Combat Flow Document

Inspired by: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, they use Sandevistan. This creates some iconic moments, where the characters feel like they are using special moves.

Sandevistan is a temporary status effect that can be activated on demand. It is designed to be primarily used bladed melee weapons. By default, Sandevistan will slow down time to a certain percentage for a set duration. Some variants may increase Crit Chance and Crit Damage.

Goal of the system

Introduce skill-expression and depth to the gameplay, while also not overwhelming the player with options.

I've designed it to be engaging and easy to pick up, so you can dive right into the action without too much complexity.

The main goal still remains to find a good combat / gameplay loop. As a big fan of combat systems, fighting games, arena fighters, rpgs and every system that is designed to help you feel good while outsmarting your opponent, I think this system would be a good fit.

Here's a quick overview of what to expect:

• Simple Combat Mechanics: Use Light and Heavy Attacks without cooldowns for smooth gameplay.
• Defensive Options: Dodge with two charges and parry to counter attacks and reposition yourself.
• Adrenaline Resource: Build up adrenaline through successful dodges and parries to unlock powerful boosts. Decays after 10 seconds of inactivity at a rate of 10 adrenaline per second.
• Adrenaline Boosts: Choose between a Speed Boost for resource gathering, an Attack Boost for damage in PvP, or a Special Move for damage.

Main Flowchart

Adrenaline Resource Overview

Actions and Their Effects

• Description: Primary attack that we have, with 4 strikes. Does X damage.
• Adrenaline Generation: Generates a small amount of adrenaline
• 10% per successful hit on the player
• 3% per successful hit on the monsters

• Description: Secondary attacks, slower to hit. Does 1.7 X damage.
• Does +20% damage to stunned targets.
• Adrenaline Generation: Generates a moderate amount of adrenaline
• 15% per successful hit on the player
• 5% per successful hit on the monsters

• Description: Dashes, becoming invulnerable for 0.5 seconds
• Adrenaline Generation: Builds adrenaline if successful.
• 10% per successful dodge of the player's attacks.
• 3% per successful hit on the monsters's attacks.
• Successful dodge: Avoiding the attack, getting hit while the player is invulnerable. Can only be triggered once per dash.
• Cooldown: Has a cooldown of 5 seconds per charge. Holds two charges. Cooldown starts as soon as at least one charge is spent.
• Why dodge and not parry?
• Because dodging is less punishing. You can attack right away after dodging, or just run away from the fight.

• Description: The player enters a defensive stance for 1 second. If an enemy player or monster attacks within that time frame, the player swings their sword from above, stunning opponents in a cone for 0.5 seconds, cancelling their current attack. The player is invulnerable until he ends the swing. The swing can be canceled by dashing, and that also cancels the invulnerability.
• Adrenaline Generation: Builds adrenaline if successful.
• 20% per successful parry of the player's attacks.
• 7% per successful parry on the monsters's attacks.
• Cooldown: Has a cooldown of 10 seconds per charge. Holds two charges. Cooldown starts as soon as at least one charge is spent.
• Why parry and not dodge?
• Because even though parrying is riskier, it is way more rewarding. One good parry can help you finish off your enemy, or do a good portion of their health as damage, forcing them to die and drop their coins, or to run away from the fight.

• Gives the player ability to use one of their selected boosts.
• Single use special abilities. Once used, they are replaced with a default ability named Can't catch me!
• Boosts:
• Can't catch me! : Increases player's movement speed by 30%, for 5 seconds.
• Is not consumed, because it's the default boost, available for every new player.
• Costs: 75 Adrenaline
• Radial Burst: Stops the player's movement for 1.2 seconds, and deals damage equal to 35% of the player's default value of health, to all enemies in a radius of 4 metres.
• Consumed upon use, and reset to Can't catch me!
• Costs: 100 Adrenaline
• Pocket sandwich: Heals the player for 20% of their max health.
• Consumed upon use, and reset to Can't catch me!
• Costs: 50 Adrenaline

Selecting Abilities

For MVP: Every player will be given a choice in the beginning of the game.

For the full game: Players will have a default Special Ability available when they start the game. They will be able to purchase different ones as a part of the meta progression, or these abilities will be available in the middle of the level, inside randomized loot objects.

Can't catch me! will be the default skill available for everyone, while additional skills can be acquired during the match, to be used within the match. After the skill is used, they are not consumed, and instead the default skill is set again (Can't catch me!), forcing the players to always stay on the move if they want something different.

Rarities, droprates, and other data can be adjusted.

Playtest with this system

Objective

The goal of this playtest is to see how players manage their Adrenaline and make decisions based on their goals. Players will compete to be the first to collect 25 coins or have the most coins at the end of the game.

Setup

• Participants: Staff members from the company (8-16 players based on map size).
• Game Environment: A play area similar to slime arena, but bigger, with coins scattered around and respawning at random location every 30 seconds.
• Starting Conditions: Each player begins with 0 coins and a full Adrenaline Meter (to test their ability).

Gameplay Mechanics

• Coin Collection: Players must collect coins that randomly spawn throughout the map.
• Combat: Players can attack each other. When a player is killed:
• They drop 50% of their coins, which the killer can collect.
• Adrenaline Management: Players decide when to fight and when to collect coins based on their adrenaline levels.

Playtest Goals

1. See how players use their Adrenaline during attacks, dodges, and boosts.
2. Watch how players choose between collecting coins and attacking others.
• Do they focus on fighting to get more coins, or do they prioritize collecting coins?
3. Check how players use their Adrenaline Boosts for speed or attack.
• Do they pick Can't catch me! to gather coins faster, or a Radial Burst to engage in fights?

End of Playtest

• The playtest ends when someone collects 25 coins or after a set time limit (like 10-15 minutes).

Debrief

After the playtest, gather feedback on:

• Players' experiences with the combat system and resource management.
• Any challenges they faced.
• Suggestions for improving the game.

Development, MVP: To test the idea

Things I can take care of:

• I'm positive I can prototype the three abilities shown above in one full working day: Radial Burst, Can't catch me!, Pocket sandwich.
• Adding Adrenaline Generation to successful hits, which I'm also positive I can do easily with gameplay effects.
• Attaching the selected abilities in to the players Ultimate Skill slot, would help us quickly test this idea.

Things I will need help with:

• A simple selection system similar to the mockup above.
• As for the Dash and Parry. I will need the devs' help to catch damage while the player has a certain gameplay effect on (GE_Invulnerable, or GE_Parrying).
• A simple animation to show the player is stunned, and for the stun effect to be functional.
• One simple progress bar that would track the value of Adrenaline.
• Simple coin spawner: a simple spawner that respawns coins after 1 minute, and drop it in the level, without any advanced randomization.

After I start working on the prototype, and consult with the developers about existing systems (Some are not used but might be already done and need tweaking), I will also provide a detailed development estimation.

• Next Friday we fully test this system.
• In the medium case, we will scrap the parry for now, and test everything else.
• Worst case, we move this further down the line if the bugs take too much time to fix.