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Devlog 1: Surviving Bossgame, Taunting, and Shields

  • slash
  • 04/12/2016 11:07 AM
  • 6647 views
So! BOSSGAME has been officially officialized and I'm here to talk about what to expect!

BOSSGAME jumps off of the traditional JRPG in new and totally exciting ways! I've been a fan of JRPGs for a long time, but one aspect of those games that is overwhelmingly ignored is the battles. You wouldn't think so! With all the custom battle systems out there, cool mechanics like Bravely Default's BRAVE and Chrono Trigger's Dual Skills and Final Fantasy 7's Materia, you'd think we have all the tools we need to make battles interesting!

But - while those games are great - the battles are kind of samey! Even when fighting the bosses, you as the player don't make that many choices. You probably go into each battle knowing what attacks you'll spam and what spells you'll use. Sure, you'll cast a heal when you need to, but combat - fighting! It could be so much more exciting!

In BOSSGAME, you'll be asked to be clever and make tough choices. You'll be forced to decide between healing a dying friend, disarming a bomb, or finishing your foe! Your decisions each turn will affect the next, and you'll have to think several turns in advance. Strategy is the name of the game, and you'll have lots of tools at your disposal. So, without futher ado:


TAUNTING and SHIELDS


Ah! Hi, everyone! I'm Lily! It's nice to meet you!

Okay, so, I'm here to give a lesson on TAUNTING! Taunting is the best way to protect my more vulnerable friends. When one of us uses the TAUNT skill in battle, that person will take the brunt of the enemy's attacks! Anyone can use TAUNT in addition to their other actions, but only one of us can TAUNT at a time!

Super easy so far, right?


Most of the bosses we fight will rely on heavy attacks that harm whoever's currently taunting. These attacks are predictable and frequent, so it's important to protect whoever's currently taunting as much as possible. If they get too weak, we should definitely have someone else TAUNT for a while!

Speaking of protection... Mirror Boy, it's your turn!


Ah! Oops, sorry... Okay!

Um. Hi. Hi! I'm Mirror Boy, and, um... let's talk about SHIELDS! Shields are really important to keeping everyone safe in a fight! Normally, if we take a hit from a boss, we'll lose HP, but if we have Shield Points (or SP!) we'll lose that first, instead. There's no way to get back lost HP in a fight, but our skills can generate lots of SP, so we should be okay! Probably.

Like Lily said, whoever is taunting is going to take the most damage, so we'll want to make sure they have lots of SP... But if there's too much pressure, we really should switch to someone else for a while, especially if they have a reserve of SP.


However, bosses won't only target whichever of us is taunting. They're, um. Not that nice.

Some Bosses will use Area of Effect spells that harm all of us, or they might inflict harmful status effects like Poison or Bomb on any one of us... because of that, we'll have to pay attention to the way they attack. Anyway, it's really good to have shields on EVERYONE!

Keep our SP high and we should be safe! Let it get low, and... um... well, you can see...

Please, well... Good luck out there?





That wraps up the basics of BOSSGAME battles! Thanks for reading and stay tuned, I'll be sure to post more details as development continues!

Posts

Pages: 1
NeverSilent
Got any Dexreth amulets?
6280
That's an interesting way of putting a twist on combat mechanics. I like the idea of having a "core" health stat that can't be filled up again, and another "buffer" stat to soak up damage. I can see this working very well together with the taunting mechanic.
The only problem, considering that using all four characters strategically seems to be essential, could be that if the player makes one mistake and one party member gets knocked out, that could immediately mean losing all hope of still winning the battle. Especially if this happens during a late phase in a fight, that could be very frustrating.
I'm still really excited to see this system in action, though.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
As someone who test-played an earlier version, I can attest to the battle mechanics being fun, refreshing and challenging! ^_^ I am very much looking forward to playing again and seeing how things have been refined! Also I think the shield-point system is super cool! :D
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
All this sounds really interesting! I really like the idea of not being able to restore HP during battle, and I can't wait to see how this plays out in game.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Sounds fun. Can't wait for a boss that attacks everybody except the Taunter.
slash
APATHY IS FOR COWARDS
4158
Thanks, everyone! I'm so glad I can finally talk a little more in detail about the game & the combat - I've been quiet until now because I've been testing all sorts of different systems and I wasn't sure what I would go with until now. I'm psyched to show off more!

author=NeverSilent
The only problem, considering that using all four characters strategically seems to be essential, could be that if the player makes one mistake and one party member gets knocked out, that could immediately mean losing all hope of still winning the battle.

Losing a party member is very dangerous, but you can definitely win every battle without losing anyone! The bosses are difficult, but their tactics can be strategized around, and anything that could blow you out of the water can be predicted and countered.

author=Red _Nova
I really like the idea of not being able to restore HP during battle, and I can't wait to see how this plays out in game.

It definitely keeps the pressure on - I really like the idea of proactive healing and the feeling of "inevitability" you get with an unrecoverable health bar. There's nothing like desperately stacking shields on a character that got knocked down to 3 HP~

author=unity
As someone who test-played an earlier version, I can attest to the battle mechanics being fun, refreshing and challenging! ^_^ I am very much looking forward to playing again and seeing how things have been refined! Also I think the shield-point system is super cool! :D

Thanks Unity ^^ I've made quite a few changes, but the core is still very much there!

author=Craze
Sounds fun. Can't wait for a boss that attacks everybody except the Taunter.

Oh, Craze, do you think I would do that to you? takes notes furiously
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
It sounds a bit complicated but it's one of those things I'll have to see in practice. I think it'll be fun if unity says it is. :x
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
If you like more puzzle-based battles or strategic battles, then I recommend it. Though I had to die a couple times in the process of getting used to it, but I believe slash has made the beginning a bit more learner-friendly since then ^_^
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=unity
If you like more puzzle-based battles or strategic battles, then I recommend it.

Yes, yes I do.

I might like this, then!
There's no way to get back lost HP in a fight, but our skills can generate lots of SP, so we should be okay! Probably.

So, like Lily said, whoever is taunting is going to take the most damage, so we'll want to make sure they have lots of SP... But if there's too much pressure, we really should switch to someone else for a while, especially if they have a reserve of SP.
If you're really evil, you'd make a boss that reduces max SP by the damage it deals. That would make death even more inevitable.

Now I'm reminded of the Belzebub story boss and Lucifer bonus boss in Devil Survivor. The former was nasty 'cause of his status effect: egg whereas the later was dangerous since he used a spell that strikes all of your teams on the field whenever his turns comes up. The catch is it powers up every time he uses it so it will eventually do more HP than you have even if you keep healing off the damage.

On this site, the only puzzle RPG I've played so far is 'The Grumpy Knight' and I liked it well enough. My favorite boss attack in that game is:
Double Pain which starts off weak but doubles the damage dealt from the previous use.
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
Man, people have really been upping their blog game lately, haven't they? All I see around is a huge abundance of good quality blogs. This looks so exciting... (As if I wasn't already excited anyway!) Taunt systems in RPGs can give an extra layer of depth to strategy. I also like the idea of there being a predictability to the frequency of boss attacks, so that the player can plan around that, too. I trust that you're skilful enough and have the right mindset to make decisions that will help make these battles a joy to play.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I want this game.
slash
APATHY IS FOR COWARDS
4158
*thumbs up*

Puzzle bosses sounds about right! There's no preordained combination of skills you can use to win, it's more like, you have your own basic set of tactics that you have to constantly adopt to the current situation.

I expect everyone to die at least once to each boss, and designed for it - it's super easy and fast to jump in and restart, or to go and mess around with their gear & skills, so~
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
By the way, is that the same Mirror Boy from Mirror Boy?
slash
APATHY IS FOR COWARDS
4158
Yup! I liked where I was going with his story so much I wanted to give him another primo spot!
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
I'm glad. <3 Mirror Boy (and all the characters in this, really!)
Yo, this blog made Blog of the Week in RMN's Twitter!
slash
APATHY IS FOR COWARDS
4158
Ah, that's really cool! Thank you! I'm really glad people like it, I wasn't entirely sure about the mini-conversation style of the blog..!

author=unity
I'm glad. <3 Mirror Boy (and all the characters in this, really!)

:D :D :D
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