Levelling Up, The Skill Grid, And You
Hey Heroes,
This week, we lift the curtains on the skill grid system, which is one of the core progression systems for heroes, alongside itemization.
This diamond block may look unassuming, but it is the very first building block of your heroes. The first block you start with is always semi-randomised - meaning the placement of the inner 8 nodes are always fixed, but the outer 4 nodes will be in different positions in every run.
Every hero has three skill schools, which are essentially three separate pools of card that revolve around a particular play style. Each of these three paths has three tiers of skills (Common, Rare, and Epic).
When you unlock a skill node, you gain a chance to draw one skill from three randomly drawn choices, making every run unpredictable and giving you a unique build on every run. Mix and match between the skills of these three schools to uncover highly potent combinations and effective techniques.
Drawing a new card advances one of three stats - Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence. This is denoted by the Red, Green, and Blue color of the card's title banner. This means that the more Strength (red) cards you draw, the more you boost the power of cards in that school, as well as granting a higher bonus to Strength rolls in event challenges.
Build your heroes to be strong, fast, or wise in how they handle both combat and out of combat encounters.
As with any deckbuilding game, the right cards can make your deck, and the wrong cards ruin them. If you aren't happy with the luck of the draw, you can always choose to redraw one of the existing cards in your deck. You will get a chance to pick one from three randomly drawn cards from the same school. This keeps every level up fresh as you can find a new card to make a build work, or improve the composition of your existing deck.
Heroes can earn skill points by levelling up, or through completing certain quests. Use these skill points to traverse the grid - nodes can only unlocked if they are adjacent to another unlocked node on the grid, thus you must plan ahead to be able to reach the nodes of interest.
There are more than just skill nodes on your grid. Through the course of the game, you will find ample opportunities to Master or Refine your deck through the skill grid. These highly valuable nodes can boost the power of any card in your deck, making it deal more damage or gain new effects on play; or take out a card from the deck, keeping your draw pile lean and deadly.
After spending 5 points in the skill grid, you will gain access to your next grid. This grid is procedurally generated, but within certain parameters. Within a range of levels, you will be guaranteed a number of Rare and Epic skills from each tree, as well as Mastery and Refine points. Their layout, however, is never the same, making levelling as a mini-game where you must chart your path through the skill grid.
You can choose how the new skill block connects to your existing grid. This is important, as you may recall that you can only traverse the grid by connecting adjacent nodes together. This means that depending on the layout of the new grid, you may choose to connect it straight away, or connect it another side to achieve the shortest path to the nodes you desire.
Over the course of the game, you may also encounter unique grids with special nodes that cannot be attained through the normal course of levelling up...
Your heroes' growth is in your hands. Every run will be something fresh and exciting, every level up an impactful event and an exercise in strategic planning. This is the promise of the skill system in Gordian Quest. No two skill grids will ever look the same, even for the same hero in different runs.
---
We hope that was an exciting look into one of the systems of our game, We look forward to showcasing more cool stuff in the coming weeks!
Join us down in our Discord server for a discussion, or if that isn't your thing, feel free to start a discussion over here.
If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!
If any of the above gets you excited, you'll be absolutely in for a treat with Gordian Quest. We can't wait to show you more, stay tuned!
Drop us a comment, wishlist our game and tell your friends about it :)
Sincerely,
The Gordian Quest Team
This week, we lift the curtains on the skill grid system, which is one of the core progression systems for heroes, alongside itemization.
This diamond block may look unassuming, but it is the very first building block of your heroes. The first block you start with is always semi-randomised - meaning the placement of the inner 8 nodes are always fixed, but the outer 4 nodes will be in different positions in every run.
Every hero has three skill schools, which are essentially three separate pools of card that revolve around a particular play style. Each of these three paths has three tiers of skills (Common, Rare, and Epic).
When you unlock a skill node, you gain a chance to draw one skill from three randomly drawn choices, making every run unpredictable and giving you a unique build on every run. Mix and match between the skills of these three schools to uncover highly potent combinations and effective techniques.
Drawing a new card advances one of three stats - Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence. This is denoted by the Red, Green, and Blue color of the card's title banner. This means that the more Strength (red) cards you draw, the more you boost the power of cards in that school, as well as granting a higher bonus to Strength rolls in event challenges.
Build your heroes to be strong, fast, or wise in how they handle both combat and out of combat encounters.
As with any deckbuilding game, the right cards can make your deck, and the wrong cards ruin them. If you aren't happy with the luck of the draw, you can always choose to redraw one of the existing cards in your deck. You will get a chance to pick one from three randomly drawn cards from the same school. This keeps every level up fresh as you can find a new card to make a build work, or improve the composition of your existing deck.
Heroes can earn skill points by levelling up, or through completing certain quests. Use these skill points to traverse the grid - nodes can only unlocked if they are adjacent to another unlocked node on the grid, thus you must plan ahead to be able to reach the nodes of interest.
There are more than just skill nodes on your grid. Through the course of the game, you will find ample opportunities to Master or Refine your deck through the skill grid. These highly valuable nodes can boost the power of any card in your deck, making it deal more damage or gain new effects on play; or take out a card from the deck, keeping your draw pile lean and deadly.
After spending 5 points in the skill grid, you will gain access to your next grid. This grid is procedurally generated, but within certain parameters. Within a range of levels, you will be guaranteed a number of Rare and Epic skills from each tree, as well as Mastery and Refine points. Their layout, however, is never the same, making levelling as a mini-game where you must chart your path through the skill grid.
You can choose how the new skill block connects to your existing grid. This is important, as you may recall that you can only traverse the grid by connecting adjacent nodes together. This means that depending on the layout of the new grid, you may choose to connect it straight away, or connect it another side to achieve the shortest path to the nodes you desire.
Over the course of the game, you may also encounter unique grids with special nodes that cannot be attained through the normal course of levelling up...
Your heroes' growth is in your hands. Every run will be something fresh and exciting, every level up an impactful event and an exercise in strategic planning. This is the promise of the skill system in Gordian Quest. No two skill grids will ever look the same, even for the same hero in different runs.
---
We hope that was an exciting look into one of the systems of our game, We look forward to showcasing more cool stuff in the coming weeks!
Join us down in our Discord server for a discussion, or if that isn't your thing, feel free to start a discussion over here.
If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!
- An Introduction To Gordian Quest
- Introducing Gordian Quest's Procedural World
- Introducing The Battle System
- Introducing Hero #1 : Lucius The Swordhand
- Introducing Hero #2 : Alphonse The Scoundrel
- Introducing Hero #3 : Bertram The Ranger
- Introducing Hero #4 : Catherin The Cleric
- Introducing Hero #5 : Pierre the Spellbinder
- Introducing Hero #6 : Ida the Druid
- Our Ideas For Future Heroes
If any of the above gets you excited, you'll be absolutely in for a treat with Gordian Quest. We can't wait to show you more, stay tuned!
Drop us a comment, wishlist our game and tell your friends about it :)
Sincerely,
The Gordian Quest Team
