, we make it more natural for players to swap to new weapons and actually use stores. In RPGs, shops can easily become irrelevant once players settle into a preferred set of gear. This system helps keep both repairs and new purchases meaningful.
And that wraps up today's look at the repair system.
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Thanks for reading and following along with the development of Never's End.
See you in the next Dev Diary!
- Ryan