The Cycle Begins Again #3: Hero Powers and Concept Art

Because it has been a little bit, I decided to do a quick update while I take a break from designing. Here's what I have been working on the last few weeks, TCBA-wise:

• Creating a design document (all the details about the game)
• Acquiring a personal copy of Adobe Flash
• Sprite creation in Flash (had problems importing previous work, had to start over)
• Sprite animation in Flash
• Collaborating with Tyler about art

I've had quite a bit going on, especially between this project, my other classes, and the increased hours and new location at work. To be honest, I should be working on Trigonometry or Java programming right now, buuuut... nope : ).

First, I want to debut some of Tyler's work on the background so far, because it is coming along very well. Tyler and I have a pretty good history together and he has some way of knowing exactly what I want even when I'm constantly shifting ideas around. His work on TCBA is no different than before- he nailed was I was looking for! Because of the size of the picture (I think its width is 6000px?), I am going to upload a small piece on this blog. The full picture can be found here. (NOTE: This is not a finished work, just a concept design we've got. This could change drastically by May.)

So, let's talk momentarily about the art style I am looking for in this game. I want a clear distinction between the foreground and the background, both for the contrast it adds to the game and to help the player know what areas are pathable and what areas are not. The left side of the gap is an older version of the art. The hill is pixelated on the edges and the grid on the grass increases the blocky look. The right side is much more of what I am looking for. The foreground where the player walks is very clear- the green, single-color grass line is the pathable area the player can walk on. The hill in the background has the sharp blades of grass and some blurring on it, which gives it a nice smooth look compared to the simple foreground. To be clear, just about everything in the foreground will be pixelated- enemies, the Player Character, pathable blocks, etc...

To give this post a little more meat, I am going to copy and paste some information from the design document I mentioned earlier that details the hero's combat ability (and again, please note that this information can still change before the completion of the project.) In the near future I should have the player walking and stabbing. By that point, I should have enough knowledge to begin the coding of the game.

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Section 2: Combat

Second only to the story, combat will be a major focus of the game. The player will have two different fighting styles: melee and magic, which acts as a ranged attack. Both styles have different strengths over the others.

Section 2.1: Melee Combat

Melee combat will bring the player up close and personal with his enemies. The risk of this style of combat is obvious- being so close to the enemy means that the player is more likely to be hit and take damage. The player is awarded for choosing melee combat as their focus for battle with increased damage per hit. Melee damage will be determined based on the base attack value multiplied by the Strength Level Bonus percentage detailed in the Experience and Leveling section. Melee combat will primarily be focused on heavy damage versus a single opponent, making it ideal for boss battles. The player will be less effective vs mobs of enemies, but will be given multiple options to assist them vs large numbers of enemies. It is important to note that by leveling Strength, and thus the melee capabilities of the player, the player is also increasing his characters' movement speed.
Melee attacks is performed by pressing “H” on the keyboard. This is a basic attack, and is equal to the base attack value multiplied by the Strength Level Bonus. As the player progresses his Strength level (not his overall character level), he will gain additional abilities to aid him in melee combat. The first will be Shield Block, which will make the player invulnerable for a short period of time, allowing him to escape from a mob at the sacrifice of not being able to attack for a short time. Shield Block is activated by pressing “J” on the keyboard. The second ability gained by leveling Strength is Bash, which will knock enemies in front of the player away from the player. Bash is mapped to “K” on the keyboard. The final ability the player will gain will be his mob-clearing ability, Whirlwind. Whirlwind will damage enemies on both sides of the player. Whirlwind is mapped to “L” on the keyboard. The three special melee abilities are designed to potentially worked in tandem. An example of a possible combination would be the player using Shield Block to charge into a mob of enemies, Whirlwind to damage all the enemies around him, and then Bash to push back one side of enemies to allow the player room to maneuver. All melee special abilities will be cooldown based (e.g. 3 seconds) as opposed to mana based.

Section 2.2: Magic Combat

A basic magic attack will allow the player to attack from a short- to medium-range. Because the player will be further away from his opponent, and syllogistically further from danger, a basic magic attack will do less damage than a basic melee attack. Damage for magic attacks will be scaled in the same manner as melee attacks- base attack value multiplied by Magic Level Bonus. The Magic Level Bonus will scale at a smaller amount per Magic level than the Strength Level Bonus will per Strength level. Magic combat is based around the spells the player will gain by adding points to his Magic level. Spells will give the player the player a balance between mob-clearing abilities and single-target damage. In addition to increasing the damage of the basic magic attack and giving the player more powerful spells, adding points to the Magic level will also increase the player's maximum mana pool, allowing them to cast more spells before waiting for the mana regeneration to kick into effect.
A magic attack is performed by pressing “Y” on the keyboard. This is a basic magic attack whose damage is equal to the Magic Base Value multiplied by the Magic Level Bonus. A basic magic attack takes no mana, and can be fired at a medium range. As the player progresses in Magic levels, he will gain spells that will ramp up his abilities, trading off the lower damage of magic attacks vs melee attacks for the ability to do burst damage. The first spell the player will gain is Blink, performed by pressing “U” on the keyboard. Blink will allow the player to teleport away from a situation that may otherwise kill him. Blink is a low mana and short range spell. The second spell the player will gain is a combination of two spells, Firebolt and Fire Blast, performed by pressing “I” on the keyboard. For bolt will be cast is the player is moving left of right when pressing “I”. Fire Blast will be cast if the player is stationary when pressing “I”. Firebolt is a single-target ability, ideal for doing a consistent amount of damage to a single enemy. Firebolt will deal damage equal to the Magic Base Value multiplied by 2.5 times the Magic Level Bonus. Fire Blast is an Area-of-effect ability, dealing damage to all enemies within a short radius around the player equal to the Magic Base Value. The third spell the player will gain is Lightning Bolt, performed by pressing “O” on the keyboard. Lightning Bolt will deal a random amount of damage between the Magic Base Value (the lower range) and Magic Base Value multiplied by the Magic level. This means Lightning bolt can do very little damage, or an extreme amount of damage. The final spell the player will learn is Ice Lance, performed by pressing “P” on the keyboard. Ice Lance adds the “frozen” status to enemies it hits, slowing their movement by 25% for a short time. Ice Lance also does Magic Base Value damage multiplied by the Magic Level Bonus, and pierces through enemies, dealing its damage and effects to at most three enemies.

Section 2.3: Defensive capabilities

The player will have a few different defensive options to increase his survivability against his enemies. By adding points to strength, the player's movement speed is increased a small amount. Speed will be stored as a floating value to allow for miniscule manipulation of the movement speed every level. As detailed above, Shield Block will render the player invulnerable for a short time, and is gained by adding points into the strength category. Blink is obtained by putting points into the Magic ability, and allows the player to teleport short distances around their opponents. Lastly, the player will have the ability to attempt to block their opponents' attacks. To perform a block action, press “S” on the keyboard. Block is not a guaranteed save- it is a percentage chance to block the incoming attack. If the player successfully blocks the attack, only 25% of the damage will be sustained (as opposed to Shield Block, which renders the player invulnerable and blocks 100% of the time.) If the player fails to block the attack, normal damage is taken. While pressing the block button, the player will be unable to attack his opponents. To increase the chance to block an opponent's attack, the player may add points to the Armor ability.