Barrow, v4
A month later, more progress - more refinement, and a lot of slow design decisions.
The biggest changes were:
- completely rewrote the combat system
- de-emphasized the rock-paper-scissors stance system
- modeled stance changes as part of the move system
- added multiple reaction/recovery moves
- de-emphasized guard break mechanic, focusing on damage bonuses
- added tooltips for monsters and commands
- reworked monster AI
- monsters understand how to manage their own stamina
- some are more conservative than others
What's next? I think this is quite close to a point where I could start getting more significant feedback from folks, but first:
- tweak the balance to emphasize the intent of the combat system
- more detail and hints in the tooltips
- hone the AI until the difficulty is right
What might come after that?
- Items, especially potions
- More floors, more enemies
- Gear, experience, or other progression
- Larger floors, more variety, camera system
- Gold, scorekeeping, or other stats
- Flavor text
With all of the above, I can see Barrow as a complete game of modest ambitions, with a 6-8 floor dungeon, that takes around 45 minutes to complete.
After that, there are other ideas that I'd want to explore in subsequent games, but not in Barrow:
- Multiple classes/build variety
- Ranged combat
- Move variety:
- Moves with charge times
- Moves with cooldowns
- Free moves
- Combat movement system
- Status effect systems in general
- More sophisticated AI
- Proper boss fights
- Food/Crafting
- Followers
- Overworld exploration
- Towns and NPC's
- Story/Dialogue
- Art