Mid-March Mischief Manor Update! 🦇 (Patreon)

Hello guys!

Its halfway through March, and I wanted to give you some updates on Mischief Manor's current progress!

I've been planning and makes some decisions on the games story / scene / combat systems! I took a pause on working on the Menu since it was a bit confusing to be adding combat stats when I didn't have a working prototype / idea! (Whoops!) 

Don't worry, this is why I made the decision to start experimenting with some ideas. I have some footage you can watch in the server! (Since I can't upload the video here!)

Combat System Prototype:

The core of the combat system resembles an Auto Battler. The reason i decided this was because I wanted a simple and streamlined system where the player can sort of hands off some of the gameplay, letting the AI take control over farming or repeat content. The goal was to make a system where you can customize and setup a build of characters that you wish to use, and have them beat down enemies as you watch and command them to!

I also wanted to have the player have some control other their skills, which you can! Turning off Auto Mode will let you directly use their abilities, so you can play the characters yourself if so desired! This will bring advantages, since you can use certain skills or time powerful attacks to effectively bring enemies down quicker and more efficiently. Some encounters may require direct control so you will have the option to use both!

*Now this is something I'm currently working on, and isnt in the video demonstration*

Another thing I wanted was to allow the player to be able to prioritize certain targets, which a lot of autobattlers either let you do or not. I like the idea to focus down certain enemies, so I am designing a system which lets you target specific rows of enemies.

Currently, there aren't any rows but with the layout for the combat arena, each character will be assigned to a "row role":

Frontline Characters: These characters will function as the main aggressors. Frontline characters will be targeted more often and will be the wall that protects the lines behind them. Most enemies will focus down the targets directly in front of them, so these characters will be generally defensive with some exceptions.

Midline Characters: These are a bit of a mix of different roles. They can be the most variable, as they are stronger than frontline characters damage wise, but have less defense. They generally support the your frontliners by dealing damage to the enemy's front and supporting them. They may have abilities to attack other positions, such as they enemy's mid and back.

Backline Characters: These are generally the strongest characters in terms of damage, but have the worst HP and defenses. They can generally attack any position due to their superior ranged attacks and abilities. This also means the enemy's back can also do the same.

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Now with that explained, I want you to also allow your characters to prioritize attacking specific enemy lines. The idea is that if you want take out the enemy's ranged attackers first, you can. Since the front line will generally be tanky and harder to kill. 

Although, mid and front line player character may not be able to target the enemy's back, but you can still command them to focus them down. Each character's abilities are different and can hit specific enemies positions, so you'll have to plan around the encounter.

That's just the basics of the combat on the fundamental level of the system. It's a bit like princess connect and some other rpg gachas but I wanted there to be a bit more depth.

Last thing I want to say about the combat system is that the characters will have skills and "finishers" which are similar to like an ultimate. Skills are generally long cooldown abilities you can use to change the battle. Finishers act like ults which you can choose to use, generally dealing a lot of damage. 

I didn't like the idea that each character only has 1 "Ult" so i wanted to go with the idea that you can activate different ones (or let the AI choose) based on the situation. They would also cost different amounts of their Special Bar.

An example would be that there's a lot of enemies and you want to burst them down quickly. So you use Sistine's aoe finisher to blast them quickly. Or you get a boss in a weak state and you want to burst them down, so you use Sistine's big single target attack to nuke it. Stuff like that.

So I'll be working on that while doing other stuff for the game, which I'll keep you guys up to date on!

Other Updates (Art, UI, Plans)

With a clearer idea of the combat, I can continue planning the game's story, combat encounters, bosses and progression out. So I'll be doing that, while working on art and other important systems in the game over time.

Started updating some of the menu Icons with non-placeholder art, still got a lot to do but I take it a day at a time! Here's a preview of Familiars Menu with some of the art.

I also added the Outfits part of the Menu, and I'll be tweeking what's going to be displayed here since I also want to make a Compendium / Journal which will track your progress. Here's the Outfit Menu in the editor:

So that's mostly all I want to talk about! They'll be another update in April 1st! Look forward to my progress until then!

Oh and I'll be posting random art I finish as I can, so you can expect some content while I develop stuff in the backend. Thanks for sticking around! Until next time! ♥