Stab it in the face – Devlog 02
(yeah, I didn't post the devlog 01, but it was a discussion about roguelikes in general, that you may find here:
https://depthsofascension.prometheaninteractive.com/2021/08/24/a-step-into-the-darkness/)
Welcome to our second devlog, the first one in which we talk about game mechanics. More specifically, combat mechanics.
As a traditional roguelike, DoA is grid-based and turn-based. But here come twists to that old formula:
Turns
It would be actually more accurate to say that Doa is tick-based rather than turn-based, but that would make everyone wonder just what the heck tick-based actually means.
Well, in normal turn-based games there are several “players” (human players or AI players) that alternate in a certain given order, having each own their turn.
In DoA we don’t have actual turns. We have ticks, which are an internal unit of time. Every “player” (we call them actors, actually, so one doesn’t confuse them with human players) has a speed and an action bar. When the actor decides what to do (say, move one tile, or cut the goblin’s head off) that action has a cost. The cost of the action is put in the action bar and with every tick the action bar decreases by the speed of the actor.
Example:
The player character Alice has a speed of 25.
Moving to the tile to the left is an action with the cost of 400.
The player decides to move to that tile to the left and performs the command. The action bar of the player character becomes 400, and then every tick the action bar is reduced by 25;
16 ticks later (400/25) the action bar becomes 0, and the player character does the movement.
But don’t worry. All those calculations are performed in the background, you don’t need to take it all into consideration when moving around. But it adds a layer of strategy to combat: when you are in front of a goblin and try to move to the left if the goblin is quicker than you he can cut your guts before you finish the movement.
Different combat stances (see below) affect your speed. Also, items, potions, and other effects can have some impact – on general speed and also on the speed of specific actions.
The player can have all the information on it through the UI. But the exact amount of information displayed about non-player characters depends on the player character’s perception, intelligence, wisdom, and specific skills.
Facing
All characters will always be facing a direction. This way it is possible to approach an enemy from behind and get him by surprise. It is also possible to flank an enemy – or to be flanked by several enemies. How would you manage a situation in which you are surrounded by goblins?
For players, the facing does not affect Field of View and doesn’t have application outside of combat. But the game will still track the facing of the player character in the background for calculations of sneaking enemies (yes, you may end up being the one to receive a backstab). This way the player won’t need to spend time doing tedious turning around when exploring the dungeon, at the same time that the system still provides nuanced stealth and combat gameplay.
Stances
Though one can attack or defend without using a combat stance, it normally isn’t advisable to do so. Just think on the fighting movies: before combat the enemies change posture in order to adopt something that allows to better attack and defend.
As in those movies, there are different combat stances (as those postures are often called). There may be a lot of those down the line, but for now there are only three:
Defensive – you sacrifice movement and damage output to fortify your defense.
Agile – you sacrifice damage output and armor in order to have better mobility and dodging.
Strong – you sacrifice movement and defense to increase your damage output.
Concepts
There are some concepts on the paragraphs above that need clarifying. Let’s go to them:
Movement – every stat that affects speed (the one that decreases the action bar) and moving-related skills (like acrobacy and dodging).
Damage Output – the actual damage that the attack generates, generally in form of a dice roll. That output can be partially or even totally reduced by armor.
Defense – a numeric value against which the attack roll is compared to, to see if the attack hits. Putting more armor doesn’t increase your defense (it increases damage reduction, see “Armor” below). What increases defense is adopting the right stance, being proficient on the stance and the weapons you’re using, using some shield, or increasing combat reflexes.
Armor – is the damage reduction against physical damage. Heavier armor grants better damage reduction, at the cost of penalties to movement.
Dodging – an active movement to get out of the harm’s way, when you manage to notice the attack before it hits you, using your combat reflexes.
Combat Reflexes – a passive perception check during combat to see if your character manages to read the opponent’s movement so you can anticipate them. Very useful not only for dodging, but also for parrying and counter-attacking.
Counter-Attack – an active movement to try to use the attack of the enemy against them, finding vulnerability on their attack movement. The game runs some checks in the background to see if you manage to spot an opportunity for counter-attack, then present it to you. It’s a great way to temporarily lower an enemy’s defenses, so your attack roll have more chances to hit.
These are some still high-level concepts around which the combat system is designed. We’ll be diving more into them in future devlogs. Stay tuned by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on our social media!
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