The Vendor is a simulation game set in a fantasy world created by Galenmereth for the 2014 Indie Game Maker Contest. Your mission as “the vendor” is quite simple: procure the best equipment possible for the heroes to defeat the monster while also turning a profit!

GAMEPLAY

The Vendor is basically broken into TWO phases:

Phase 1: Gather info on the monster, harvest materials, trade-up for the best items/equipment to defeat the monster

Phase 2: Sell the equipment to the heroes and (if they succeed) buy the monster loot off of them to sell and make better equipment for the next encounter

Gathering intel is my favorite part of the game! Each town will have a different barkeep that will give you info on the monster the heroes are facing such as inherit weaknesses. But that’s usually not enough, so you’ll have to talk to the different NPCs in each town to find additional info. You can even find the monster and look up info on it (using your Ad-vendor-ture Almanac of Monsters) to find the best equipment to defeat it. Once you gathered enough intel, it becomes time to harvest materials!



Materials in the game are used for either crafting, trading or selling to shops for gold to buy better items. Many of the materials can be harvested on the world map or in the monster environments like the hills or swamp area. While the mats on the world map are more general, you can find specific items in the hills and swamp; e.g. mystic herb in the hills, shiny skull in the swamp. The locations of the items is randomized each time you enter an area and there’s also a small chance (around 15%) that you might squish an item when you harvest it. This can be frustrating if it it happens repeatedly.

Harvesting materials is definitely the most grindy aspect of the game. Some items can only be found by harvesting (like the Dates that are located in the desert region) while others can be bought at shops or traded for with other materials. Generally you’ll want to save your money to buy equipment.

Once you gather enough materials, you can use them to craft potions and other materials that can be used to make equipment. Once again, you can buy most of these items in a shop BUT they are purposely too expensive to afford. The tricky part is remembering where the different crafting vendors are since they’re scattered throughout the different towns and environments. You’ll often find yourself running from location to location trading up to get the potions or equipment you need.



Potions can be bought but most of the time you’ll create them at the Herbalist Hut which teleports around the world map (even after you exit the hut it will be in a different location oddly enough). Because there are FOUR big GD heroes, you’ll want to gather four of each potions required for the encounter. There are 3 types of health healing potions (Potion, Bigger Potion, Best Potion) and then some more specific ones like the Antidote which heals poison. You’ll spend most of your time in-game gathering materials to make these potions. It should also be noted that a hero can only use each type of potion ONCE in an encounter.

Equipment can sometimes be crafted using materials but is often just bought in shops. You’ll want to tailor the equipment to the monster and to the class. Unless you’re familiar with RPG conventions, this can be difficult to figure out. There is also a bit of overlap for some classes. The Mage for example can use the knife as well as a magic tome, while The Thief can only use the knife. Once you realize this it’s easier to pair up equipment for classes.

All of this work culminates in you opening up a shop near the monster. The heroes will then appear and make your offers for the equipment. You can choose how much to sell each item for or even to deny the hero an item (like if you want to sell the Knife to the Thief instead of the Mage).



This is where the game no longer feels like a “profit” game. The heroes specify how much gold they have which is generally not enough to purchase all the equipment needed for the encounter. You’ll typically find yourself selling at the default price or lower to make certain they have everything they need. Otherwise they might fail the encounter and you’ll have to gather consumables again and possibly better equipment.

The actual encounter is simulated and not shown. If the heroes fail, they’ll give you a clue as to why they failed (weapons not good enough, armor…). At this point, it makes the most sense just to save scum instead of procuring all the potions again since the game allows it.

If the heroes do succeed, you can buy loot off of them. Some of the loot are common items you can buy low and sell to the shop keeps for a profit, but others are rare items you can only get from monster drops. These you have no reference for so the best tactic is to set a low price for the item and keep bumping it up until the hero agrees to the price. Be forewarned, if the hero doesn’t agree to your price after 5 attempts, they won’t sell the item to you!

Once this entire process is complete you go back to town and repeat for the next monster. The formula stays more or less the same for the three monsters in the current game. I would have liked to see a little more variation in gameplay.

STORY

It's pretty clear from the start that the Vendor doesn't have big storytelling ambitions. The writing is full of puns and referential humor which might not appeal everyone. That said, the game does a great job at world building and has lots of interesting NPCs that aid you in your quest for monies.

At the start of the game you select the gender of your vendor. You can choose male, female or other...



and your name. After that, there is very little introduction. Your dad delivers the setup for the game and then you’re free to roam around and explore the world.

There are typically two locations of interest in a town: the Pub and the Shop. The Pub is where you gather most of your intel on the monster but you can also find some NPCs that will craft items for you. NPCs in pubs are typically drunk off “Cactus Juice” and will be dancing around or passed out on a table. The helpful ones will give you info on the monster and can be revisited for each encounter. Some are specialists too and will only have intel on certain monsters. Exploring the towns and interacting with these NPCs was as I stated earlier in the review my favorite part.



Make sure to interact with every NPC after an encounter as most of them will have new things to say. You can even talk to everyone again after defeating the final monster which was a nice bonus.

AESTHETICS

As any RM veteran can tell from the screens, The Vendor relies heavily on the RTP graphics as well as stock music and sound. I don’t consider this a negative though, as the maps are excellently designed. Interiors, like the pubs, make good use of lighting as well but if you're sensitive to filters it might be a turn-off.

CONCLUSION

The Vendor might not appeal to every RPG fan on this site. It requires the player retain a lot of information. You’ll definitely want a notepad or text editor open to keep track of it all! I went so far as to create an excel sheet to keep track of all the different resources in the game. In general, I think too much information was withheld from the player making a lot of encounters feel like trial-and-error.

The Vendor tries something new and for the most part succeeds. Galenmereth mentioned in a blog post that he plans on adding randomized quests, a visualized combat summary and more in-depth crafting system with room for experimentation. There are also a few locations that do not open up in the game. I think these additional mechanics and locations should create enough interesting dynamics to keep players invested. As it is though it’s a solid experience and worth checking out.

SCORE: 3.5/5