Good afternoon students! This week's dev blog is a bit more juicy than the last few we've had so lets get right into it!
So, after the release of 0.3 and the follow up paches, the team went on a small hiatus. We had a pretty insane crunch over those 9 months and needed some time to prevent burnout. During that time I tried to keep my brain on the game by brainstorming some new ideas for systems, and now that we're back into dev mode I've begun to implement some of them ahead of Verdant so that we may design that content around these changes.
First off is combat. 0.3 pretty drastically changed everything about combat and now ManaSoul combat is much more actiony and fast. I felt like something was missing, however, and I believe that is Dodging. In action combat games you almost always have a dodge ability. While most players may think of dodging as a tool for the player, its actually a tool for developers as well. With the inclusion of dodges we can leverage that capability in content, allowing us to make much more interesting and fun gameplay.
I didn't just want to add a generic dodge button though, that felt a bit lame and not magical enough for ManaSoul, so instead I hit two birds with one stone and updated our Arcane Spells and added Dodges all in one with some changes listed below.
Core Spells
Arcane Spells are being replaced and renamed to "Core Spells" in your Spellbook. Core Spells instead of sharing 1 Cooldown Group, have 3 different Cooldown Groups. Offensive, Defensive, and Dodge.
Offensive Core Spells
Offensive Core Spells offer buffs, debuffs, and utility based on inflicting damage or pressing an offensive.
- Pierca - You soften your target's armor with a spell, causing that target to take increased Physical Damage
- Veila - You weaken your target's wards with a spell, causing that target to take increased Magical Damage
- Manastia - You surge your Mana from within, granting a bonus to all Schools of Magick but increasing damage taken.
- Ventillo - You cast a spell of luck on yourself, granting you increased chance to Critical Hit
- Chrona - You speed up time for yourself, granting increased Cooldown Reduction
Defensive Core Spells
Defensive Core Spells offer buffs, debuffs, and utility based on mitigating damage or restoring health
- Wardia - You erect a magical ward around yourself, reducing Magical Damage taken
- Signio - You bolster your attire making it as hard as steel, reducing Physical Damage taken
- Bolide - You create a barrier on yourself, granting a Shield that blocks damage
- Vampiro - You imbue yourself with a vampiric essence, granting Lifesteal
- Cleansea - You cleanse your surroundings, removing negative debuffs from yourself and nearby allies
Dodge Core Spells
Dodge Core Spells offer a variety of different dodges that allow the player to evade danger
- Blur - You dodge forward a small distance, granting a small window of Invulnerability. Low Cooldown
- Blink - You dodge forward a moderate distance, granting a moderate window of Invulnerability. Medium Cooldown
- Mistwalk - You dodge forward a large distance, granting a large window of Invulnerability. Long Cooldown
With these new Dodges and the utility choices offered by Core Spells now in the player's arsenal you can expect much more action-packed encounter design in Verdant Boughs. Let us know what you think about these changes and if you're excited to fat roll boss mechanics.
Thats all for this week, see ya guys next time!