Rules Explained: Armor and Weapons and Stats

The purpose of this post is to explain some of the basic gameplay mechanics working behind the scenes in Chain Knights. I hope you like charts!

WEAPONS

There are a total of 25 different weapons in Chain Knights, divided amongst 5 different Weapon Types and 3 and a half different Damage Types.

Chain Knights Weapon List!

Weapon Type | Damage Type | Weight | Damage

Blunt Objects:

1. Battle Mug | B | 2 | 2
2. Cricket Bat | B | 3 | 3
3. Mace | B | 4 | 4
4. Warhammer | B | 5 | 6
5. Bone Club | B+M | 6 | 7

Pointy Objects:

1. Punch Claw | P | 1 | 1
2. Anchor | P | 2 | 2
3. Bone Pick | P | 2 | 3
4. Spear | P | 3 | 4
5. Longinus Spear | P+M | 4 | 5

Swords:

1. Short Sword | S | 1 | 1
2. Curved Sword | S | 2 | 2
3. Buster Sword | S | 3 | 4
4. Bastard Sword | S | 4 | 5
5. Great Sword | S+M | 7 | 8

Axes:

1. Shovel | S | 2 | 2
2. Chopper | S | 2 | 3
3. Battleaxe | S | 3 | 4
4. Halberd | S | 4 | 5
5. Great Axe | S+M | 7 | 8

Exotic Weaponry:

1. Spine Whip | B/P | 1 | 1
2. Lobster Claw | B/S | 3 | 3
3. Nunchucks | B+M | 2 | 4
   
4. Wrecking Ball | B | 9 | 8
5. Buzz Saw | P/S | 4 | 6

Weapon Stats:

Weight, which opposes a Knight's Swing Speed stat. As the weight of his gear increases, a Knight can jump less high and swing his weapon less quickly.

Weapon Damage is the damage, in hit points, that the weapon causes when swung at full speed. Actual Damage is determined upon contact with a target. Actual Damage = Weapon Damage * (Actual Swing Speed /Max Swing Speed) [I think - - you get it]

Weapon Type affects the Damage Type a weapon causes and determines the proficiency that the weapon uses. Weapon Types include Blunt Objects, Pointy Objects, Swords, Axes, and Exotic Weapons. There is a proficiency for each Weapon Type, and each Weapon Type holds 5 weapons of increasing badassedness.

Damage Type determines the damage done by specific weapons to specific types of enemies. There are 3 regular damage types: Blunt, Pointy, and Sharp, as well as a Magic damage type that "stacks" with the others. Blunt Objects do Blunt damage, which is particularly effective against Leather armor but weak against Primitive armor (those savages have thick skulls). Pointy Objects do Pointy damage, which is good at finding chinks in Metal armor but weak against Leather. Axes and Swords do Sharp damage, which is effective against Primitive armor but not so much against Metal. Exotic weapons do different damage types depending upon the weapon (and some do more than one damage type!). Each Weapon Type contains a Magical weapon as well, which is especially effective against everything but Steam armor.

ARMOR

There are a total of 21 different armor sets (each set = a grouping of four quadrants) in Chain Knights, divided into 3 different "tracks," each of which affects a Knight's stats in different ways.

Chain Knights Armor List!

Weaponmaster | Rangemaster | Armormaster

1. Tribal (WM1, P) | Shamanic (RM1, P) | Turtle (AM1, P)
2. Masochist (WM2, P) | Beastmaster (RM2, P) | Light Leather (AM2, L)
3. Bone (WM3, P) | Buckle Monk (RM3, L) | Studded Leather (AM3, L)
4. Mercenary (WM4, L) | Explorer (RM4, L) | Spiked Metal (AM4, M)
5. Stone Warrior (WM5, M) | Heavy Leather (RM5, L) | Splintmail (AM5, M)
6. Samurai (WM6, M) | Chain (RM6, M) | Holy Knight (AM6, M)
7. Full Throttle (WM7, S) | Stovepipe (RM7, S) | Pauldron (AM7, S)

(WM = Weaponmaster, RM = Rangemaster, AM = Armormaster, P = Pointy, B = Blunt, M = Metal, S = Steam)

Armor Stats:

Weight, which opposes a Knight's Jump Strength stat (or his Swing Speed stat for weapons). As the weight of his gear increases, a Knight can jump less high and swing his weapon less quickly.

Weight should increase based on the level of the armor and the type of material it is made of. An example formula for this might be Weight = Armor Level + (0 for Primitive, 1 for Leather, 2 for Metal, 3 for Steam). Using this example, a set

Armor Strength is the # of hit points a piece of armor has. Collecting 200% of the armor's hit points allows it to evolve.

Armor Material determines which damage types are strong against the armor, and which are weak. As stated above, Primitive Armor is strong versus Blunt damage but weak versus Sharp and Magic, Leather Armor is strong versus Pointy but weak versus Blunt and Magic, Metal Armor is strong versus Sharp damage but weak versus Pointy and Magic, and Steam Armor is strong versus Magic and not weak versus anything.

--A handy chart!--

Armor Material | Good vs: | Weak vs:

Primitive (light) | Blunt | Sharp, Magic

Leather (medium) | Pointy | Blunt, Magic

Metal (heavy) | Sharp | Pointy, Magic

Steam (superheavy) | Magic | None

Armor Track adds stat bonuses based on the "chain" of armor progression the piece of armor belongs to, as well as its "level" in that chain. There are three different Armor Tracks: Weaponmaster (Berserker), which adds to Weapon Damage and Swing Speed; Rangemaster (Scout), which adds to Chain Length and Jump Strength, and Armormaster (Tank), which adds to the disposable shield objects' hit points and gives a small overall damage resistance per level.

Armor Level tells how much of an Armor Track bonus this particular piece of armor gets. For example, a piece of Level 3 Scout Armor might add +3 chain links and +30% jump strength. That's not exactly how the progression will go, but you get the idea...

How Armor Progression Will Maybe Go:

(Each bonus listed is TOTAL bonus for that level armor, not bonus accrued for that level)

Weaponmaster | Rangemaster | Armormaster

Level:

1. Swing Spd + 1 | Jump Height + 1 | Shield HP +10%
2. SSpd + 1, Weapon Dmg +0.25| JmpH +1, Chain Lngth +1 | ShHP + 10%, DRes + 5%
3. SSpd + 2, WDmg + 0.25 | JmpH + 2, ChnL + 1 | ShHP + 20%, DRes + 7%
4. SSpd + 2, WDmg + 0.50 | JmpH + 2, ChnL + 2 | ShHP + 20%, DRes + 9%
5. SSpd + 3, WDmg + 0.50 | JmpH + 3, ChnL + 2 | ShHP + 30%, DRes + 11%
6. SSpd + 3, WDmg + 0.75 | JmpH + 3, ChnL + 3 | ShHP + 30%, DRes + 13%
7. SSpd + 4, WDmg + 1 | JmpH + 4, ChnL + 4 | ShHP + 50%, DRes + 15%

Note that the bonuses listed are for one piece of that armor, so, for example, a full set of 4 Level 7 Armormaster quadrants would increase one's shield hit points by + 200%, and their damage resistance by 60%!

Also note that these probably need to be fiddled with. They are just harmless examples.

CHAIN KNIGHTS HAVE STATS TOO

Chain Knights carry a certain amount of stats with them, as well. Weapon Proficiencies can be built up by hitting things with corresponding Weapon Types, and Armor Proficiencies can be gained by having corresponding quadrants of armor get hit by things.

Chain Knight Permanent Stats:

Chain Length is, obviously, the length of the Knight's weapon's chain. A bonus of +1 in this stat adds a single link to the chain.

Jump Strength is the maximum height the Knight can jump, without armor.

Swing Speed is the maximum speed (in rotations or whatever you like) that a weapon can be swung around the Knight, as well as how sensitive the swing control is (if a Knight's Swing Speed is maxed, he should be able to swing his weapon blindingly fast with little mouse/joystick effort; the sensitivity is basically a function of the max speed).

Weapon Proficiencies (for each stat point in a proficiency, Weight decreases and Damage increases by a set amount when wielding that weapon type):

- Blunt Objects -

- Pointy Objects -

- Swords -

- Axes -

- Exotic Weaponry -

Armor Proficiencies (for each stat point in a proficiency, damage taken when wearing that armor type is reduced by a small set amount- say 2%):

- Primitive Armor -

- Leather Armor -

- Metal Armor -

- Steam Armor -

And a Bit About Climbing

I continue to hold that climbing over debris is cooler and scarier than being able to jump over it.

So how, from a design, art, and programming viewpoint, do we make this happen?

I suggest some sort of "attach" key (be it a separate key, mapped onto whatever key "uses" or "picks stuff up," or simply something that happens when you run your character into debris he can't walk over). While "attached," the character can only climb up and down (so we'll need the 'W' and 'S' keys free for this- pick up/use should be remapped to 'R,' and to enter or exit the carriage, the player should just press 'R' as well).

Also while attached, the character's sprite needs to change from two linked sprites (mouse-movable torso and keyboard-controlled legs) to a climbing animation that can be cycled forwards and backwards.

We'll need to figure out what button works best for climbing (I think the 'automatically changes to climbing when the character runs into a climbable obstacle' idea is best, so that the player will be able to carry objects up debris when necessary) as well as how to tell when the character should stop climbing and return to a normal character state.

Sweet

Hey Tom, I was checking out the new version you sent last nite. Looks great. I noticed something: When I drove the carriage off the left side of the background I went into free fall but I could control how the carriage was falling by rotating the cannon. I just thought that was really awesome. Can you also use the cannon to upright the carriage if you land upside down?

Arguing about controls some more

Chandon:

There are more things than the cannon and light to control. I've mentioned the other things quite a bit. (First link is what the carriage will look like when it's done. Kind of.)


"Taking freedom of movement away from the player doesn't make the game scarier, just more frustrating."
-- What about the Resident Evil series? Alone in the Dark? Out of This World? That is exactly what they do to the controls to make the game scarier... and not being able to mouse aim is nowhere near as limiting or clunky as having to steer your dude like a car. Heh

Anyway, I'm off to do some more parts or something.

Go back to that other part

Um, you'd better go back to the beginning Rollin. From what I see in the demos and screens so far there's like 2 things on the carriage to control, the cannon and the light, so I don't see how being able to toggle them on the fly would be a problem...maybe I missed something in the main idea? I really like the mouse control thing and I still don't understand how using the keyboard makes it easier to control when you can just point a cursor, click and release.

About the commander controls: There's a pretty easy way to get around the "less vulnerable outside the carriage" thing-- just make the commander or his weapons weaker. Taking freedom of movement away from the player doesn't make the game scarier, just more frustrating.

Anyways, the screenie looks pretty awesome once again. Love that fog.
Also, can you start sending me the major updates on the game Tom? Thanks!

Um ok

Well, here's some feedback and ideas in bullet point form...

Backstory

-Rollin and I discussed this: The residents of Necropopolis are sentient zombies, but their brains decay after about a century causing them to go crazy, sort of like Alzheimers.

Bossfights and Level Design

-rescue crew level, necrocarriage breaks down and you are stuck as the commander trying to find parts, rescue crew members, etc until you can get the carriage up and running. Possible set up: floor gives away after bossfight (giant necro worm that comes thru floor and walls weakens it?); necrocarriage falls to it's certain doom and bounces off hills throwing the crew all over, necrocarriage is broken but commander survives. You start next level as commander with a peashooter and a light, have to rescue your crew so they can repair the carriage and continue, covering them the whole time from minor zombie attacks.

-side quest levels: you come across a broken down hearse and help the dude repair his ride, he helps you progress somehow, later on the same dude is a boss fight?

-boss fight against zombie necrocarriage-zombies pushing around a derelict carriage and firing themselves out of the cannon, their cannon can suck up your crew members, etc.

-huge boss that throws the necrocarriage-- maybe that golem Rollin mentioned? I think he should be made of a bunch of zombies or something cool like that. He can be defeated more easily by shooting his legs and causing him to fall, then hitting his weak spot.

-tentacle worm monster thing that bursts from the floor, zombies crawl out of the holes he leaves behind and you have to fight them all off.


-regular zombie turns out to be a boss that refuses to die: only way to defeat him is to weaken him then suck him up with the vacuum and shoot him into molten lead/spike pit/mouth of a bigger monster or something like that

-zombie boss that puts himself back together, only way to defeat him is to blow him apart then kill the parts one at a time before his hands crawl back to his corpse and put it together

-huge boss that swallows your carriage, you have to fight your way out of his insides while the level of stomach acid is slowly rising and come out of his ass. I think Rollin mentioned something like this already, but the acid thing would be cool.

Feedback n Stuff

-I like the art! It's lookin good.

-Key Item idea is a good one, way better than "find the yellow key for the yellow door". We can expand this.

-Vacuum/Cannon idea: This basically makes that game mechanic into Undead Bust a Move. Sounds pretty cool, and it will add a better strategic element to using the cannon. Here's an idea for cannon mechanics: make it the same thing as the vacuum. Hold Mouse1 to suck up stuff, release to throw.

-Upgrades idea: I love RE4, so YES. Currency for upgrades by finding treasure in the clumps of body parts? That would give you an incentive to not just leave the clumps alone. Some other upgrade ideas:
--targeting computer to show cannon's firing arc
--ability to jump necrocarriage over stuff (this would probably be a late game one, if you got it early it would defeat some of the physical puzzle ideas)
--upgrades for crew's weapons (flamethrowers, grenade launchers, gatling gun, etc)
--tire chains for more traction 'n undead crushin
--disguise? disguise your crew and self as zombies, letting them pass unharmed. This could be the expensive and temporary "invulnerability" type powerup that would be useful when jumping out of the 'carriage and picking up key items.
--underground air strike? Heh, might be cool...I love screen filling explosions.

Most Important Points to Discuss/Vote On:

1. How the cannon/vacuum and zombies work. See below.

2. Should environments be sleek black/white profiles, decorated with backgrounds and objects? I think yes: It'll emphasize the lighting system (which is important for the player's defense!), make levels easier to create (don't have to paint everything), and most importantly, we might be able to make levels out of vectors or lines or something instead of huge fucking textures (this is a main problem that we need to work on. Tom?).

What Do You Think

...about the basic gameplay mechanics, as outlined?

The goal is to get through the level and beat the "boss." To progress past certain points in the level (or to make certain areas easier) you need to clear rooms full of dead bodies with the "collect body part with vacuum, fire it out of cannon at matching body parts" system (while fighting zombies that form from groups of parts that lying on the ground, as well as spawn on their own) and collect different "key items."

Certain key items must be picked up (and delivered?) by hand, which adds another layer of strategy: setting up a defense with your carriage's parts (lights and machine gun nests) before exiting to pick up an item or wounded character or whatever.

Physics system also adds another level of gameplay: physical puzzles. These could be as simple as a stack of coffins in your way (which must be plowed), or as complex as a boss fight (the Great Grand Intestine Dragaeon must be knocked unconscious so that you may enter his maw and travel down his guts to whatever is making him go crazy)(=need to hit some boulders suspended above him with cannon fire while avoiding his attacks).

This game will be about putting the player into the world through the use of art, lighting, ambient sound, physics, setting, and story. It'll be an epic journey, homes.


...Right. So specifically: What do you think about the "I pick up an arm, the arm shows up as an icon in the fuel tank, then I fire the arm from the cannon at a group of arms above, which explode and send more dead bits down from the ceiling" mechanic? That is the one I'm not certain about... Other ideas:
1. The arm (and any other part) could just supply a set amount of fuel, which can be used to fire your cannon or move your carriage (this could lead to "out of gas" scenarios, where the player is forced to leave his carriage behind for a long time to go get some fuel... but if you like that scenario, we could put it in with scripting as part of the story and still maintain the "Icon" mechanic). To do this one, we need to figure out how to show different fuel levels in the fuel tank.
2. There only full bodies stuck in the ceiling, but the different bodies and zombies are different colors. Vacuuming up a certain color dead body will make the fuel tank glow that color, and that is the next color the cannon fires. You match colors instead of parts up above. With this one, we could still have set amounts of fuel, which we'd need to show, but we'd also need to figure out how to make the fuel tank glow, etc.
Also, what would separate bodies from zombies? Perhaps just a set amount of time, and then the body becomes a zombie? Or maybe the zombies are their own color- so you can tell which ones will turn into zombies when they hit the ground- but when sucked into the fuel tank, they give you a "bad shot" which infects any bodies caught in the explosion with the zombie curse. This takes away one obstacle (not knowing which bodies will turn into zombies you need to defend your vessel from) but adds another (can't risk picking up zombies with the vacuum).
There are other ways we could approach this, too- it's our main gameplay mechanic, and we could go pretty much anywhere with it. Maybe you need to purchase ammo for the cannon with money found amongst the corpses (so conserving cannon fire becomes as important as firing the cannon quickly, precisely, and strategically). Whatever we pick will have a heavy impact on how the game feels and how the other gameplay mechanics function...

So we should vote on it.
Once everyone gives their opinion and thoughts, that is.