Day 10 update!!
I have a few other huge projects that I've been working on the last few weeks so I haven't been able to dedicate as much time to this MFGJ as I would like - which is why my project scope was pretty narrow to begin with. But I do have some things to share!
I've done some playtesting and noticed some balance issues with certain aspects, and re-framed how certain aspects of the game are going to go.
Biggest changes:
- Adding a numbers to the 100-square grid map, to represent the people in the kingdom the player is potentially saving, or the demon 'consuming'. When the player rolls successfully (for either the bird character or the Demon) that number gets reduced. If the player still has not succeeded by the time all the numbers go down to 0, the demon wins
- Writing a list of actions with priority ratings for the Demon. I don't want the player playing chess against themself, so every time its the demon's 'turn' there will be a set action the demon always takes first
- Added player character stats: Health, Speed, and Persuasion. At the start of the game the player can distribute a 2, 3, and 4 between each stat. (As it stands, this stat system will probably get reworked.)
- Persuasion: Roll under this number to reduce the number in the square by the number you rolled. A success also gives you a Fate. A failure docks your health by 1.
- Speed: The number of squares you may move in one turn (number of actions is not limited)
- Health: Number of times your health can go down before you must heal up.
- I'm also limiting the actions the player can take to 'Persuade', 'Heal', and 'Investigate' (I didn't want to do this, but I can't see any way to not let the game get out of hand without taking a lot more time to work through things).
- Investigating is a sort of new concept. Essentially, to win you must both discover the 'solution' to the demon threat, and the location of the Witch, and you and the Witch must deliver the 'solution' (I'm keeping it open-ended so players can flavor the story however they want). Before you find the Witch you can investigate around (research demon history, listening to what people say about demons, etc) but after you find the Witch doing so will become much easier.
- Changing the Fate system slightly - instead of spending Fate to change which die you roll, the die will change automatically depending on how much Fate you have. I'm still trying to find a way that'll let players gain Fate more easily
- Adding in Demon Power - a mirror of the player's Fate, the Demon gains power by successfully consuming people. Doing so changes the die the player rolls to see if the Demon is successful. Once the demon's Power is full, it can go to consume the 'City', ending the game.
- Since the player isn't spending Fate to change their die anymore, I'm allowing the player to spend 5 Fate to lower the number they must roll for the demon's success (EG. it might start at 5, meaning any d6 roll is almost guaranteed to succeed. If the player gains 5 Fate to spend, then the 'demon' must roll a 4 or lower to succeed on the next consume roll).
That's most of it for now. There's other things I've been implementing or working with, but overall fairly decent progress. I think I can make it by Saturday!