CGD Week 3 – 4: Elemental Combat Rework: Structuring Strategy & Roles

Iteration of Elemental Combat Mechanics

After communicating with the programmer, we further refined and iterated on the Elemental Combat Mechanics. Through discussion, we concluded that allowing all types of attacks to trigger elemental reactions would lead to chaotic gameplay and be technically difficult to implement.
Therefore, we decided to divide character abilities into four distinct categories:

  • Light Attack (Left Click)
  • Heavy Attack (Right Click)
  • Special Ability
  • Special Movement
  • Throwable (only this type can trigger elemental reactions)

Character Roles and Ability Design

Each character was designed with a unique ability combination to reflect their role. For example, the Water character is a frontline fighter:

  • Their light attack focuses on close-range combat.
  • Their heavy attack pulls enemies closer.
  • Their special movement is a dash that helps quickly and continuously close the distance.
  • Their throwable creates an area that slows enemies.
  • Their special ability is a healing skill, providing strong team support.

Ability Balancing Considerations

We also made sure to address game balance. For example:
  • The Water throwable has a weaker slow effect, so it covers a larger area.
  • The Fire throwable deals direct damage, so it's medium-range.
  • The Wind throwable combines damage and crowd control, so it's short-range.

Elemental reaction effects are also balanced using area size and duration:

  • Ice Wall can block attacks, so it has moderate range and duration.
  • Smoke Area only obscures vision, so it has a large area and long duration.
  • Fire Tornado deals strong damage and control, so it is limited to a small area and short duration.
By carefully adjusting range, duration, and effects, we aim to keep combat balanced and prevent any one elemental combo from becoming too overpowered or too weak.


Iteration of Elemental Combat Mechanics


 








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