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Combat

Overview:

The labyrinth contains a host of people and beasts that players can enter into combat with. While the player is traversing the labyrinth in the normal top-down view, they can enter into combat with an enemy by attacking or by accepting an attack from a hostile non-player character.

Combat is the most frenetic and unpredictable component of the game, which allows for a different style of play from puzzles and exploration. The combat utilizes a series of action-oriented mechanics to give the player a more physical-feeling experience. During these combat sections of gameplay, the player’s perspective will change from top down to an over the shoulder, third-person perspective. This view will show the player’s opponent in front of them, as well as the weapons their avatar is holding.

The player can make use of the items and treasures that they have collected during combat. The multitude of mythical items and artifacts, weaponry and armor, allows players to customize their avatar with very specific combinations of equipment.

Combat mechanics:

Combat in Asterion is turn based and involves two opponents trading attacks in real time.  At the beginning of combat, the player will be looking at an interface showing an over the shoulder view of them facing their opponent.  This interface will list all of the possible actions they can take.  These actions include:
For each turn, the player will be allowed to select and execute one of these options, and then will have to defend from attacks from their opponent.  Each of these menu options will be described in more detail in the following sections.

Choose Attack -- This option will allow the player to initiate an attack against their opponent.  When this option is chosen, it is assumed that the player is making an attack using the weapon and shield that they currently have selected (otherwise the player would need to switch weapons with the 'Switch Weapon' option).  After choosing this option, the interface will list all of the attacks that the player's character knows how to execute using the current weapon.  At this point the player can still choose to go back and select a different option, but if they choose an attack they will start a mini-game that executes the chosen attack.  These mini-games consist of icons popping up on the screen that the player will have to react to.

Attack icons - The number of icons that appear on the screen can range from one to three icons simultaneously.  Each icon shows a command that the player must complete in order to execute a successful attack.  This action might be a gestural input or a movement of the device itself (this part will take advantage of any/all input mechanisms for whichever set of hardware the game is running on, in this case it is assumed to be an iPhone).  The more icons that the player successfully completes the more damage the player's attack will cause to the opponent.  Each icon will go through 3 phases:
  1. appear on screen
  2. show a progress bar that fills up over time
  3. disappear (either because of success or failure)
The player must perform the action shown on the attack icon to 'complete' the icon.  When an icon is completed, if there are any remaining icons that are required for the current attack, the next icon will be shown in its place.  The actions required by these icons can include any of the following (at least for iPhone, if the game is implemented on other hardware this would need to be changed):
After all of the attack icons are completed, either by successfully completing them or failing to do so on time (or some combination of both), the player's performance is aggregated and the appropriate amount of damage is dealt to the opponent.

Switch Weapon - This option will allow the player to change which weapon they are using during combat.  After selecting 'switch weapon' the interface will change to a list of all of the weapons that the player is carrying.  The player will be allowed to switch to any of the weapons that they have at the expense of being able make an attack on their turn.  This means that in order to switch weapons the enemy will be able to attack twice in a row (this will hopefully stop the player from switching around their weapon like crazy, and make the choice of weapon into a meaningful decision).

Use Item - This option will allow the player to use an object other than a weapon that might aid them during combat.  After selecting 'use item' the interface will change to a list of all of the items that the player is carrying.  As with the 'switch weapon' option, this option will cause the player to forfeit their attack for that turn.  This is again to force the player to make a meaningful decision during combat.  The items that the player can use with this option can aid combat in any number of ways.  For example, if the item is something that is imbued with a divine power or created by Daedalus, it might give the player an increase in strength or health or some other advantage.  In another example, the item might be something entirely mundane, in which case it can still probably be used by throwing it.

Exit Combat - This option is the player's means of escape from a battle that they think they cannot win.  The player will always be presented with the option of running away in order to regain the health or resources that they might need in order to try the battle again.  This option will end the current battle immediately and take the player back to the top-down perspective.  All events that happened during the combat will persist, including damage to the player or enemies.  Enemies that were not killed in combat cannot be in any way defeated by using this option, but can only be avoided.

The next critical part of combat in Asterion is what happens when an opponent attacks the player.  When the player's attack is over the user interface changes, showing a defense bar in one corner of the screen.

The defense bar - This bar is a visual representation of the player's shield and also the timing of the enemy's attack.  The defense bar contains a shield icon which acts as a button.

Shield Button - The player can use this button to execute a shield block.  This shield block move is the player's only defense against incoming enemy attacks and is judged qualitatively based on how accurate the player's timing is.  In more detail, this means that the enemy executes an attack aimed at the player which has a certain timing.  The player then needs to press the defense bar at the same time that the enemy's attack is executed to retain as much health as possible.  The player loses health by amounts that are proportional to how inaccurate their timing is on the shield block.

Timing Bar - The other part of the defense bar (other than the shield block button) is a timing bar.  This bar is a one-dimensional graph that shows how far the enemy's weapon is away from the player.  This can be thought of as a spectrum, where the enemy's weapon lies on one end of the spectrum before the attack, and on the opposite end when making the attack.  As the enemy prepares and executes the attack, the position shown on the timing bar will slide towards the player's shield button.  This gives the player a means of visual feedback as to when the opponent will strike and allows them a little time to react.  Each attack that an enemy can make will correspond to a type of movement along the timing bar.  Some movements could start slow and then speed up, and vice versa, or alternatively the movements could shift back and forth on the bar before actually hitting the player's shield.  These movements are meant to mirror the unpredictable nature of the enemy's attack, and depending on the difficulty of the opponent, can be very fast or slow.  The enemy character will be visible throughout this whole process and might show a new frame of animation upon starting each attack, which could also be another visual indicator to the player of what to expect.

This back and forth attacking between the player and the opponent continues until either the player chooses to exit combat, or the player or enemy is killed in combat.


Sub-pages:
Enemy Behaviors
Enemy Archetypes