prototype – MagicalTimeBean

Level Analysis: Soulcaster 1

A procedural level builder needs to be able to make fun levels.

It took me a while to get the hang of what is fun to do in the Soulcaster world–when making the first Soulcaster, I probably made about 30 bad levels before I found my footing and made some good ones. In this article I will take a closer look at some of these (the good ones), to see how they are constructed, what experience they offer, and how they might be broken down to be generated procedurally.

One advantage to the pattern-based room generator currently in SC3 is that, worst case, I can just build a large collection of intact levels with some basic parameters, then stitch them together randomly to build the game world. This at least offers the craftsmanship of prefab levels, but kept fresh for each replay. I’m not setting out to make an algorithm that could generate these levels from scratch–that would take way too long. Instead, I’m looking for ways these levels could be broken down into basic elements that could be swapped out, flipped, rotated, inverted, and otherwise manipulated.

Some levels will be only slightly dynamic, while others will have lots of parameters and will be vastly different every time. I think we’ll need a good balance of both of these types to make a solid experience.

Let’s start with the simplest level, the Cellar.

This is a great example of a room that’s best left intact. It has a few waves of enemies that appear from the barrels, controlled by a combination of floor switches and natural progression by killing foes. Maybe later down the line I could find a way to add dynamic parameters, but that can be put off until alpha or later.

Summon Equipment Menu – First Prototype

Today I worked on the equipment menu for the summons. Behold.

Each summon has a weapon, alt weapon, and charm slot
Weapons/alt weapons are specific to the summon (bow/arrow for Shaedu, bomb/fuel for Bloodfire, spear/shield for Aeox)
Charms are generic and slottable to any summon
Charms will be the basis for the “blessings” system, where you use an item to do something special to one of the summons. One example: a charm that turns the summon to stone, to reroute foes or create a blockade (Could it be called the Tiny Hammer?)
All equippable gear has the opportunity to alter the summon’s base stats and weapon stats, as well as hook into many combat events such as taking damage, damaging another creature, before attacking, or even just an immediate effect (such as a shield).

Planned features for equipment:

Usable charms and active items will have a charge count and recharge rate
Recharging will probably be based on kills during battle, but could be based on other stuff
Gear can be leveled up to boost general stats and unlock new effects at high levels. Leveled up charms would have more charges.
Multiple charm slots available (probably an upgrade)
Ability to infuse a charm permanently to a summon–upgade effects become permanent, frees up the charm slot–probably expensive or rare opportunity

My goal with the equipment menu is to allow for some strategy in between battles. You can’t change equipment once the fight starts, so you have to plan ahead a bit, and pick the best stuff considering the area you’re in.

Now to make some more items.

First Prototype Complete

Victory lap time. I am right on track with my week’s goal of a playable prototype. It came at the cost of some tremendously ugly code, but I hacked together a playable demo that gives a solid impression of what the game will become.

The whole procedural level thing was an experiment. I built this prototype to prove the concept to myself–and I think it really works. This is is going to bring the ground combat of Soulcaster to a new level. See for yourself: