Dev Diary #57 - Astral Barrens & Cataclysms
[p]Hello again, hares and other swift folk! Welcome to another Dev Diary about our upcoming Culture Pack: Rise from Ruin! I’m Bas, a Senior Designer at Triumph Studios, and this time I’ll be your guide as we sand walk and reconsider spellcasting through the Devouring Winds crisis![/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]The Design Origin[/p][p]For this Culture Pack, we wanted to introduce a theme of anti-magic to challenge parts of the meta that currently exists within the game: Stacking transformations and unit enchantments to create super units and an overabundance of spellcasting by combining sources of casting points.[/p][p]We decided we wanted something environmental that was different from the low-magic Warlord Tomes. Furthermore, we wanted to complement the more mobile strategic gameplay of the new Nomad culture and introduce a new line of Units that countered heavy use of magic.[/p][p]Combining this all together was a narrative inspired by Radiophobia and Nuclear Anxiety, a post-nuclear fantasy. With excessive spellcasting and experimentation with magic creating some kind of enormous disaster that eroded realms, making them inhospitable to magical beings and making future spellcasting dangerous.[/p][p]Putting all those elements into our development cooking pot, out came the Devouring Winds crisis![/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]The Devouring Winds[/p][p]The phenomenon called the Devouring Winds is a destructive tempest spanning an entire realm. These winds siphon magic and twist it into new unpredictable forms and culminate into Fractures, which are tears in the fabric of Mana and Magic itself.[/p][p]How could such terrible anomalies come to be? To find out, you must investigate the realms that are rumored to be the source of the Devouring Winds and investigate an archaic collective of wizards known as the Unmakers.[/p][p]You can start your own journey either on the new Realm Template called the Fractured Realm, or make your own realm affected by the Devouring Winds with the Echoes of the Fracturing Realm trait. Let’s dive into what this all means in terms of gameplay![/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]The Crisis[/p][p]When starting in a realm with the Devouring Winds, a “Cataclysm” meter is added right beside the minimap. The number at the bottom of the meter shows us the current level the crisis is at, and a vertical progress bar shows the progress towards the next Cataclysm.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Whenever you cast a world map spell with this crisis active, the Cataclysm meter’s progress increases with the amount of casting points that were spent. The progress towards the Cataclysm is shared between all players, meaning everyone contributes to the meter together. Once the meter is filled... BOOM! A Cataclysm triggers![/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Cataclysms[/p][p]A Cataclysm is a realm-sized explosion that targets specific provinces on both the Surface and Underground (not even you molefolk are safe). It destroys whatever was in the center of the province and spawns Fleeting Fracturing Infestations. But don’t worry, the Devouring Winds do not deliberately target City Cores or Ancient Wonders. Improvements that can be disconnected, however, are fair game.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Fleeting Fracturing Infestations are temporary infestations that spread Astral Barrens terrain and are inhabited by the Mana-Starved Units such as the Fractured Evoker.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]These Mana-Starved units become stronger when attacked by magical attacks or spells. They also apply Mana-Drained and Disrupted on enemy units, the former status effect disables any Magic ability units have, so support and battlemages beware![/p][p]So that’s the kind of creatures inhabiting the Fracturing Infestations—what about that new terrain type that it spreads?[/p][p]Astral Barrens[/p][p]The Astral Barrens terrain type is similar to the Desert terrain, primarily consisting of Sand and Mountain features to create a landscape of windswept erosion where magic is siphoned out completely.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Any Nodes present in Astral Barrens will instantly get Ruined and cannot be restored until the Astral Barrens is gone. The primary way to get rid of it is by destroying the Fracturing Infestations that spread the terrain.[/p][p]In addition to ruining Nodes, all Mana income is nullified in the province and Magic Origin Units cannot regenerate in the World Map while within Astral Barrens. In general, it's a bad time for anything magically involved.[/p][p]Meanwhile, in combat, several Fractures are present that apply Disrupted and Mana Drained to units passing through them. They also multiply whenever someone casts a spell![/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]The strategic effects of Astral Barrens earlier in development were even harsher: its previous effects were:[/p][p]● All Units could not regenerate HP[/p][p]● Magic Origin units instead lost HP every turn[/p][p]● All Units’ mana upkeep was increased by 100%[/p][p]● All mana income is inverted, meaning that any mana you’d gain in the province would instead be lost.[/p][p]All this turned out to be too much, as players were somewhat forced to head into this terrain to get rid of it. So we decided to tune it down so it's still a terrain to generally avoid, but it wouldn't ruin your entire mana economy if you accidentally walked into it with a full stack of summoned units for 1 turn, or a whopping Mana income from an SPI turned into a Mana black hole when the province converted to Astral Barrens.[/p][p]One effect that Astral Barrens still retained, though, and hasn’t been mentioned yet, is that it adds a 20% chance for spells to backfire. Now that’s a new term we haven’t heard before: let’s talk about it![/p][p]Spell Backfiring[/p][p]One of my personal favorite mechanics in games with spellcasting is unexpected side effects or catastrophic failures. They make magic truly feel like playing with fire—powerful but dangerous![/p][p]Since we were looking for ways to challenge the spellcasting meta, we thought it’d be fun to introduce our own version of this mechanic as a way to make spellcasting less reliable, and so the Spell Backfiring system was created![/p][p]Whenever you cast a spell now in Age of Wonders 4 you can get a chance for the spell to backfire, such as when casting inside Astral Barrens.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]When you cast a spell with a backfire chance, you’ll immediately be informed if the spell has backfired. If it did, a new effect is added to the spell; this is where our unique twist to the mechanic comes into play: since our spells are data driven, we can actually check what kind of targets the spell had and add new effects that can affect those targets![/p][p]If you target a unit, for example, we can simply add a healing effect to the units that were affected by the spell. If you targeted a position, we can instead turn that position on fire! This is different from other versions of this mechanic, in which unrelated events are applied that do not interact with the spell that was cast.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Of course, some spells are very unique and have very specific target requirements or they simply apply as a global effect; in those cases, we have plenty of fallback effects that can always be added and usually target the player that cast the spell.[/p][p]The Devouring Winds is one major source of Backfiring chance, as each level of the Cataclysm Meter adds a 10% chance to all spells, both world map and combat. However, cunning Godir may find ways to counteract this or weaponize it, by venturing into one of the Fated Regions of the Unmakers![/p][p]The Fated Regions[/p][p]Similar to the Legends of Myrrida realm trait, the Echoes of the Fracturing adds a set of Fated Regions to the world map which can be explored to uncover who the Unmakers were and how the Devouring Winds came to be. Unlike the Legends of Myrrida realm trait however, these do not contain multiple sets that rotate but use a single set of 4 regions.[/p][p]Below are some spoilers for the Fated Regions, so tread lightly! Or else skip ahead and leave these mysteries to be uncovered by yourself when Rise from Ruin releases.[/p]![]()
[/p][p]Since the name of the culture pack is Rise from Ruin, and the experience so far with the crisis has been one of peril, we wanted to give the players something to strive for and reward them with tools to combat the crisis. This is why we created these Fractured Fated Regions and award players who clear them with Artifacts![/p][p]Each fated region comes with specific challenges and tells a different story that shines a light on the origin of the Devouring Winds and the Unmakers who were responsible. The Artifacts players can get at the end of each fated region are the creations or unexpected results of the Unmakers’ experiments.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]What might these Artifacts do? Well, for one, they allow you to manipulate the Devouring Winds to your own benefit! For example, the Devouring Wind Rose will make all Backfiring effects added to your spells be in your favor, adding positive effects when targeting your own targets and adding negative effects when targeting the enemy.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]But that’s not all! Collect enough of these Artifacts and you gain the ability to fully wield the Devouring Winds, choosing either to heal the realm completely and get rid of the Cataclysm, or weaponizing the winds and achieving a new Victory Condition: The Cataclysm Victory![/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Yes, I totally achieved this legitimately on turn 1…[/p]![]()
[/p][p]Check back in next week when we take a look at some of the revamps we’ve been working on that will come with the free update alongside the Culture Pack! For now, safe travels, and beware the winds.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Follow us and be the first to know when we drop new content![/p]
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[p]Rise from Ruin[/p][p]As you can see, there’s plenty of challenges available for you to try and master. Pack up your settlers and set sail for the nearest Fractured Realm when Rise from Ruin drops on the 9th of March.[/p][p]