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[RallusGames]

Harpy is a character from the game

Bionica is a two-player turn-based tactics game where each player controls a squad of 3 characters. Characters are distinguished by their characteristics and abilities. Each turn the player rolls 2 dice, gets action points and spends them on the characters' movement and abilities. The goal of the game is to destroy the enemy squad.


Gameplay

Bionica is in open beta testing and is available for free on Android in Google Play Market. You can play online or against a bot, pass challenges (analogous to chess etudes), 6 characters are available.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.RallusGames.Bionica&hl=ru&gl=US

How Bionica differs from other tactics

The unique abilities of units in Heroes of Might and Magic and Kings bounty, such as AoE damage, control, and displacement, have always seemed more interesting to me than the banal frontal damage. Using them wisely, you can turn the course of the battle in your favor. After all, the variety of abilities expands tactical possibilities and rewards their use. That's why each of the characters in Bionica has their own unique abilities. For example, Cerberus can deal damage to three neighboring units, Succubus can take control of an enemy unit for one turn, and Guard can push with his shield. Each character has a primary and secondary ability.The first one deals damage and the second one moves the character.


Character abilities

The dice are used to get action points, which introduces an element of randomness into the game. In order to reduce the dependence on randomness, I opted for two dice, which reduces the probability of minimum and maximum values. So, in 45% of cases, the player will get 6 to 8 action points, which is enough to move the character and use the ability.

Combining the abilities of characters is easier when the entire squad is under control, unlike the classic initiative system where a character's turn depends on his initiative parameter. In Bionica, action points are awarded to all characters in the squad, which makes it possible to chain the movement and use of abilities by several characters. The higher the number of dice rolled, the more possible combinations and the more difficult it is for the player to choose the most effective one.


Succubus takes control of an enemy Armadillo so Cerberus can deal damage to three targets

High gameplay dynamics is the goal I was aiming for. Therefore, the playing field is small and rounded - there is no possibility to sit in a corner. The player is interested in changing the position of his units to favorable, and the enemy on the vulnerable, which every turn forced to re-evaluate the placement of units. For example, against the Harpy, which deals damage proportional to the distance to the target, you should not place your characters on the edge of the field, and against Cerberus you should not place your units in a heap. Damage from abilities and health of units is selected so that one game takes from 5 to 10 minutes.

The original look of the characters and abilities was chosen to make the game look more interesting. Existing sketches of ideas in the genre of dystopian biopunk with a touch of Greek myths were used, which helped when creating concept art and communicating with the artist.


Target. Image from the game.

It was not easy to choose the appearance of the units on the board. Using full 3D models would be expensive if outsourced and time-consuming if done yourself. The same goes for animated sprites. It was also necessary to make the units readable - the game was developed for mobile devices. That's why I opted for tokens with character images, similar to cards from collectible card games.

To personalize the abilities of the units and increase their expressiveness I decided to make them in the form of 3D animations. When an ability is used, it materializes, affects and then disappears.

Feedback
The goal of the project is to realize the vision of turn-based tactics, combining strategic calculation with the randomness of dice, to learn and apply the theory of game design, concept art, UX/UI, and to gain experience with an artist and audio designer. Therefore, I will be interested to hear players' opinions about the game. For example, is the gameplay interesting to you? Does the chosen setting appeal to you? Are the controls comfortable?

P.S. What's odd is that I haven't found any turn-based tactics that use regular dice with dots to get action points - if you know of one, please post it.