What do you think of a skillset which is superpowered but can be deadly if overused?

[Cadh20000 249]

A while back I had a dream that I wanted to make use of in a story or game, the more I thought about it the more I thought "game" for it. Anyway, without going into a detail about the story I'll try to explain the setup of the features that would have the biggest impact on the player and see what you guys think of it.

 

The main character has the ability to tear holes in the fabric of reality and store things in the void between dimensions, this ability and the stuff he or she stores there are the backbone of the ultimate skillset(the character has multiple skillsets to draw from, this is the strongest, but also the most dangerous). To counter the sheer power of this there is a MAJOR drawback to using that skillset, it weakens the fabric of reality every time it gets used. The fabric of reality can recover over time, but with each use reality warps, becoming more chaotic and dangerous, if used too closely together too many times this can lead to the world becoming impassable, enemies becoming super-powered, and the very world becoming hostile...or even to an instant Game Over.

 

Essentially there are 5 versions of every map, "Normal" > "Chaos Variant Lv.1" > "Chaos Variant Lv.2" > "Chaos Variant Lv. 3" > "Chaos Variant Lv. 4" > "Game Over" (featuring a cinematic where reality itself rips apart into a swirling mass of pure chaos), Each use of a skill from that skillset advances it by one "Chaos Variant Level", a certain amount of time without use of that skillset will allow it to go down by one "Chaos Variant Level" eventually leading to the world returning to "Normal". 

 

By "Chaos Variant Lv.4" even the air itself is unbreathable causing a steady HP drain and Poison status, while water burns with purple flames, and the plants themselves attack you. 

 

I'm considering the warping of reality extending to the player's character as well, with abilities, items, and equipment functioning differently depending which "Chaos Variant Level" the player is in.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Cadh20000

[Lord Vectra 414]

I think they're great to have; I have a few in my current project. All u hav to do is make sure the cost is equal to (or greater than) the power of the skillset.

 

For example, I hav a class called the Chaos Warlock (or Witch if it's a female) that absorbs opponents of heat or cool. If they do it too much, the caster will get overheated or too cold which both have different effects than the original burn and freeze. Haven't decided their effects yet but they'll be high costs for sure.

[Cadh20000 249]

I'm considering the warping of reality extending to the player's character as well, with abilities, items, and equipment functioning differently depending which "Chaos Variant Level" the player is in.

[Lord Vectra 414]

What do you mean by the "warping of reality"?

[Cadh20000 249]

What do you mean by the "warping of reality"?

I'll try to explain...You know of the theory where multiple alternate realities are all side by side but never touching? Each varying only slightly from the ones nearest it? Think of them like threads in a tapestry, if all goes well they march on supporting each other via the cross-threads(I don't recall what they are called), but if the threads aren't kept taught they can cross and tangle, leading to a huge snarl rather than smooth cloth, sometimes to the point they cannot be untangled but instead must be cut.

 

Stage 1: "Normal" Exactly as the name suggests it is the normal game world

Stage 2:"Chaos Variant Lv.1" Minor changes, mostly cosmetic in nature(some colors changed, etc... Might make some puzzles easier or harder, but no real effect beyond that)

Stage 3: "Chaos Variant Lv.2" Minor changes but extending more beyond the cosmetic and into the practical, tame creatures may become hostile, hostile ones tame, non-poisonous things poisonous, etc...

Stage 4 "Chaos Variant Lv. 3" Changes are more pronounced, even the landscape itself may change to a small extent.

Stage 5: "Chaos Variant Lv. 4" Changes are immense, even the air itself is unbreathable causing a steady HP drain and Poison status, while water burns with purple flames, and the plants themselves attack you. 

​Stage 6: "Game Over" Reality itself tears apart and the world shatters into a swirling mass of pure chaos.

[Lord Vectra 414]

ooooooooh. Sounds interesting. If ur using that in a game it might be useful to use Yanfly's Field Effects.

[Cadh20000 249]

ooooooooh. Sounds interesting. If ur using that in a game it might be useful to use Yanfly's Field Effects.

Don't know that script... ?_?

 

Lol, I just reread that "Stage 6:" bit and the scene from Spiderman last week where Carnage laughs maniacally and yells "Carnage...is....CHAOS!!!" started playing in my head...

 

Anyway, back on topic... Basically I’d start by making the “Normal†map, copying it 4 more times to give me the basis for the “Chaos Variant Levelsâ€, then altering the copies to be appropriately chaotic while retaining the same general size and layout as the “Normal†one. Once I have these done I would begin eventing, I know how to make a Common Event that takes your current map and exact XY coordinates on said map and stores them in a variable then teleports you to another map using those coordinates to determine where on it to place you, I would edit this to add a variable telling which Chaos Variant Level the player was on, as the skillset is used it adds to the variable and teleports the player to the Chaos Variant matching the new number in said variable while using the current map ID to ensure they stay on the variations of the correct map. This event would also need a timer which would reset every time one of the skills was used OR it reached the predetermined time for reality to recover by one level, if the timer reaches that point then when it reached it the event would reduce the number in the variable and simultaneously teleport the player to the next lower Chaos Variant of the current map.

 

This makes sense in my head, I hope you think it makes sense when you read it…

Edited July 12, 2016 by Cadh20000

[Lord Vectra 414]

lol yes, I do understand what you are saying.

 

Here's the script I was talking about. It's for battles if you want to change the battle backgrounds.

https://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/rmvxa/gameplay-scripts/field-state-effects/

[Cadh20000 249]

Thanks! Much appreciated!

[Lord Vectra 414]

No problem

[Cadh20000 249]

Basically from what I saw with that script I could change the battle background and field effects during the fight when the skills are used rather than not have them take effect until after the map transition to the appropriate Chaos Variant following the battle, that will be a big help!

[Lord Vectra 414]

So... it's good?

[Cadh20000 249]

Lol, as long as I can figure out how to get it to do what I want it to do it is! Unfortunately my track record with scripts isn't great...

[Lord Vectra 414]

Try pinpointng the X-Coord Y-coord data as a common event in one of the skills. When the battle is over, they are back on the map they were on before.

 

Have it fade to black and show the new and nasty map. I nvr tried X Coord and Y Coord during battle but it's worth a try. You can use variables and switches to determine when the map gets nasty.

 

With that being said, you'll also have to play the common event after every battle.

[Cadh20000 249]

Try pinpointng the X-Coord Y-coord data as a common event in one of the skills. When the battle is over, they are back on the map they were on before.

 

Have it fade to black and show the new and nasty map. I nvr tried X Coord and Y Coord during battle but it's worth a try. You can use variables and switches to determine when the map gets nasty.

 

Unfortunately so, but I don't know any other way to do it. Maybe I'll figure out an easier or more efficient way to do it as I go, time will tell.

 

 

With that being said, you'll also have to play the common event after every battle.

Well, I figured that due to the timer having to run any time the player is past the "Normal" map I'd likely have to have it a Parallel Process to get it to work at all so it would be more having the common event check that variable rather than running it again from scratch when the battles end. 

Edited July 12, 2016 by Cadh20000

[TheManlyFairy 51]

This is a good idea, but keep this in mind - to make the chaos variants more apparent, you will need to make visual changes to the world. This means you will either have to create most of the objects in the world through events, which could potentially flood the game with condition checks and slow its performance, or you will need to create every map 5 times for each chaos variant degree. I would suggest keeping the game length on the short side if you plan on doing this alone, otherwise you should try and get some help.

[Cadh20000 249]

This is a good idea, but keep this in mind - to make the chaos variants more apparent, you will need to make visual changes to the world. This means you will either have to create most of the objects in the world through events, which could potentially flood the game with condition checks and slow its performance, or you will need to create every map 5 times for each chaos variant degree. I would suggest keeping the game length on the short side if you plan on doing this alone, otherwise you should try and get some help.

The plan was 5 maps for each area.

[amerk 1,122]

If it can be balanced, it's a great way to make a game both challenging and fun. Your idea, while ambitious and perhaps difficult to pull off, is more original than simply giving the player a powerful skill that will damage them at the same time whenever that skill is used, but it almost seems you'd have to plug in a lot of events to control monster and event behavior. That's a tough nut to crack for a single person using a single piece of software for a single game, but the pay off could be well worth the hassles and risks.

[Cookie Ninja 374]

Now I'm going to come and poop on the party. One thing that immediately comes to mind for me atleast. If the skill is very powerful, you'd want to use it in boss fights. So what happens if you are at chaos lv 4 when you reach the boss. Are you going to be forced accepting the cast dice, are going to be running around in circles getting bored or are you going to be fighting pointless battles to lower it?

 

One possible solution could be to have bosses sitting around reality rips. Setting the chaos lv to 3 regardless allowing for one use (maybe finishing blow). After the boss the chaos lv could be set to normal, symbolising the ending climax and starting the next chapter refreshed. Aside from delivering some emotional impact and relief, it would also nullify any tedious chaos lowering before bosses. (Just an idea)

 

Aside from that I think you have a very cool idea going here