Escape The Mad Empire News

[h2]Devlog #3: Tactical System Overview[/h2]

Escape the Mad Empire is a roguelike tactical RPG, so one of its core pillars is the tactical side. In this development log, we’d like to cover several of the tactical aspects that will be put forward in the game.

What we consider tactical aspects mostly relate to how to position the party or everything that influences how to decide which enemies to target first. Those mechanics work hand in hand with emergent gameplay, which is another core pillar in our game, which will be discussed in another article. Being as important as they are we’ve been putting a lot of work on tactical aspects and we’ll keep pushing those as far as we can throughout development! Here’s a breakdown of the core game mechanics related to tactical gameplay:

[h3]Surface Types[/h3]
Great examples of tactical aspects are terrain and positioning and our most prominent use of terrain mechanics is through surface types. Right now, we have 6 types of surfaces:

• Water - can extinguish a creature on fire, it can conduct electricity and will turn to ice if cold is applied to it.
  
• Ice - has a chance to freeze a character walking on it and it will turn back to water after some time or if warmth is applied to it.
  
• Oil - slows down creatures and will turn to fire if warmth is applied to it.
  
• Fire - sets creatures on fire (fire damage over time - dot) and can be extinguished by water.
  
• Acid - Applies acid to creatures (high damage over time).
  
• Poison - Applies poison to creatures (poison makes creatures less able to fight and causes some damage over time).
  
• Pit - Enemies pushed in a pit die. Characters get lost for a while before coming back
  

Over time, we plan to add more types of surfaces and ways to interact with them. For instance, perhaps we could add the possibility to ‘freeze’ an acid surface and combine dot with freeze status? Another example could be to add more flammable surfaces, like dry leaves or allow the fire to propagate through wooden objects. Another interesting example of terrain effects to add in the future would be height advantages.

[h3]Barrels[/h3]
Barrels introduce another way to have terrain or positioning mechanics.

• Explosive - Explodes with a large area of effect (AOE)
  
• Oil - creates an oil surface.
  
• Acid - creates an acid surface.
  
• Poison - creates a poison surface.
  
• Water - creates a water surface.
  

What’s cool about barrels and surfaces is that they open-up possibilities for chain reactions. For instance, a fire spell sets an oil surface on fire, the fire propagates to an explosive barrel, which damages the surrounding creatures and objects!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Cover[/h3]
Cover is a great example of a positioning mechanic, which takes its inspiration from Xcom 2. A creature can be protected from ranged attacks by 2 types of cover, partial and full, both of them increasing the odds to dodge an attack. The cover offers protection only if it’s placed between the defender and the attacker, encouraging flanking. In order to facilitate the understanding of the defensive effects of cover and other mechanics, the hit % of an attack is displayed overhead the target as a tooltip information.

[h3]Flanking[/h3]
At some point of the development, we were using the classic mechanic of attack of opportunity but we felt that it was encouraging having a static battlefield so we replaced the mechanics with a flanking one. The way flanking works is that every time a creature gets attacked by 2 other creatures at once, it gets a defense penalty and that penalty can only be applied once. The reasoning is that if a creature is distracted, it has a higher chance to be hit from behind. The result is a mechanic that encourages watching over the overall positioning.

[h3]Blocking[/h3]
This mechanic also tries to place some emphasis on positioning and it could also be seen as a derived version of attack of opportunity. The way it works is that an enemy directly placed at the side of a character (diagonals not included) will never move away from him. This helps minimize micro-managing chases around the room and helps strategize more easily the use of tanks and weaker ranged characters. Indeed, because enemies try to target weaker characters, the player can use the ‘block/stick’ mechanic to use another character and intercept the enemy before it reaches the weaker character.

[h3]Tactical uses of Item[/h3]
The importance of items and inventory in the game is extremely high. The general idea is to give as many tools to the player so he can find creative solutions to battle problems. This means giving the player a lot of items, making them powerful, diversified in effects and acting differently depending on context. Here’s a few examples:

• Food - can be used in different ways. It can be used to regenerate a bit of HP out of battles, to replenish the satiety meter (hungry characters fight less effectively) or thrown at monsters to attract and distract them.
  
• Drinks - Can also be used to regenerate HP out of battles, to replenish hydration (a thirsty character loses HP overtime) or to create water or oil surfaces when thrown, depending on the drink. Extinguish fire
  
• Potions - come in different sizes and types and some of them will act differently whether they are drunk or thrown. For instance, drinking a large health potion is more effective but if you throw it, the vapors can heal multiple characters
  
• Arrows - Come in various types, like basic, +1, +2, +3, flaming, ice, lightning, poisoning or charming. Magic arrows work well in combination with the quick attack skill, which allows the player to use a magic arrow instantly on pause. Need to set that oil barrel on fire and you have a flaming arrow? Go for it!
  

Of course there’s many more types of item and we’ll keep adding more over time because they’re so good at enhancing Emergent gameplay, resource management and tactical aspects!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Classes, Magic System and AOE spells[/h3]
Obviously it’s hard to talk about the tactical aspects without giving a short introduction about the magic system. The magic system will be built around classes, without necessarily being limited by it. Without giving much details, because the classes will be discussed further in a different devlog but each class will have its strengths and weaknesses and the associated skills and spells will further differentiate those classes. Some classes will be better on defense, some will be better to inflict damage per second, some will have better spike damage, some will perform crowd control better, etc.

In relation to tactics and terrain, the area of effect (AOE) system of the spells is worth mentioning. Many types of spells will have unique AOE shapes associated with them. Some shapes will be squares, ovals, lines, crosses, cones and so on. The general idea is to introduce a mini-puzzle component that will encourage the player to think about the best AOE shape that could match the actual battlefield configuration. To add depth even further, some of the spells can affect friendly targets and some not.

The AOE shape mechanic works very well in relation with other terrain features, like surfaces or barrel. Perhaps your AOE ice spell can both hit enemies and a water surface to turn it into ice to help you trap that second group of monsters? Maybe that fire spell can hit both that monster weak to fire and that oil surface, which in turn can propagate to that explosive barrel near which a couple of zombies are hanging?
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Crowd Control[/h3]
Speaking of spells, an important mechanic worth mentioning because of its close relation to tactics is crowd control. Crowd control statuses can dramatically affect the battlefield in lots of different ways. Here’s some examples:

• Fear - Running away from enemy
  
• Frozen - Can’t make any action
  
• Charmed - Attacks his allies
  
• Poisoned - Weaker and suffers damage over time
  
• Sleeping - Can’t take any action but will wake up if hurt
  
• Confused - Will move erratically or even attack his allies
  
• Blinded - Suffers attack and defense penalty
  
• Paralyzed - Can’t make any action and easier to crit
  
• Stunned - Can’t make any action for a short period of time
  
• Petrified - Can’t make any action but can’t be hurt either
  

Other kinds of statuses can also affect the battlefield in tactical ways. For instance a burning creature walking on an oil surface will set the whole surface ablaze.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Conclusion[/h3]
There’s other game mechanics that will have an impact on tactical aspects but we’ve probably covered the most important ones for now. Obviously there’s other systems from the game that interact with tactical decisions, like resources management, party composition, monster mechanics, magic items mechanics, character stats or combat formulas but those will be addressed in other devlogs. Of course we’ll keep adding even more tactical depth over time by introducing new items and mechanics!

[h2]Bridging real-time with turn-based combat[/h2]
The most important part of the game is probably its combat system. It combines the strengths of real-time and turn-based combat systems by offering precision of controls while maintaining a high combat pace. It also tries to empower the player, setting the perfect ground for emergent gameplay, which is injected through a multitude of magic items and game mechanics. We’ll try our best to explain the basic elements of this combat system but it can be summarized by:

• Deploy your characters
  
• Engage in real-time combat
  
• Chose when to launch a series of instant-attacks on pause
  
• Use magic arrows and bonus actions on pause
  
• Turn the combat around!
  

[h3]Real-time party-based combat[/h3]
At its core, the game uses a simple real-time party-based combat system. Completed by a skills-based system, it reminds of other tactical RPG games like Baldur’s Gate II, Pillars of Eternity, Dragon Age, etc. Each character can be deployed to a tile to protect or an enemy to target. Once in place, the character will attack automatically with its basic attacks. Targets and actions can be overridden by the player at will. The player also chooses the proper moment to use the skills/spells associated with each character.

[h3]Instant-attacks on pause[/h3]
Real-time with pause combat systems (RTWP) are relatively commonly used in RPGs or strategy games. What is less common in this case is that the attacks happen instantly on pause, without having to unpause the game. This sounds like a minor point and technically it is, but it completely changes the combat dynamics and helps to close the gap between real-time and turn-based combat systems.

[h3]Precision & Chain Attacks[/h3]
First of all, the instant-attack feature allows the player to know exactly which creature his spells, AOE or not, are going to hit. Secondly, because the attack can be completed without unpausing the game, it gives the player the possibility of chaining a series of attacks through different characters.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Empowering the player & tools for creative solutions[/h2]
The general idea is to give as many tools as possible in the hands of the player to help him find creative solutions to difficult combat situations, instead of restraining him. Here’s a few examples of how the game tries to achieve that:

[h3]Party Inventory[/h3]
The inventory is party-based instead of character-based and it is accessible at all times, even in combat.

[h3]Bonus Actions[/h3]
Each character has a bonus action on cooldown, which he can instantly use at any moment. That bonus action can be used on some consumables like potions and scrolls.

[h3]Ammo Belt[/h3]
Ammo, like consumables, don’t have to be micromanaged. Arrows are automatically added to the ammo belt on each character, giving a direct quick-equip access to ammo from the party inventory.

[h3]Skills system & Quick-attack skill[/h3]
The skills system uses charges & cooldowns. All skills or spells have a cooldown before they can be used again. Some skills have a limited number of charges, which can be replenished with a long rest or potion, but some skills have an unlimited number of uses. One of the default skills is a quick-attack, which can be used to attack instantly on pause. That skill can be used for basic attacks but it can also be used in combination with magic arrows. For instance, equipping a fire arrow and using the quick-attack will allow the player to set an oil barrel on fire, affecting the battleground instantly.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Turning the tide of battle[/h3]
Obviously, those features used in combination with the instant-attack on pause can be incredibly powerful. By making a series of actions on pause through different characters and their bonus actions, the player can turn the tide of the battle instantly. It feels like the player has the opportunity to initiate his ‘turn’ whenever he likes to.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


That’s it for this development log! The next log will probably cover the basics of the tactical aspects.

Hello everyone!

We're glad to announce that the Discord server for Escape the Mad Empire is now officially open!

Come chat with us and discuss the development of the game!


https://discord.gg/PKseqdcTf6

Welcome to the first development log for Escape the Mad Empire! The game is a roguelike party-based tactical RPG upcoming on Steam. In this development log, we will give a general overview of the game structure. More specifically, we will cover the core game loop, the combat system, the story, the meta-game progression and the game modes.


[h2]Dungeon Crawl[/h2]

The core of the game is wrapped around a traditional dungeon crawling experience. It features roguelike elements like perma-death, procedural generation, random monster and item spawns, etc.

One aspect we’re really focusing on is the diversity of effects associated with magic items. Apart from increasing replayability, having a great diversity of mechanics really helps to create emergent gameplay; mechanics interactions, player strategies and behaviors that were not specifically designed for. Emergent gameplay is a strong aspect of traditional roguelikes and roguelites like Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, etc.

The dungeons will also include all sorts of special rooms like boss battles, challenge rooms, village zones, shops, event rooms, traps, etc.



[h2]Combat System[/h2]

We won't dive too much in details about the combat system because it will be the subject of our next development log. Just to cover the essential, it is worth mentioning that the key aspects of it are the party-based and real-time with instant-actions on pause elements, which distinguish the game quite a lot.

In terms of how the game plays, the best comparisons are games like old Baldur’s Gate, Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder or Divinity. The mention of a turn-based game among real-time games is voluntary. The principle of instant-actions on pause (without casting delays) really gives another dimension to the game, which bridges the gap between real-time and turn-based RPGs. The references also imply that the game also features a spells & skills system that feels quite ‘CRPG’.

There’s also tons of tactical aspects to the game that increase the combat depth but again, another devlog will be written about this subject!


[h2]Epic Runs Mode[/h2]

This game mode is closer to traditional roguelike games. Each game has its unique random seed that determines the dungeon structure, the monster and item spawns and so on (such that a player can replay exactly the same setup if he wishes to). The party is rolled randomly to encourage playing with various combinations. Dungeon runs can be played over a configurable number of floors. The loot is powerful and affects the player’s game in significant ways. The game has perma-death, which means that a dead character is lost (rare revive scrolls exceptions) and upon party death, a new game has to be created from scratch.

As the story evolves, new environments, monsters and items will be introduced in dungeon runs. In other words, playing the career mode will also make the Epic Runs mode evolve.


[h2]Meta-Game and Story[/h2]

The meta-game is a way of adding a sense of progression between dungeon runs. Evolving story content and the addition of a career mode will serve that purpose.

The story is about an underground empire that discovered and mined incredibly powerful magic crystals they used to create abominations and mad experiments. Those doomsday devices ultimately backfired and created apocalypses across multiple dimensions.

As the game progresses, the player will reveal and discover those apocalypses. Apart from structuring the story content, those apocalypses will also serve as ‘content unlocks’ on which new visual thematics, monsters and items will be attached. In other words, the world will evolve with progression and dungeon runs will feel different.

Apocalypse themes also offer the perfect format for adding future content since those new episodes will be added seamlessly.

The game will also feature a quests system with main quests linked to story progression and secondary quests linked to rewards or mechanics unlocks.


[h2]Career Mode[/h2]

The career mode adds a whole new gameplay layer to the game by introducing teams management and base-building elements. In this game mode, dungeon runs become ‘missions’ that can be completed for resources, game mechanic unlocks and story progression. This mode also allows the player to play in shorter sessions compared to the Epic Runs mode for which games can take several hours at a time.

Between missions, the player will go back to his base HUB where can manage his characters, shop for items, craft and upgrade his base. Those upgrades will in turn be used to develop new party teams more efficiently.

Missions will be structured by apocalypse themes and their related chapters. Each apocalypse will feature several chapters with their own mini-story and each chapter will be linked to a series of missions to be completed in a semi-random structure (with optional reset for replayability).

Progression in career mode will ‘remain’, meaning that losing in a mission or even losing a whole party won’t affect the general progression. The player will have to recruit new characters, develop and equip them in order to fully recover. The whole career mode structure has a lot of similarities with games like Darkest Dungeon I.

That’s it for the first development log! The next time we will probably cover the basics for the combat system.