Настроение:	accomplished
Entry tags:	gamedev

Spell of Mastery Rewrite Progress
In the old iterations of the game all characters were kinda the samey: every character had HP, attack and defense, which in my case served as an input to a timer, specifying the number of turns required for a unit with given attack to hit a target with given defense. HP is a major reason everything feels the same, they basically abstract entire character into a single number. Then I also had the boring whole-party turn-based system, where you have a chore to move every unit every turn and then press end-turn. That gets was especially tedious when player had to just move units from one part of the map to another or repeated order to attack enemy every turn. So I had to overhaul everything.
1. Converted the engine to use the Final Fantasy Tactics and Vandal Hearts inspired CT=100 scheduling, which can run in real-time turn based mode, similar to Monstania, so two players can do their turns simultaneously and they commence when all units have orders, without the need to press-end turn. Obviously the FFT scheduling allows for pure real-time too with player selectable speed.
2. Implemented mammal body model to allow stuff like limb loss, bleeding, burns. Basically every unit has 0:100 energy scale, which simulates blood and heart function, and distantly resembles hit points. Then unit has skin, body and spiritual structure, different for each type of unit. Together they influence the effective energy.
3. Implemented fatum system based on the custom astrology system to serve as a base for controllable non-determinism and periodic cycles. As I explained earlier, the intention was to both have random number generator and give the player control over it. It allows for truly crazy stuff, like lowering the luck of an area, so characters entering it will start breaking legs. It want to use it to implement unique enemies, like The Lovecraftian Colour Out of Space type monster. Again, I'm trying to eliminate grinding and don't want just another boring damage-sponge boss.
4. Implemented multidimension diseases and mental condition, mixed with astrological signs.
5. Implemented squads of up to 5 units. The goal is to simplify micromanagement and as well enhance tactical depth. A squad can be vulnerable to area of effect attacks, but at the same time allows protecting say leader or weaker units in a formation. It is also mandatory for more flexible monsters like Hydra, having several heads, or dragon having separately targetable limbs.

Now I need to polish, balance and debug everything.