Archmage Rises News

[p]I’m working on location resource sources. I got it so a location can have multiple resource sources. When the player moves into the hex a new UI pops up asking how to interact with it. This new contextual UI is part of the new way of interacting with map locations - a replacement for the old context switch “hex view” screen. This is when I needed to spend time thinking through the UI.[/p][p]I use a tool called Balsamiq to do quick mockups to figure out placement and size of things relative to each other. I’m sharing this Work in Progress (WIP) because it is where I left off before needing to deal with the kids and Halloween. Some of it I like but some of it isn’t right.[/p][p][/p][p]Which reminds me of this great indie game dev video from Jake Birkett “11 years without a hit”.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Jake is a Britt, and there is a moment where he confesses his shock at what a big deal Halloween is in American (and Canada).  I have to agree, he has a point![/p][p]I mentioned a few months ago our team made a demo for a new physical card game called Challengers of the Realm. I’m happy to report the COTR kickstarter is now live! There is a link there to the free demo. Check it out. I’m real proud of what the team put together in a short period of time to make the kickstarter possible. The game COTR is more complex than Hearthstone but less so than Magic the Gathering.[/p][p][/p][p]While I get the resources UI working, let’s continue with the third part of the Core Loop refinement[/p][p]What is Archmage Rises? Managing the three spheres of life: Self, Magecraft, and Realm.
You could think of it as Self, Work, and Society.[/p][p]Realm is being part of a fantasy world. Belonging to it and how you matter in it. This is made up of Possessions, Relationship, and Legacy.[/p][p]But before I for further I need to explain a new kind of Action:[/p][h3]Commission (or Contract or Odd Job)[/h3][p]What is a new young mage to do to make money? One of the reasons the resources change in the Hex Events build is such a problem is I changed the way many players made money in the earliest part of the game.[/p][p]While I am fixing that, the real solution is to provide an action a newbie mage can do to make money and experience. That is where Commission work comes in. Instead of hunting down lumber in a forest to sell, players can do odd jobs trading time for gold and maybe pick up some experience along the way.[/p][p]You already see a small version of this in the game with cleaning dishes or the stables in the inn.[/p][p]Many Commissions are magic related. Meaning expanding your known spells (through the spell progression system) is important.[/p]

• [p]Cost: Time (few days, week, month)[/p]
• [p]Requires: Nothing, or a Skill, or a specific spell[/p]
• [p]Result[/p]
  • [p]Gold - based on time – a 5 day tutoring gig will pay less than a 12 day one.[/p]
    • [p]Friendship and Legacy status factor in for better rewards[/p]
  • [p]XP if magic involved[/p]
  • [p]Likely Fatigue[/p]
  • [p]Likely Wellbeing especially from doing boring work like dishes or cleaning stables[/p]
  • [p]Possible Renown[/p]

[p]Examples:[/p]

• [p]Ice - chill cellars, create ice for skating, Frostbite kill pests on crops or fungi[/p]
• [p]Fire - Heating baths/ignite forge/house, light street lights or mines,Detect heat for rats in basement[/p]
• [p]Arcane - Mage hand, seal door, minor illusion on painting or statue[/p]
• [p]Earth - Bind wood, haste grow crops, dig out a mine shaft, patch stone fill cracks in cobblestone street or reinforce walls, earthsense for metal, stone, minerals[/p]
• [p]Storm - create water for street sweeping, storm clouds for irrigating crops, clear cess pit/graveyard foul air with wind, help herbalist locate herbs/flowers[/p]
• [p]Tutor in astronomy, natural philosophy, Arcanics (the ability for non-casters to use scrolls and other magic items)[/p]

[p] [/p][h2]Possessions[/h2][p]This is both the player inventory, and things they own in the world like buildings or resource sources. A mage tower is a special kind of possession.[/p][h3]Sinks[/h3]

• [p]Reagents are spent for experiments and spell discovery/upgrades[/p]
• [p]Resources are spent for building, quests, gifts, enchanting, sale[/p]
• [p]Books are spent for study XP and improving libraries[/p]

[h3]Rules[/h3]

• [p]Equipment is used for combat and is never ‘spent’[/p]
• [p]Quest items are found and ‘spent’ by turning them in rather than keeping them.[/p]

[h2]Actions[/h2]

• [p]Possessions can be Bought (--Gold), Found (--Time), or Fought for (--Health)[/p]
• [p]Quests and Events can reward with Possessions[/p]

[h3]Gather Resource[/h3]

• [p]Cost: Time, Fatigue[/p]
• [p]Requires: Tool, Resource Source[/p]
• [p]Results[/p]
  • [p]N resources in a good, better, best scenario[/p]
• [p]Note[/p]
  • [p]Can enchant tools for greater yields (more and faster)[/p]
  • [p]Cast spells at higher power to get more[/p]

[h3]Build Resource Gatherer[/h3][p]A very expensive resource collector.[/p]

• [p]Cost: Gold, Spells, Time[/p]
• [p]Requires: Tool[/p]
• [p]Results[/p]
  • [p]Resources collected automatically for you to pickup[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Relationships[/h2]

• [p]Relationship is gained through conversation, gifts, and fulfilling requests[/p]
• [p]Relationships constantly decay at a set rate of X per week – this won’t be punishing, just realistic that it takes some effort to keep up relationships. For instance, I have a friend where if we don’t talk once a month, it will bottom out to zero and I become “Somebody I used to know”[/p]

[p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

• [p] Relationships are valuable because NPCs are an access point to gameplay features, Items, and Information in the simulation[/p]

• [p]Relationship can be spent on Favors[/p]
• [p]There will be three flavors of relationship: Friends, Family, and Romance. I don’t have anything more to say on Romance until I get to building it.[/p]

[p]Friends[/p]

• [p]Primary player activity: Leveling up their profession[/p]
• [p]Cost: They generate Help Requests which are mostly professional[/p]

[p]Family[/p]

• [p]Primary player activity: Keeping up their needs for food, shelter, etc.[/p]
• [p]Cost: They generate Help Requests which are mostly personal related.[/p]

[h2]Actions[/h2][h3]Favors[/h3]

• [p]Cost: Relationship (Each ask has a differing cost)[/p]
• [p]Requires: Relationship >= Casual Friend[/p]
  • [p]Exception Innkeepers start at Acquaintance and will tell you of Commissions and Quests at that level[/p]
  • [p]Favor available depends on profession and wealth level - a noble can lend a powerful weapon, or 1,000g, a beggar cannot[/p]

[p]Favor Examples:[/p]

• [p]Tell me one of your interests[/p]
• [p]Commissions and Quests[/p]
• [p]Information: Resource location, about a Rival[/p]
• [p]Influence Person: Increase my relationship with someone else (at 25% exchange)[/p]
• [p]Influence Town: reduce suspicion, increase unrest[/p]
• [p]Join me: adventuring, magical experiment[/p]
• [p]Labor: Work my mine! Collect resources for me[/p]
• [p]Vote: sway council or election[/p]
• [p]Training: improve skill, unlock conversation topic[/p]
• [p]Resource: loan money, tool, book, weapon[/p]
• [p]Romance: deepen personal bond or intimacy[/p]

[h3]Help Requests[/h3]

• [p]A Commission with no pay, just relationship reward, with a time limit. If incomplete, relationship suffers.[/p]
• [p]Relationships above Casual Friend make requests for help. Could be simple dumb things like ‘get me a loaf of bread’. Somewhat gamey, but it does capture the constant nagging of friends, kids, spouse “do this for me” like picking up something at the store, helping them with their computer problem, casting a minor spell to heat the bath.[/p]
• [p]I don’t know what your life is like, but I end up doing tech support for my mother, in-laws, wife, and three kids. That’s seven people’s digital devices I need to keep running smoothly! And yes I’m venting all my frustration into Archmage Rises, this is where art imitates life. :-)[/p]

[h2] [/h2][h3]Conversation[/h3][p]This is a significant change to the current conversation/relationship building system. It will now be Topic interest based (Character creation choices matter!) and the player can ‘win’ by playing it smart. It avoids mindlessly spamming “Ask about Day” and “Flatter”.[/p][p]Every NPC talk is a single, meaningful gamble: you speak from your own interests, they react from theirs. Over time you learn who you click with, who you don’t, and what subjects bring people alive — just like real life.[/p]

• [p]Topic driven - the mini game is figuring out what the other is interested in. A topic connection leads to great bonding, a miss is a big miss. Topics are categorized. A noble never wants to talk about dirty farming techniques, and a peasant doesn’t care to talk heritage of nobles. But everyone can dialogue about monsters or philosophy![/p]
  • [p]Category: Everyone (4)
    Arcanics, Magic, Monsters, Philosophy[/p]
  • [p]Category: Peasantry (9)
    Charms & Cures, Domestic Arts, Family, Farming, Folk Lore, Food, Livelihood, Local Affairs, Nature[/p]
  • [p]Category: Nobles (14)
    Architecture, Art, Astronomy, Commerce, Diplomacy, Estatekeeping, Fashion, Heritage, Hospitality, Horse Breeding, Law, Politics, Society, Tournaments, Warfare[/p]
• [p]You start with 3 topics you like, and 1 you hate[/p]
• [p]NPCs start with 1 Love, 2 like, 1 dislike, 1 hate[/p]
  • [p]As you reach each friend level you automatically discover one of their preferences[/p]
• [p]You converse with an NPC and choose a topic you know and like. The result is the relationship adjustment:[/p]
  • [p]Love = Big Increase, Like = moderate increase, Neutral = nothing, Dislike = small decrease, Loathe = Big decrease[/p]
• [p]You only get one conversation attempt per npc, then they go into cooldown. The cooldown is based on your last conversation whether they loved (short) or hated it (long)[/p]
• [p]Hitting a Loathe is a relationship bomb, they are offended, relationship hit[/p]
• [p]Nobles[/p]
  • [p]Any topic that is not one of their Loves or Likes automatically counts as a Dislike. It’s really hard to build relationship with nobility.[/p]
• [p]Talking about the same topic as last time gives 50% reduction (one dimensional relationship)[/p]
• [p]If none of your interests match an NPC’s Love or Likes, you’ll never connect conversationally.[/p]
• [p]You learn a new interest by reading 3 books on the topic. There are other means like result of an Event[/p]
• [p]People change interests over a long time: that keeps them feeling real. They add one, they remove one[/p]

[p] [/p][p]Conversation Action[/p]

• [p]Cost: Time[/p]
• [p]Requires: Conversation Topic[/p]
• [p]Results: Relationship[/p]

[h3]Social Activity[/h3][p]Context dependent for the building or location you are in, but this is how you play a game of chess, drink a pint, play music with someone[/p]

• [p]Cost: Time[/p]
• [p]Requires: Building features[/p]
• [p]Results: Relationship[/p]

[h3]Gift[/h3]

• [p]Cost: Possession, Gold[/p]
• [p]Requires: Giftable[/p]
• [p]Results: Relationship[/p]

[p] [/p][p]Legacy measures the total mark you leave on the world — reputation, power, prestige, and permanent recognition. It combines four pillars. Generally the number goes up, but as a designer I have to ensure there are interesting trade offs that occur: Do I sacrifice some power for renown? Do I sacrifice Prestige for a possession? I haven’t finished thinking through all the ways to utilize these values.[/p][h3]1. Renown (Reputation)[/h3][p]Definition: Renown is your fame and reputation. It is what precedes you before anyone meets you. It is tracked by town, so it is possible to be a hero in one town and unknown in another. However, it is also at the region level so being high in a town in the region, the other towns have heard of you
Source: Deeds, relationships, public heroics or infamy.
Effect: Changes how towns, nobles, and factions respond to you. Renown is how you break the nobility barrier and get recognized.
Permanence: Decays slowly over time[/p][h3]2. Power (Might)[/h3][p]Definition: The influence earned through magical strength, victories, and mastery.
Source: Spells discovered, rivals defeated, powerful artifacts.
Effect: Raises respect or fear from peers and enemies.
Permanence: Stays[/p][h3]3. Prestige (Refined Wealth)[/h3][p]Definition: The elegant expression of success — how tastefully you live and what beauty you create.
Source: Mage tower design, art, books, relics, rare wine, and cultural patronage.
Effect: Turns wealth into admiration; impresses elites and scholars.
Permanence: Stays[/p][h3]4. Titles (Recognition)[/h3][p]Definition: Formal honors that record your rising status — the world’s acknowledgment of your accomplishments.
Source: Achieving milestones, earning noble ranks, completing exceptional deeds.
Effect: Permanently increases Legacy; some titles grant ongoing mechanical or social benefits.
Permanence: Stays[/p][h2]Funeral[/h2][p]Every life is a story. The funeral scene is the final chapter of a life.[/p]

• [p]When you die, your funeral is based on your Legacy score.[/p]
• [p]Who attends is based on relationships[/p]
• [p]What they say about you is based on relationship[/p]
• [p]Fun story from The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England: In 14th century England the number of people who attended a noble’s funeral showed how impactful or important they were. So, naturally, some nobles started prepaying peasants to attend their funeral. How they ensured these people actually showed up, I don’t know![/p]

[p] [/p][p]There you have it, how all the pieces of the game fit together into a, hopefully, sensible enjoyable whole! Did I get it all right? Probably not. But this is enough of a foundation and perspective to build it right as I go![/p]

[p]Quick Dev Update[/p][p]Yesterday I got a world spell casting and a resource “source” location of a Rose Bush to appear on the map and save and load. These are the fundamentals necessary to fix the resources feature of Hex Events.[/p][p]But while we wait for that, let’s continue with the second part of the Core Loop refinement[/p][p]What is Archmage Rises? Managing the three spheres of life: Self, Magecraft, and Realm.
You could think of it as Self, Work, and Society.[/p][p][/p][p]The Art. The Craft. The Power. What is it really like to be a mage in a medieval fantasy world? That’s what this game is about and what differentiates it from other games like Dwarf Fortress, Rim World, Guild 2.[/p][p]I’ve thought for a long time about this and I’ve boiled down the ‘mage fantasy’ to these three areas to manage: Experience, Spells, and Tower[/p][h2]Experience (XP)[/h2][p]This represents the biggest departure from how the game plays now because there will be a new Spell Progression system.[/p][h3]What I’m Aiming For[/h3][p]Theory and Practice. These two principles are in tension. I have struggled for years, but I think I found a solution on how to implement:[/p][p]1.      You get better at magical knowledge by researching it.[/p][p]2.      You get better at spells by using it.[/p][p]Two analogies to help describe what I’m aiming for.[/p][p]I’ve been programming most of my life. The way I have really grown, to actually BE a better programmer, to reach new levels of understanding and approach to what I program is by reading theory based programming books, like Design Patterns, Game Design Patterns, Refactoring, or Debugging Applications (I doubt anyone has read this last one, it taught me how to program defensively and avoid bugs in the first place).[/p][p]But just reading the book doesn’t achieve anything. Some neat ideas, but theory without practice quickly fades and the lessons are lost.[/p][p]I’ve been trying to learn the piano. No amount of watching youtube videos of people playing, or reading music theory, will improve my piano playing. Yes, being able to read the notes is important (I want to play classical not just chords), but practicing the songs is the only way to learn and master it.[/p][p]So theory helps: but is useless without practice. Yet, I’ve met programmers who have been programming for 5 years and never ‘leveled up’. Meaning, they have 1 year of experience 5x, instead of 5 years of growth. Seeing each problem not as unique and you are the first person to ever encounter it, but as a version of just a few core problems, radically improves your ability to solve it well. For instance, in game AI many problems can be solved with a version of Dijkstra (or A* which is just Dijkstra with a heuristic). I’m not talking about pathfinding – where they excel at, I’m talking about goal setting, future planning, resource management, and long term strategy of the AI.[/p][p]If one didn’t know the Dijkstra or A* algorithms, they’d think “unit purchasing” was a unique problem that required a unique solution.[/p][p]The image in my head of a wizard studying in a fully stocked library with tomes piled around: I want that core to the game.[/p][p]But getting out there and practicing the spells, I want that core to the game as well.[/p][h2]Actions[/h2][h3]Adventure[/h3]

• [p]Adventuring is an ideal way to build up your School XP[/p]

[p] [/p][h2]Spells (Spell Progression)[/h2][p]XP is earned in Spell Schools Arcane, Fire, Ice, Storm, Earth. Think of it like science beakers in Civ, but across 5 vectors. You manage your growth in each through Adventure, Study, and Experiments to make Discoveries.[/p]

• [p]Casting a spell earns you experience in that School – Adventuring, Events, Traps, etc.[/p]
• [p]School XP is spent on a spell school Research Tree.[/p]
• [p]Experiments[/p]

[h2]Actions:[/h2][h3]Study[/h3][p]Predictable progression across plays.[/p]

• [p]Almost all spells and some spell upgrades are visible on the tree. This creates predictable unlocks across plays, just like the skill trees or tech trees we see in the games we love[/p]
• [p]Spell Knowledge is grouped into Tiers. I’ve tried, and failed, for years to figure out how to make “all spells equal”. I just can’t get a single damage fire spell like Fire Bolt to be equally awesome as Fireball which does AOE and leaves residual burn. I’ve given up on making all spells equal, they will be tiered with the best ones earned at the top of the chart.[/p]
• [p]The XP cost of a spell or spell upgrade in a Tier increases as you buy them, so each choice in Tier 2 may be 1,000xp, but once you make it, the other Tier 2 choices are 1,500xp.[/p]
• [p]Spending XP on Spell Knowledge earns you the ‘design’ of the spell, you have the general idea of it, but you don’t actually know how to cast it until you Discover it in an Experiment.[/p]

[h3]Experiment[/h3][p]Turn theory into useful outcomes like Spell Upgrades. Provides variability across plays, push your luck mechanic, allows specialization per play. Experiments cost you, but they always result in something good.[/p][p]Here is an example chart I made of possible Fireball Upgrades. You will see they have rarity:[/p][p][/p][p] [/p]

• [p]Experiments lead to discoveries – of Spells and spell Upgrades[/p]
• [p]Experiments require: Reagents, some xp, and a Blast Chamber (Conclave or Tower)[/p]
• [p]XP cost is modified by the magical affinity of the region you are doing it in[/p]
• [p]If you have unlocked a spell design, your next experiment in that school learns the spell with one upgrade making the base version different in every play.[/p]
• [p]You choose the scale of Experiment to perform which affects the rarity (result table) of the result. Solo (standard), Collaborative - requires 1 friend, Grand - 3+ and large room size[/p]
• [p]Relationship with collaborators[/p]
• [p]Experiments always succeed – failure is only introduced by bad relationship, low wellbeing, and high fatigue[/p]
• [p]A discovery pop up shows 2-3 Refinement options; player picks one. Sometimes a common option has a bonus Mastery point on it. Mastery points reduce the cost of unlocks in Study[/p]
• [p]This system allows you to go deep on a few spells with lots of upgrades, or know lots of spells with just a few upgrades[/p]
• [p]It also gets pretty close to the feel of custom spells without all the trouble of custom spells[/p]

[p] [/p][p]The physical manifestation of your awesomeness. And totally 100% not phallic![/p][p]I’m keeping the general UI of what we have, but I think what we have right now of just gold is too simplistic. I’m changing the design to something I like more.[/p]

• [p]Rooms of your tower provide gameplay features. You need somewhere to take the Sleep action, and the quality of your Sleep results will be affected by the room. Want a hireling? Build them a bedroom. Want to do an experiment? Built a Blast Chamber.[/p]
• [p]Rooms are built with base resources (wood, stone, gold) and special resources (glass, gems, etc). I think this will make people happy.[/p]
• [p]Because of regional elemental affinity, it is worthwhile to be picky where you build your first tower, and eventually you will want one in 5 different regions for your Experiments[/p]

[h2]Actions[/h2][h3]Build Room[/h3]

• [p]Gold--, Resources—[/p]
• [p]Output: New Room[/p]

[h3]Decorate[/h3]

• [p]Gold--, Possession—[/p]
• [p]Output: Better room stats[/p]

[p] [/p][p]There is obviously more that can be said, but I think this is a good summary of where I’m headed. Next time I’ll conclude with design thinking in Realm in part III![/p]

[p]I’m currently working on the spell casting in the World for Resource finding. There isn’t anything thrilling to announce about that, it’s just work to get it working.[/p][p]While we wait for that, I want to share the Core Loop completion and refinement work I’ve done so there is ample time to discuss it together. This is the culmination of all the forum posts, discord discussion, design docs, and years of experience: written as succinctly as I can in one place describing the whole game.[/p][p]I’ve never done this before.[/p][p]What is Archmage Rises? The three spheres of Self, Magecraft, and Realm answers it.[/p][p](Note: I’ve renamed Craft to Magecraft so people don’t think 1/3 of the game is crafting)[/p][p][/p][p]Today we dive into Self. Some of it will be familiar, some of it new. Remember, the core of gameloop design is managing resources, trade offs, and creating interesting choices.[/p][p][/p][p]The most basic level of being a human in a fantasy world. The smell and the sweat of actually being there. Taking basic care of yourself. This is the ‘life’ part of the life simulator I’m striving for.[/p][p][/p][p]Health measures your present condition, showing how alive or near death you are. If it hits zero, you are dead. End of life, end of game.[/p][h2]Sinks[/h2]

• [p]Combat, traps are the primary ways health is spent.[/p]
• [p]Minor ways are negative outcomes from Events or conversation choices[/p]

[h2]Rules[/h2]

• [p]Max HP is driven by Vitality stat: Each Vitality point is 5 HP[/p]
  • [p]Vitality can be influenced by many factors: status effects, physical training, rituals, enchantments, and artifacts such as Darion's Amulet (+20 Vitality).[/p]
• [p]Health is very serious. There aren’t health potions to pop or healing magic like you may see in other games. It is very LOTR: time, medicine, and healing skill are used to recover HP.[/p]
• [p]Damage taken when HP below a threshold risks injury (Push your Luck).[/p]
• [p]Injuries require Medical attention - can heal or become worse if untreated. They are a reason to return to town/tower and seek out medical attention. If an injury worsens, it adds to the roleplaying and uniqueness of a life. (Opportunity to Push your Luck, or play it safe)[/p]
• [p]Makes Town Healers valuable.[/p]

[h2]Actions[/h2][h3]Rest[/h3][p]Restores a small amount of health each day. I’ll cover the Rest action further under Fatigue[/p][h3]Healing[/h3][p]Cost: Time – variable based on how much health needed to recovery, or nature of the injury. Gold can be spent to accelerate it[/p][p]Requires: Bed, Medicine skill - ground as default bed. Can’t be done alone, requires someone else: a road companion (Relationship), or at Healer Hut (Gold), or room in Tower (worker with healing skill)[/p][p]Results: Big HP recovery, High chance of curing Injury[/p][p]A measurement of your energy level, stamina, how tired you are. Provides cost to balance choices.[/p][p]Current implementation: represented by Stamina stat in a big yellow globe. You make choices (casting spells, harvesting resources, etc.) and it spent stamina down to zero. For much of the game’s development spell casting in combat used Stamina, creating a vital link between what you do outside combat matters inside combat. This was severed when we moved to the Ara system in the last combat revision.[/p][p]New implementation: A level of Fatigue from Fresh → Fine → Weary → Tired → Exhausted.[/p][p]I want sleep to be a part of the player’s ‘life’ cycle, but not so realistic and onerous as needing to sleep every night, or as harsh as Stardew Valley. The fatigue system allows the player to choose when and how they sleep. You can’t go forever without sleep, but you have flexibility/choice on when it makes most sense.[/p][h2]Sinks[/h2]

• [p]Many actions now have a chance of increasing fatigue. Casting spells in world, any strenuous actions like running in combat, resource harvesting, or movement through terrain types like swamps or hills, and event choices[/p]

[h2]Rules[/h2]

• [p]Actions have a % chance of moving up the fatigue scale, not a set spend of one action[/p]
  • [p]Wellbeing affects this %, meaning if you are miserable you are more likely to get fatigued, and if you are feeling great you are less likely[/p]
• [p]Fatigue is a highly connected resource to many actions, I can’t list them all here. The individual actions identify if they potentially increase fatigue.[/p]
• [p]High fatigue (Tired, Exhausted) affects things (again, not an exhaustive list): starting Ara and Ara recovery in combat, ability to cast outside of combat, event options, relationship options, wellbeing, spell study and experiments.[/p]
• [p]We currently have the option to overexert – I don’t think I’ll need that anymore.[/p]
• [p]Makes Inns, Tower beds, valuable.[/p]

[h2]Actions[/h2][h3]Rest[/h3][p]Cost: Time, gold, food, drink[/p][p]Requires: Bed - ground is a default bed[/p][p]Results[/p]

• [p]Criteria: Bed provides X rest attempts to move up the fatigue system. Sleeping on the ground is one chance. Sleeping in a gorgeously decorated room in a feather bed might be 5 attempts. This isn’t the Sims, but the quality of bed is an important differentiator.[/p]
• [p]It is possible to have great or terrible night sleeps – modified by Wellbeing[/p]
• [p]Increase: X Fatigue levels, Health, Wellbeing[/p]
• [p]Health[/p]
  • [p]Always a small HP recovery[/p]
  • [p]Chance injury improves[/p]
  • [p]Chance injury worsens[/p]
• [p]Food & Drink Bonus[/p]
  • [p]I would like the player to have a reason to enjoy good food and drink as they live their life, but I don’t want to force it. So I decided to make it a bonus to resting – going to bed full and sated is a great way to sleep at the end of a day. I didn’t want to put food and drink into the Rest UI, I like all the Inn food and drink options being clear and separate. Hence food and drink provide a resting buff.[/p]
  • [p]Food or drink eaten in last 4hr increase Rest Result: one additional roll each, or a % improvement to rest rolls.[/p]

[p]Wellbeing measures your emotional and mental state, reflecting how happy, calm, or distressed your character feels. This isn’t Darkest Dungeon, yet wellbeing matters.[/p][p]It is a constantly decaying resource that drives behavior, decision-making, and narrative tone by rewarding care, comfort, and balance while punishing neglect and hardship.[/p][h2]Sinks[/h2]

• [p]Slow decay over time[/p]
• [p]Some choices will have a ‘misery’ aspect to them that affect wellbeing. Washing dishes or mucking stables at the inn may get you gold, but is miserable work.[/p]
• [p]Monsters: Skeletons are terrifying, so combat with them will lower wellbeing[/p]

[h2]Rules[/h2]

• [p]Having high wellbeing leads to bonuses in actions like casting, luck rolls, and conversation. Likewise there are penalties for low wellbeing[/p]
• [p]Every X days the player should do something ‘fun’. Play chess, go for a seaside stroll, alcohol.[/p]
• [p]Doing a fun action with a companion has the benefit of more wellbeing gain and relationship gain[/p]
• [p]Creates a need a variety of actions can fulfill, creating value in more of the nooks & crannies of the game[/p]

[h2]Actions[/h2][h3]Enjoyable Act[/h3][p]This is a template of many actions in game. The game is flexibly designed to accommodate many types of actions. An Event may provide an Enjoyable Act option if you meet certain criteria. Completing a quest is invigorating, as is making a donation to the poor, so you get a boost to wellbeing.[/p][p]Cost: Time, gold, item[/p][p]Requires: Nothing[/p][p]Results[/p]

• [p]Wellbeing goes up[/p]

[p] [/p][p]That’s it for this week, next week I’ll continue with the second sphere: Magecraft![/p]

[p]I’m trapped in my hotel room in Las Vegas right now. My wife and kids are here for a dance conference. This laptop and hotel desk isn’t well suited to heavy game dev, so this week I switched tasks from programming the Resource spells to what I can do well from a hotel: Work on the core game loops of the game.[/p][hr][/hr][p]Eric Barone spent about 4 years making Stardew Valley. Most of us will agree: he did a good job.[/p][p]One of the challenges he faced was becoming a better pixel artist by the end of year four than he was day one. That meant having to go back and re-art things he had already finished.[/p][p]Over the years I have been working on Archmage Rises, I’d like to think I have grown as a developer and designer. I’ve been able to work on several titles, each very different from this one. I’ve worked with full time AAA designers, trained new designers, and put together a university course on game design. But most importantly, I’ve been able to converse with you the fans about deep design issues. Some of them have been monster long posts, but I appreciate and grow from the detailed feedback.[/p][p]Taking all I’ve done and learned I’m going to finally codify the core game loop of Archmage Rises. What is it about? What makes it fun? Why am I playing it?[/p][p]Many who worked with me on this will say, “It’s about time!”[/p][p]While it looks and plays like an RPG, it’s actually a strategy management game under the hood.[/p][p]It was a breakthrough to think of it as managing a series of Resources in “interesting ways”. You can think of any game this way, including the original Doom. It helped clarify some things I have struggled with for years, drop some things I shouldn’t have done, and simplify some things I over complicated.[/p][p]I’ve spent 3 days straight going through every aspect to pull it into a (hopefully) cohesive whole. It’s going to take me 4 articles to explain it all: this week the overview, then one week on each core section. I’m excited to share it with you![/p]

[p]“What am I managing?[/p]

[p]Archmage Rises is about living the full life of a mage, understood through a Triad of Triads.[/p][h2]Self[/h2][p]Being a Human.[/p]

1. [p]Health[/p]
2. [p]Fatigue[/p]
3. [p]Wellbeing[/p]

[h2]Craft[/h2][p]Being a Mage. (Craft as in excellence in a profession, not as in crafting an iron pot)[/p]

1. [p]Spells[/p]
2. [p]Experience Points (XP)[/p]
3. [p]Tower[/p]

[h2]Realm[/h2][p]Being part of a Fantasy World[/p]

1. [p]Relationships[/p]
2. [p]Possessions[/p]
3. [p]Legacy[/p]

[p]Two Special Resources[/p][p]Two critical resources sit outside of the triads: Time and Gold. Time is the fundamental resource of every game action. Gold is an exchange mechanism; for instance, you turn time into gold, then gold into a Tower room.[/p][p]With this framework, I can now look at every action (Verb) in the game through the lens of “What Resources does it cost? What Resources does it provide?” And even more in depth, “What is scarce? What is a competing choice?” Because this is where the fun really lies: I want to do A and B, but I can only do one (for now), so I have to pick. Without competing priorities, no “Interesting Choices”.[/p][p]It started to reveal there were a number of design dead ends:[/p]

• [p]Resources that rarely went up - not useful[/p]
• [p]Resources that only went up (no sinks)[/p]
• [p]Resources that couldn’t really be spent[/p]
• [p]Resources that only did one thing, or nothing at all![/p]

[p]This then allowed me to do something I came across years ago from a designer friend: Create Chen Diagrams (Jeff Chen of Activision, not Chen ER diagrams). I can map the inputs and outputs of an action and see what is over used, under used. What is OK and what needs attention.[/p][p]Here is a terrible looking Work in Progress that shouldn’t be shown publicly, so just keep it to yourself m’kay?[/p][p][/p][p]I’m still working through all the verbs. There are a lot of them![/p][p][/p][p]This suffices for an overview. Next time I’ll go deeper into the design on Self.[/p][p]If you are a history buff like me, Audible has two of Ian Mortimer’s “Time Traveller’s Guide to…” books for free until Oct 21! I enjoyed Elizabethan England and am now listening to Regency England. Enjoy![/p]

[p]\[Warning: This post will probably read grumpy. I spent 6hrs today just trying to get a tooltip (an already built system) to display for a new spell (also a seemingly already built system). ][/p][p]This week I worked on adding the resource/event detection spells as previously discussed. Specifically, the heat detection spell.[/p][p]It is hard.[/p][p]Why so hard?[/p][p]First, I had 4 programmers working on the codebase, so it’s been years since I had to touch these parts of the game myself.[/p][p]Second, the last major feature we did was an overhaul of combat. That ended up overhauling how spells are defined: instead of being code centric, they are now data driven by JSON to the Nth degree. Two programmers over engineered the solution by miles to allow game designers to do really complex things without “needing programmers”. But the system is so complicated, even at the time we were making it, no one really wanted to touch it. It was hard to tell if this was just being unfamiliar with a new system, or if it just needed a GUI tool to allow creating data in a human friendly way.[/p][p]Example: These 600 lines of JSON spread across 2 files in a specially named folder define the Fire Light spell, allowing the caster to add the Light buff to themselves. It used to be 3 lines of code in C#. I wish I was kidding.[/p][p][/p][p]Further to this, the new system was totally focused on Combat casting. So, besides the ability to cast a Light buff in the dungeon, it didn’t consider anything to do with world casting.[/p][p]Well now I’m the only one working on it. I have an overengineered system I can’t make heads or tails of and no GUI tool.[/p][p]This sounds like I’m blaming the previous crew on the codebase, but I’m not. As the leader, I am in charge, it’s my responsibility. The signs were there and I ignored it, because I was busy with other matters.[/p][p]Leadership is a constant battle of deciding what to focus on and what to ignore. There is not unlimited time. I should have reigned people in and didn’t. This is not unique to me or this project, I’m sure you can think of a work situation where a leader should have stepped in and sorted things out, but didn’t.[/p][p]To be super clear before you keep reading: I miss my team. They were great. I hope to work with them again.[/p][p]But there are some advantages of being a solo dev. Call it trying to find the silver lining, or the opportunity, in the situation:[/p][p]1. No meetings. Ever.[/p][p]I admit, today, it would have been nice to bounce some ideas off someone. But with no team, 100% of my time is focused on the game instead of meetings clarifying or arguing over things.[/p][p]2. Singular Vision[/p][p]I previously wrote about competing voices in our heads, but there are also competing voices on a team.[/p][p]I try to listen to everyone, evaluate what they are saying more than who is saying it, and make good and informed decisions from there. But as well intentioned and helpful as people are trying to be, they have not played what I’ve played (none of them played Ultima 6, Darklands, ADOM, or goldbox rpgs) or read what I’ve read that inspired this from the first place (D&D and Pathfinder core rule books, Dragonlance, and Ptolus).[/p][p]I can build what I want and what you the fans want.[/p][p]I don’t miss the arguments Archmage Rises isn’t fun because it doesn’t play like Hades.
It shouldn’t play like Hades.[/p][p]3. Confidence[/p][p]When they were redoing combat, I told them at most there will be 30 combat spells. What’d they do? Create a system for months that easily scales to 1,000+ JSON spells. It’s like turning an aircraft carrier to try and maneuver here.[/p][p]Did they not believe me? “Oh he says 30, but he’ll change his mind, I’ll make sure it’s super flexible.”[/p][p]Did they just get caught up in the task and succumb to internal design creep, “Ooh! If I do X, Y, Z, it’ll be even cooler and more extensible. I’ll do that!”[/p][p]Fear? “If I don’t do this really elaborate and super modular people will think less of me, or we’ll be forced to do it again.”[/p][p]They could have coded up the spells we needed in half the time, and we’d have a simple system to extend from. That’s what they started from, and now I’m forced to making a simple spells system for world spells completely separate from this combat system.[/p][p]As the creator I know what is important and what isn’t. I find confidence is what makes me effective as a senior developer – I don’t waste cycles second guessing things. I build just what is needed, no more. Until more is required. Thank you Kent Beck of Extreme Programming for opening my eyes to YAGNI “You Aren’t Gonna Need It!” early in my career.[/p][p] [/p][p]Final Thoughts[/p][p]Just because I’m identifying advantages of being a solo dev doesn’t mean I don’t want to expand back to a team. I do. But for now, I’m trying to enjoy the journey for what it is: heads down, building what I want. That’s what got me into game dev in the first place and where this project came from.[/p][p][/p][p]\[Fun geek fact: If you open the image in a new tab, you can read the JSON if you are so inclined][/p]