It’s time for fightin’

In one corner we have Muffles. The faceless fighter; the silenced slugger. Stripped of their very identity, all they have left is an ugly mug and their fists.

And in the other corner… are all matter of Drachencrag’s unsightly residents! From convicts to guards to nasty little creatures that skitter under the castle’s ancient floors

My week working on combat

This last week has been busy busy, and I’ve been making some critical updates and additions to the MLS combat system.

The biggest initial problem facing me was how to turn my simple RPG combat that was essentially ‘traditional RPG abilities but on cards’ into something with more depth and strategy. I needed to add the secret ingredient that would have you thinking about your future turns, and give enemies far more interesting actions.

The system came together when I combined two disparate parts- playing cards to fulfill actions + status bars that accumulate and activate when full. For example- playing a card that does 6 damage and fills up the enemy’s Stagger by 20%.

It took a lot of finagling and testing to strike the right balance and leverage the parts of these systems to compliment each other the best. But as of now, things are paying off and combat is feeling pretty good!

You mentioned cards? What are these cards? How do I get them?

New cards are purchased via spending Glimmer- a currency you acquire largely by beating enemies in fights. Glimmer can be spent IN YOUR MIND to purchase new abilities from enemies and characters you’ve killed.

To show off a card I’ve been working on- here’s Flying Fists. It’s purchaseable early on and is a powerful card.

After playing your deck will gain 3 Free Punch cards, which are no-cost cards that deal damage AND Stagger. Innate means that this card will appear in your hand on Turn 1, and Exhaust means that it can only be played once per combat.

To compensate for the card’s strength, it costs a decent bit of Glimmer to purchase and requires a fair amount of Brain Space to add to your deck. All cards have an amount of Brain Space they take up- making you have to choose what to include in your deck carefully, as well as finding upgrades in the world that increase how much space you’ve got.

Card combat? In an RPG?

I love card combat and deckbuilder games- games like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Inscryption, Wildfrost, and Across the Obelisk to name a few. Turn-based strategy games where every moment of combat hinges on what the next card you play will be.

But one thing all these games have in common is they are roguelites- and MLS is an RPG! Which meant I would have to take a very different approach to how combat works for Muffles and the gang.

There are no random encounters to grind on in MLS. Most fights are crafted and part of story progression- but that’s not to say there aren’t optional fights and bosses to beat!

There’s a LOT more I could touch on regarding combat, especially on how the visuals for things were made, but that’s too much to touch on in 1 post.

In other news…

I’m going to need to rest a bit this weekend after how busy my last week has been. Going to take some walks, eat some good food, and probably play some Valheim.

In terms of next week’s update, I’m thinking I’ll touch on the sound design for Muffles- I could talk about music, sound effects, or how I got a deep guttural sound for when Dee pulls keys out of their stomach.