Combat Style~
I'm interested in gathering feedback regarding combat styles and what you guys feel would work best.
Currently I have an idea of three potential combat styles:
1) Turn Based Style
2) Hearthstone Style
3) Slay the Spire Style
Starting with the Turn Based style combat.With this combat style the player and enemies would be visible on the screen. The protagonist would have attacks based on what weapon type they have equipped. IE: If the MC has a grimoire they will have magical based attacks and have access to magic spells. If the MC has a sword equipped they will have physical based attacks and have access to sword skills.
The upside to this combat style is it allows the player to strategically choose fighting styles based on what opponent they are fighting. It also allows for beautiful combat scenes using animations. I could look into the possibility of clothing being ripped as combat goes on as well.
The downsides to this combat style is the time it takes to render and convert the animations then display them in-game. Currently it takes around 5-10 minutes depending on the animation to fully render and convert the sample attacks I have attached. Another downside is the lore perspective of this fighting style does not make much sense. The protagonist is described to have already mastered his training to become a Demon King, but still requires general knowledge from school. This fighting style makes it to where the progression would mean the protagonist still had more to learn. This also removes the opportunity for monsters to be used as enemies. The character's choice in fighting style would also be limited to a few types and the animations would end up being slightly repetitive. The final downside for this one is the rigidness of the animations. As can be seen in the Magical Block sample animation the character snaps at a certain frame. Since I have very limited animation knowledge in CharaStudio at this moment in time I'm unable to fix those kinds of issues.
Moving on to the Hearthstone style combat. This would allow combat to be based around a 'combat deck' the player could improve over time. Within this combat style there are a few paths that could be taken. For example... It could follow a strict Hearthstone style where the protagonist is fighting a major enemy who has minions under them and you fight those minions to take on the major enemy, It could follow a pure minion fighting style where you take on multiple weaker monsters/people and defeat them all to win, or a mixture of the two where the player has some fights where they are taking on a Major enemy that might have minions or just fighting pure minion battles.
The upside to this fighting style first off is the fact that it's lore friendly. The player can start off with a few servants under his family and a slew of spell cards that would allow the player to attack using the protagonist's demonic powers. Over time the player would be able to accumulate artifacts that grant him new abilities or minions that he could send to the field to attack the enemy directly. This would allow for strategic battles that evolve over time. This combat style also allows for simple art that can be produced much quicker. There is potential for a hard-mode where your minions keep damage between battle and if they die they are unusable for the next battle until you heal your team (Sleeping or something?).
The downside to this fighting style would be more development time designated to AI development as minions would be introduced. The battles would be longer and require more thinking. Art would be simple and not that pretty to look at. A lot of work would be put into animations/effects to make up for that. Player would be unable to have multiple 'heroes' on his team.
The final combat style is the Slay the Spire combat style. Like the hearthstone combat style this one would also be lore friendly, but not to the same extent. While you would be unable to improve your army's size in a visible matter you could gather powerful artifacts or maybe siphon your enemies strength upon slaying them. This combat style would be a middle ground between turn based and hearthstone in terms of art as the enemies would be a 2d rendering of the enemies. I could look into using monsters as enemies, but keeping a consistent art style would prove difficult.
The upside of this combat style would be the simplicity of the fighting style itself. Prepare for enemy attacks while dishing out attacks and building up a play-style as you progress through the game. This would require the least amount of programming work as well. This one is kinda lore-friendly. The battles would be over quickly, but a few might take a bit of time giving a sense of epic-ness to boss fights. Most fights would not require that much strategy, but boss fights would - further leading to that sense of an epic battle.
The downside to this combat style is that it's not entirely lore friendly. It's also harder to implement monsters in a good way. The combat would eventually become repetitive as this one would require the least amount of strategy. Unprepared players will get destroyed by bosses which might make it feel confusing and stressful.
There are more upsides and downsides to each battle style that I didn't list because I can't think of any more off the top of my head. I'm interested in hearing what you guys feel about these combat styles and which you guys feel will be the best.
You can vote on a battle style on my
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I personally think the Hearthstone style combat would be the best because it would work the best lore wise. What do you guys think? Poll will be open for one week.
