Updates on the Conduit!

June 20, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I figured that I should give an update on my progress on the magic absorption based class I referenced in my last post. I actually completed it, exempting flavor text for the main class and the subclasses. Unfortunately, I went a little overzealous with the turn-by-turn aspect of the design for the class. After some play-testing, I found that, instead of creating more interactive experience, I ended up creating a gameplay experience that felt hostile and limited your ability to feel effective. Regardless, I think the class concept is sound and could be a fun experience once I do some severe reworks. I’ve decided to release the un-reworked version here, because I think it’s nice to be able to see how the creative and balancing processes can improve a work that is actually greatly flawed. I’ll be posting the reworked version in the future, as well as some new subclasses for the luckbinder, because I couldn’t help but work on it.

Conduits are individuals who have been trained to absorb magic and convert it into condensed magical attacks. The document includes four subclasses: the Razer, an explosives focused style, the Skirmisher, which focuses on high mobility, the Vanguard, specialized for close range combat, and the Warden, all about support and protection.

Download and play this class by clicking on the following link, which lead to a pdf file containing the full rules for the Conduit:

conduitclassold Download

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Break and Some Updates

June 1, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I know I’ve taken a break for finals and all that, but I’m seriously struggling to gather up the creative energy needed for games for the time being. Turns out that being at home might put more constraints on my ability to create than being at college does. I’m putting the Game Dev Diary stuff on hold until the drive to write games returns to me.

Aside from games, I’m still really enjoying writing homebrew DnD content, so that’ll keep going. I have a new class entirely written up; it just needs comprehensive play testing. I explicitly designed it to require a lot of turn by turn judgement to use, and I definitely ticked that box. However, that also means it’s a nightmare to playtest, and, with four subclasses already written, there’s a lot on my plate.

The class centers around absorbing energy every round to fuel its features, and I personally think that the design space it explores, much like the luckbinder’s design space (check it out here on Shifty Glyphs), is unlike any design space the preexisting DnD classes occupy.

DnD Lineages: Wayward and Riftrent!

May 22, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

Here’s that backlogged content I was talking about, but it ended up not being completely backlogged because Van Richten’s came out and I had to do a bit of rewriting and improving to match the quality of the officially released lineages! Despite the extra work required, I’m pleased to introduce the Wayward and the Riftrent!

Waywards are forgotten beings, beings who have lost their identity and pasts to the uncaring machinations of the world. They are easily forgotten and misremembered, leaving all but the most interested parties with barely an impression to remember them by.

Riftrent are creatures divided, with the concept of their existence being present in one location and the other part far removed. At any point, they exist in both places at once, though they may focus on being in one place. Existing in two places is no small task, and even the slightest injury could lead to their shifting from their primary location to their secondary existence.

Download and play these lineages by clicking on the following links, which lead to pdf files containing the full rules for the lineages:

waywardlineage

riftrentlineage

It’s finals week(s).

May 10, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I’m in college, and it’s time for finals. I’d like to dedicate my time to preparing for those, and, as such, I won’t be posting any game progress this week or next week. I have a couple things backlogged that I’ll likely post during this time, but the Game Dev Diary stuff has to be put on hold. See you in those backlog posts!

Get with the program: Week 2

May 4, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I have been utterly caught up in writing DnD homebrew as of late. I’ve gotten the ground work for another class all laid out, and I’ve got a number of races/lineages in the wings as well.

As exciting as that is, it also means I’ve been paying very little attention to developing this game. The good thing is that it shouldn’t be too hard to implement mechanically.

The primary gameplay loop for both the runners and the trapper are predicting the go/no-go mentality of the antagonist. Runners have to predict whether the trapper will activate a trap area, and the trapper has to predict if the runners will run though the area.

As the design currently stands, the board will be modular, with the trapper getting to choose where to place their single-use traps with higher lethality and range and multi-use traps that can only cover one square. The runners will get to insert a number of safe squares into the course to ensure that they will have places to wait.

Cards will be used by the trapper to “program” which trap spaces will go activate and which will remain dormant and by the runner to indicate whether or not they’ll run.

There’ll be an overall time round limit so runners can’t simply wait out the trapper, but I’m not sure how large it should be yet. I’m also thinking of a number of gimmick traps that will spice up the game a little bit more.

I’ll make sure I don’t get too distracted by writing homebrew and come out with a great game next week. See you all then!

Get with the program: Week 1

April 26, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I’m normally rather opposed to programming games. I find that I can’t get into the gameplay. The feeling I get when I lack control of my actions after I’ve assigned them is simply not one I can enjoy, and, despite my love of bluffing games, the mind game of planning out my moves to counter what I think someone else’s move is going to be feels too impersonal for my tastes.

I’d like to work on what I’d consider a micro version of the programming game, where there are prediction elements on the decisions of the other players within a single turn.

I’d like it to be similar to the Death Run minigame found in GMod servers. You have to predict the movement of their players as they run down a death hallway. It’ll be an asymmetrical game obviously, where one player controls the death hallway and the others are runners.

The traps of the hallway must be decided before runners make their decisions to move. Essentially, the trap must be programmed to go off when a player crosses it. I’ll iron out the details more, but it’s a sound concept for now. I’m excited to see where the process takes me.

Waiting: Forever More

April 21, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I really struggled with doing this, but I have to axe the project. Through all of my play testing, I couldn’t create a satisfactory rule set of which I could feel proud, and, even with extensive changes to the base concept of the game, I couldn’t even make the gameplay good enough to be enjoyable.

I’d like to chalk it up to waiting being a boring concept for a game, but I was really hoping that I could come up with something concrete. I failed to live up to that expectation.

I have to chalk this project up as a failure, both on a creative and technical standpoint. While it’s not a part of the creative process I like putting on display, failure is still a part of it.

I have to call it my loss here and improve in the future. If I’m ever going to do a concept so obviously challenging to design in the future, I’ll make sure to release it as a side project completed on my own time, rather than a full three-week project.

I won’t be releasing this game in any capacity and will instead focus my energy on making the next game a good one. I may return to the concept of a waiting game at some point, but I’ll need to completely revamp the idea. It’s disappointing that I’ve failed this time, but creation can sometimes be a process of failure, and, in this case, it was. I hope you can understand.

Waiting: Week 2

April 12, 2021April 14, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I did keep everyone waiting, keeping in theme. Having to take a break last week was rough, but I’m good now.

The concept I came up with is that one player is the waiting and cruel creator of a set of totems. The rest of the players are thieves trying to steal the totems. The creator wants to have all but one of the totems stolen, as the thieves will spread a curse hidden in the totems. However, it needs the power of one totem to do so, so it must keep at least one.

This manifests as players/thieves trying to take all the totems from the waiting player/creator, and the creator attempting to only catch the final thief.

The thieves must sneak, one by one, to grab a totem from the immediate vicinity of the creator before one minute passes.

I’m thinking a point system would be best for this game, wherein you get one point per totem stolen, keeping in mind that you must keep one.

The players rotate the role of the creator until someone reaches a point threshold, likely around 7, but it’ll depend on the amount of players.

That’s really I have so far, but it covers lots of important stuff, including flavor, rules, and some considerations that I’ve come up with so far, though I still haven’t got a name for this project yet. Thanks to my break, I’m feeling really excited about this game, and I hope you are too!

Taking a break for now

April 6, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I’m feeling a bit of burnout with real life and my health at the moment, so I’ll be taking a break this week. No update on the game for this week, but I’ll be sure to resume regular operations after this quick break. Thanks for your understanding!

The Luckbinder Class v2.0

March 29, 2021June 7, 2021 ~ Tooned ~ Leave a comment

I ended up doing a large amount of playtesting on the original version of the Luckbinder and found that it was actually very lacking, in numerous categories, from flavor to design. It was far too weak and could not fulfill the flavor of someone with proper control over luck. From a game design approach, it was far too heavily reliant on what you rolled on your dice, at least for a class that could manipulate probability. Further on game design, it also hurt the player for using their abilities except in niche situations, and, generally speaking, player-unfriendly design is bad design.

As such, I’ve addressed those issues with my rework, making the abilities far more actively focused and controllable, as well as implementing the subclasses that I promised back in the first revision! Because it’s been a while since the first release of the Luckbinder, I’ll be giving a quick summary of it.

The luckbinder is a new homebrew class for DnD based around the manipulation of luck, allowing you, as the player, to fudge your dice rolls within the rules of the game! Luckbinders have numerous features that directly interact with the numbers you and your foes have rolled on your dice, from big swings to minor adjustments. One such feature even allows you to change the actual faces of your d20 when it’s used for checks, throws, and rolls. You can use these luck altering abilities to make your foes miss their attacks and your own attacks strike critically. You can even harm your foes and buff your allies directly by making their luck overflow!

However, these abilities come with a large caveat: you are just a normal person at the end of the day. Lacking any meaningful combat training, you have to rely heavily on your luck to avoid coming to harm on the battlefield. You should do your best to stay out of sight and affect the battlefield through controlling luck rather than direct force.

I’d recommend giving it a play, not only because of my personal bias, but because I think that it’s a very different and enjoyable way to play the game. The luckbinder is extremely versatile while requiring vigilant management of your resources and rewards skillful management of your spacing and battlefield management. Give it a try at your next one-shot!

Click the link located below to download the pdf file containing the Luckbinder class.

luckbinderclass