Episode 2: Synergies – Gear System 2.0. series

This document presents a new Design iteration around the Gear System of Curse of the Dead Gods. In this second episode of our series, we are exploring synergies.

Lack of synergies

Synergies between the different Gear already exist in the current Alpha but are either long to create (due to the lack of regular Loot) or not likely to be even possible (randomness with few items to collect are less likely to create great synergies). With increased Gear variety that is likely to come, more ways of making synergies are needed.

→ Synergies are what makes a run unique and add to the feeling that “choices matter”

More synergies!

Synergies are formed by the association of Weapons, Relics, and Statistics. While the current Alpha state of the game proposes some good synergies, we plan to add a new layer of possibilities to open up for quicker and more complex synergies.

Keywords & New Effects:

Introducing new concepts in the game allows to open up some way of empowering, such as:

Critical Hits: Some moves can be naturally (or transformed by Gear into) Critical Hits, increasing damage by a Critical modifier (+50%, Can be improved by Gear).
Main, Off-Hand, Two-Handed Weapons: Relic upgrades may specify what kind of weapon they apply instead of being generic.

They are more to come that are still work in progress.

Natural Combos:

Elementary rules in the game will play a more important part by triggering special effects when they are combined:

Fire applied on a Poisoned character triggers en explosion of Felfire, lighting him up and instantly dealing damage equal to poison remaining on the character.
Poison applied on a Burning character extinguishes him but lasts X% longer with increased damage.
Dark attacks are CRITICAL on Poisoned Enemies or explosive when striking a Burning enemy.

The lightening element is still a work in progress and will complete the elementary rules.

All these Natural Combos will be possibly improved by Gear.

Affixed Weapons:

In the Alpha state of Curse of the Dead Gods, Weapons can have one single special attribute, giving a special affinity for that Gear. We plan to develop this to give the possibility for Weapons to carry multiple effects:

Major Effect: One Major effect that tends to be unique per Weapon (e.g. Elementary Attacks (Fire, Poison, Dark) or Special Projectile on a Weapon, etc.)
Affixes: One or more minor effects can be affixed to a Weapon, to give it a particular flavor. Weapons of better quality carry more affixes. (e.g.+X% damage to Burning characters, Piercing Projectiles, Critical Hits deal 100% more damage)

Affixes are RANDOMLY chosen between those acceptable by the given Weapon.

Improved Relics:

Relics bring powerful passive powers to the player. They will be reworked to:

Have a limited amount of Relics Slots, to encourage players to select the most adequate ones.
Scale with the game progression so more powerful Relics will always come in play and tease the player to gain power.
Relics at higher levels will bring, along with their main power, increasing amounts of Statistics buffs (Constitution/Dexterity/Greed).
Produce new synergies according to new features/game elements.

Rescaled Statistics:

Statistics are the natural power leveling of the main character. In the Alpha version, they were only acquired by dedicated shrines’ offerings or more exceptionally with some specific rare Relics.
Statistics are planned to be lowered significantly in terms of how much power each point gives, but they will be present in Advanced Relics as an extra passive attribute (like affixes), making them more common to upgrade.
Statistics Shrines will continue to propose huge buffs of Statistics without the cost of a Relic.
Have a limited amount of Stats Slots, making them an always interesting choice especially when it comes to strengthening specific synergies.

Expect More Content:

New Gear System will, of course, add a lot of content:

New Fighting Styles to come: New Main, Off-Hand and Two-Handed Styles.
New Weapons: Main attributes will be reworked, Dozens of affixes will be added to the mix.
New Relics: New attributes opening up to new synergies.
New Curses: More chaos to come!

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Thanks for reading and playing!

We hope you enjoy those new ideas and this series! Those features are not implemented in the game yet but should be a part of an upcoming update. If you have any feedback or question, drop a comment in the comment section below.

Next episode will dive into Game Scaling, stay tuned!

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