Fade: Game Mechanics Document

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CM0565 Games Mechanics Daniel Willis W11013983 [email protected]

Transcript of Fade: Game Mechanics Document

  • CM0565 Games Mechanics

    Daniel Willis

    W11013983

    [email protected]

  • Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 5

    Story ........................................................................................................................................................ 5

    Game flow and progression .................................................................................................................... 6

    Tutorial ................................................................................................................................................ 7

    Neutral ................................................................................................................................................ 7

    7 circles ............................................................................................................................................... 7

    Ending ................................................................................................................................................. 8

    Location and time ................................................................................................................................... 8

    Interface .................................................................................................................................................. 9

    Time and space ..................................................................................................................................... 10

    Pause option ..................................................................................................................................... 10

    Saves ................................................................................................................................................. 10

    Character customisation ....................................................................................................................... 11

    Camera .................................................................................................................................................. 13

    Critical strike camera ........................................................................................................................ 14

    Cut scene camera .............................................................................................................................. 14

    Controls ................................................................................................................................................. 15

    Player feedback ..................................................................................................................................... 15

    Character stats, abilities and resources ................................................................................................ 16

    Strength......................................................................................................................................... 17

    Agility ............................................................................................................................................ 17

    Intelligence .................................................................................................................................... 17

    Defence ......................................................................................................................................... 17

    Stamina ......................................................................................................................................... 17

    Critical strike ................................................................................................................................. 18

    Character builds ............................................................................................................................ 18

    Assassin ......................................................................................................................................... 18

    High damage ................................................................................................................................. 18

    Defender ....................................................................................................................................... 18

    Mage ............................................................................................................................................. 19

    Abilities ............................................................................................................................................. 19

    Cool downs ........................................................................................................................................ 19

    Weather ................................................................................................................................................ 21

  • XP, level and skill levels ......................................................................................................................... 22

    Damage, HP, lives .................................................................................................................................. 23

    Armour and damage ......................................................................................................................... 24

    Magic damage ................................................................................................................................... 24

    HP ...................................................................................................................................................... 25

    Lives and rebirth ............................................................................................................................... 25

    Combat system ..................................................................................................................................... 26

    Targeting ........................................................................................................................................... 26

    Combat radius ................................................................................................................................... 26

    Reactions ........................................................................................................................................... 27

    Critical strikes .................................................................................................................................... 28

    Defence ............................................................................................................................................. 28

    Enemies ................................................................................................................................................. 29

    Spawnling .......................................................................................................................................... 29

    Undead Warrior ................................................................................................................................ 30

    Queen of Pride .................................................................................................................................. 30

    Monetary system .................................................................................................................................. 31

    Buying and selling ............................................................................................................................. 31

    Special trades .................................................................................................................................... 32

    Souls .................................................................................................................................................. 32

    Items ..................................................................................................................................................... 32

    Weapons ........................................................................................................................................... 32

    Blunt sword ................................................................................................................................... 33

    Spectral dagger ............................................................................................................................. 33

    Axe of insight ................................................................................................................................. 33

    Special weapons ................................................................................................................................ 33

    Armour .............................................................................................................................................. 34

    Cloth body ..................................................................................................................................... 34

    Steel body armour ........................................................................................................................ 34

    Armour of reflect .......................................................................................................................... 35

    Durability ........................................................................................................................................... 35

    Consumables ..................................................................................................................................... 35

    Health potion ................................................................................................................................ 36

    Mana potion .................................................................................................................................. 36

  • Food .............................................................................................................................................. 36

    Water ............................................................................................................................................ 37

    Quest items ....................................................................................................................................... 37

    Inventory ........................................................................................................................................... 37

    Travel system ........................................................................................................................................ 38

    Map ....................................................................................................................................................... 38

    Magic ..................................................................................................................................................... 40

    Intellect ............................................................................................................................................. 40

    Mana ................................................................................................................................................. 40

    Professions system ................................................................................................................................ 41

    Blacksmithing .................................................................................................................................... 41

    Enchanting ........................................................................................................................................ 41

    Alchemy ............................................................................................................................................ 42

    Cooking ............................................................................................................................................. 42

    Bounty Hunter ................................................................................................................................... 43

    Reputation ............................................................................................................................................ 44

    Good reputation ............................................................................................................................... 44

    Evil Reputation .................................................................................................................................. 45

    Quests and Achievements system ........................................................................................................ 46

    Quests ............................................................................................................................................... 46

    Sub-Quests ........................................................................................................................................ 47

    Profession quests .............................................................................................................................. 48

    Rewards ............................................................................................................................................ 48

    Achievements........................................................................................................................................ 48

    Specifics for one particular level/area .................................................................................................. 49

    From Market to Mayhem .................................................................................................................. 50

    To the death ...................................................................................................................................... 50

    Breaking Beauty ................................................................................................................................ 50

    References ............................................................................................................................................ 51

  • Fade

    Introduction

    Fade is an RPG based in the underworld where all sorts of evil prevail. The game will follow a main quest line alongside other sub quests to entice the player. The player will be given many options throughout the game such as choosing to be good or evil, changing the characters appearance, name and more. The game is also based around the 7 circles of hell and so a massive exploration takes part through passing each circle. This exploits a massive change in scenery for those players who enjoy exploring. The name of the game is Fade due to that the scenery also changes the further you go on towards the end of the main quest. The players interface will gradually fade as well as the environment. This is a feature of the game which lets the player see the progression of the main quest and also gives the player a feeling that you are getting closer to finding your family. The fading might also give an effect that the holy/good are near and that the players family are close to heaven. The game platform is set for PC, meaning that a mouse and keyboard are required to play the game.

    Story

    The game begins with a cut-scene from the eyes of the main character which the player will give a name. The story begins with an unclear image of the player characters family being murdered and only conveying a vivid image of who the killer was. After the terror of this horrific event the main character wakes up in hell, unsure of why the character is there. NPCs will either guide you or turn your conscience to evil. The setting of what is portrayed as Hell is a largely unbalanced world where evil is taking over and the ruling of Satan is ending due to the mass evil. The characters aim is to pass through all 7 circles of hell to seek revenge to the being that killed the player characters family and to find the ruler of hell to find out why the player is here. As well as this you must find out why the character is in hell and where the characters family are, which will be discovered at the end of the game. Once the player gains levels and passes through each circle of hell, they will gradually gain information and knowledge to understand what has happened. This should lead the player to continue playing in order to reveal the ending. Alongside the main quest line there are sub-missions/quests in which can determine whether the player is good or evil. The player can choose to help those in hell who dont belong there and those who need help or they can choose to cause suffering in hell, help those who are evil and convey recklessness in the depths of hell. This will be conveyed through a good and evil reputation bar. At the very end of the story the player reaches the circle of pride. This is where the story comes to an end,

  • where the player goes face to face with the being that killed the characters family. This being is Lucifer/Satan. The player finds out that Lucifer rose to earth to kill the characters family and the main character. This was to balance the good and evil in hell which was currently unbalanced. Each of the circles the character has passed through the sin was committed only to gain vengeance by the power of love. Satan/Lucifer has set up the whole scenario to make hell stronger for himself. The player character must fight through to Satan in a dungeon type style and kill him. After Satan is defeated the player is revealed that the characters family are in heaven and that the main character is trapped in hell until a new ruler is chosen to send the main character to heaven with the characters family. The main storyline ends with the main character choosing to rule hell in their own style depending on if they have evil or good reputation. An evil character will turn the world settings into a darker, grimmer place. And finishing the main story as a good character will convey peace and harmony within Hell. The player can then continue to level up and complete sub-missions if they wish, in their own styled Hell.

    Game flow and progression

    Tutorial and Game initiation

    Level up Complete Quests Complete Sub-Quests

    Gain Good/Bad reputation

    Ending of Main story

  • This diagram conveys the game flow starting from tutorial and following up to the end of the game. From the ending of the story, the player can then level further and complete extra sub-quests after completing the game.

    Tutorial

    The gameplay begins with a tutorial, where the player can learn and adjust to the controls and characteristics. In the tutorial session, there are some easy and simple quests to complete. The character has woken in hell and is therefore lost. The first quest is to walk over and talk to a bloodied man who has been locked up in a cage. The player hears the man shouting of his innocence and sees the guards beat him. The player can then use and explore the movement controls and communication methods when approaching the man. The man will ask if you can kill the guards patrolling the cage who appear as evil. The player is then given their first choice of whether to kill the guards to help the innocent or to tell the guards that he is trying to escape and seek help from them, as to why the main character is there. This quest is rewarded with experience points and will follow onto the next quest depending on which path the player chooses to take.

    Neutral

    The map is made of 7 circles containing a completely different environment to the others. However in between these circles there are neutral areas where no sin is present. In these areas there are sub quests and links to the main quest, they will also let the player know that they are leaving and entering a zone or circle. The player begins the game in a neutral area to allow them to see that they are in the underworld and to lead up to the main quest and the entire environment that follows.

    7 circles

    The player will go through the 7 circles of hell. The way the map is positioned means the player will go through every individual circle following quests. The circles closest to the place where the game starts, there will be lower level quests and they will gradually get higher level and an increase in difficulty as the player goes further through the circles such as pride where the ending of the game is set. Each circle has its own world environment and world settings, being higher level enemies, different quests and more. The quest line will lead the player through each circle meaning by the time theyve finished the quests in the first circle

  • Greed then they will be high enough level to take on the quests and enemies in the next one, Lust.

    Ending

    The progression can be monitored by how faded the interface is and by looking through a quest log. The fade is a good technique as it doesnt affect gameplay and will give a sense of accomplishment to the player. The player will be guided by quests to the end of the game where the story unravels its self and a twist in the story begins. The ending of the game also insinuates there will be a next game; this is when the character takes over the throne of hell and controls everything. By the end of the game the player should be experienced in all of the game features. The player should also be around level 35 and explored most of the map by the time they have finished the main quest line.

    Location and time

    The location of the game is based in hell/underworld, where anything is almost possible. The map includes different parts of hell, and the perspectives in which people see hell, being the 7 circles, torturing, evil and fiery. The hell that the player enters is found to be ruled by a very powerful being that has guards all around the map to protect the evil and torture the good. In the each of the seven circles lies its own unique environment, still following the settings of hell, however they have their own rulers. In each circle there is a god who rules in their own influence. For example: The lust character will appear seductive and controls her enemies using promiscuous behaviour. The god of lust rules the Lust circle in hell. The time of the game is set in medieval times where swords, bows, armour where common tools of combat. Since the game is based in hell, the game is open to anything as there is no evidence of actual existence, making it a fantasy game, meaning that even magic is possible. As a fantasy RPG based in the underworld, the environment looks taunted, there is gore (which can be turned off in the settings), there are lots of fantasy style enemies and NPCs such which relate to the time and the location. Enemies such as undead knights, undead warriors, reapers, blood spawns and more.

  • Interface

    The interface will include:

    Experience bar The yellow bar

    HP bar The red bar, going from player perception that the player will recognise from other games, where red is usually HP and Mana is usually blue

    Mana bar The blue bar

    The ability tool bar- The ability bar is along the bottom of the screen, where the player can click on each ability from this bar.

    Inventory, quest log, ability and stats menu The four boxes in the bottom right of the screen displays icons where the player can access these menus.

    There is an escape button at the top left of the screen where the player can access the pause menu.

    The player can see the same interface when in both first and third person view. The interface gives the player lots of room to see the surrounding area.

    Avatar

  • Time and space

    The time in the game is set in cycles of day and night, however even through the day it is not very bright and there is no blue sky. The sky is light as the fire above, on hell roof shines through clouds of grey. The cycle of light and dark runs every hour, meaning that in real time every hour, it turns to night or day. The night will not be too dark in order to let the player see clearly. During the night time, aggressive enemies have a smaller aggression radius as they cant see as well during the hour of darkness. The player can still see normally and attack normally through the dark, although the world becomes slightly more dark than usual. The game is all real-time meaning that the game is fast paced. With the use of real-time the player can explore more areas and have more freedom when playing. The game is a 3D game with 2D features such as the map, menus and interface. The game has a Z axis, meaning a jump feature is available.

    Pause option

    The player can pause the game at any time, stopping everything in game, including combat, cut scenes and any other gameplay. When paused, the player cannot look at their inventory or move as the screen will fade out and a menu will appear, only allowing the player to navigate through the menu until un-pausing. The player can pause by pressing the escape button on the keyboard, making it quick and accessible if needed. When the game is paused the player can browse through achievements and game options such as brightness, camera settings, Game quality, sound settings, gore on/off and screen resolution. As soon as the game is paused, a menu appears conveying buttons such as resume, save, save and exit and exit.

    Saves

    The game can be saved at any time and will also auto-save every 10 minutes to the allocated save slot. The game auto saves making sure that if any technically difficulties occurred; the player will not lose all of their previous gameplay if the player hadnt saved. When the player saves the game they will return to the last save, in the same place, with the same HP and Mana to prevent players using a save as a regeneration process. Saving is done by pressing escape to pause game menu and then clicking save.

  • Character customisation

    The character which the player controls is always human however there are many choices to be made to customise the character. From the start of the game after the cut-scene, the player is able to use a character customisation interface to alter facial and body structures, height and more. This gives the player a feeling of dominance, connection and control over the character which intensifies the gameplay. The interface will be made out of pre-made features which differentiate throughout a slider bar. For example, a slim or skinny built character can be changed by using the slider bar and moving it to the larger built character.

    The character is also customised the more evil or good the player is in the game. If the player chooses to be evil, the character will convey signs of a dark presence. For example, if the character has a fully evil reputation bar, the character will have dark mist around them, their eyes will turn darker and their weapon will show the blood from the enemies that have died from the weapon. This presents a strong sense of evil or good in the character, meaning that the player can see that something has changed in the game cosmetically as well as mechanically.

    The player can also customise their armour and weapons at a decoration store located in the Lust and Greed circles. They can add symbols, text, fonts, colours and more to items such as shields, swords, armour and banners. This allows the player to give the game some personal changes to the way their items appear. This can be done when the player explores the circle of lust or greed where there is a store that specialises in customisation.

    The player can also change their hair style and get tattoos in the game in the lust circle, although it does not influence the gameplay it is a feature simply for cosmetic exploitation. This store allows players to add pre-set tattoos and hairstyles for a price.

  • The below image represents the character customisation view.

    Ethnicity

    Hair colour

    Hair

    Face

    Weight

    Height

    Scars

    Tattoos

    Name Enter Name

    The character preview is viewed in this box during character customisation.

    ACCEPT RANDOMISE

    Rotate right Rotate left

  • Camera The camera angle is a adaptable and can be modified by the player. The camera is set in third person or in first person view in a classic RPG style.

    First person perspective enables the player to get a close view of all interactions and action that is happening around the character, as though it were from their own eyes. First person also allows the player to see their own weapon and almost works as a crosshair for combat, as they can see who is directly in front of them. Third person perspective allows the player to see more of the surrounding area, from an above angle.

  • This is useful in RPG's when exploring or when around places where enemies may hide so that the player can see more of the surroundings.

    Critical strike camera

    The critical strike is triggered when the player damages for a critical hit. The camera pans out of first person mode and third person and conveys the critical hit from between an angle that best shows the critical hit. The player can continue to fight after the critical as normal and the camera will return to normal.

    The critical strike camera allows the player to see what has happened when a critical hit occurs. This will give the player a sense of excitement, knowing they have hit higher than they normally would, also conveying a cut-scene like performance by the player, giving a sense of achievement.

    Cut scene camera

    During cut scenes such as the starting cut-scene, the camera will be fixed on what is happening in the cut-scene. The camera perspective is from the characters eyes, meaning that it is in first person view. The camera is not controllable by the player.

  • Controls The controls of the game can be displayed at any time through a menu during game or out of game. This enables the player to adjust to the controls at any time if necessary. The player will first learn how to use the controls from the start of the game. Although it is not an official tutorial, it guides the players through a quest whilst also allowing the player to use basic controls such as movement, attacking, interacting. The player is not under pressure from the start of the game, meaning they can experiment with the controls.

    Control Action W Move forward

    S Move backwards A Move left D Move right I Open inventory Q Open Quest log Z Open Ability Menu T Target enemy

    ESC Pause game Right click Attack Left click Select

    1-9 Abilities are binded to number keys. SPACE BAR Jump

    Above are some basic controls used throughout the game, conveying the keys that need to be pressed in order to complete basic actions.

    The controls will follow the basic arrow keys /WSAD for movement, abilities will be selectable or hot keyed depending on what the player prefers. Attack controls vary as the controls can be modified. The default controls involve left and right mouse clicks to select and attack, left click to select, and right click to attack. This allows quick and accurate interaction or combat. Like most other RPGs the controls will be familiarised and easy to use.

    Player feedback

    The player is given feedback from many prospects of the game. One, being that when the player is being damaged, the screen will begin the fade out until the player has died or regained health. This gives the player a sign that they are dying and that they may want to flee or use a consumable. Another part of player feedback is the green wisps that fly around the player when using a HP potion and blue wisps when using a Mana potion. This is to

  • signify that the potion has been used and is currently in process of replenishing. The use of wisps will not distract the player as they are small and not luminous. There is player feedback before and during combat when the player clicks on the target they wish to attack. When clicking, the target gains a red glow around them, conveying that they are now an enemy and that they are the current target that is to be attacked. The player is given feedback when a small question mark is shown above the NPC that is giving the quest. This gives a good visual representation of an available quest so that the player is not left looking for quests in an area. The question mark is to convey that the player should interact with the NPC. This feedback is clear and helpful.

    Character stats, abilities and resources

    When the player character gains a new level, they are rewarded with 5 stat points to add on to the current stats. The character stats will affect the character in many ways in both appearance and in performance. The player can choose to concentrate on a single stat to suit to them, or to overpower others in one area of combat, the player can also choose to equally level each stat so that they are balanced in combat. For example a player might decide to concentrate on levelling critical strike and agility to hit fast with a high chance of critical hits, this will make them very good in attacking and defeating enemies. However, a player might choose to level in stamina to take more damage, or intelligence to cast more spells. This allows the players to make a choice as to how they wish to play the character.

    The agility statistic works by a mechanic, where the attack speed is shown in how long it takes per attack. For example, 15 level points, being the starting level will be equivalent to 2 seconds. Meaning the player will attack every 2 seconds. The more the player increases the agility stat the quicker the player attacks and so the player can see how long it takes to attack.

    The character stats will be displayed in a form similarly to the one below where the player can click on the add symbol to add a stat point to the selected statistic.

    Stats Level points Upgrade Strength 15 Agility 15 Intelligence 15 Defence 15 Stamina 15 Critical Strike 15

  • Strength

    The strength stat increases the amount of damage the player character deals to opponents. Each stat point in strength increases the characters damage by 2, meaning the player can deal high damage if they choose to increase strength to a high number.

    Agility

    Agility increases attack speed, meaning that the player hits more times per second. The more points in agility, the faster the attack. The players damage is not effected by the agility, however, with a high level agility stat, the player can deal high damage by attacking very fast in comparison to enemies.

    Intelligence

    The intelligence stat increases the amount of Mana the player can contain, increasing the players Mana by fifty every time the player adds a point in that stat. Intelligence allows the player to cast abilities using Mana.

    Defence

    The defence stat gives the player a chance to dodge or parry incoming attacks, avoiding all damage. The more stats the player adds into defence, the more chance of dodging or parrying. Each stat point in defence gives a 0.25% chance of dodging or parrying.

    Stamina

    The stamina stat increases the players HP amount, adding 50HP every stat point added. This enables the player to last longer in fights or to take more damage. The stamina of a character is solely based on HP.

  • Critical strike

    The critical strike stat works well alongside with the agility or strength stat, allowing the player to hit enemies in a weak area to deal higher damage than usual. Critical strikes deal 75% more damage than the basic attack.

    Character builds

    Although there are no classes or races in the game, the player can choose to make their own by adding points onto specific stats. Some character builds mean that some stats will be lower than others, giving some kind of weakness. It is up to the player if they wish to build their character a certain way.

    Assassin

    If the player wanted to build a class that attacks fast with critical strikes, they can simply add points to agility and critical, making the character assassin like. This build will hit very fast basic attacks with a high chance of hitting higher on critical strikes, dealing a fast and large amount of damage within a short period of time. This build works well against enemies with high chance of dodge as the player will hit often, even through a high dodge chance.

    High damage

    For a high damage character build the player can maximise the amount of points in the strength stat in order to deal very high damage, although the attacks will be slow, they can deal the highest damage which may be good against armoured enemies. This build would be strong against assassins and mages due to the high damage on lower stamina.

    Defender

    The defender build is mainly based around stamina and defence, meaning that the player will have very high HP and a high chance of dodging, making them very hard to hit or kill.

  • This build will not hit as high or fast as the other builds due to the maximisation in defensive stats. This build would be better with good armour, to also increase resistance to damage.

    Mage

    The mage build consists of high Mana and stamina in order to give the player high HP and Mana. This will allow the player to cast spells frequently without losing all of their Mana. Mages can also be useful in close combat due to their high stamina, meaning they can withstand damage.

    Abilities The player is given an option of abilities being good or evil and then further options as to which pathway to choose. Abilities come through levelling up and some as quest rewards. The abilities run on Mana where each ability costs individual Mana, to stop players from spamming abilities, making the game less difficult and more unfair. Mana does regenerate and the player can buy potions therefore abilities can be used commonly or even primarily.

    Cool downs

    Every ability has its own cool down time. Abilities further down the ability tree have longer cool downs to prevent over usage and overpowering. Once the player has used an ability the ability will fade in colour to convey that it is not useable until the cool down is over. If the player tries to click on the ability or use it, a message will be displayed to notify the player that the spell is currently on cool down. The player can see the cool down time when hovering over the spell or checking the ability description on the ability menu. The player can use the spell after the ability has faded back to normal colour. This means that the player can see how long the ability will take to use by looking at the ability icon, or by checking the cool down. Once the cool down time is over, the player can cast the ability again, if they have Mana of course.

    The abilities will be available to browse and select from a menu by pressing Z. The player can change the key bindings to their own way if they wish. The abilities Menu will display all abilities with damage, Mana cost and all information about each spell. This will allow the player to foresee how they will use each ability. As well as this menu the player interface will contain an ability bar that enables the player to insert their abilities onto the toolbar for quick use. This gives the player a quick and visual exploit on abilities.

  • The pathways are presented below. The good abilities have a Holy and Righteous pathway. The holy pathway will focus on large and mass healing, regeneration and support. The Righteous pathway will focus on mainly attack spells. The Dark pathway is primarily attack spells to destroy enemies. There is an equal balance in all pathways even good or evil. If the player where to choose the Blood pathway, the player can heal less than the holy however inflicts damage as the abilities are used, therefore balancing the abilities.

    Good Evil

    Holy Righteous Blood Dark

    Heal +60 HP

    -Heals 60 HP to selected target.

    Summon tree of divine

    -When summoned, the tree of divine gives +5HP regeneration to

    you and all allies in the radius

    Shield of power

    -When activated a shield protects you and all allies in the radius for 400 damage.

    Righteous strike

    -A concentrated beam deals massive damage to

    a single unfortunate enemy. (400 dmg).

    Surging souls

    -When active a swarm of souls unleash on the surrounding enemies sapping their health for you.

    Mist of the shadows

    -Summons a dark mist where you become invisible for 5 seconds. You can still attack while in the mist.

    Smite

    -Smite deals 100 damage to selected enemy

    Aura of justice

    -When activated justice is served as you deal +20 damage per second for 5 seconds.

    Blood Sap

    Steal 50HP from target enemy

    Summon Golem

    -Summons a blood golem from a nearby corpse to fight aside

    you.

    - 20 attack -5 defence

    -200HP

    Strike of sin

    -Deals 90 pure damage to targeted

    enemy

    Fatal leap

    -Leaps to a selected enemy dealing 80

    damage and stunning the unit for 2 seconds.

  • Weather

    The weather changes usually depending on which area of the map the player is in. For example in gluttony there is gungy, green and brown puss erupting from the floor and ceiling. Because the game is set in the underworld, the weather is bizarre and unpredictable. The weather mechanics are ran by Boolean choices. Below is how the weather mechanics function, conveying all features of the weather, being integer or Boolean and how the weather is set in the world. In some areas there are showers of fire rain which harms the player character if they are hit by it. The player will be able to see fire rain from a distance as it is highly visible.

    class weather {

    int windSpeed; //in mph & Kph

    int windDirection; // N,S,E or W

    bool isfireRain;// is there fireRain?

    bool isThunder; //is there thunder?

    bool islightening; //is there lightening?

    precip precipType; //enum SNOW, FIRERAIN, HAIL, NONE

    float precipRate; //in inches per hour

    bool ismist; //is there mist?

    int mistDensity; //visibility in metres?

    }

    bool bmist;

    bool bPrecipitation;

    bool bWind;

    bool bFreezing;

    bool bThunder;

    bool blightening;

    ]

    Declaration: weather CurrentWeather;

    Set: CurrentWeather.bfireRain=true;

  • XP, level and skill levels

    The player character has an experience bar across the bottom of the screen where the player can see how much XP they have, given visual representation on a scale. The end of the experience bar is the amount of XP needed to reach the next level. The bar then resets and begins to work towards the next level but with more experience required.

    For example: XP till LVL up= 400

    XP per goul = 10 Gouls needed: 40

    XP per scorched undead = 25 Undead needed:16

    Goul = lvl 2

    Scorched undead = lvl 4

    This conveys how levelling up is balanced, where the player can choose to fight tougher enemies and gain more XP or lots of weaker enemies for a small amount of XP.

    From level 1 the experience bar starts at 0 and ends at 400XP. From level 2 the experience bar starts at 0 and ends at 600XP, meaning that the player starts a new experience bar but with more XP to gain.

    The formula for this is simply: lvlXP x 1.5 = NewlvlXP

    Multiplying the current required experience by 1.5 gives a challenge to the player after each level, making it more difficult to level up the higher the player reaches. 1.5 is a good number to multiply by because it will not make it too hard to level. If the player finds its too difficult to level, they will not feel rewarded enough, and they will not progress as far as they might wish. At a higher level the quests and enemies will give higher XP, meaning that although the XP required is very high at a high level, the player can still gain levels with time.

    Experience points are earned through completing quests, killing enemies, completing achievements and exploring new areas. XP is more of a reward throughout the game, giving the player excitement in levelling, gaining new skills and using new items.

    When the player is defeating enemies, they give the player experience points. The higher level enemies give more XP than the lower level enemies, meaning the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Along with experience the player is also likely to find better items when looting high level enemies. Usually, the same rules follow with quests, where the harder the quest the bigger reward, being XP and Items.

    The player is also rewarded when entering a new area, this is to encourage players to explore and complete main quest lines. This also stops some players from grinding from a

  • low level. Granting XP for entering a new area also adds excitement to finding new areas and exploration. Meeting the criteria for those players who enjoy exploration.

    When the player levels up, text appears onscreen to convey the achievement of levelling up, working as a notification that cannot be missed and without distracting players from current gameplay. As well as this the player can then choose to upgrade or learn abilities and stats by clicking on a small icon which appears next to the player avatar. The icon allows quick availability to complete the levelling process without using a Menu.

    In addition to levelling up, the player is given 5 stat points and 1 ability point for every level gained. It is up to the player which ability pathway they choose to follow or which stats to increase. However, the player cannot choose the highest level ability first; they have to level up the abilities in the same pathway, from the top to bottom. For example, to learn the final ability of the Holy pathway, the player must learn all of the abilities before learning the end ability, being heal, summon tree of divine and shield of power. The player can also choose to upgrade the same ability up to 5 times, meaning the ability will be stronger the higher the level. The level of the ability can be seen when hovering over the ability on the toolbar, and while looking at the information in the ability menu. This grants the player another option on whether they want more abilities or less but stronger abilities.

    Damage, HP, lives

    The damage system works like most other RPGs were the stats effect the characters combat, as well as weapons, armour and abilities.

    For general combat the strength stat increases the amount of damage you hit. For every point in the strength is 2 damage. From the start of the game the player can only hit 30 damage on a normal melee hit, unless a critical strike occurs. 30 is a fair amount of damage to hit against enemies around the starting area, which have around 120-300HP. This means that the player will not be in elongated and difficult combat from first learning the game. Weapons and armour can add and decrease damage depending on the item. Weapons and armour add extra stats to a player if it has an enchantment, which is fairly common from completing quests rather than grinding. The damage follows the same rules as the stats where if the weapon says +5, it will add an extra 10 damage to your original damage. Enchanted weapons are a good way to add excitement and thrill to combat in the game, giving a sense of rarity over stronger weapons and armour.

  • Armour and damage

    The character does not have an armour stat due to that the armour items give armour to the player. Armour reduces the amount of damage taken when in combat. The damage reduction system almost works as an additional stat where the armour may have 5 armour meaning it blocks 5 damage. The armour only removes the amount of damage that it says. For instance, if a piece of chest plate has 200 armour; it will block 200 damage from most attacks. Obviously this would be a very high level piece of armour where players can still be damaged or damage enemies. Armour can also be enchanted to inflict extra effects. For example, there is armour which decreases enemy durability, where if an undead warrior was to fight you, the undead may lose his weapon, although this will be on a chance basis, a small chance basis.

    Magic damage

    Magic damage has a set limit where the spell will only do the damage it is set to. Abilities can be upgraded to deal more damage to enemies or heal more to allies. For example level 1 Smite deals 100 damage at level 1 , whereas at Smite ability level 2, it deals 150 damage. Magic attacks can also be interrupted, blocked or failed. When casting ability the spell has a small chance to fail, being 5% by default. Some enemies can increase the percentage of magic fail chance using their own abilities, making magic temporarily ineffective. If an ability works and hits the target, they will lose the amount of damage the spell inflicts. Magic damage can also be blocked or dodged similarly to any other basic attack. The higher the level in defence, the more likely the character is to dodge magic attacks. Each stat point in defence adds 0.25% chance to block or dodge attacks. This means that from level 1 the player has 3.75% chance to dodge or block magic damage. Although this is not much, the player can choose which stat to choose to attack or defend against magic. There are items, weapons and armour which affect the use of magic by interruption, increasing damage, decreasing damage and more. Meaning the player can counter magic using an enchantment on their weapon against magic to give a chance of interrupting spells or decreasing damage. Armour can also be enchanted to deflect magic damage, meaning a percentage of magic damage dealt is returned to the enemy, depending on the armour.

  • HP

    The player character has hit points depending on their level and stamina stat. When a player levels up, their hit points increase by 50. Each stat point increases HP by 50HP. The player has a HP bar above the abilities toolbar, displaying a red bar with the amount of current HP. When the player is damaged, the bar goes down and the players screen fades slightly depending on how much health they are missing. When the character is on low health, the screen appears more faded and eventually almost white when dead. HP is the most dependant feature which determines the characters life or death, therefore making it important. Because HP is important, the screen fades to give a strong notification to the player that they are being attacked. The damage system used involves HP where the receiver of damage is inflicted.

    For example:

    Player 1 strength: 30 Damage: 60

    Critical: 15 Damage:107

    Large Enemy: Defence: 15 HP after/IF damage: 940

    Stamina: 20 HP: 1000

    HP after/IF critical strike: 893

    HP IF blocked: 1000

    Lives and rebirth

    The player only has one life, where once the character reaches 0HP, they are dead. Once the character is dead, they will rise back through spawn yards. The spawn yards allow the player to be spawned back into life, as the character died in hell, they are to be sent back to hell. Spawn yards are scattered around the map where the character can spawn to the closest one. When the player is spawned, they receive a gold penalty and it will also reduce the durability of most items. This brings consequence to death to ensure players dont use death as a teleport device or to not feel the need to stay alive. The gold penalty depends on

  • how much gold the player has; the gold penalty is 10% of the players current gold, which is a considerable amount.

    Enemy lives differ, if an enemy dies, they respawn after a random time each time they die. This allows players to grind if they wish, also allowing the player to kill the same creatures in a certain area without needing to travel the map to find the same creatures to kill for a quest.

    Combat system

    The combat system is primarily open zoned and real-time unless in a particular circumstance such as an arena battle. Open zoned combat allows the player to use the environment or run away when necessary. Real-time combat means that most combat throughout the game is fast paced and continuous. Because there are aggressive enemies in the game which will attack the player when close enough, means that the player must be aware of their surroundings in case of an eruption of combat. This makes combat a lot more intense and dangerous. When in combat the player cannot equip an item, they can only use items such as consumables and abilities. The player can run if they wish to. If the player opens their quest log, they will still be attacked as it is only the pause menu that will stop gameplay.

    Targeting A play can spot an aggressive enemy as they have a slight glow around them before attacking to show that they are hostile. An enemy who is not aggressive will not glow red until combat has initiated. The player can target the enemy by left clicking or pressing T on the keyboard, once the enemy has been clicked the enemy will have a red circle around their feet to indicate they there are an enemy target. If an aggressive enemy is within radius, they will attack the player without the player initiating.

    Combat radius

    The radius of aggression and attack vary. Magic abilities have their own casting distance, making them good against melee enemies as they get a chance to cast before being attacked.

  • Aggressive enemies Melee attack Night time aggressive enemies

    The above diagrams convey the radius of which combat can take place. The radius of aggressive enemies is 10 metres, being a fair amount of distant from the player, where if the player goes as close as 10 metres, the enemy will go to attack the player character.

    The melee attack radius is 1 metre, meaning that the player has to be close to the enemy in order to attack. The player can click to attack from a distance and the character will then move towards the enemy until reaching a 1 metre radius to begin fighting.

    At night time aggressive enemies cant see as well as through the day and so they have a lower aggression radius, meaning that they the player can get closer to the enemy through the night. The gives the player a chance to avoid enemies well during night time.

    Reactions

    The enemy reactions are almost instant when they have been attacked. Aggressive enemies will already be prepared to fight and so they dont react to being hit unless they have been hit by an ability from a further radius. When an enemy is hit they will flinch and sometimes fall back depending on if the player character is winning the fight.

    If the player attacks an enemy with no aggression then they will react by turning to the direction of the player character and attacking, whether is melee or magic. If the player attacks from behind, the enemys reaction is slowed and they will take longer to turn around by 1 second. This gives an advantage to the player when attacking from behind. When an enemy is attacked they will sometimes shout at the player and make comments on how they are fighting.

    10 Metres 1 Metre 7 Metres

  • Critical strikes

    Critical strikes ignore armour and hit for higher damage. Critical strike is a stat which can be increased meaning the higher the stat, the more often it will occur. The damage of a critical strike depends on how much damage the character inflicts. For example: If the player deals 30 damage to an enemy, a critical strike would inflict 52. The mechanic behind this, is that the critical strike deals 75% extra from the original damage. There are items which increase the percentage of damage through critical strikes.

    The option to hit a for a critical strike is a good method to use when stats are used, the reason for this is that if a player chooses to increase their strength and they critical hit, they will hit extremely high. A player who chooses to increase their agility is more likely to hit for a critical strike however maybe not as hard or high in damage than a character with increased strength. This gives the player many options to think about while entering combat, adding excitement and technique to the system.

    Defence

    The character also has a stat to counter, dodge and avoid attacks by taking advantage of the defence skill. The defence skill works similarly to the critical strike, where the more the player adds points to the defence stat, the higher the chance to dodge/avoid attacks. Each stat point added increases the percentage by 0.25. This allows the player to choose a defensive build of character rather than a character who deals high damage. Having an attack and defence brings the player many options to which build they might want to play, if any. The stats used in Fade allow the player to choose high damage, fast damage, high HP, high defence, combos of skills and more. When in combat and the enemies attack is dodged, small writing above the player icon will appear saying dodged to notify the player that they have dodged the attack. This writing fades out after 1 second and another will appear if another attack is dodged. Similarly to every other stat, there is armour, weapons and buffs which increase the defence stat to make you harder to attack.

  • Enemies

    There are a variety of enemies in the game, all with different features such as level, abilities, damage, HP and appearance. Enemies in the game are attackable by the player character and will always attack back once they have been attacked. Basic enemies such as spawnlings spawn at random times in allocated areas for their level, along with every enemy, once it has been killed the respawn time is random between 30 seconds to 1 hour. Within enemies there are aggressive enemies which will attack the player when the player character is within the aggravation radius. Every enemy drops different loot to another and each type of enemy gives the same amount of XP each time they are killed. Below are different types of enemies with all of their features.

    Spawnling

    Spawnlings are low level enemies based around the starting area. Spawnlings are weak and deal minor damage, however usually fight in packs.

    Level: 2

    Stats: Damage 5 HP - 200

    Agility 16 Mana -0

    Defence 2 Crit - 0

    Ability - None

    Weakness They have low HP and Very low . damage, making them an easy target.

    Strength They fight in packs, meaning they . can possibly deal high damage if ignored or not . killed quick.

  • Undead Warrior

    Undead warriors are fairly tough, dealing a fair amount of damage against the player and defending fairly well for themselves. Undead warriors can be found in the starting area from around level 4-7.

    Level: 4-7

    Stats: Damage 25 HP - 400

    Agility- 12 Mana -0

    Defence -10 Crit 5

    Ability None

    Weakness Undead have a slow . attack speed.

    Strength They hit a fair amount of . damage with for their level and have . good defence.

    Queen of Pride Level: 28

    Stats: Damage 150 HP- 6000

    Agility 23 Mana - 3000

    Defence 15 Crit 0

    Ability 1: Can blind target for 5 seconds. Ability 2: Sends a delayed beam of light, dealing 500 damage. Ability 3: Causes the target to hurt themselves for 20% of their damage for the duration.

    Weakness Mirror quest item used to kill her when she is on low HP.

    Strength She deals high ability damage and has high HP.

  • Monetary system

    The monetary system runs on gold coins which are used throughout the game as a currency. The coin purse which stores gold will not count as an inventory item and will show how much gold the player currently owns at all times. Money is droppable, tradable and valuable in the game as it can be used to buy powerful items, travel, and other items that arent dropped by enemies.

    Gold can be found when killing all sorts of enemies, from guards to spawnlings. Each enemy or mob in the game drops an amount of gold depending on their level or difficulty. A low level enemy will not drop a high amount of gold, as they will be positioned mainly in the area in which the player starts the game. This means that from the start of the game the player can only collect a small amount of gold, enough to buy satisfactory items. The higher the player levels, and the further through the map they travel, they will find creatures and enemies which drop a high amount of gold. Therefore the higher level the player gets, the more likely they are to be able to afford luxury items. There are items which can only be bought using souls, which are considered to be rare and legendary. Gold and Souls are different currencies however, the general currency is based on gold, where Souls can only be found by completing certain quests, defeating high level enemies or unlocking difficult achievements.

    Buying and selling

    Once the player has ventured through the starting quests, they will be lead to a market, containing an armoury, blacksmith, enchanter, general store and hidden stash. The player can then choose to use these features of the game. The hidden stash is there for the player to store any items, gold or Souls which they do not wish to carry on them. The hidden stash has a maximum capacity of 5 until a quest is completed, upgrading it to 10 spaces. In the armoury the player can use gold to buy different types of armour depending on the character level and if they can afford it. The player can also sell armour in the armoury for gold coins. Although they wont sell for as much as they are worth, the player can sell unwanted items from collecting or looting every armour drop from enemies. This could be a good method of gaining gold. If the player chooses to sell, the shop keeper will buy it for 0.75% of what the armour is actually worth. The same formula is used for the shopkeeper in the blacksmith, enchanter and general store. The blacksmith is a place to buy and sell weapons of all kinds. The general store is a store which sells items such as health potions, Mana potions, food and water.

  • Special trades

    If the player finds an NPC which wants to buy certain items, they will buy them off the player for a much higher price than what they are worth. These NPCs are usually people that have been locked up by the ruler of hell and want to escape, in need of a weapon, key, armour or other items. Sometimes they may just really need a random item. This is a good opportunity for the player to keep items in their inventory in case they find a special trader.

    Souls

    Souls are items which can be collected working as a sub-currency which allows the player to purchase special items such as banners, impressive weapons and armour, revives and reset cool down scrolls. The better the item, the more souls it will cost, giving the player a choice to save or spend. Souls are hard to find items, usually found after killing and looting the ruler of each deadly circle of hell. Souls can also be collected after certain quests. Souls are dropped with a very small chance when killing ordinary enemies, making them difficult to find. Souls are non-tradable, meaning that the player cannot sell or buy them from anywhere in the game. As well as this, they do not count as inventory items and are kept in the body of the character. When a soul is collected, the soul is absorbed into the characters body conveying that they have power. On the interface next, underneath the gold count there is a Soul count, where the player can see how many souls they have collected

    Items

    Weapons

    Weapons can be found by killing enemies, completing quests or buying them. Each weapon contains individual features which will assist the combat of the character who wields it. Weapons have an equip level, meaning that the player can only wield the weapon if they meet the level requirements. Weapons that are acquired by a drop will usually correspond to the level of the area and player, meaning that in low level areas with low level enemies, enemies will drop weapons more suitably for low level players. There are different types of weapons such as daggers, spears, hammers, axes, swords, halberds and staffs.

    In the game there are hundreds of weapons to acquire, making every weapon unique. All weapons can be equipped dependant on their durability being higher than 0.

  • [Base damage + Weapon buff + (IF critical hit) = Total damage]

    The formula above is how weapons can affect the players damage.

    Blunt sword

    The player will be rewarded with a blunt sword after completing the first quest of the game, introducing combat and items. The blunt sword has no buff and so the character only deals the original damage done by stats. This weapon is an introductory weapon, allowing the player to adjust to basic combat. In the starting zone, the player is very unlikely to come across a rare item and will most likely find blunt, sharp and regular items. These are basic weapons without enchantments with very small buffs. There is no rarity in these items.

    Spectral dagger

    The spectral dagger is a strong dagger rewarded after completing a quest in the circle of lust. The dagger gives the player +7 agility and +3 strength. This dagger is given before going to defeat the ruler of lust/queen of lust, being a boss fight the player is given a strong weapon to face the battle. Because the weapon is a dagger type, most daggers increase agility, giving fast attack speed to kill enemies. The level requirement for this weapon is level 8.

    Axe of insight This weapon is even stronger and contains the power of good rather than evil. This axe heals the player for 5% of damage dealt per hit and adds +4 stamina. This axe can be found when saving an innocent in the circle of greed as part of a sub-quest. The item level for this weapon is level 14. The axe of insight is an ideal weapon for someone who has chosen to pick the Holy ability pathway, as they can deal damage and heal a lot.

    Special weapons

    Throughout the game there will be weapons that are considered to be rare. The special weapons in the game can be acquired by defeating a ruler of the 7 circles. Each ruler has their own weapon and will be dropped when they have been killed. These weapons have no level requirement and have very useful buffs. For example, the Staff of Vanity,

  • dropped by the queen of pride scars every enemy in a radius, dealing 40 damage per second. The staff also has a mini-ability which can be used every 60 seconds. The ability blinds the target for 5 seconds, making them miss all attacks for that duration. The staff also increases intelligence by 15 and stamina by 10. Because the staff is found in the circle of pride, which is the highest level area, the weapon is very powerful. The reason behind the staff is due to the vanity of the queen. The queen of pride wants everyone else to look worse than her and so she scars everyone around her, defecting them to her beauty. The mini-ability blinds a single target using the power of a mirror hidden in the staff, which she uses to check her beauty after battles.

    Armour

    The armour in the game is similar to the weapons in the game where the armour gives the player buffs. Armour also gives armour points which prevent an amount of damage being inflicted. It can be acquired through enemy item drops, bought from the armoury and rewarded from completion of certain quests. All armour have armour points which blocks out a certain amount of damage, equivalent to the amount of armour points on the armour. All armour is equipable unless it has zero durability, in which case will need to be repaired at the blacksmith. Armour includes a chest, legs, helmet and boots.

    Cloth body

    Cloth body armour is starting armour which will also be given to the player after completing one of the first given quests. Cloth body armour only has 2 armour points, meaning it will only block 2 damage when inflicted. Although this armour isnt strong, it is still useful to the player during combat and improves character cosmetics. Cloth armour is not worth much when selling or anywhere throughout the game and can be found fairly easily when killing some enemies in the starting area (being the neutral ground before the circle of lust),

    Steel body armour

    Steel armour is strong armour usually found later in the game with high armour points and sometimes enchantments. Steel armour is fairly expensive to buy and find due to its dependant armour points. Some steel armour can be given as a reward to quests later in the game. Steel armour and weaponry is usually found around the greed and sloth circles of hell. Steel blocks a high amount of damage and has a long durability.

  • Armour of reflect

    This armour is a rare armour which can only be found through a lucky enemy drop when killing fire golems in the circle of Envy. Armour of reflect returns 20% of damage to attacking enemies for 5 seconds when activated. The armour effect/enchantment can be activated by clicking or pressing the hotkey which is binded. The effect has a 120 second cool down, meaning it cant be used constantly throughout a single fight. This armour has the same amount of armour points as steel, making it a very strong armour and a very defensive item. This item can also be sold like any other armour. The durability is high, meaning that it will last a long time in combat before it needs to be repaired, making it a very useful item of combat.

    Armour name Armour points

    Rarity Gold worth Enchantment? Durability

    Cloth body armour

    2 Very Common 25 No 12/12

    Steel body armour

    20 Uncommon 400 No 36/36

    Body Armour of reflect

    20 Rare 1200 Yes 42/42

    Durability

    The durability of an item is vital when considering combat and taking care of inventory items. All equipable items have durability and a durability rate. Durability goes down when the player. The durability of an item doesnt go down instantly; it decreases by 3 every time the player dies. Once the durability of an item reaches 0, the player cant equip the item until it has been repaired from the blacksmith. The higher durability rating, the longer the item will last before needing repairs.

    Consumables Consumable items are items which are used up by the player character in order to assist the player, usually by replenishment. Consumable items have cool down times similar to abilities, where the player can only use the same type once before the cool down is over. Consumables can be purchased or created by the player. Consumables are rarely dropped by enemies. When purchasing consumables, the player can only hold 5 of each type of

  • consumable, limiting the player to powerful resources. Consumables can be created through the use of Alchemy, collecting resource items and combining them into vials to create potions.

    Health potion Health potions can be used as a primary method of regaining HP. To regain HP, the player can click on the health potion from the inventory toolbar. There are two different types of HP potions, insta HP and a normal HP potion. Insta HP instantly gives the player HP depending on the size of the potion. These potions will not heal for as much as normal HP potions but has the advantage of time, for instant HP. Normal HP potions take time to heal as they slowly regenerate the players HP over time, depending upon the size of the potion. Both potions cost the same amount of gold.

    Potion Health restored Cost Small insta HP 50 20 Gold Medium insta HP 100 50 Gold Large insta HP 250 100 Gold

    Small HP potion 75 20 Gold Medium HP potion 150 50 Gold

    Large HP potion 300 100 Gold

    Mana potion Mana potions follow the same principles as Health potions, only that Mana potions replenish Mana. Because mana is used for abilities, mana potions are fairly important for the player if they choose to use abilities often.

    Food When the player reaches low health and mana, they can choose to eat food which slowly regenerates both. The character takes 5 seconds to eat. Food can be bought or cooked. Food can be made by killing creatures, collecting the meat and then using the meat over a fire. This could be used as a good after battle replenishment technique to restore HP and Mana. The higher level creature, the higher level needed to cook the food, meaning that from a low level, the player cant cook high level meat which restored high HP. When cooking, there is a chance to burn the food and so it becomes burnt or rotten, depending on the level of cooking.

    Food Health & Mana restored Level required to cook Flesh 100 1

    Ruse meat 300 15 Nice meat 500 25

  • Water Water is very strong consumable as water can heal very high in HP and Mana, restoring it to its maximum capacity. Water is rare to find in the depths of hell and is considered a rare item. Water is collected by using vials in any water source that is found. When water is kept in a vial, the player must use the water within an hour before it evaporates. This consumable item cant be made by the player, cant be dropped by enemies and is only found in special areas. This makes water rare, limited and very powerful.

    Quest items Quest items are only available for the completion of quests. Quest items may be equipable depending on the quest. Quest items can be acquired from enemies, collected, gathered, found or given by NPCS. These items do not usually effect the combat system as they are based around quests. Quest items do not have durability, therefore they last forever and so if the player doesnt want to complete the quest, they can drop the item as it is not sellable or buyable. Once an item has been dropped it will be removed after 2 hours.

    Inventory

    Inventory is used to store all kinds of items, being those that are equipped and not. Items are stored using spaces. The players inventory is 25 spaces in total throughout the whole game, enabling them to store up to 25 different items. Consumables are counted as items also. The player will have to take care of which items to pick up or drop, giving the player options for space organisation. The player cant extend their inventory or add spaces. There are stackable items such as consumables and some quest items. The player can access their inventory at any time, apart from when the game is paused. Access to the inventory can be done by clicking on the inventory icon on the HUD. The image in this section conveys how Fades inventory is set out, where the player has a number of slots to add different items.

  • Travel system

    There is a fast travel system that the player can use to travel from area to area. The player can pay a small amount of gold to travel from between each circle of hell. The fast travel is done by riding a satanic horse across the map taking only seconds to arrive to the destination. The fast travel vendor is found in every circle of hell, enabling the player to connect themselves between areas. Other than the fast travel, the player has to walk to locations that are not connected in the fast travel pathways, such as neutral zones.

    Map

    The map conveys how the game is set in hell, surrounded by the 7 circles of hell, following the 7 sins. Each zone has a recommended level in which the enemies in that area will be of the same level. The map progresses through levels so that the player can go through levels along with the different areas, provoking the player to complete quests in each area. The map also portrays that the space in between the circles is neutral area, meaning that there are no rulers. In the neutral areas there are more good NPCs than evil. A lot of sub-quests are based in the neutral zones. There are also mountains indicated in the neutral zone, where players can travel over, often finding quests and rare creatures. The map can be accessed through a menu by clicking pause. The map will indicate where the player currentyly is.

  • Magic

    The magic system relies on abilities, intellect and mana, where cast abilities takes up mana each time it has been cast. If the player wished to play as a magic character build, they would need to increase intelligence and possibly stamina for close combat casting. Magic is a very useful combat technique as the player can stand up to a 15 yard radius and cast abilities at targeted enemies, depending on the ability. Items which reduce cool down are extremely useful, allowing abilities to be cast frequently, dealing high damage or giving high sense of defence. Cool downs are important when dealing with abilities as the player needs to time abilities to make sure they ant left with all abilities on cool down, leaving them with no abilities to cast.

    Intellect

    The intellect stat works in the same way as stamina does, where each point of intellect counts as 50 mana points, meaning the more intellect the more mana the player has to cast abilities and the longer the mana lasts before needing to restore it. Armour, mainly cloth, will give buffs in intellect or in abilities, where enchantments give bonus ability damage, reduced cool downs, lower mana costs or intelligence points.

    Mana

    The mana resource is vital to casting abilities. If the player doesnt have the efficient amount of Mana, they cannot cast the ability. The player will have a current maximum amount of Mana which will decrease as the player casts abilities. Each ability has a different mana cost. When the player equips an item which buffs in intelligence, the mana will instantly be added to the current maximum capacity of Mana, similarly if the player adds points in the intelligence stat. Mana has a slow regeneration rate if the player is not in combat. Mana regenerates at a rate of 2 Mana per second. This gives the player an opportunity to use abilities more than until their mana runs out. Mana can also be regenerated through potions as previously conveyed in the consumables section.

  • Professions system

    Professions are introduced to the player when reaches the first circle they come across, probably being Lust. Around the market in each circle are tutors who teach the player how to use each profession, through use of quests and the players free will. The player can choose not to use the professions; however they are very useful throughout the game. Professions create a sense of competition as the player can gain through levels and learn new recipe, task or assistance. All professions go hand in hand with combat.

    Blacksmithing

    Blacksmithing is a profession used to create armour and weapons using raw materials over a forge and iron, usually found in each circle of hell. In the blacksmiths, there is a forge where the player can choose which weapons and armour they wish to make. Like all professions, blacksmithing starts at level 1, being able to only make cloth armour. Cloth can be found by random loots and finding them in hidden areas. As shown in the previous section presenting armour, cloth isnt a strong armour type and so the player can choose to level there blacksmithing up to fit their total level. This allows players to build armour which they might not find from killing creatures or completing quests. The higher level blacksmithing, the higher level armour the player can make. Additionally, the player will be rewarded for reaching the maximum level of 30 in blacksmithing with a special set of armour. The amount of materials needed for each item being created differs between the item and the item type.

    Enchanting

    Enchanting is used to enchant weapons and armour to set an effect which assists the player, mostly in combat or even cosmetic. To enchant items the player must find the enchantment tutor around one of the markets and learn recipes which they will then enchant onto weapons or armour. Materials to create enchantments can be found similarly to blacksmithing items. For example; killing certain enemies that drop elemental shards would be a method of collecting materials to finish a recipe. Every time the player buys a recipe, they can only use the recipe once. If they wish to use the same enchantment, they must buy the same recipe again. Some quests will also give materials. When talking to the enchanter, he will give you tasks which help increase the level of enchanting and help collect materials to allow the player to adjust to the profession. Low level enchantments arent very strong and only consist of small stat buffs to armour and weapons, whereas later in the game, the

  • player can enchant elemental damage and special effects to their equipable items. When enchanting, the player can only enchant up to 2 times on one item.

    Alchemy

    The alchemy profession allows the player to create potions which replenish resources. The player can create mana and health potions from small potions to large potions as the player levels up in alchemy. Alchemy works from buying vials from the alchemist and putting specific items into the vial. A recipe is needed, however once the player has used the recipe, they can use it again. A potion can fail if the player adds a wrong item to the vial, making it a cloudy substance, being unusable and giving zero experience. Experience is given per potion made.

    XP to level 200XP

    XP per small potion 5XP Potions needed to level = 40

    XP per large potion 10XP Potions needed to level = 20

    The above information displays that the player can create larger potions for larger XP, however the larger potions require the player to level up in order to create them. The larger potions also require slightly different and more materials to make them.

    Cooking

    The cooking profession allows the player to cook meat that is given or dropped by enemies. Meat can be cooked over fires which are commonly found, as the settings are set in hell, being a hot and fiery area. When advancing through the cooking skill, the player has a chance to burn food when cooking, depending on the level of cooking and the item that is being cooked.

  • Food Cooking level Success rate of cooking Flesh 1 65%

    2 70% 3 75% 4 80% 5 85% 6 90% 7 95% 8 100%

    Ruse meat 15 65% 1 0%

    Nice meat 25 40% 30 95%

    The table above conveys that the higher level meats are harder to cook and will never be 100% successful when cooking, giving a risk to the player as they level through to cooking. The table also conveys that the higher the cooking level the more likely the player is to successfully cook the food .If the food has been burnt it cant be eaten, is deemed as useless and will only sell for 1 gold. When the food has been successfully cooked, the meat is then stored into the inventory, given that there is space available. The meat is then ready to use. Like all other professions, cooking recipes can be found in the market areas of every circle of hell (Lust, greed etc). Recipes can be used again similarly to alchemy.

    Bounty Hunter

    Bounty hunter is a unique profession where the player must track and find a specific enemy, hunt them down and kill them. The player can start this profession by talking to an agent or person, being good or evil if they need somebody killed. For example: there is a bounty task including a man who has been beaten to his nearly death and seeks revenge on the group of evil guards who did it. The man will then ask the player to find them and kill them for 200 gold. The player can choose to accept or decline. If it is accepted the bounty hunter task will be conveyed in the quest log.

    Each bounty hunter task has a difficulty level, meaning that the low level tasks will be easier to find the fugitive and easier to kill, unlike the harder difficulty tasks. After completing each task the player gains a certain amount of XP in the bounty hunter profession depending

  • upon the difficulty of the task. Being the same as the other professions, the player can level up to level 30. The harder difficulty tasks will more often be found in the higher level areas of the map, being pride, greed and wrath. This prevents players accepting tasks that they find too hard or cant complete at a low level.

    The player will know who is giving out tasks as usually there will be somebody in a condition of screaming, bleeding, beaten or anger. The agents will also have a banner next to them, indicating that they need a bounty hunter. Agents may give out bounty tasks that require the player to kill innocent people, increasing the players evil reputation if they chose to accept. This might encourage the player to become evil, or be loyal to the good. The bounty hunter enables the player to earn gold, profession XP, reputation points and general XP when killing the fugitive.

    Reputation

    There is reputation in the game, being good or evil which the player will earn throughout the game. Reputation comes with perks the higher the reputation gets. Reputation also lets the player choose how they wish the game to play out. From after the first quest the player gains reputation after saving the innocent locked up man or telling the guard he is planning to escape. From this point the player gains a reputation and can then choose an ability pathway depending on their reputation. An evil reputation offers 2 ability trees, being Dark and Blood, whereas Good reputation offers Holy and Righteous. The player can choose to reset there reputation bar by going to a good priest or an evil priest found in every circle of hell. If the player is evil they can wash their sins away and start with 0 reputation. If the player is good, they can choose to take a vow of evil, reducing them back to 0 reputation. When reputation is earned a red or white glow light faintly flashes around the character. Reputation is shown on the HUD as a bar so that the player can keep a check on how much reputation they have.

    Good reputation

    The player can gain good reputation for completing sub-quests which involve saving the innocence in hell. For instance, saving a woman from being killed who in the same position

  • as the character from the start of the game, being lost and confused. For completing this sub quest the player will gain good reputation.

    The higher the players good reputation the more likely innocent NPCs will talk to you. In the neutral areas there are some special traders who will only trade with the player if they have good reputation. With higher good reputation the player will start to look heavenly as the character will start to slightly glow white and armour and weapons start to shine. This cosmetic feature allows the player to see that they have high reputation. Additionally with high good reputation the player can co-ope