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Greetings again Demigods,
Now since much of the game's mechanics are pure speculation at this point, I decided to create this article in an effort to begin, what could be, the source pool for many of my suggests that may come when Beta begins. Since I've no solid idea on how the game is played, I won't take any liberties in assuming anything - but let it be known I have some interests towards making a Demigod more and more custom. Abilities to build your army and character before your begin will allow you to know your limits, and if you are skilled enough - your enemies. The basis of this concept comes from a game I'm sure few people here really have ever heard of, Culdcept. This is a card game, and there is a Demo on XBOX Live for those wanting to get an idea of what I mean, at least in an extremely limited mean.
What captivates me so much about Culdcept and why I still return to playing it over months and months of owning the game, is the fact that there are near limitless posibilities in how you build your character and deck. But these possibilities are extremely well balanced, and this is mainly done so through the use of the Elements system. For those of you who haven't played this game, allow me to break down how some of these game play methods can be translated into something that may or may not work with Demigod (that is largerly for the Developers to decide). So this post is for the community, and I do not mind in the slightest if nothing I mention goes unheard.
The power of your player in Culdcept is in the form of cards you collect, with 382 cards you can collect from victories or defeat in battle, you can amass power. Cards are broken into several catagories.. Monsters, Spells, and Items are the major branches, and within each there are different types.
Monsters: Nuetral, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind
Spells: Target Character, Target Monster, Target Terrain, Target All
Items: Weapons, Armor, Scrolls
The standard deck is 50 cards, and once you collect them all you have power to make some very interesting decks. Naturally, Fire & Earth cimpliment each other and Water & Wind do the same. Neutral compliment each other, and on rare occasions other elements are complimented by Neutral. But this isn't the point, what is important is that you can build your own deck consisting of monsters, spells, and items. This is what defines you and your strategy, and through these cards you build and amass your army and strengthen your player and terrain.
So, how does this relate to Demigod? Well simple, to a degree (it depends greatly on what you're mean is simple). Let us say I'd like to create myself a custom Demigod who plays the way I want, with units that I feel are unique to how I want my army to be defined. Long before I even enter a game, offline I can choose a Demigod and what type of element which relates to it - for example Queen of Thorns is Earth and Torch Barrer is Fire. If I decided to create a Demigod based on Queen of Thorns, I could very well choose to units for my army which relate to that element, but I won't be limited to that!
Clearly Earth element creatures could get a boost when near the Demigod, but your Demigod can not be everywhere at once - so perhaps other plans of attack are in order. Using perhaps a points system, I can design a tech tree of units that I want to appear and when. I could desire Winged Angels (Air), plent creatures (Earth). and perhaps some giants (Earth). These could be facets I want to define my custom army, and now I can spend point elsewhere - such as on spells and items for my Demigod that I'd also like to appear as I level up.
The more I play the game, the more units I have access to, including spells, armors, fortifications, etc. This could be linked with Impulses achievements, and could be a desirable urge to keep playing. Each battle, win or lose, you gain more units. Like in Culdcept, I'm limited by how many of the same unit I've collected. For instance I may not be able to make a giant swarm of angels at first, but after playing several matches I've accquired enough angels to have a whole flock of them. This is all a question of balance and how you'd want to balance, surely I can not have a whole army of angels - no! Even in Culdcept they limited you to bringing in only four of the same card, that way you would not have an entire army of just one, single powerful unit.
The more Rare and the more powerful, the more limited you are in bringing that unit, and the more costly it is! I could decide to have an entire army of small, whimpy cannon fotter soldiers that I could just keep throwing at the enemy's Demigods over and over and over. This would allow me time to act as I keep them busy stuck in the swarm of endless masses. But this could be countered by powerful AoE abilities that the player may have brought along, which opens up another can of worms.
This system will eventually require good players to bring various things to counter other players, allowing them to plan ahead and keep things 'just in case' another player decides to go one way, they can act enough. But it's all based on how much they've pre-planned their tactics well before the game has even begun. I could utilize spells which make my units immune to knock back, and my enemy has utilized a large force of creatures which specialize in knock back. In order to counter me, he could have something up his pocket that cancels all immunities; furthermore, I could cancel his ability to cancel my ability by using a dispel or addition 'anti-magic' protection which wards off enemy spells for a limites time.
So the back and forth tug a war will continue until the person with quickest wits outsmarts the enemy by pressing whatever advantages they have, and this could all come down to what you decided to bring in the first place.
Indeed, this would be madness to balance, but it'd give players a real feeling of their limits. This would also make a player feel as they are have designed their army, and it is their unique and personalized strategy. I'm not saying making Demigod a Culdcept RTS, but certainly there are features in the game which have made it most replayable - and that is the design element to the army. Keeping standard units for standard Demigods is certainly easier to balance, but eventually people learn how they work and press their advantage merely by common knowledge. Giving the player more powerful to build their army and become more like a Demigod of their choice leaves plenty of room to make each and every game a unique experience that is sure to make each side think differently.
Instead of the run-of-the-mill build-tier spree, people will have to test their enemy's might before knowing their full potential, making for some longer and more intense games that are sure to more memorable and epic in many ways.
Now since much of the game's mechanics are pure speculation at this point, I decided to create this article in an effort to begin, what could be, the source pool for many of my suggests that may come when Beta begins. Since I've no solid idea on how the game is played, I won't take any liberties in assuming anything - but let it be known I have some interests towards making a Demigod more and more custom. Abilities to build your army and character before your begin will allow you to know your limits, and if you are skilled enough - your enemies. The basis of this concept comes from a game I'm sure few people here really have ever heard of, Culdcept. This is a card game, and there is a Demo on XBOX Live for those wanting to get an idea of what I mean, at least in an extremely limited mean.
What captivates me so much about Culdcept and why I still return to playing it over months and months of owning the game, is the fact that there are near limitless posibilities in how you build your character and deck. But these possibilities are extremely well balanced, and this is mainly done so through the use of the Elements system. For those of you who haven't played this game, allow me to break down how some of these game play methods can be translated into something that may or may not work with Demigod (that is largerly for the Developers to decide). So this post is for the community, and I do not mind in the slightest if nothing I mention goes unheard.
The power of your player in Culdcept is in the form of cards you collect, with 382 cards you can collect from victories or defeat in battle, you can amass power. Cards are broken into several catagories.. Monsters, Spells, and Items are the major branches, and within each there are different types.
Monsters: Nuetral, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind
Spells: Target Character, Target Monster, Target Terrain, Target All
Items: Weapons, Armor, Scrolls
The standard deck is 50 cards, and once you collect them all you have power to make some very interesting decks. Naturally, Fire & Earth cimpliment each other and Water & Wind do the same. Neutral compliment each other, and on rare occasions other elements are complimented by Neutral. But this isn't the point, what is important is that you can build your own deck consisting of monsters, spells, and items. This is what defines you and your strategy, and through these cards you build and amass your army and strengthen your player and terrain.
So, how does this relate to Demigod? Well simple, to a degree (it depends greatly on what you're mean is simple). Let us say I'd like to create myself a custom Demigod who plays the way I want, with units that I feel are unique to how I want my army to be defined. Long before I even enter a game, offline I can choose a Demigod and what type of element which relates to it - for example Queen of Thorns is Earth and Torch Barrer is Fire. If I decided to create a Demigod based on Queen of Thorns, I could very well choose to units for my army which relate to that element, but I won't be limited to that!
Clearly Earth element creatures could get a boost when near the Demigod, but your Demigod can not be everywhere at once - so perhaps other plans of attack are in order. Using perhaps a points system, I can design a tech tree of units that I want to appear and when. I could desire Winged Angels (Air), plent creatures (Earth). and perhaps some giants (Earth). These could be facets I want to define my custom army, and now I can spend point elsewhere - such as on spells and items for my Demigod that I'd also like to appear as I level up.
The more I play the game, the more units I have access to, including spells, armors, fortifications, etc. This could be linked with Impulses achievements, and could be a desirable urge to keep playing. Each battle, win or lose, you gain more units. Like in Culdcept, I'm limited by how many of the same unit I've collected. For instance I may not be able to make a giant swarm of angels at first, but after playing several matches I've accquired enough angels to have a whole flock of them. This is all a question of balance and how you'd want to balance, surely I can not have a whole army of angels - no! Even in Culdcept they limited you to bringing in only four of the same card, that way you would not have an entire army of just one, single powerful unit.
The more Rare and the more powerful, the more limited you are in bringing that unit, and the more costly it is! I could decide to have an entire army of small, whimpy cannon fotter soldiers that I could just keep throwing at the enemy's Demigods over and over and over. This would allow me time to act as I keep them busy stuck in the swarm of endless masses. But this could be countered by powerful AoE abilities that the player may have brought along, which opens up another can of worms.
This system will eventually require good players to bring various things to counter other players, allowing them to plan ahead and keep things 'just in case' another player decides to go one way, they can act enough. But it's all based on how much they've pre-planned their tactics well before the game has even begun. I could utilize spells which make my units immune to knock back, and my enemy has utilized a large force of creatures which specialize in knock back. In order to counter me, he could have something up his pocket that cancels all immunities; furthermore, I could cancel his ability to cancel my ability by using a dispel or addition 'anti-magic' protection which wards off enemy spells for a limites time.
So the back and forth tug a war will continue until the person with quickest wits outsmarts the enemy by pressing whatever advantages they have, and this could all come down to what you decided to bring in the first place.
Indeed, this would be madness to balance, but it'd give players a real feeling of their limits. This would also make a player feel as they are have designed their army, and it is their unique and personalized strategy. I'm not saying making Demigod a Culdcept RTS, but certainly there are features in the game which have made it most replayable - and that is the design element to the army. Keeping standard units for standard Demigods is certainly easier to balance, but eventually people learn how they work and press their advantage merely by common knowledge. Giving the player more powerful to build their army and become more like a Demigod of their choice leaves plenty of room to make each and every game a unique experience that is sure to make each side think differently.
Instead of the run-of-the-mill build-tier spree, people will have to test their enemy's might before knowing their full potential, making for some longer and more intense games that are sure to more memorable and epic in many ways.
.
