I just replied to your other comment, but this one makes me wonder: if a character has the runes AFG, are you seeing it as them being marked as the 'AFG type'?
The way it works is that there are three spectra, pairs of opposing traits:
Abstract - Real
(whether they have their head in the clouds or they're down to earth)
Tough - Feeling
('sensitive' would work better than 'feeling', but F works better than S; similar to MBTI's T/F or the Big Five's Agreeableness)
Grave - Jolly
(alternatively, serious or silly)
Characters have a rune value on a 5-point scale for each one:
A a x r R
T t x f F
G g x j J
So someone with xxx runes would be the completely balanced 'normal type' equivalent, I suppose.
I'm seeing them as "personality influencing gameplay", so for example "this character's really tough, personality-wise, so the aggressive skills they use are more potent than this other character who's soft and sensitive". Something like that. "Narrative influencing gameplay", rather than, say, "this character hits harder because he's taller and bulkier than this other one, and this one casts magic better because he's got a long grey beard and/or she's a girl".
0
MethEnjoyer7~2Y
That helped jog my memory, if memory serves you've been using the Jolly vs Grim slider as early as back in 2015-2016 with Taming Dreams.
Yes, especially with the additional explanation I definitely see AFG as an elemental affinity (or several of them). That reinforces my thought that you should streamline it so each character only has one Personality element they're tied to; this can reduce it to 7 types, one of each extreme plus neutral.
For synergies, you could just borrow Pokemon's STAB system; and, continuing the streamlining, you could make it so "rune" attacks put stacking vulnerability on the -6/+6 scale to that type rather than shifting one of the player's 3 different personality types.
I think the way you've set up the critters and the system as a whole makes the most intuitive way to go about it to give every character the same three types the critters already have - Emotional, Personality, and Body. Savitr would make sense as Bliss/Grim/Light(alien?). Or make a 'human' body type, I guess, though I dislike that idea a bit. Collie would make sense as a Beast body type.
That'd still exponentially more difficult to grasp than Pokemon types, since there's up to 3 to account for rather than 2 AND a lot of combinations aren't possible, but it'd be more manageable than the current setup.
1
Tobias 1104~2Y
The runes are essentially unchanged from Taming Dreams, though a big mistake in that was dumping a full explanation of them on the player right at the start. In the years since then I've been refining how to present them in a way that might allow players to see them as the elegant and interesting system that I do. Clearly I'm not at an ideal point with that yet!
I see the runes more like stats than elemental types, and the opposing-trait-pairs aspect is important.
Also, only the figmon have creature types - humans don't - and they only time they come into effect is with the 'affinities' I described in this post, which are basically equipment bonuses equivalent to a sword that deals greater damage to undead or whatever. They don't do anything in the damage formula usually.
In Pokemon, moves have a power value, a type, and they're either physical or special, and your opponent has two types and separate physical and special defence stats. So when selecting a move, you'd usually consider the type first, then maybe whether to use a physical or special attack if you had some awareness of your own physical and special attack stats and your opponent's defensive stats (which you usually wouldn't unless you had encyclopaedic knowledge of the game because they're not displayed anywhere).
In Atonal Dreams, characters don't really have numerical stats beyond basic Attack and Defence. They have a single fixed element, which are simpler than Pokemon types, and three runes, which can change during battle. If you don't have a skill with an elemental advantage over an opponent, you might have one with a rune advantage. If you don't, then you can shift the opponent's runes until you do. BUT that means that any skills you have of the opposing rune won't be as effective. I like that double-edged aspect a lot.
To return to a previous example, a boss might use a Sad Song skill that shifts all of your characters' runes away from T and towards F. They've not got 'weaker', they've just changed the flavour of one facet of their minds. Aggressive skills like sword slashes tend to have a T(ough) rune, so it'd be effectively reducing the damage you deal with those, BUT if you have any F(eeling)-runed skills, it'd be increasing the power of those.
I find that kind of thing way more interesting than just boringly getting linearly stronger or weaker.
For the most part, runes could be largely ignored during a casual playthrough. But paying attention to them would allow you to build huge combos to deal satisfying damage and master skills quickly (as damage = xp). I'm curious to see how people feel about it after playing the next alpha/demo/whatever.
I think I'll also experiment next with some alternatives for displaying them on the UI 'statues'.
1
MethEnjoyer7~2Y
I'd definitely like to see how how the system feels in action; could be I was completely off the mark and it's super intuitive. There's not really any way to know until then, though.
The way it works is that there are three spectra, pairs of opposing traits:
Abstract - Real
(whether they have their head in the clouds or they're down to earth)
Tough - Feeling
('sensitive' would work better than 'feeling', but F works better than S; similar to MBTI's T/F or the Big Five's Agreeableness)
Grave - Jolly
(alternatively, serious or silly)
Characters have a rune value on a 5-point scale for each one:
A a x r R
T t x f F
G g x j J
So someone with xxx runes would be the completely balanced 'normal type' equivalent, I suppose.
I'm seeing them as "personality influencing gameplay", so for example "this character's really tough, personality-wise, so the aggressive skills they use are more potent than this other character who's soft and sensitive". Something like that. "Narrative influencing gameplay", rather than, say, "this character hits harder because he's taller and bulkier than this other one, and this one casts magic better because he's got a long grey beard and/or she's a girl".
Yes, especially with the additional explanation I definitely see AFG as an elemental affinity (or several of them). That reinforces my thought that you should streamline it so each character only has one Personality element they're tied to; this can reduce it to 7 types, one of each extreme plus neutral.
For synergies, you could just borrow Pokemon's STAB system; and, continuing the streamlining, you could make it so "rune" attacks put stacking vulnerability on the -6/+6 scale to that type rather than shifting one of the player's 3 different personality types.
I think the way you've set up the critters and the system as a whole makes the most intuitive way to go about it to give every character the same three types the critters already have - Emotional, Personality, and Body. Savitr would make sense as Bliss/Grim/Light(alien?). Or make a 'human' body type, I guess, though I dislike that idea a bit. Collie would make sense as a Beast body type.
That'd still exponentially more difficult to grasp than Pokemon types, since there's up to 3 to account for rather than 2 AND a lot of combinations aren't possible, but it'd be more manageable than the current setup.
I see the runes more like stats than elemental types, and the opposing-trait-pairs aspect is important.
Also, only the figmon have creature types - humans don't - and they only time they come into effect is with the 'affinities' I described in this post, which are basically equipment bonuses equivalent to a sword that deals greater damage to undead or whatever. They don't do anything in the damage formula usually.
In Pokemon, moves have a power value, a type, and they're either physical or special, and your opponent has two types and separate physical and special defence stats. So when selecting a move, you'd usually consider the type first, then maybe whether to use a physical or special attack if you had some awareness of your own physical and special attack stats and your opponent's defensive stats (which you usually wouldn't unless you had encyclopaedic knowledge of the game because they're not displayed anywhere).
In Atonal Dreams, characters don't really have numerical stats beyond basic Attack and Defence. They have a single fixed element, which are simpler than Pokemon types, and three runes, which can change during battle. If you don't have a skill with an elemental advantage over an opponent, you might have one with a rune advantage. If you don't, then you can shift the opponent's runes until you do. BUT that means that any skills you have of the opposing rune won't be as effective. I like that double-edged aspect a lot.
To return to a previous example, a boss might use a Sad Song skill that shifts all of your characters' runes away from T and towards F. They've not got 'weaker', they've just changed the flavour of one facet of their minds. Aggressive skills like sword slashes tend to have a T(ough) rune, so it'd be effectively reducing the damage you deal with those, BUT if you have any F(eeling)-runed skills, it'd be increasing the power of those.
I find that kind of thing way more interesting than just boringly getting linearly stronger or weaker.
For the most part, runes could be largely ignored during a casual playthrough. But paying attention to them would allow you to build huge combos to deal satisfying damage and master skills quickly (as damage = xp). I'm curious to see how people feel about it after playing the next alpha/demo/whatever.
I think I'll also experiment next with some alternatives for displaying them on the UI 'statues'.