[Class counterplay and squad formation]

Combat, as is probably obvious, plays out in pretty typical JRPG turn-based fashion. You on the right, the enemy on the left, initiative bar up top that units move across according to their speed, etc. Chronicle of Ruin's combat distinguishes itself from a standard JRPG in a few ways, though: the emphasis on class counterplay and formation, timed hits, and the aggro system.





Class counterplay and squad formation - The single most defining aspect of the game's combat is its emphasis on classes and the balance between them. You're generally able to scout out the opposition before you fight them, so ensuring that you face them with a favorable matchup is an important part of success. Things begin pretty simply with the four starting classes, but the complexity ramps up fast as units diversify into stronger and more specialized classes. You don't want to take your assassin kill squad into combat against an enemy that'll render them all blind in a turn or two. You don't want to use a bunch of physically-resistant vanguards as tanks against a magic-heavy squad when a paladin or two could go a long way towards nullifying all those nukes. And you definitely don't want to make every squad a do-everything jack-of-all-trades, because that just means that you could almost always be performing much, much better by sending in the 'right' squad for the fight, instead of the 'meh' one.

Timed hits - Timed hits are a pretty simple concept that've been used often enough before -- Lost Odyssey, FFVIII, Legend of Dragoon to name a few. My personal favorite use is still one of the first, though: Super Mario RPG for SNES. For those of you who aren't familiar with timed hits in JRPGs, it's essentially a feature that rewards you with bonus effects or damage for pressing a button at the right time during an attack or spell. In Chronicle of Ruin, timed hits are an integral part of combat, and only apply to basic attacks, which is why you'll see all of the attack animations in the game have a bit of a 'draw back' and pause before launching --



Why only basic attacks? Because it turns each them into a viable, skill-based strategic decision, instead of something that you do just because you don't have anything else to do. You think "I can use this spell to finish the guy off, but I could do it with a timed hit too, and for free, but if I miss, he's still alive and going to chunk me." If timed hits were a feature of every spell and attack, the number of branches on the decision tree between them remains the same. Having it just on basics, though, adds another layer.

The additional damage from timed hits is determined by AGI. There aren't any crits in the game -- if you want that bonus damage, you make it happen yourself. I think that this works well as a gameplay mechanic, but it's also nice from a development standpoint, because it allows me to tune the strength of things on an additional level by adjusting the length of the 'hit' frame and steer players towards depending on timed hits more or less with certain classes.

The Aggro System  - The game also uses an aggro system, which old people like me will know from MMOs, and everyone else will know just from being on the internet anymore. There are two defining traits to the aggro system - one, it's fairly clear cut in its mechanics, and two, it isn't absolute. Regarding the first point, aggro levels range from 1 to 6, with all characters starting combat at 3. You'll know when you increase or reduce the aggro on a character because it's always explicitly mentioned in skills, so, unlike an MMO (or most games anymore) you aren't feeling your way blind through an invisible mechanic. You will know the exact aggro level of each character, and therefore their likelihood to be attack. That leads into the second point, because the aggro system isn't going to give you any guarantees. It isn't a leash that allows you to pull the enemy around like a dog and say to them, "Attack here, now!". What it does is let you stack the deck in your favor and play the odds in the long run like a poker player. But that doesn't mean you can't still get crushed by a straight flush on the river, or an arrow through the eye of your mage who's hiding behind three tanks.

That all looks great! The only thing I can think of is the character face portrait close-up looks a little plain.

Thanks! And yeah, you're not the first person to tell me that my portraits are a bit robot-faced and/or fish-lipped, so yup, it's something that I'm working on.

On another note, if anyone watched far enough into the video, you know that I was planning a Kickstarter for tomorrow. I'm pretty comfortable with the campaign itself, but up until the last couple days I've pretty much completely disregarded the whole visibility aspect of the project. Like I said in the OP, that's generally because I wasn't comfortable with my art output for most of development. Now that I am, though, it's hard to not want to build a bit of an audience, or at least awareness, before I launch. Plus, I've had a few composers get in touch with agreeable rates over the last few days, and launching with a royalty-free song is a bit of a garbage move, regardless of how well it fits the tone, trailer, and current budget of my game.

Long story shot --

• Kickstarter is pushed back to a TBD date
• If you're a composer or know one that's open for work, feel free to get in touch
• If you know someone that might like this game, let 'em know!

You can reach me here or via [email protected]. Also, if anyone wants to take a look at my KS, send me an email/tweet and I'll get you a link because I would really appreciate the feedback. It's generally been all good stuff, so some really tough, targeted, criticism would be very welcome.

[Soldier]

A bit on how classes work in the game --

Classes in Chronicle of Ruin are split among 4 class trees - Soldier, Scout, Disciple, and Mage. Each tree begins with the individual class that it's named for but eventually encompasses 7 classes between 3 tiers. You've got your initial class, which can upgrades into one of two options, and then those two can also upgrade into one of two options. Each class upgrade junction is designed to make your units more powerful, but more specialized, to send them deeper into their own niche in your army.

The trees' starting classes are...

Soldier

Soldiers are the game's basic tank unit. So, obviously, they have the highest defensive stats of all the starting classes. Their abilities include some solid crowd control, physical damage skills, a self-defensive buff, and, most importantly, skills that enable aggro management. After all, what's the use in being a tank if you can't make sure the other guy is going to hit you? When soldiers upgrade, either into a knight or raider, they can focus on improving their defensive capabilities (buffing, crowd control) or offensive capabilities (improved single target damage, access to AOE).

Scout

Scouts are rogue archetypes, if that wasn't obvious enough from the picture. They excel at dealing at single target physical damage, but aren't very tough. High STR, High AGI, High SPD, low defenses. They're also good at taking those cheap shots that debuff their opponents. Their skills include abilities that penetrate armor (at the cost of generating high amounts of aggro), status debuffs, and the only ranged physical attack among the starting classes. When they reach their class upgrade point, they can focus on their direct damage dealing by choosing rogue, or work as a super fast debuffer and debilitate the enemy as a trickster.

Disciple



The disciple tree is a hybrid in more ways than one. First of all, it merges two common healing archetypes in games -- clerics and monks, which essentially define their class choices down the line. They're also fairly jack-of-all-trades within the game in a technical sense. They specialize in both healing and tanking magic damage, but they also do pretty decent physical damage, are crucial for their ability to dispel buffs and debuffs, and can eventually gain access to solid magic damage skills depending on how they upgrade. With this varied nature, the disciples class upgrades are measured on a different scale than other trees. Rather than 'focus on this element or that element' your choices are to become a magic-resistant tank with the cleric, or a light, agile caster/fighter with the monk.

Mage

Mages are mages. High magic damage, capable of AOE, very squishy. Better than average magic resistance helps alleviate that problem a bit, but not enough to stop worrying about them with the HP that they have. And, obviously, they have great MP and MP regeneration in combat. Mage spells focus on two areas: elemental and arcane. They've got lightning that has a chance to provide heavy CC, ice that always hits with a little bit of CC, AOE with their fire, and resistance-piercing but MP-intensive arcane spells to boot. These two schools of magic define their upgrade options, which are the sage, an elemental mage specializing in nature magic that comes with a slew of bonus effects, or the arcanist, student of the arcane and on the path to straight up glass cannon.


On a more personal note, I'm still ironing out the attack animations displayed here, but even though I'm pretty happy with them (mage needs WORK), I'd would love to hear any tips that anyone might have!

[Chronicle of Ruin]

LIVE ON KICKSTARTER!!
www.chronicleofruin.com
@ruinousa

Chronicle of Ruin is a real-time tactical JRPG inspired by Ogre Battle and Final Fantasy VI, coming to PC, Mac, and Linux sometime next summer.

What's a real-time Tactical JRPG?

Yeah, it's a bit much, but it's difficult game to shove into typical genres. Ever play Ogre Battle? Yes? The game is heavily inspired by Ogre Battle and plays much like it, except with fully manual combat and the ability to explore all of the towns, forts, and other interesting places you might encounter in typical JRPG fashion.

Haven't played Ogre Battle? Well, here's the barebones basic points:

In Chronicle of Ruin, you command an army of up to fifty units spread across dozens of classes through the many stages of a harsh and morally complex world. In each of those stages, your forces are divided into squads, which you command in real-time across vast regions of the world. In these stages, your squads will be fighting in class-focused, turn-based tactical combat. They'll be accomplishing all sorts of objectives, ranging from annihilating the enemy to defending innocents to simply escaping the stage alive. They'll be exploring all the interesting, special, and wondrous places of each stage up close and personal. And they'll be doing all of it while working through an epic narrative inspired by some of the genre's best, include Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre.

Commanding your units in real-time across the tactical map


Traditional JRPG-style cutscenes


Using map skills and engaging with enemy squads on the tactical map...


...in class-focused turn-based tactical combat


Assuming control of a hero character to explore the special locations on every map


And, obviously, lots and lots of character customization


The world map

A bit on the story


Nothing escapes the ravages of time. Stone crumbles, metal rusts, people grow old and die. All things end in dust, crushed fine by the turning of the ages. The lone weapon against such an inexorable force is constant vigilance.

But even that can only hope to stave off the inevitable for a while longer.

Amidst countless generations of unbound war and reckless destruction, peace had always been a distant dream. Twenty years ago, that dream was violently realized when the Traitor King Weyrin unleashed his curse upon the land. In a matter of weeks, the entire kingdom of Galamonde fell under its shadow.

The remaining great nations of Valessia, Ondora, and Zaragos managed to call off their conflicts quickly enough to hold the curse at bay, but the land it blighted endures, a festering threat in the heart of the world.

In the ensuing decades, what was once open warfare has devolved into simmering tensions and intermittent skirmishes, as the powers that be struggle to hold themselves together under constant threat of outbreak, uprising, and the inevitable resurgence of total war.

In Chronicle of Ruin, vigilance is the distant memory of a world unknowingly on the brink of the end. Centuries of chaos and strife have hastened it to this decisive moment, wherein one final push against its cracked foundation will send it all plummeting into the abyss.


As you can see, there's a lot to cover here. For a more direct look at the features in the game, I present that universally useful game-describing staple, the bulleted list:

FEATURES

• Tactical RPG meets JRPG, with a real-time twist - Experience a unique combination of the large-scale army management of a TRPG with the intimate elements of classic JRPGs, while commanding your units in real-time across each stage.
• An Engrossing Narrative - Journey with a cast of memorable, complex characters through a vividly detailed and morally ambiguous world.
• A New Take on Strategic Turn-Based Combat - Battle in a refined version of the classic combat system, designed for creating engaging, tactical encounters with a focus on class interplay, timing, and intelligent battle management.
• An Army at Your Command -Lead an army that grows from a handful of unseasoned units to up to 50 veteran fighters.
• Nearly 40 Character Classes - Shape your army as you see fit by managing your units growth among 28 standard classes and 10 unique hero classes.
• Dozens of Meticulously Crafted Stages - Adventure through detailed stages that combine the unique characters and compelling stories of JRPGs with the the strategic demands of TRPGs.
• Deep Character Customization - Customize each of your units through a wide range of equipment option, hands-on stat growth, and flexible class design so that no two are alike.
• An Expansive Crafting System - Outfit your army yourself by crafting everything from the most mundane consumable to legendary weapons.

So yeah, there's a lot to cover. As you hopefully saw in the trailer, I do have a Kickstarter planned for later this week, so I know that it's a little late to hop in here, but this is going to be the game's official devlog in the long term, now that I have the sort of stuff that I'm satisfied enough to show publicly. There's going to be lot more coming in the next few days, week and months, so stay tuned!