4 replies to this topic

[Jambu]

So I came up with an Idea for a game mechanic. It's basically blood magic.

You start with double heart (which have twice the value of life at 32) and most of your blood magic active items ) would consume a small to large amount of life force which would replenish slowly over time. So all and all it seems like it could work with the engine? Any other ideas for it?

[Orithan]

How does the replenishing work? Does it replenish the amount spent from casting or does your health regenerate passively?

I've tried designing a system around it and it needs to be very carefully balanced. It taking away from health naturally makes players less inclined to use it even moreso than if it consumes regular magic, demanding that the spells be powerful in order to be worth using. Health regeneration also requires enemy encounters to be substantially more lethal because the player is guaranteed to be at a certain health level between fights, mandating designs that threatens to take out that amount of health in a fight. If the regeneration is slow to counteract that, then the optimal play would be for players to wait (or uncap their framerate) because you'd be sabotaging yourself by going in with less health.

[Deedee]

What Orithan said; passive regeneration is dangerous because it encourages passivity. If the optimal strat is "wait in a room for a minute to have full health", the player is stuck with the sadistic choice of doing the optimal play and being bored, or doing the risky thing knowing that you're sabotaging yourself. When designing systems, you should always ask yourself "is the most efficient way to play this fun?", because players will optimize the fun out of the game if given an opportunity and even if that doesn't take hold during a first playthrough, it will affect replayability.

Hollow Knight does an interesting idea adjacent to this; you have a soul meter that is used both for casting spells and healing, and you only get soul from attacking (or using a slow midgame item on enemies). Whenever you attack with the spells, you rob yourself of potential healing, whcih makes casting spells seem scary when you're not good at the game, but as you get more confident in your ability to not take damage, they become efficient ways to deal with things quickly.

[Jambu]

How does the replenishing work? Does it replenish the amount spent from casting or does your health regenerate passively?

I've tried designing a system around it and it needs to be very carefully balanced. It taking away from health naturally makes players less inclined to use it even moreso than if it consumes regular magic, demanding that the spells be powerful in order to be worth using. Health regeneration also requires enemy encounters to be substantially more lethal because the player is guaranteed to be at a certain health level between fights, mandating designs that threatens to take out that amount of health in a fight. If the regeneration is slow to counteract that, then the optimal play would be for players to wait (or uncap their framerate) because you'd be sabotaging yourself by going in with less health.

 

What Orithan said; passive regeneration is dangerous because it encourages passivity. If the optimal strat is "wait in a room for a minute to have full health", the player is stuck with the sadistic choice of doing the optimal play and being bored, or doing the risky thing knowing that you're sabotaging yourself. When designing systems, you should always ask yourself "is the most efficient way to play this fun?", because players will optimize the fun out of the game if given an opportunity and even if that doesn't take hold during a first playthrough, it will affect replayability.

Hollow Knight does an interesting idea adjacent to this; you have a soul meter that is used both for casting spells and healing, and you only get soul from attacking (or using a slow midgame item on enemies). Whenever you attack with the spells, you rob yourself of potential healing, whcih makes casting spells seem scary when you're not good at the game, but as you get more confident in your ability to not take damage, they become efficient ways to deal with things quickly.

 

Both of you bring up an excellent point. Balance and Fun. That heart rings simply won't work as it would just make the quest not at all fun. Waiting a minute in a room to refill your health is bogus what's the fun in that.. What about absorbing a small amount of life from your enemies when they die. That could work right? Another idea that came to mind for the system in general, is to make it so that if your health is below a certain threshold not only is damage doubled but your attacks are a bite different. a simple example would be turning the the candle into a rapid fire flame thrower.

[Alucard648]

As for Vampirism, it`s best to also ban life drain from weaker enemies, depending on Triforce count.

Edited by Alucard648, 25 April 2024 - 01:19 AM.