Game Dev Log #1 - Introducing the Avatar System

Hello everyone!

As I said in my previous post, I'm starting to have something tangible to share so I figured the best introduction to Desire's Grove's features would be through the Avatar as they have a wide reach in gameplay. 

That said! In the post below, I'll explain the basics of the systems, from combat to some of the relevant niche utility stuff through a description of each Avatar Classes' functionalities. 

Keep in mind that this is still early in development, so numbers, skills, etc. are all subject to change.  I will be using placeholder assets for the tilesets, portraits and battle anims for now. 

Introducing the Avatar

After a quick prologue map in Nayeli's home village, Nayeli and Daisie will find the Avatar lying on the ground. 

This will be your opportunity to select your class, gender and name. Your gender and name are for cosmetic purpose only as of now. 

Your class, however, will directly affect your approach to combat. Your 4 choices are Fighter, Archer, Mage and Thief. (Currently all variants of a default Adventurer Class)

The Fighter 

The fighter is all about simplicity and efficiency. Their balanced stats means that they are versatile and fit most team compositions. 

Their unique Skill is War Cry. They can use their turn to debuff nearby enemies in a 3 tiles radius around them. Early on, your War Cry debuffs enemy Avoid and Critical Avoid, making them easier to hit and leads to devastating critical hits, making it easy for the Avatar to rush in and deal with multiple enemies. 

As they level up, they'll gain access to stronger War Cries with various effects ranging from lowering their defense/attack stat or making it impossible for enemies to make follow-up attacks. 

The Archer 

While the Fighter's ideal gameplan is to rush ahead and dispatch of groups of enemies at once, the Archer is better suited for supporting allies and giving them the chance to defeat enemies themselves. 

Not only are bows useful with their ability to attack enemies at 2-3 range. They also possess the combat art Crippling Shot, which is a nonlethal attack that also reduces enemy movement by 2 on hit. This, coupled with the Archer's first passive skill, a skill that increases accuracy by 15% for allies within 2 tiles, makes it really easy for them to "spoonfeed" kills to the allies you wish to prioritize in your playthrough.

Don't worry! The Archer is also a good choice offensively as they can deal with enemy mages by virtue of having higher resistance than the other Avatar classes. 

They'll also be able to keep up with their allies with the aid of their second passive skill, which increases experience gains by 20%, thus reducing a common weakness of archers in SRPGs. 

The Mage

The Mage is a good jumping off point for me to introduce Desire's Grove's magic system. 

Since Mages are very versatile and can attack at 1-2 range, they will be unable to make follow-up attacks and will be mostly useful for "nuking" or "chip" potential.  (Which will also be compounded by the fact that most enemies will have higher Def than Res) 

However, worry not! The Mage Avatar has some tricks up their sleeves! 

They possess the unique active skill Focus, which can be used to temporarily increase your stats. These buffs do not have a set duration, but will disappear after you enter combat once.

Focus once to increase your Damage Dealt by 2 and Accuracy by 5%.
Focus a second time to increase your Damage Dealt by an extra 3 and Accuracy by 5%.
Focus a third time to gain an additional 10% in Avoid AND remove the restriction on magical follow-up attacks. 

Each focus level also increases your Experience Gain on your Boosted Attack to make up for the turns spent focusing. 

This may sound quite confusing at first, but what this results in is a fun juggling act between encounters on the map where you need to identify which level of Focus is required to defeat key enemies. 

As the Mage levels up, a wide variety of spells will also become available and will interact with the focus system in interesting ways. 

The Thief

The Thief is certainly an interesting character who, more than the previous ones, depends on their team the most. 

To compensate for their subpar stats, they will be able to take two actions per turn, allowing them to spread mischief on the battlefield. 

Aside from the basic thieving utility (opening doors & chests), the Thief can also use a wide assortment of Rogue-exclusive items like the Smoke Bomb, which allows the thief to teleport over a short distance. 

The thief also knows two Combat Arts at base. 

Mark Target, which is a debuffing combat art that lowers the target's defense and avoid for one encounter. This combat art also avoids any counter attack by the opponent.
and
Power Stab, which is a single hit which benefits from a large damage and accuracy boost. 

The thief has a wide variety of ways to spend their turn : 

They can cover the most distance of any character by moving twice and using two Smoke Bombs.

They can debuff a target and run away to safety using Smoke Bombs, or make the most of the debuff themselves either with a Power Stab or by unleashing a flurry of hits on their weakened enemies with their Daggers. 

They can enter a room, open a chest and escape without giving any opportunity for the enemy to catch them. 

And so much more! 

Phew! That should do it for avatar's introduction! 

As you can see, whether you want to rush in, prop up your allies, be more methodical in your approach or be free-flowing and mischievous, there is a class for it!

(And that's just scratching the tip of the surface for the Avatar system. Each class will gain at least two promotion choices with even more nuance)

Next up, I'll be giving a closer look at the early cast, Nayeli, Daisie and a new character! 

See you there!
GK