Incantation Combat System

[allenjiang17]

Rework our combat system to the use of "incantations" (note, incantation might have magic/occult connotations, not sure if we want that so we can use a different word).

Incantations are phases/sentences that are Bible verses, common sayings, idioms, and other kinds of significant sentences. They can be picked up by talking to NPCS, reading scrolls, and all kinds of ways.

Once an incantation is unlocked, a player is able to use it in combat. Combat consists of the player entering phrases into a textbox that "attack" the enemy. The user input is matched with their inventory of incantations/list of enemy weakness incantations They have to be on both lists -- if a match is found, damage is dealt. For example, you can't use "man does not live on bread alone" against something random, like a water stone. But you could use it on "common hunger", or maybe the "ex-stone-bread".

The incantation is scored by its relevancy and accuracy. Relevancy is determined by a preset-constant in the enemy weaknesses -- most verses that are irrelevant will do nothing, somewhat relevant verses will do some damage, and super effective/directly relevant verses will do the most damage. Accuracy is scored as following: inputs that don't match anything do nothing, inputs that match a valid verse but have inaccuracies will do some damage, and verses that are correct will do the most damage.

This base score will then be multiplied into a damage formula with the players attack, enemy's defense, etc and damage will be calculated. Equipment that the player is wearing can also affect the damage formula (+5 to physical monsters, +3 to spiritual enemies, etc).

[allenjiang17]

Pushed out a first version of the system. haven't added the non-turn based system yet where enemy autoattacks every given interval

[Larinitus]

Looks great. Some questions/thoughts. These will probably be easier to figure out on a call.

• Is logos the only way to fight? Or should people still have the option to use weapons/bare hands? I am thinking that using weapons should still be a possibility. This could be one of those things where we let people "choose their own adventure"--they can choose as the game progresses whether they want to focus more on getting better weapons and upping weapon-related stats or focus on saying logos (or would I say logous for plural accusative form?) and upping logos stats (or whatever we want to call them).

• That leads to the next point. I am wondering if we should have a stat that applies to logos that is separate from the normal attack stat. For example, Runescape actually has 7 "skills" that pertain to combat: Attack, Strength, Defense, Ranged, Prayer, Magic, Constitution. We could have a Logos effectiveness stat that is similar to Magic--I think Faith would be the natural word.

• Should the use of logos be available in the beginning of the game, or discovered later? I would vote for later. Otherwise, we would have to have some sort of corny tutorial in the first combat scene to explain how it works. I think I would prefer for the person to go through a handful of combat scenes without the skill first, and then sometime early in the game they would talk to an NPC (maybe the traveling prophetess in the town square) who teaches you how to use the skill and gives you your first logos.

• Assuming items (and weapons) are still available for use in battle, it might be a hassle to switch from typing things to clicking buttons in the middle of a fight if we have autoattacks on. One idea that could be a bit nerdy: the whole battle scene works a bit like a terminal with command lines. That way people only have to use the keyboard. So in a typical fight someone could type stuff like...

attack attack item/manna attack fight the good fight of faith he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds

• Should each verse be "unlocked" before the user can use them? Like do they have to have an actual dialogue with somebody or read a scroll or whatever before this is added to their list of spells? I would vote yes on that too.

• I think we need to create a storyline that explains this whole system. Like--in the game, there is an ancient book of incantations called The Book of Sayings that has been lost long ago, but a few holy people still remember bits and pieces of the book. And as you encounter them, they teach you what they remember.