[Dev Note] Rethinking Damage

Hello again, Survivors! It's been about two months now since we took part in STEAM NEXT FEST.

During this time, we've been trying out new systems and content based on your feedback, in preparation for the next build. Through trial and error, we’ve reached some new ground that we feel is the right way to go!

Today, I'd like to talk about something that received the most feedback, which is “Combat Damage and how it’s managed.”



To capture the apocalyptic theme of the game and increase tension, we intentionally set the enemies' attack power quite high. Even the most defensively skilled player character, Willam, could be killed after about three attacks from the weakest enemy, the Knawer.

Furthermore, damage taken did not recover once the battle was over and could only be healed by eating or using special items like bandages. Our intention was to make players strive to find ways to minimize taking damage as much as possible, to the point of making desperate decisions.

However, tests showed that more players than we anticipated expressed concern about this system. Specifically, it wasn't so much the "high and dangerous enemy attack power" that was the issue, but rather that "damage taken does not recover” before they could even understand the game’s logic.

Players only really understood the game after clearing the first stage, Blackthorn Village, but many felt discouraged because even if they now understood how damage functioned, the damage they had already taken did not recover.




Meanwhile, in order to maintain our design approach, we were designing enemy skills and levels so that very skilled players could "clear the game without taking a hit." However, as the game progressed into the mid to late stages and higher difficulty levels, we found that this was making it harder to maintain the game's uniqueness.

If “not taking a single attack” is considered normal gameplay, it becomes impossible to create enemies whose most significant feature is their unique attack patterns, as we diversify the types of enemies.

In response, we have made the following changes to the design approach.

• All player characters now have a separate stat called "Armor" in addition to their "Health”.
  
• "Armor" is deducted before "Health" when taking damage.
  
• "Armor" is fully restored at the end of a battle (Health damage accumulates permanently, as before).
  

With these changes, enemy attacks are still considered "dangerous." For example, the Knawer has an attack power of “5-7,” while Edwin has an “Armor” of 6 and “Health” of 9. This means that they will still be in critical condition after receiving about 3 attacks, just as before.

However, since “Armor” is fully restored at the end of a battle, unlike the previous system where even a single hit caused permanent damage, all characters can take damage equal to their “Armor” without any long-term consequences. In line with this change, the level design has also been adjusted so that in later stages, there is a higher likelihood of characters taking damage.

While watching play-testers after these changes were implemented, we noticed that they became more aware of how risky damage is, as they saw their “Armor” disappear in one go after the first attack. As a result, they adapted their play patterns by trying to eliminate all enemies or repositioning characters with the most “Armor” to take the hits.

Furthermore, a rule was implemented that critical hits do not occur if “Armor” is 1 or more, which applies to both enemies and allies. While enemy critical hits can sometimes feel unfair on the receiving end, you can now defend against taking them by ensuring someone with 1 or more “Armor” is the one defending the attack.



Reevaluating the core game systems was certainly challenging, but ultimately, it seems like we achieved both goals of "incorporating feedback as much as possible" while maintaining the intended gaming experience from the initial design.

There have been lots more changes and additions since STEAM NEXT FEST, and I look forward to telling you about them in future posts! Until then!

Thank you,
REMORE Staff