In a previous post I mentioned two end game professions, breeding and gym leading. There have to be ways to make money when you're a low level character, though. The answer to this need is berry farming. Since berry farming is available to all players of all levels, it's not techinically a profession, and as such functions differently. The key difference between berry farming and other professions is that you don't have to open up a store to retail your goods.
In previous games, berries needed to be planted in "loamy soil". As we all know, the real world is not nearly as restrictive as the Pokémon World -- so you're allowed to plant berry trees wherever you like. From a player's view, you plant a berry, return to water it, and over a given amount of time a tree will grow. Once a tree is grown you have two options, harvesting the berries, or letting the tree die. If the berries are harvested, the tree withers away and another one will need to be planted. If the tree is left to wither away on it's own, it will drop it's berries to the ground. If the conditions are right, new trees will spring up in the vicinity bearing the berries of the recently deceased tree.
The speed of growth, seed spread and prime conditions are all predetermined berry traits. When a berry is planted, the server is queried and the areas conditions are pulled from around the web. Once a tree dies, a few GPS points from around the tree will be chosen and checked for growth conditions. What this means is that in areas with great growing climates, wild crops of berries can be found. Don't worry though -- berry trees won't grow near areas of urban development.
So how do you make money from all of this? It's possible to grow berries right outside your own home that aren't native to your area. All it takes is a little watering and close care. Once you've harvested your crop, you're able to sell your wares through the Pokémon world equivalent of eBay.
The checker would use some pretty advanced code, as there are still parks in 'areas of urban development'.
ReplyDeleteThe checking code is actually pretty simple, it uses a range of GPS coordinates to define the area that the tree needs to grow, and if there are any buildings that fall within that area the tree will have less of a chance of growing. Also, there are trees that will grow easily in urban areas, it's just that some trees are more difficult to grow and require users to take care of them. The main reason you don't want trees growing in urban areas is so the towns remain mostly plant free to clear up on screen clutter.
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