SacriFire - Devlog #5 - "Dynamic Turn-Based Combat"

Hello and welcome, everyone!

Today, we’re going to delve briefly into the meat and potatoes of most role-playing games: combat!

As SacriFire pays homage to various icons and eras of the jRPG genre, it shouldn’t be surprising that a similar sentiment found its way into our approach to designing combat. Broadly speaking, our main goal was to bridge classic turn-based fundamentals with more contemporary real-time innovations. We also wanted to avoid meaningless, assembly-line battles that rely on similar scenarios and mindless repetition. It had to be sleek. It had to be challenging. And most of all, it had to be fun. Sounds easy enough, right?

Needless to say: it wasn’t. Keeping things exciting without sacrificing tactical depth can be something of a balancing act, and we’d hate to leave either facet feeling half-baked. Throughout the years, SacriFire’s combat system has gone through numerous iterations, and all of them played very differently, each favoring one part of the gameplay equation over the other. Eventually, after countless hours of poking and prodding, we (hopefully) found a way to make it all gel. We’ve reached a point where combat has finally met our demands. How? Read on!
[hr][/hr][h3]💎 COMBAT INSPIRATIONS[/h3]

If you’re familiar with certain PlayStation RPG classics of yore, some of the concepts employed in SacriFire might strike a chord. For this particular blend of real-time and turn-based mechanics, we drew inspiration from titles such as Valkyrie Profile 2 and Xenogears, with a sprinkling of Vagrant Story here and there for good measure.

Additionally, elements of other, non-RPG games eventually slipped in, which we believe worked to the game’s benefit. As a certain industry legend once said… it just works. *cough*
[hr][/hr][h3]💎 COMBAT FUNDAMENTALS[/h3]

The end result is that SacriFire uses a real-time combat system, but with a twist: time flows only when Ezekiel is moving around the battlefield. Consequently, this means that even in the most gruesome of battles you can always stop and plan your next move. While enemies can surprise you with many different actions and abilities, they are ultimately subject to the flow of time. No movement, no pressure!

Even with fabulous clock-stopping powers on your side, simply swinging your sword around won’t cut it (get it?). All enemies possess innate Affinities which translate into specific damage vulnerabilities. Naturally, exploiting these vulnerabilities is key to success. As Ezekiel is something of a one-man army and doesn’t enjoy the benefit of traditional party building, he has to rely on his shape-changing DIVOS weapon for all his tactical needs instead. Each weapon type takes advantage of a specific Affinity and comes with a unique playstyle attached, encouraging the player to diversify their slaying habits for maximum efficiency. We also tried to play with the usual basic attack concept by introducing combos. By chaining light and heavy attacks together in specific sequences, the resulting combo may gain otherwise absent properties and better help control the flow of battle.

One of the more unique combat aspects in SacriFire that we’re especially proud of is its fluidity. In a way, the game can be as actiony or as deliberate as the player likes. A good example of that can be found in how enemies execute their projectile-based attacks, a game mechanic popularly and affectionately known as “bullet hell”. If real-time dodging isn’t your cup of tea, you can always lean on the time-stopping feature and take it slow. On the other hand, if you want to challenge yourself and feel like you’re playing Ikaruga again, the option is there. The choice is yours!
[hr][/hr][h3]💎 CHARACTER PROGRESSION[/h3]

We’ve already briefly mentioned Ezekiel’s unique weapon, DIVOS, and its unique forms - astras. As the story progresses, our hero will unlock additional forms, and dedicated skill trees along with them. In a traditional RPG fashion, leveling Ezekiel up grants bonus DIVOS points to invest in those trees. It’s not all set in stone, though - aside from predefined perks, each tree comes with empty nodes which can be filled with special Orbs that further allow to develop individual character stats.

That is not to say that skill trees are purely weapon-oriented, however. Skills encompass a broad category of benefits, from simple attacks to magic-like Arts abilities and style-altering passive boons that weave together to become more than just a sum of their parts. There is nuance to be found and distinct character builds to be discovered - so feel free to experiment!
[hr][/hr][h3]💎 SEE YOU AROUND![/h3]

And that’s it for today! Admittedly, we merely took a quick peek at the topic, but we really don’t want to give everything away just yet. We hope that you’ll find joy in unearthing the various nuances of SacriFire’s combat system by yourself.

See you next time!

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