15 replies to this topic

[Fippe94]

I working on a turnbased game where you combine elements to make magic. It's meant to be a 2 player game, so there is no story or anything, just magic duels. Basically, there are 8 elements (Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Light, Dakrness, Lightning, Ice) in the game and these can be combined in pairs (you can choose the same element twice) making a total of 36 different magic attacks. Before the duel you choose 4 of these elements that you have in the battle, so you do not have access to all the spells.

The spells vary from projectile-based (like Fireball, deals direct damage) to weatherbased (Rainfall makes waterbased attacks stronger) to shieldspells (Like Earthwall, which nullifies most projectilespells for 2 turns for both players) so far. Both player's spell activate at the same time and can sometimes directly effect each other, like if both players use fireball, they hit each other in the air and explode, dealing no damage.

There is no mana, instead there is a cooldown of 1 turn to one of the elements you used. If you used a single element spell then that element has a 2 turn cooldown.

What I need now is ideas for spells. If you have any idea for a spell that you think might fit in this game, please post it here.

If you want more info about the game just ask.

Edited by Fippe94, 16 April 2012 - 03:24 PM.

[Tsn]

light = heal?
lightning = shorter cooldowns?
darkness = next attack does more damage?

[Fippe94]

light = heal?
lightning = shorter cooldowns?
darkness = next attack does more damage?

The light idea have I come up with already, I will add it soon.
The lightning idea does not really fit though, since the cooldown is only 1 or 2 turns already. It might work by making all cooldowns 1 turn for five turns or something like that.
The darkness idea was pretty good, I just need to come up with which element to combine it with, or maybe it could be darkness+darkness.

Thanks for the ideas!

[lmbarns]

Not sure if you have any weakness spells, but in a game called Darkfall you could cast a spell in each category to weaken an opponent against that type of attack for a small duration. So a fire weakness spell would make fire spells do extra damage, earth weakness made a target more vulnerable to earth magic spells, etc for water and air.

For defense spells there were ironskin and stoneskin which gave a person extra armor protection against melee attacks, could do something similar with a "mana shield, element shield, weakening blaze" or something that reduces damage from spells for a couple turns.

Spell reflection spells can be fun. Where you have a spell that reflects the next spell cast against you and returns the damage to the caster.

Tongue rot which makes a player lose 1 attack for the turn. Might be hard to balance if you don't have mana or ingredients though as a tradeoff to the caster.

You could do aoe spells that last a couple turns, like "ice storm(water)", "storm cloud(air)", "acid rain(earth)", "volcanic fury(fire)" which makes a cloud around the affected player and he takes a few ticks of damage each turn for a few turns.

[Fippe94]

About the weakness spells, they dont really fit. I want the elements to be different from each other, for example fire and lightning would the most offensive spells while earth is more about protection, so some elements might not even have damage spells. And I have to use 8 out of 36 spells to make weakness spells, and I want my spells to be more varied.

As for the shield spells, I already have a few shields, but they protect 100% against certain elements/spells instead. I might make a damaging reducing spell that lasts a bit longer though.

Spell reflection was good idea, I'm gonna add that. Any idea which elements might make that spell (Remember, a combination of 2 elements)

Not completely sure about the aoe spells either, might add one or two. I have a poison spell planned though (Darkness+Water), which is basically the same thing.

Not sure what you mean about tounge rot. I'm planning a freeze spell though.

Edited by Fippe94, 16 April 2012 - 03:58 PM.

[sonic102]

Spell reflection was good idea, I'm gonna add that. Any idea which elements might make that spell (Remember, a combination of 2 elements)

You could try Ice with something else.It comes to your mind first when you think of reflection.

Possibly Light would also be good.

[Fippe94]

Thankds for the idea. I've added the spell now.

[Joh]

so what you need is combination skills?
I think
Earth+Fire= Meteor (present in almost every magic games) Arrives from above, hence not countered by a straight attack.

water+earth = Mud cancel opponent next turn

Ice+dark =dark reflection : a clone, doubling your next attack (ex 2 fireballs)

water+water = tsunami

earth+ Dark = Earthquakte

Earth+earth= dig (go underground, can only be hit by earth quake, meteor..etc)

Light+Dark= gamble (either double damage dealt, or taken)

Are all skills attack/defense etc? or can they set weather?
Lightning+darkness= thunderstorm (no bonus but may hit with lightning, you or your opponent any turn)
Water+darkness = Rain (bonus water)
Wind+darkness= Storm (bonus wind)
fire+dark = volcanic erruption (bonus fire)

I dont know if i really understood what you wanted, but this is what i thought of.

[Fippe94]

Ice+dark =dark reflection : a clone, doubling your next attack (ex 2 fireballs)
Light+Dark= gamble (either double damage dealt, or taken)

I really like those 2 ideas, especially the dark reflection, definitely gonna add those. Thanks!
As for the weather, I already have rain, and I plan to to have darkness+fire to be just an attack boost to all elemnts for your next attack. I might add lightningstorm or something similar (something that can attack both players randomly) but I'm not sure yet.

[The Furox]

Change lightning into energy.
Then you can still have lightning attacks but also moves that distort time or allow you to leech health (or other stat) from an enemy.

[lmbarns]

Looks like we're working on almost the same thing :D, except I only have 4 runes, air, fire, water, earth, which can combine to make 14 spells.

But they're different, mine's part of a hacknslash rpg on android OS for tablets/phones so you touch the icons to load your spell then press attack to send it, selecting no runes and pressing attack simply does a melee swing.

It's a good concept for more than just magic, survival horror using combinations of supplies to make attacks, etc.

I roughed out this system a few weeks ago, http://www.youtube.c...=5&feature=plcp


I'll tell you my first 3 spells the player gets are minor heal, bless, and summon moongate. They don't get any projectiles until the 4th runestone, which takes their number of spells from 7-14 all at once. But they'll be familiar with the 7 because they're introduced over time so the player can learn them. I wouldn't expect players to learn all 32 spells with twice as many ingredients, you may let players create a hotbar of a few combos they want to save, then they can go back to testing new ones, when they get something they like, they can sticky it to their hotbar.

For a spell idea, Toxic or Acid Rain, highest level earth magic spell, creates a storm of green rain over the target that lasts 3 turns, doing damage ticks each turn.

[Fippe94]

Change lightning into energy.
Then you can still have lightning attacks but also moves that distort time or allow you to leech health (or other stat) from an enemy.

Good idea, but I don't really see it as necessary. The elements in my game doesn't always directly influence the spell, for example most shield spells are combinations with earth in them, even though they don't really have something to do with earth. The elements stands for different concepts, like most damage spells is fire and lightning, and most shield spells is earth-based. So in the same way I could make lightning be energy too, even though it's still called lightning, if you understand what I mean.

I wouldn't expect players to learn all 32 spells with twice as many ingredients, you may let players create a hotbar of a few combos they want to save, then they can go back to testing new ones, when they get something they like, they can sticky it to their hotbar.

Well, the thing is, it is no rpg, there is only magic duels. There is no movement or anything else than the spells. And you only have 4 elements in battle, making a total of 10 spells that you can use. I am planning to have some kind of spell book that you can read through in the menu or something. And in-game there will be a short description of each spell that you choose.

[chance]

Well, the thing is, it is no rpg, there is only magic duels. There is no movement or anything else than the spells. And you only have 4 elements in battle, making a total of 10 spells that you can use.

Offhand, that sounds rather limited. I'm wondering whether it might lead to stalemate, more often than not. Or worse, lead to a "tic tac toe" outcome where the first player always wins by casting the right spell.

Since the offensive/defensive spells aren't all defined yet, I'm just speculating. But have you considered this?

EDIT: ipasoy bym

Edited by chance, 07 May 2012 - 11:02 AM.

[dannyjenn]

lead to a "tic tac toe" outcome where the first player always wins

The first player in tic tac toe doesn't always win... if played right then there is never a winner. If a player messes up then the other player can win regardless of moving first or second.

Anyway, here's the combos (although none of this includes any defensive sort of spells other than lowering accuracy)...

- Fire + Earth - Lava (not sure what the effect would be... maybe offensive, but I can see it being used defensively (especialy to lower the opponent's speed))
- Fire + Water - Steam (lowers the opponent's (or both playerss) accuracy and perhaps does some damage) or Boiling Water (offensive spell)
- Fire + Air - Embers (maybe an offensive spell)
- Fire + Fire - maybe Explosion? Or an extremely powerful Fire attack (offensive spell, perhaps damaging the user as well)
- Fire + Ice - weak Water spell, practically useless
- Fire + Light - Solar Flare (damages as well as lowers accuracy)
- Fire + Lightning - Meteor (offenseive spell). Meteors really don't have anything to do with lightning, but both shoot out of the sky extremely quickly
- Fire + Darkness - Black Flame (no idea what that does)... or Hellfire (Darkness taken to be evil)
- Earth + Earth - Earthquake (possibly damages the user as well as the enemy)
- Earth + Water - Mud / Quicksand (lowers opponent's speed)
- Earth + Air - Sandstorm (does damage to the opponent (or both players), as well as lowering the opponent's (or both players's) accuracy)
- Earth + Ice - Tundra (not sure what that does) or perhaps Crystal (again, not sure what it does)
- Earth + Light - no idea
- Earth + Lightning - no idea
- Earth + Darkness - Eclipse (not sure what it does... maybe lower both players's accuracy)
- Water + Water - Tsunami or Flood (damages both players as well as having an after-effect)... or perhaps Maelstrom (maybe a continuous attack)
- Water + Air - Fog (lowers opponent's (or both player's) accuracy)
- Water + Ice - Cold Water (offensive spell)
- Water + Light - Clear Water (maybe increases the user's accuracy)
- Water + Ligtning - Hydrolysis (not sure what it would do) or perhaps just a powerful Lightning attack using the water as a guide
- Water + Darkness - Murky Water (maybe decreases the opponent's accuracy)
- Air + Air - Tornado or Hurricane (offensive... maybe damages both players)
- Air + Ice - Diamond Dust (offensive and maybe lessens accuracy)
- Air + Light - no idea
- Air + Lightning - Static (makes the target (or perhaps both players) more prone to Lightning attacks)
- Air + Darkness - no idea
- Ice + Ice - Blizzard (damages as well as lowers accuracy)
- Ice + Light - Rainbow (not sure what it does)
- Ice + Lightning - Aurora (not sure what it does)... Aurora has nothing to do with Ice really, or even Lightning... so maybe this is a bad idea
- Ice + Darkness - no idea
- Light + Light - powerful light attack
- Light + Lightning - no idea
- Light + Darkness - no idea
- Lightning + Lightning - Thunder (a powerful offensive spell)
- Lightning + Darkness - no idea
- Darkness + Darkness - Conceal (lowers opponent's accuracy) or a powerful Darkness (perhaps evil) attack

Also, I suggest you add 9 more spells... single element spells (weaker than using 2 of the same element, but without any negative effect) and no element at all (more like a "pass" option, allowing the player to not waste any element that turn)

And maybe even instead of using combinations, you use permeatations. Fire + Earth might be Lava, but Earth + Fire might be something entirely different. In fact, that could add to the whole fact that some elements (like Earth) might have a defensive nature while others (such as Fire) might have an offensive nature... use Fire in combination with Earth for an offensive attack... use Earth in combination with Fire for a defensive attack.

If you do all of this, you'd have a total of 65 spells... which would take more planning but the player would have many more options and it could add a whole new level of strategy.

Edited by dannyjenn, 07 May 2012 - 02:27 PM.

[Fippe94]

Or worse, lead to a "tic tac toe" outcome where the first player always wins by casting the right spell.

This will never happen, because both players choose a spell, and then both spells are used at the same time. So there is no "first player".

Anyway, here's the combos (although none of this includes any defensive sort of spells other than lowering accuracy)...

Thanks a lot! I'm not sure how many of these I will use, and I have combos for many already, but you definetly gave me lots of good spells and ideas.

Also, I suggest you add 9 more spells... single element spells (weaker than using 2 of the same element, but without any negative effect) and no element at all (more like a "pass" option, allowing the player to not waste any element that turn)

I'm not sure about the single element spells, but I might add them. As for the pass option, good idea, I've never thought about it.

And maybe even instead of using combinations, you use permeatations. Fire + Earth might be Lava, but Earth + Fire might be something entirely different.

I have thought about this, but it's just too much spells to come up with. Since I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with spells right now, double that maount would just be way too much. It MAY be something to think about once I've added all of the current combos, but I doubt it.

[maxriderules]

I think maybe instead of having 'combos' leading to meteors etc., you could copy magicka. That is to say, lightning means a chained lightning attack medium, earth creates elemental rocks to throw, and certain key combinations could be spells or even new elements (fire+water=steam, fire+ice=water, etc. etc)
That way people could find their own unique, effective combinations without you having to cod them in (For example, in Magicka an extremely powerful spell is steam+lightningX2+arcane (basically lazers), which wasn't specifically coded to do what it does, but is nonetheless the most powerful beam in the game.)