Devlog #18- Status Effects

The demo is still not ready for public release, but I’ve been getting some good reactions so far. I’ve been mostly working on fixes and polish still, but I did get very sidetracked for a bit  this week redeveloping my battles status effects system. So this week’s devlog will be about that, but keep in mind this is early stages and it’s very likely a lot will change.

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The Old System

Status effects have been a part of the game since an early design, as they’re pretty much a staple of the genre and I always enjoy them in rpgs. I planned for each character to have one effect that can trigger as a percentage chance with each attack. For example, Momo has a chance to apply Burn for a number of turns that chips away at DEF.

The reason I decided to redevelop the system this week is because when I went to implement multiple status effects, I realised that the GUI doesn’t allow for it without looking cluttered. I’m at my limit with a single status effect icon and number, and that makes it hard to allow stacking effects. So I started brainstorming ways to adapt it with these limitations in mind.

The New System

My solution is that now status effects only last for 1 turn and the effect will trigger when the target's turn starts. Some effects are immediate like removing HP, while others will effect an enemy for the next round where they'll be immune to status effects during. 

Each main status effect is represented by a symbol and a colour:

Stacking an effect will make them more powerful, adding a number to the bottom right of the status effect icon. (stack number represented in explanations below by [n]

 

Here are the 6 effects I plan to add to the game:

CRIT- a critical hit that does double damage, these don’t require an effect icon as any damage is triggered immediately.

BURN- remove [n] defense from the enemy, and if no defense remove health.

ZAP- 50% chance of stunning an enemy, and they lose their turn.

TOX- remove [n] HP at the start of the enemy turn

CHILL- temporarily add [n] DMG to each blow received for 1 round

DIM- temporarily lower ATK by [n] for 1 round

CHILL and ZAP will have a lower success probability across all characters as their effects are much stronger, while BURN, TOX and DIM effects are more common, with the intention of allowing stacking.

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Immunity

Chill and Dim apply for 1 round after the target’s turn, and the target will be immune to all status effects during this round (except crit) so they'll leave behind a special immune symbol depending on the effect.  Yin/yang represents immunity, where the white means CHILL is in effect and the black means DIM is in effect.

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Effect Visuals

In addition to the icon shown on the target's banner GUI, there will also be an animated effect around the character themselves. This is especially helpful for the previously mentioned immune + status effect situations. For example, CHILL will show fog around the character's feet to show it's successfully triggered, and then become ice shards when it's in effect.

It's just a mockup at the moment, but I actually like the childish ms paint style and the contrast to the player sprites, so I might stick with it (refined a bit of course, with smoother animation too)

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Mixing Status Effects

The coolest part about this new system is the ability to mix status effects. I won’t get into each one because it’s VERY likely that these will change at some point, but here  is what they look like currently:

I’ll explain how these work with an example:

Momo has a 20% chance to apply 2 BURN with her attack and it’s successful. The BURN 2 status effect is applied to the enemy. Next is Rina’s turn and she targets the same enemy with a 10% chance to TOX, and it’s successful. TOX is applied to the BURN and it becomes BOIL. The total stacked effect then becomes 3 (2 burn, 1 tox) for BOIL 3. The enemy’s turn comes around and they lose 3 DEF and 3 HP as the stack applies to both effects.

These mixed status effects will be overpowered, but to be able to pull them off successfully you’ll need a number of things to go right. Effects disappear when triggered on the enemy's turn each round, so two effects would need to trigger by chance on the same enemy in a single round (within 4 possible player turns). 

I think it’ll be a nice amount of rarity, especially at the start of the game seeing a mixed status effect will be exciting and new, and by the end of the game when levelled characters have much higher chances then they can be used to strategise more.

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Mix for Unique Effects

You'll notice that some of the mixed element icons aren't simply a mashup of the two base icons, and these are ones that apply unique effects.
For example BURN and CHILL mixed becomes MELT which will remove all of an enemy's DEF . These can be used strategically for specific boss fights with lots of DEF, but also useful against regular enemies. But again, it’s statistically quite hard to pull off, so it won’t be a strategy you can always rely on.

...Mixing Three Elements?

The chance of having 3 successful elements triggering in one turn on the same enemy is incredibly low so I don’t plan to add icons and effects for each variation- BUT it is so rare that I might just make it an insta-death effect. It could be game-breaking but surely pretty fun to pull off, I’m going to think about it more before I commit to the idea though.

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Final Thoughts

Overall the system might be a little complex, but I plan to only tutorialise the base 5 effects and players who are interested in seeing mixed effects can discover them for themselves as they play. The mixed versions are all better than their base counterparts, so the system works in the player's favour even if it's completely ignored. If all goes well it should be a big improvement on the previous system and seeing new effects over the course of the game should be fun. 

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Thanks for reading! Public demo is coming soon I promise :)