BLANK PILLARS OF ETERNITY MAP UPDATE

BLANK PILLARS OF ETERNITY MAP UPDATE

There is months of work in this update so changes are too numerous to mention in a lot of cases. How can feats and spells take optimal advantage of the combat system?.What are some interesting combat-role archetypes for both enemies and PCs?.What types of terrain layout make for the most fun combat whilst avoiding overly dominant strategies (such as defending doorways)?.How do I visualize all the different options players might have during combat in a good way?.What are the best controls for combat and what is the optimal relationship between keyboard and mouse input?.How much information does the player need and how do I present it in the best way?.There’s also a number of issues I need to explore: it should serve as a tool for storytelling) Combat should be narratively expressive (e.i.Combat should stay tactically interesting from early to late game.The main design principles for combat moving forward are:

It doesn’t really take advantage of it’s new form yet, but I need to get some play-testing done none the less: Both to weed out bugs and to get a basis for improving the system. The combat system as it is in the coming update is still pretty bare-bones. You can approach enemies from different directions, become surrounded or attempt to use the terrain to your advantage.Ĭombat isn’t the only subsystem that is being adapted to this shift in design mentality. This will make it possible to interact with terrain during combat, NPCs will join fights and destruction will linger after combat ends. Placing combat on the map itself was a natural consequence of this. However, as I’ve begun designing levels, it has occurred to me that interacting with the physicality of the world, could not be seen as a separate aspect of game-play: The physical layout of the game world is the canvas that encompasses all other aspects of the game and combat, dialogue and exploration is made more interesting by the fact that it takes place in a “physical” world with components that interact with, and affect each other. In other words, it no longer swaps to a separate combat map.Īs I’ve been developing the game, one of the biggest shifts in my approach to designing SKALD, has been in level design: I originally saw exploration of the physical spaces of the game to be a distinct pillar of game-play alongside combat, character development and interaction. The beta build (1.2.0) is up on itch.io for testers right now! SKALD has gotten a huge update to its combat system (as well as some new features) and I can’t wait for you to have a look at it! The New Combat SystemĬombat is now resolved directly on the map itself.

Blank pillars of eternity map