Another week, more code.

So this past week I have been doing some serious overhauling of the codebase I have been working on for the past two months. There were some things left hanging in the wind so to speak as I rushed through coding the preliminary basics of the in game systems such as combat, structure building and character definement/advancement. My main focus this week was the very rudimentary combat system. Before my additions, combat was just round based white damage fests. Every round initative is rolled, and whoever wins does their damage rolls first. To hit someone your attack roll must be larger or equal to the opponents armor rating.

As you can see it all has a very D&D feel to it at the core.

However, as I added skills I came to a very quick conclusion that being able to spam combat skills as fast as your fingers can type isn't really all that fair, or fun for that matter. Enter the "Combat balance system" as I have been calling it. This system is a way to curb skill spamming without absolutely outright taking the skill away from the player if they use it too often.

In the code every character has an attribute called balance. This is a numeric representation of the characters balance on their two feet and also their stamina for fighting in battle. This value is set to 3 by default for every new character. Every time a combat skill (kick, strike etc) is used, a portion of that balance is removed. Once you are at 1, you take a 10% decrease to combat stats (str, dex, attack rating), at 0 the decrease is 30%, and finally at -1 it is 50%. Once you become 'unbalanced', your balance will be periodically restored, returning your stats to the value they originally were at.

This system has a lot of room for changing the way a character is able to fight. Perhaps there will be a 'rogue' character class, that gets a skill called 'endurance' or something similar that merely gives them one extra point of balance. That's the equivalent to one more full strength attack before you become tired and off balance. Or it could go the other way as well, perhaps there will be spells that make you weak and tired, which will ultimately affect the balance attribute?

This step ahead with the combat engine while seemingly small will have a large impact on how people decide to play their encounters.

In the thick of it.

This is the first ever blog post for the text-based MUD in development currently, named Avaloria. This particular MUD is completely written in python from the ground up, utilizing the evennia server (www.evennia.com). The game itself aims to be a bit different from most of MUD's, in that the core component of the game is building up a base, or lair if you will and then waging combat and other nasty things on the other players on the opposing faction. The base that you build will also directly affect your character in numerous ways. A quick example would be the building of a 'Gold Mine' which allows you to accrue gold every game day in an automated way. Or another would be building a Training Grounds or Arena style building and receiving a bonus to your attack rating or defense rating etc. Or perhaps you find a way to create a device that summons portals to random dungeons created for your level?

All structures in the game will be able to be completely controlled by the player characters. You will be able to level them up by putting money into them, or de-level them by withdrawing money when you are low on cash, or destroy them if you no longer want them. All of these features are currently in the game and working as they should.

Another feature that is not implemented yet, but will be soon is Minons and Henchmen. These things go hand in hand with the structure building. Minions and Henchman will be able to be assigned to a specific structure, which will bring about additional bonuses. Also, there is an idea floating around in my head for a system to allow you to 'queue' up your minions to do certain actions while you are gone, to benefit you. Perhaps you want them to run through dungeons collecting loot, killing monsters etc. This particular feature is very much only in the idea stage.

So there you have it, a quick look at two of the biggest/most different features/ideas for Avaloria.