• Single-player Tactical Strategy Game

• Simulates an MMORPG Raiding experience like in World of Warcraft

• Ground effects, "Soak" and "Spread" mechanics, coordination

• Able to pause or slow time to coordinate complex encounter mechanics

• Playable build available upon request - not yet open to public

The tavern, where the player starts missions, is a fully animated 3D environment that has been converted to a series of seamlessly looping and transitioning gif animations to save on resources and loading times. 

The bartender dog has an idle animation, several easter-egg “Fidget” animations where something will happen in the bar that he reacts to which play randomly when left alone for long enough, and a bark animation for when asked about the drinks on tap. 

There is a sweeping transition animation to the notice board where the ‘camera’ turns and flies towards the wall to show off the environment and give the illusion of a 3D space. On the board are many easter egg notes referencing music, games, and other pop cultural references, as well as characters and events in the game itself. Generally the background is kept somewhat blurred to avoid distracting the player from the core UI of mission selection. 

When selecting a mission/quest, players are given a brief description of the monster/boss encounter, and shown a picture of the creature. This picture is taken from a frame of their real animation so it is an exact representation of how they’ll look in the level, while still maintaining a transparent background. 

After selecting a quest, players must then choose which classes to take with them. To streamline this process, players can save and re-use “loadouts” of past parties. The system allows for up to 3 saved loadouts which they can name, as well as an “auto-saved loadout” which is whichever party / setup they used in their last run, in case they didn’t remember to save it manually. 

While building a party, or creating a loadout, players choose some combination of 10 units from 5 classes. Each class has a variety of specializations that augment their base stats and mechanics as well as suggesting their ideal party role. Players can rename each member of their team to match their tastes (like naming heroes after their friends), and can even modify the colour palette of the sprites used. 

After deciding a party, players select from a range of abilities and passives, each hero must select 3 from up to 10 abilities and 4 passives (some not yet implemented as of this screenshot). Each ability has a functioning tooltip which outlines a basic description of the ability’s name, effect, cooldown, mana cost (if applicable), and other important information. To speed up ability selection, players can also use the number keys to quickly select abilities for their units, with a cursor swapping unit to unit as abilities are chosen for each. 

Gems are the “gearing” system of the game, which avoids the need to create custom models and visuals for new armor or weapons for characters. Each gem has an equal mix of offensive and defense stats so that players don’t feel obligated to sacrifice one for the other. The choice is about which stats of each type they want to augment, not whether to pick one or the other. Each unit starts with 1 gemslot with potential for more at higher levels. There is also a “Gem Storage” button to allow players to swap to their ‘stash’ inventory and search for gems there instead. 

In a level there are many customizable elements to the UI. The formations buttons (top left), stat pane (bottom left) and Damage/Healing/Overhealing meter (top right) can all be removed from the screen with the - buttons (and are off by default). Players can also click the ? next to the boss to be given a summary of the boss’s core mechanics so they’re prepared for the fight without the need to try and fail first. 

In turn-based mode, characters are given a “movement circle” (shown in red for the selected Animated Armor) which scales in size based on their movement speed, they can move anywhere within this circle during their turn, which will update to a new location and size at the start of next turn. In real time mode units just move according to their movement speed every movement update. Units use automated pathfinding and have collision systems, combined these allow units to navigate around walls, obstacles, and each other, in pursuit of their goals, like a location specified or enemy clicked on. 

When selected, units are given a health bar and name over their head, and a highlight selection on the bottom UI bar, which shows all their abilities and their charges, ammo, cooldowns, and other relevant information like mana. Abilities can be activated either by clicking them or by using hotkeys which can be rebound in the options menu. 

The damage, healing, overhealing meter is a regularly updating readout of each unit’s output in comparison to each other, it includes both total output (damage/healing) and a time comparison (per second values) to allow players to track and compare units during a fight.

In real-time mode, players can adjust the speed of the game and pause at any time to issue commands and assess the situation.

After completing a quest/mission, players receive procedurally generated loot in the form of gems which have their stats chosen from a list and augmented in a range of power relative to the boss they fought. 

In town, these gems can be bought, sold, or modified at the Lapidary/Gemcutter. This is another 3D appearing environment which is flattened into a series of seamless gifs to avoid loading or rendering requirements, and also includes fidget animations, squak animations when the raven talks, and a “wing spread” animation when the player interacts with the buy and sell menus.

There are multiple gem shapes and colours which are procedurally chosen based on the stats appearing on the gem itself, allowing for players to gain some information about gems at sight. If a player wants to replace the gem they have with another of the same stats, they can simply look for something with the same colour / shape. Gems generated in the store are created using the same systems as loot generation, which roll on a table of stats, pick a mix of offensive and defensive stats, and assign values in a range based on current player power. 

Players also have the option to “re-cut” gems. This is a process of modifying the stats on a given piece of gear to better suit the player’s ideal stat profile. The drawback in this process – besides currency costs at higher levels – is that cutting gems will lower the power of that stat slightly. In this example, the gem loses 10% of its power/item level, represented in brackets. This power loss encourages players to continually search for Gems/Gear that has their ideal stats naturally, but also ensures that much less loot feels “wasted”. Recutting is locked by type, so offensive stats can only change into other offensive stats, and the same for defensive ones, to maintain design goals. 

There is also a “Restore” system which can undo a gem cutting (for a fee) if the player finds another gem that fulfills the role they wanted later. This is mostly in game to avoid player commitment hesitation. When told an action is permanent, players often hesitate to make decisions, the restore option helps alleviate this anxiety.