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FlimsyLegs211 days ago

Right, adding thoughts hinting at the outcome is definitely a good idea. I'll keep that in mind.


And the combat certainly seems to need more explaining, so I'll work on a tutorial with screenshots to explain it step-by-step. The combat is actually very simple, but requires a bit of thinking. (You can get lucky on lower difficulties by just testing things out, but not higher difficulties).


For anyone confused about the combat, please check the rules for the classic game "Mastermind". I've reused the mechanics and repurposed the concept to thematically fit a melee fight, rather than being about cracking a code.

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arkanae209 days ago (2 edits) (+1)

IMO, if the minigame is inspired by Mastermind, then the rules are going to be much too complex for the type of interaction comfortable in an RPG or VN. Games either draw players because of emotional involvement (caring about the characters and their story) or intellectual involvement (trying to solve a hard problem). Those two motivations tend to be antagonistic, and attempting do do both in the same game tends to push back both categories of players, and turn the game into work rather than pleasure.

Let's not forget that the level of combat complexity of most acclaimed RPGs or even action and FPS games is at the level of multiple rounds of rock-paper-scissors. And you can in fact get to very interesting game dynamic using such a simple [ A < B, B < C, ... Z < A ] set of rules (like rogue vs warrior vs mage builds, or elemental magic combos).

In the end, the minigame *is not* the game :D It's not why people are going to play this, its only role is to add to the immersion in the game itself.

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FlimsyLegs209 days ago

That's a bit what I was afraid of, but at the same time chose to take a risk by adding it. I'll keep the Skip Combat button, that's for sure, so you don't have to engage with the combat. Might even add an option to auto-skip it in the config menu.


Thing is, I want the player to feel clever and that it took a bit of effort to defeat an enemy in combat in the game, rather than it just happening automatically. Let's see how players feel about the combat when the proper tutorial is added to the game.

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