Last 24 Hours To Go; Brand New Combat System in Sandrock
Last 24 hours to go!
Our KICKSTARTER campaign is almost over: less than 24 hours left!
To those still on the fence: this is your last chance to explore Sandrock ahead of the crowd and earn exclusive content!
Also - If you want to learn more about Sandrock and us, check out our AMA, and for a peek at the exclusive content we're designing for backers, check out our Exclusive Wedding Clothes and Pet concept art!
Brand New Combat System in Sandrock
Once upon a time in Portia, there was a very simple combat system... -- Too simple, in fact! We wanted the combat system to be simple and casual; punishing gameplay mechanics didn't really feel right in Portia. The simple hit and dodge system we ended up with was fine and low pressure, but by the end of a long playthrough, pretty much every player was fed up with it. So, we're trying some new things to freshen up the combat in My Time at Sandrock, without giving up on our original philosophy of casual fun.
The difference players will notice first, of course, is the visual upgrade to the attacks! All of the moves in Sandrock will be fancy and fun to see executed. The main mechanical difference we've added to Sandrock is a "break" system, where players will be able to "break" an enemy's defense, then go all out and wail on 'em! Each enemy will have a level of "toughness" that can be broken through, and certain enemies will be easier to "break" with certain weapons or effects (more on this later). When an enemy's "toughness" reaches 0, an explosive visual signifier will play, their defense will be broken, and then the enemies will flinch at your attacks! We think this will make combat a bit more thoughtful and fun without weighing people down, and also create a more satisfying rhythm of gameplay for outdoor exploration and dungeon crawling.
Many players complained that combat in Portia is monotonous due to the binary toolkit: you can either attack or roll, and that's about it. The only feature we had that gave any room for creativity was limiting the number of rolls a player could make with the stamina bar. Beyond improving things with the 'break' system, we've brought in some experienced combat designers and programmers to help out our team and bring more creativity to combat; they began working on the Sandrock combat system in March 2019 and they've been hard at work since!
Let's look at some early-stage examples from My Time at Sandrock. First, we've made attacking and dodging more fluid:
Next, here's an example of creative solutions we're adding into combat:
This charming fellow here has a number of hammer smashing attacks he wants to flatten you with, but he's a bit clumsy, so you can bait him into hitting electric panels, which will shock him and break his guard! Little things like this we think will give combat more flavor while still keeping it casual.
More on the "toughness" and "break" systems we mentioned before: each piece of equipment will have lots of randomized attributes that can be influenced by the quality of materials you use to make them. In addition to having different feels to them, different weapons will 'break' certain enemies more quickly and can even gain additional 'break' effectiveness from other pieces of equipment, rewarding players who build better equipment with the ability to cut through enemies' defenses like butter!
Other things we're trying out include a new skill tree, unique weapon attacks, and attributes that increase as you spend more time using a tool or weapon...
If this is all starting to sound complicated, don't worry! Keeping things casual is still a core aspect of our design; as we add all this new stuff, we won't punish players harshly for opting out. Mastery of the new combat systems will just allow for deeper dungeon exploration: areas that are not necessary to complete the main story. Those who do dare to adventure deeper may stumble upon some very fine treasures however...
That's all for now! As we move onward and into the beta, we look forward to testing out our new mechanics with you and getting feedback from our players! We hope to add more skills, more fun ways to defeat enemies, new 'break' effects, weapon switch combos... sky's the limit! See you there, Sandrockers!
Please support My Time At Sandrock on Kickstarter, here’s the link, less than 24 hours left:
[h2]KICKSTARTER[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084600/My_Time_at_Sandrock/
If you do pick up the game don't forget to join us in the forums to chat with other players and get tips!
If you want to learn more about Sandrock, join our
[h3]Discord[/h3]
Our KICKSTARTER campaign is almost over: less than 24 hours left!
To those still on the fence: this is your last chance to explore Sandrock ahead of the crowd and earn exclusive content!
Also - If you want to learn more about Sandrock and us, check out our AMA, and for a peek at the exclusive content we're designing for backers, check out our Exclusive Wedding Clothes and Pet concept art!
Brand New Combat System in Sandrock
Once upon a time in Portia, there was a very simple combat system... -- Too simple, in fact! We wanted the combat system to be simple and casual; punishing gameplay mechanics didn't really feel right in Portia. The simple hit and dodge system we ended up with was fine and low pressure, but by the end of a long playthrough, pretty much every player was fed up with it. So, we're trying some new things to freshen up the combat in My Time at Sandrock, without giving up on our original philosophy of casual fun.
The difference players will notice first, of course, is the visual upgrade to the attacks! All of the moves in Sandrock will be fancy and fun to see executed. The main mechanical difference we've added to Sandrock is a "break" system, where players will be able to "break" an enemy's defense, then go all out and wail on 'em! Each enemy will have a level of "toughness" that can be broken through, and certain enemies will be easier to "break" with certain weapons or effects (more on this later). When an enemy's "toughness" reaches 0, an explosive visual signifier will play, their defense will be broken, and then the enemies will flinch at your attacks! We think this will make combat a bit more thoughtful and fun without weighing people down, and also create a more satisfying rhythm of gameplay for outdoor exploration and dungeon crawling.
Many players complained that combat in Portia is monotonous due to the binary toolkit: you can either attack or roll, and that's about it. The only feature we had that gave any room for creativity was limiting the number of rolls a player could make with the stamina bar. Beyond improving things with the 'break' system, we've brought in some experienced combat designers and programmers to help out our team and bring more creativity to combat; they began working on the Sandrock combat system in March 2019 and they've been hard at work since!
Let's look at some early-stage examples from My Time at Sandrock. First, we've made attacking and dodging more fluid:
Next, here's an example of creative solutions we're adding into combat:
This charming fellow here has a number of hammer smashing attacks he wants to flatten you with, but he's a bit clumsy, so you can bait him into hitting electric panels, which will shock him and break his guard! Little things like this we think will give combat more flavor while still keeping it casual.
More on the "toughness" and "break" systems we mentioned before: each piece of equipment will have lots of randomized attributes that can be influenced by the quality of materials you use to make them. In addition to having different feels to them, different weapons will 'break' certain enemies more quickly and can even gain additional 'break' effectiveness from other pieces of equipment, rewarding players who build better equipment with the ability to cut through enemies' defenses like butter!
Other things we're trying out include a new skill tree, unique weapon attacks, and attributes that increase as you spend more time using a tool or weapon...
If this is all starting to sound complicated, don't worry! Keeping things casual is still a core aspect of our design; as we add all this new stuff, we won't punish players harshly for opting out. Mastery of the new combat systems will just allow for deeper dungeon exploration: areas that are not necessary to complete the main story. Those who do dare to adventure deeper may stumble upon some very fine treasures however...
That's all for now! As we move onward and into the beta, we look forward to testing out our new mechanics with you and getting feedback from our players! We hope to add more skills, more fun ways to defeat enemies, new 'break' effects, weapon switch combos... sky's the limit! See you there, Sandrockers!
Please support My Time At Sandrock on Kickstarter, here’s the link, less than 24 hours left:
[h2]KICKSTARTER[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084600/My_Time_at_Sandrock/
If you do pick up the game don't forget to join us in the forums to chat with other players and get tips!
If you want to learn more about Sandrock, join our
[h3]Discord[/h3]
