Greetings,
After a long time an update.
I haven't been able to code much, having a job and other hobbies got in the way.
But at least I can think about the development in the free time that I've got.
Before you continue, this is a very technical post! Technicality has been moved to game design post
So here are a few things I've come up with
A Damage vs Defense System
In my system I got not only health but also shield points, which are provided by armor, think of XCOM.
Defense is also provided by armor, but it is commonly paired with a stat distribution theme:
- Turtle armor = high defense, low shield regeneration
- crystal armor = low defense, high shield and regeneration
- When a player is not in combat, shield points regenerate.
The armor vs penetration system:
- a variable called 'armor_efficiency' determines the ratio of the damage absorbed by shield points vs health points
- another variable called 'penetration' is a direct contra to that ratio, shifting it in favor of health damage
- an efficiency of 60% means 60% of the damage reduced by defense is taken as shield damage, and 40% of the damage reduced by armor as health damage
- if the enemy now has a penetration of 15, then this efficiency is brought to 45% shield damage and 55% health damage
- the combined damage is still the same for both, yet high penetration is more dangerous to the player, especially if health does not regenerate
A few sidenotes and rules:
- the 'armor_efficiency' variable is more statically distributed because armor already has 3 variables (defense, shield, regen) where as weapons only have 2 (damage, penetration)
- each armor piece gives 15%, and if a shield item is held, an additional 15% adding up to 60% in total. This number can be increased with things like buffs or certain items
- if 'armor_efficiency' has an effective maximum of 90%, which when exceeded adds those percentages above 90% to defense as a bonus
- if the damage taken goes beyond the shield points, the rest of the non-absorbed damage flows back into health damage
A Durability System
I am going one step further and use these variables in other systems too like durability or skill points.
If I am to implement a durability system I want to make sure players actually use it and be affected by it, not in an annoying way.
Here is what I think can work:
- Each item that is a weapon or type of gear will have a 'max_durability' and a 'cur_durability'
- 'max_durability' by itself can vary depending on the quality and other factors, so a stone sword can have 15 'max_durability' while another stone sword can have 21 'max_durability'
- this way, the player has more things to upgrade on a piece of gear
- everytime a weapon deals damage 'cur_durability' has a chance to be reduced and if it reaches 0, the item breaks
And to add a little skill of knowledge to this:
- items can be repaired, but lose 'max_durability' in the process. Better repair techniques grant fairer percentages of 'max_durability' loss
- using blunt weapons with low penetration on high-armored targets cause more 'cur_durability' loss
- taking damage from high penetration sources cause more 'cur_durability' loss on armors*
- if the skills-system remains implemented, then using a weapon without the skill should cause more 'cur_durability' loss (as well as other stat penalties)
*this might sound counterintuitive, but if it were the other way around, the player would be punished for getting hit by weak enemies
A Skill System
This is more or less a talent tree without talents. Think of your average souls game where you put points into a stat and your health goes up.
Except it's not as direct, you won't see stats like vitality or strength to increase.
You have a skill for every type of weapon, and also for some mana-like abilities:
- [improvised, sword, spear, tool, bow, pistol, rifle, heavy, tech] if I remember correctly
- [telekinesis, empathy...]
Each race starts out with these. Some have more in one area, other more in other areas.
- skills can be leveled by doing them, like leveling 'spear' if you kill a lot of enemies with a spear
- leveling only goes to a certain point, at which just using the weapon won't level up the skill at all
- at that point, the skill can only be increased with items or certain events. The point at which this happens is realtively low
There is also a magic-like system which flows a bit into this
- 4 categories of supernatural abilities (which cost mana to use) can be learned and trained
- every 5 or so points in a category unlocks a magic ability. For example telekines: the ability to control items at a distance
- there are mana-points that need to be used for these abilities
Then another system which affects the crafting and making of items:
- skill points for crafting items, brewing, forging etc.
- no mechanic like failing to craft, that would be just nuissance
- more of a bonus system, or for certain tasks (alchemy, imbuing, enchanting) a skill requirement system
- the higher the skill, the more likely it is to get a good quality of the item
A Quality System
This is pretty much the prefix system like it is in Terraria with a few differences:
- due to the durability system existing, it's not possible to reforge qualities as simple as in Terraria
- each quality has a weight to it, with the 'no quality' being exactly the 50% chance to get
- qualities can affect stats of an item, for example changing durability, damage, penetration or giving the item elemental resistance / attack
And many other systems that remain a secret for now...
I would be grateful for feedback. I will answer questions if they do not spoil anything.
There is no guarantee any of these system won't change in the future.