Planning to update every Tuesday
2024-10-08
I learned 3 lessons from my last (failed) project.
1. Limit the amount of assets needed and develop the art early.
2. Have a clear vision of what you want the game to play like.
3. Design gameplay content early so you don't get lost.
4. Figure out the architecture for the game's systems so your code doesn't need refactoring all the time.
So.. started things off with a mockup. I specifically wanted to accomplish two things from this mockup.
1: A feasible art workflow.
2: A clear vision for how the game plays.
Pick three mercenaries and fight big baddies!
The battle takes place with the boss in the center, and a ring representing both turns and characters around them.
(The pictured shows all the Major Turns, there are also 3 minor turns in-between each Major Turn. I didn't put this in the mockup because calculating their positions was too tricky for me in Krita)
The left shows what abilities the current mercenary has. (In the mockup, it's actually the Boss's turn and this panel wouldn't normally show, but I put it in to flesh out player turns)
Although they are presented as cards, there's no deck, and it's really just for flavor and explaining mechanics more easily.
Turns end when you play a card or skip (not shown).
Some cards require resource costs. (Resources are shown below the card panel)
Cards become exhausted after you play them, and will restore in 2 turns.
Cards can be burned to gain a random resource. Burned cards restore in 2 turns.
Exhausted cards can be burned, though this will delay the ability restoring.
Burned cards can not be burned again.
A better look at the four resources:
Left to right: Might, Trick, Patience, Geet
Geet is a special resource that can also take the place of the other three.
With the mockup ready, I moved on to designing the abilities for each of the mercs.
Last game, I got totally stuck on creating actual content, so I wanted to tackle this one early.
Here's an example of a moveset:
| Lazul | Might |
| Find Trash | Costs 1 Might. Flips into a Junk. Does not end turn. |
| --Half a Wrench | Deal 15 ATK DMG. |
| --Used Baseball Bat | Deal 25 ATK DMG. |
| --Lead Ingot | Deal 35 ATK DMG. |
| --Vial of Stinky | Spawn 3 stinks that deal 15 TRU DMG. |
| --Pamphlet of Worship | Gain 30 HP. |
| Slash x2 | Costs 1 Might. Deal 22 ATK DMG, twice. |
| Spare Dagger | Costs 1 Any. Deals 25-35 ATK DMG. |
| Greater Slash | Costs 2 Might. Deal 90 ATK DMG. |
| Parry | Costs 1 Might. Block all attacks until Lazul's next turn. |
| Fervor | Passive: +15 STR if Lazul attacked last turn. |
I have 3 more mercs ready, but I'll hold on to them for safe keeping.
After this, the systems architecture. This is where I am now. Currently working on the cards. Don't have this fleshed out enough yet so I don't want to babble nonsense.
If you made it this far, THANKS BRO.
