Combat Mechanics and Gameplay Discussion

[Slastraf]

I propose that our game will have combat , and in this case I think about the following.

The main character has as his major weapon a ward, which he can fire projectiles with. These don't shoot like a bullet but follow the enemy and hit them. It is fun to look at especially with particles. The player therefore doesn't need to aim perfectly, but just target the enemy. If like 2 of you agree I will start implementing proof of concept

[Rick]

Do you mean wand? You wrote ward. Just clarifying. If you think you can do the "heat seeking" of the magic following a moving target then I don't see anything wrong with that. It allows for future expanding by possibly adding different element types to shoot which could come in handy for puzzles. Ice to freeze things, fire to melt things, etc but getting the core mechanic first would be fine with me. Remember that everything we do isn't set in stone and can be changed or scrapped later if things don't fit.

I like how we can sort of organically shape this game as we go.

[gamecreator]

Sounds good to me too.  We can tweak just how much the bullet turns per frame (use a variable) so it's not too easy either.  I think it's a given that we want some challenge.

[aiaf]

Great,

for future i suggest missiles to have a max range, so enemy could escape by running or hiding after obstacles.

[Thirsty Panther]

Or the strength of the spell decreases the further it travels.

[gamecreator]

Some ideas to flesh out the gameplay a bit more:

Progression can be done via gaining experience, leveling and getting skills.  Experience could be gained by killing monsters and solving puzzles (repeating a level should not count for more experience; see hub/level info below for why).  Enough experience and you level.  Each level gives you a skill point to choose in the skill tree.  Skills help you complete levels.

Skills can be kept simple for the scope of this project (usually involving modifying a variable).  They can be respecced but only at the hub (not sure about any other limitations since this still seems like cheating; perhaps one respec per level?).  Some skill ideas:

+attack
+health
+jump height (or double jump, if we're feeling ambitious)
+seek (attack could be straight at first but adding to seek skill lets it track enemies better; curve faster)
+range (increase the range at which the spell can fire before fizzling out)
Most of these should be very doable.  I double we'll have time but we can do more extravagant spells and such later.

Wizard's Tower world hub is, I think, settled.  Wizard uses this to choose the next island he wants to explore.  Again, for the sake of progression, he shouldn't be able to go everywhere at the start.  The beginning should allow him to go to the introductory island, which should let him get level 2 if he kills all the enemies.  Level 2 should unlock 2 or 3 islands.  Level 4 should unlock more.  Level 7 should unlock more.  Etc.

Island quests should go hand in hand with progressing the player to leveling and unlocking the next set of islands.  How we want to do that is up to us.  I suggest the first level just kill a few easy monsters.  Maybe the next one is a jumping challenge, perhaps with moving platforms.  Maybe another is a puzzle level.  Each achievement rewards in experience.

If I was working on this by myself, this is how I would do this.  The beautiful thing here is that this is all modular.  We don't need to do everything to have a fun game and even if we decide to go this route, I don't expect a lot of it to be implemented.

Thoughts?

[aiaf]

Keeping skils simple is good.

Islands form an archipelago imo we should not restrict movement based on levels .. it cuts the feeling of exploration.

Other mechanic should limit moving from island to island , something regarding portals ?

 

Some ideas i got now:

Maybe to activate a portal you need a certain amount of precious stones or whatever else.

From time to time , the portals open for a small amount of time, you can get stuck on the island if they close, and need precious stone to move.

[aiaf]

Portals

One or more portals per island that link to another portal.

Lets make this fixed , this will actually form the map , but there will be no reason to us drawing the map.

The player will form a mental map by traveling through portals , we should only name the islands

 

What you think about this ?

[gamecreator]

So you mean something like this?

I'm fine with that too as long as if you're at island 8, you don't have to go back to (and load maps) 4 and 2 to get back to 1.  All portals should let you jump back to all levels you've already visited.  There will need to be a portal at the beginning of the level (where you come in) and then ones at the end of the level that take you to the next options.  But the hub world and unlocking levels as you progress works as well.

[aiaf]

Well i was thinking something like this.

Portals are by default closed,  you need some resources you gather on the island to pass through.

Special portal that gets you to the hub and back (diablo 2 style) can be used from anywhere but cost a lot of resources.

 

Events from time to time for short amount of time:

• all portals open
• one island gets isolated no more way out
• archipelago gets isolated from neighborhood ones, cant exit arhipelago
• world wide portal close , you cant even go to hub
• you enter portal and gets teleported to random island

 

May be too much now that i look at the picture ...

but i dont want to finish a level and not go to that island again.

[gamecreator]

I like the idea of needing to revisit islands.  This was part of my skills idea too.  For example, if you get a high/double jump, you can go back to the first island and jump up to a cliff you couldn't reach before, maybe to reach a new portal for another level.  But if we decide to do experience/leveling/skills, we can save that for later in development.  Or a simple version could be just that you're given new skills automatically, in order.  No need even for a skill tree.