Alora Fane

Here's a drastic thing: I'm considering completely changing the way that battles work in Divine Dreams!

(I've added an UPDATE at the bottom of the post!)

Regarding the MARDEK Steam release, I've requested a couple of beta keys so then we can find out if it all works, though it tells me it might take up to 72 hours to actually receive them. I still need to do some other stuff too, but I'll continue updating the (surprisingly popular) purple post with updates about that. Check its Edited date!

There's not much more I can do with that at the moment, so here's a post about Divine Dreams, the MARDEK Reimagining.

I'm finally returning to Divine Dreams after spending a few weeks consumed by both the MARDEK Steam release and depression. I'm looking forward to getting some new stuff done!

In ∞ the demo video ∞, you can see the battle mechanics as they are currently. People commented on certain issues that became clear from this - for example, Emeela focusing on lowering Mind being essentially useless in the boss battle - and I definitely noticed them myself while playing through the thing.

I like the Body/Mind system conceptually, as it ties into the overarching narrative themes and I feel it's unique and interesting, but I think the approach could be improved.

A few days ago, I was struck with the sort of exciting inspiration that makes sleep feel like a horrible obstacle because I just want to focus completely on bringing my ideas into being. Such a thrill on the rare occasions it happens! (It's definitely possible to be in a Creation-flavoured mood!)

It was spurred by spending a few minutes rearranging ∞ the Games page ∞, since I felt I should move MARDEK higher up and add Divine Dreams (I forget that page exists, but it gets a surprising amount of traffic, stats show; maybe because fighunter.com is set to redirect to it). This required removing Belief from the top position, and while doing that I longingly watched ∞ the demo video I made of that ∞.

I really like what I did with that game; I think the 'battle' system is far more interesting than Divine Dreams', though it's also quite slow and abstract so it lacks the visceral thrill. I'd still like to get back to the game if Divine Dreams does well enough to warrant a prequel, though I got thinking about how I could use some of the ideas from it to replace some that aren't working with what I've got currently for DD.

Before I settled on the Body/Mind dichotomy, I tried to make a battle system which was a compromise between MARDEK's straight fantasy and Belief's approach to make something more cerebral and 'non-violent'. I wrote about it in ∞ this post ∞.

Essentially, HP took the form of a bar of light and darkness, with characters' bars being light and monsters' being dark. You used 'weapons of light' - and the monsters used 'weapons of dark' - to change the 'valence' (lightness/darkness) of this bar, so you weren't really killing monsters, you were just 'turning their darkness to light'. Or something.

You could also cast spells to convert your targets, as in Belief. This made use of the 'runes' system I've been attempting to give a home since Taming Dreams.

I only worked on it very briefly, and it wasn't well-received. I didn't care for it either, I found. The light/dark weapons thing felt contrived and unnecessary, and all 'sentimancy' affecting a rapport bar felt limited.

Still... The idea I find myself returning to is similar in some ways. Though I'd say it's more like a better compromise between the 'violent' action of MARDEK's battle system and the cerebral personal conversion of Belief. I've not implemented it since I wanted to run it by people first, though I have made some UI mock-ups, eg:

I don't like overly busy UIs, but I don't like overly spartan ones either (like many Final Fantasies, which just have the PCs' HP number and name, and nothing else). I like the feeling of having each character represented by a really clear UI element with the same aesthetic appeal as, say, a trading card, with a few key stats clearly highlighted and an obvious health bar. It's a mentality I've had throughout essentially all the games I've ever made!

I quite like the circles I had before, though they feel quite lifeless. A whole lot of JRPGs have battle UIs that integrate portraits of their characters in some way (though it's usually the generic-feeling ones that do this), and I think that adds something important that makes them feel more like characters and less like battle units. In MARDEK, I had sprites of the characters on their status displays for this reason.

I had the same in Taming Dreams.

I've considered making pixel sprites of the characters for Divine Dreams to use in the battle UI like this, though I played around with a few different layouts, and nothing looked any good. I wondered whether to use the sprite for the mood icon in some way, though it made no sense to include a whole-body sprite with a tiny, indistinct face if I were to do that as it'd drastically limit the potential for expression.

I really like what I've decided on here, aesthetically. It integrates a depiction of the character, but it's kind of like a schematic of their whole being, with labels (mostly) in appropriate physical places. The body stat (HP) is actually represented in the body section here, the arousal heart is where a heart might be, the emoting face sits on top, and a halo around that represents the state of the mind.

But I suppose I should actually explain the mechanics I have in mind to make sense of this!

Body

As before, HP will be called Body, though this time it's only used as pure HP rather than offensively or as a cost for skill use.

This would be the core of the simple 'violence'-based battle mechanics. Characters have Attack and Defence stats, which are determined by equipment. Unlike previously where weapons were rare and each had its own skill, here I'm thinking they could just be more like MARDEK's, with a simple Attack stat, maybe some extras like effectiveness against certain types, and an element. Different weapons might have different Reaction effects too; I'll need to give that more thought.

Characters all have a basic Attack command, like in MARDEK, which simply deals damage equal to the attacker's Attack command minus the defender's Defence, modified based on elemental resistances and any additional bonuses.

Both Attack and Defence could be buffed or debuffed, eg a skill might "increase Attack by 1 point" (the numbers would be kept quite low).

Depleting a monster's Body kills it. When a party member's Body is depleted, they fall down and must be revived by a special spell or item.

It'd be restored with either food (which I already have, but which might just be an unnecessary complication), or standard potions. Or healing spells.

So it's all essentially familiar stuff, which should allow for straightforward action-based gameplay if that's what the player wants.

Mind - Light and Dark

This is where I've made the most revisions.

Mind - which could also be called Mental Health, or even Sanity - is depicted by the halo around the creature's head in the UI. Creatures just have a singular Mind stat, behind the scenes, but it's shown as two separate stats: Light and Dark (with Light just being total - Dark). That is, Dark and Light can't be increased or reduced without affecting the other in the opposite direction.

Characters would start fully light (sort of), while opponents would start fully dark. If characters became fully dark, I'm unsure of what they'd do; either they'd become incapacitated - but still selectable and healable with normal means, unlike with KO - or, perhaps more interestingly, they could enter a berserk state where they target their allies randomly, like the typical confusion status; they 'succumb to madness', or 'become a monster themselves'. That'd explain the human enemies you fought. (Maybe it could depend on the character - Steele becomes enraged, Emeela falls into despair - though that might be unnecessarily complicated.)

If monsters become fully light, then they convert to your party, and move across the battle to fight by your side, like in Belief. If turned back fully dark, they revert and return to their original side. While they're on your side, you can control them like any character. If they're still on your party when all dark allies are defeated or converted, they turn into an item or something (I've not decided yet). They don't stay with you. Bosses couldn't be converted, but they could be 'appeased', which would count as their defeat and which might alter some plot stuff in probably minor ways probably similar to the Gope thing from MARDEK.

Elemancy ('magic') can be either Light or Dark (kind of like Black and White magic). Dark spells use the Dark stat as their power, Light spells use the Light stat (so they're effectively both using different parts of the Mind stat).

They also have a cost, which shifts the user's mind in that direction; eg Hate might cost 3 dark, so it makes Emeela's Dark increase by 3 and her Light decrease by 3. Repeatedly using dark magic would make your spells increasingly powerful, but would also drive you closer to madness.

Spells would also be either Physical (or a better word not evocative of athletics; 'Material'?) and Mental. Both have the same costs and Mind-shifting effects on the user, but the Physical ones damage the target's Body while the Mental ones shift the target's Mind towards Light or Dark.

Mental spells (but not Physical/Material ones) would use the runes to determine their effectiveness, and would have a rune of their own. These would work the same was as in Taming Dreams and Belief: matching similar runes would produce greater effects. For example, the first rune is Abstract/Real, with the possible values A a x r R. An A character using an A spell on a target with an R rune in that slot would be very ineffective because it'd be like a bohemian asking a salt-of-the-earth farmer who his favourite avant garde jazz fusion bongoist was.

I'm thinking that Mental spells could be common among most characters - not just traditionally spellcaster types - to give everyone a chance to tame their enemies in their own personal way. Almost all of them would be Light, while Body-damaging spells would be Dark and probably more limited in who had access to them.

All spells also have elements, as do all creatures.

Characters' Mind would be lightened largely by the effects of concords, which I'll keep similar to how they already are. For example, when characters take a turn, allies they share a high concord with might Cheer them on, shifting their mind towards Light. Items and spells could also lighten minds. Monsters' could use spells to darken Mind, not infrequently, and using dark spells would also darken Mind.

Arousal

This is what was called 'excitement' in Taming Dreams and Belief. It's represented by the beating heart, which is larger, faster, and warmer-coloured the higher the arousal. 'Arousal' is a psychological/medical term for what this is, but maybe most gamers would read that as 'sexual arousal', so I might have to use 'excitement' instead (though it's not like that doesn't have similar connotations).

Arousal is a percentage between 0% and 100%, which is effectively functionally the same for every creature. That is, you can't 'increase max arousal' (though maybe some items could reduce the impact of arousal-changing skills on a character).

Like in Belief, spells are available for certain ranges of arousal. Emeela might have to be highly aroused before she can cast Hate, but if her arousal is very low, Despair would be available instead. Here's how that looked in Belief:

Arousal also determines speed; the faster a character's heart beats, the more quickly they get their next turn. So character's don't have a base speed value, as such, though they do have a starting value for arousal which would at least determine who acts first.

Skills could calm or rouse to alter arousal.

In Taming Dreams and Belief, arousal/excitement also affected the potency of abilities: high arousal meant more 'damage' delivered, but also more received. I could do that too, but maybe it'd be unnecessarily overcomplicating things.

Equipment and Skills

In the current version, characters can equip a weapon, shield, outfit, four mementos, and six essences. That'd stay the same, though unlike in the original, the weapon and shield would just have associated stats rather than skills.

I'm wondering whether to separate skills and equipment, so skills are bound to mementos, but they're equipped on a separate screen. Accessories could be equipped in their place then, which could have effects similar to the ones in MARDEK. That might be more appealing to players, especially since it'd mean accessories could be more readily acquired and given to a character of your choice.

The essences would of course grant different buffs since the stats are different now. Perhaps their primary effects would be mental, while equipment would be primarily Body-affecting. One possibility is that while Body wounds persist between battles, Mind resets at the start of every battle, and essences can add points to Light or Dark, determining the Mind's starting state.

Moods

This would be very similar to how it already is. Essentially, characters could have one mood at a time, and each mood is associated with an element. For example, being affected by the Creation mood, Inspired, would empower Creation abilities both offensively and defensively; that is, the character could use Creation skills more effectively, but they'd be hit harder by them too.

Additionally, moods would clamp arousal to a certain range. For example, someone who's Depressed wouldn't be able to raise their arousal above the lower levels.

The six elemental moods and their effects are:

Brave (Courage)
Doesn't clamp arousal
1 in 3 chance for physical attacks to be critical hits (they otherwise never are)

Panic (Fear)
Clamps arousal high
1 in 3 chance to skip turns

Serenity (Bliss)
Clamps arousal low
Mind moves towards Light each turn

Crazed (Destruction)
No arousal clamping
Mind moves towards Dark each turn

Inspired (Creation)
Clamps arousal high (I couldn't sleep when I was Inspired!)
Mind moves towards Light each turn

Depressed (Sorrow)
Clamps arousal low
Mind moves towards Dark each turn

I'm also thinking of adding a seventh element, Aether (as in MARDEK), which has Sleep as its mood. Sleep would clamp arousal at 0, in addition to skipping turns. It'd expire after a timer, or when physically hit. (Seems silly to make a game about dreams without a sleep effect!)

Humour

I had 'petals' as buffs/debuffs before, but with all the other mechanics, adding additional effects feels like too much. Still, I could add a few Body-specific effects since most of the others relate to Mind.

The Body stat is represented as what looks like red blood in a potion bottle, and humour statuses would change the colour of that 'blood' and have an effect; only one could be active at a time:

Poison would turn the blood green and deplete Body each turn (as you'd expect).

Regeneration would turn it bright (pink? gold? white?), and increase Body each turn.

Plague would turn it black, and prevent healing.

'Humour' was the best term I could come up with for something involving bodily fluids which could be either negative or positive, though it's obscure and confusing so I'm open to better ideas!

Species

Monsters would have up to two 'species', in the same way that I've done it in a bunch of previous games. For example, a Rabbish would be Bestial/Plantoid. The sole purpose of these would be so that certain weapons - or spells, maybe - could be particularly effective against them (eg a Silver Sword does bonus damage to Undead).

Monsters' UI would use a generic species head shaped according to their primary species and coloured according to their secondary species (it'd also be useful to have something like this to use in a turn order indicator, when I add that). Some concepts:

Those are probably not final names; "Beast" would be "Bestial", for example. Also, the shape of the 'bottle' could vary independently based on the particular monster, so not all Plants would have that base, etc.

These were just quickly copied from a 2014 version of Miasmon that I only briefly worked on. They seem fine though, and I might as well make use of the time and effort I put into deciding on them back then.

Summary

So, to summarise, with this image here again for reference, each creature has the following stats:

Body (Health)
Attack
Defence
Mind, as Light and Dark (actually one stat behind the scenes)
Arousal
Runes
Species (monsters only)

And the following actions during battle:

Attack using weapon - damages Body, can React
Spells - Light or Dark, can affect Body or Mind, availability determined by Arousal, 'cost' shifts user's Mind
Item

So yes, that's quite different!

The main aim is to give players the choice about what to do. The previous Mind/Body system never really felt like a choice, and even in games with some 'physical attack' vs 'magic attack' divide, there's often little choice other than the style of particle effects you summon up to reach the same goal (killing the enemy). With this, players would have the choice to either kill or tame their foes, and it opens up a lot of possibilities for interesting encounters (eg you have to tame a boss's respawning lackeys, who can use effective skills against the boss).

Taming monsters appeals to the part of us that enjoys Pokemon; I know I'd have absolutely loved something like this when I was younger! (And still do now.) It also appeals to the sort of minds that enjoy 'pacifist runs', I think, and opens more possibilities for playthroughs with specific rules.

Also, as I've mentioned in at least one old post, I like the idea of a dichotomy between a simple system where you just 'hit things until they fall down', and one where you have to think more carefully about how to act to get the results you want. The Body-based interactions would be straightforward, but the runes require more thought and planning to really make use of. It's like the warrior/wizard contrast in a way that's more meaningful than just choosing between hitting an opponent with a sword or with a fireball.

Lore-wise, the light/dark thing could be explained as something like "drawing upon the miasma takes a toll on the mind". I already decided years ago that monsters and this universe's magic use the same mechanics: the mind interacting with the 'miasma' forms material manifestations of the mind. Dreams made real.

I feel that this light/dark dichotomy appeals to us on a fundamental level, and a lot of games and universes have representations of it (Light Side vs Dark Side, Good vs Evil, etc). I'd like to think the way I'm exploring it here is uniquely interesting if you think about it, but has raw appeal even if you don't. And if there's objection to the idea that it's ~sissy and emotional~, I could always just call it 'sanity', which would likely activate different feelings in people's minds.

I also like the idea of integrating both physical health and mental health, since both affect us dramatically, but differently. We won't fall down dead from poor mental health exactly, but we very well could go mad.

Personally I think this would be a big step up from the Body/Mind system I've already got, but it's hard to know without implementing it and playing around with it. I'm curious to hear what you think of it in this early form though!

Oh, and I don't intend to make a habit of huge rewrites to fundamental game features like this, but if this is going to be a years-spanning series, I don't want to be stuck with a system that really should be something better.

UPDATE
I've started implementing this, so here's a screenshot of the new status menu, which I did first:

It stresses the Body/Mind divide, with six equipment slots for each, with the mind ones being all essences. Unlike before, essences work the same as normal equipment, and each equippable thing has up to six simple 'properties' which determine (and clearly show) what it does. The ones with the blue ! only activate when you hit the blue bonus section on the reaction bar. Not all possible properties are shown here (weapons could deal elemental damage, for example), but maybe this helps clarify some things.

I'll need to decide what to do (if anything) with the empty space at the bottom left.

I'll also add a separate page for skills, which will also be divided into Body and Mind columns. Body skills will all deal Body damage and won't rely on Mind (Light/Dark) stats, and Mind spells will all rely on Mind stats for their power but many will damage Body. Others will add Light for taming.