Day 3
Yesterday I spent some time completing the game loop, taking notes, and thinking about progression and came up with some interesting thoughts. Then this morning I did another playtest run, took notes, and added my own feedback for gameplay elements where things weren't clear at first and needed clarification, or things that I hadn't thought of until I actually hit the situation. All in all, the game is shaping up to be something pretty awesome!
I added in the playing cards you see above to be drawn at random. The different card suits will signify a character, encounter, surprise, or treasure when you happen upon a location. I need to define what that list will be, so I just stubbed in some quick things, and it's added some real nice interaction into the game.
This here is the game loop further refined a bit, and on the right were things I picked up on while playing that I needed to consider, clarify, or decide on. Yay for playtesting! One big change is that now you choose what kind of adventure you want to go on, and it increases the difficulty of everything by adding a higher DS (Difficulty Score). There's a "find an object" run which initializes the DS to 8. A "save someone" run with a DS of 12. And lastly a "Destroy a Monster" run with a DS of 16.
Never mind all the numbers below, but what it all basically comes down to is tracking each enemy's DS (Difficulty Score), and my own character's stats like Lifeforce, Defense, etc. I found some extra characters during my journey, got turned around at least twice due to a random event during camp (you can see how my path sort of loops on itself in the game map or just ends abruptly), and also managed to increase my Max LF and DF stats during camp.
Another big change is that now you roll for three locations rather than have the goal in sight from the start. Basically, you roll first for the first location by finding the X and Y coordinates using 2D6. Then you draw it on the map. Next, you roll for the second location and do the same. Then you need to go to both of those locations in order to discover the X and Y location of the third area on the map, this is your goal. There's going to be a boss there. And along the journey lots of encounters and difficulties!
There's a lot of rolling to do, but it's also added an interesting pace to the whole game. It moves along pretty nicely, doesn't get bogged down, and there's plenty of mystery thanks to the randomization present, as well as a meaty gameplay experience.
Going over the map, discovering events and doing actions, running into monsters and surprises, it all gives the game a very nice RPG flow, so I've hit my goal for this jam!
Now comes the polish! I need to add more art, tighten down the hatches, and pretty up everything for delivery tonight!