Elemancer Stadium (v7.1)
Reveal feels like a good mechanic to me, but we’ll see how it plays going forward. The major update that really completes the Elemancer overhaul is the addition of more PvP showdowns earlier in the game. To keep these interesting I’ve decided to implement the arena/stadium idea I’d floated back in my v4 post. I’ll begin with a brief touch on balance from my latest playtests.
Checking in on balance
In case I haven’t pulled back all the curtains on my personal playtesting sessions yet, it’s important to note that for each update I will test each Elemental build at least once, usually in a 2-player setting. Following the v7.0 changes, there were only a couple outliers. Electromancy and Chronomancy builds hit a couple power outliers, but were mostly within a reasonable range on average. Chronomancy was a bit high on average. Some individual abilities felt too strong in other Elements, such as a particular Ice ability that benefitted greatly from the Reveal mechanic and broad increase in the number of Channel effects.
Average damage looks good, and max damage ranged from 29 to 34. I’d prefer it to be around 28 to 32, but that’s pretty good if I do say so myself. Obviously this doesn’t account for all variations of deck construction, but I consider my testing a useful sample. I also need to test more hybrid builds now that I’ve introduced more cross-Element synergies.
Revelations
Reveal as a mechanic gives rise to a couple conundrums. When you have multiple instances of Reveal effects during combat, you are able to set up the top of the deck to meet all the conditions. This can result in tactical decision-making opportunities, but in many cases it made things uninteresting as you will always meet the conditions. On a related note, there are advantages to discarding cards from Reveal effects.
To address these, some Reveal abilities force you to discard the cards revealed, while others will give you the choice to put some back. This is a design knob that is easy to turn depending on which effects feel too strong or feel uninteresting. At present, most of the Reveal 1 abilities force you to discard so that you can’t simply use the same card to meet them all. If these abilities begin to underperform, then I can remove the forced discard from them. Simple.
Stadium Arcadium
This is the big change, obviously, but there is another hidden change to go along with this. In an effort to increase player interaction, I’m testing two additional showdowns: one after stage 1 of the questline, and one after stage 2. The timing is important because the winner of each of these showdowns will be the first to select which Tier 2 and Tier 3 zones will be placed.
The secondary change is that Tier 2 and Tier 3 zones will no longer be placed during setup. I decided to use the modular map design as a game mechanic rather than simply a setup component. The intent is that being able to select at least one zone for the next Tier is a small advantage and still represents a strategic decision such that each game will play out differently. Tier 2 and 3 are still comprised of four zones each, and those four will be selected in order of damage during these intermittent showdowns. So in a 2-player game, the winner selects the first and third zones, while the loser selects the second and fourth zones.
Back to stadiums themselves. For this first iteration, each one is largely the same. The main variation comes via the combination of which Elements are favored (+1 damage) and unfavored (-1 damage). I will also be testing variations in how many cards are drawn and played per showdown. For now, most are “draw 4, play 4” though I’ve tweaked a few of them. Other aspects that can be adjusted include the reward and the combat effects/stipulations.
The first showdown will have a smaller reward, likely Gems or a minor damage bonus in either the final or second showdown. This will have to be tested and is likely to change. I also may give each “Tier 1” stadium a unique reward at some point, but generic rewards aren’t so bad. The second showdown will provide the winner with an ability, similar to winning a boss fight.
As for combat effects, I want to explore a variety, some of which can play into Elemental synergies. For example, receiving bonus damage for playing multiple Gems or Elements or allowing you to discard cards for bonus damage. However, I feel that I may have an eloquent solution to the issue of players snowballing early momentum into an insurmountable advantage. That solution is to subtract the top card of your deck’s damage from your combat sequence during the showdown. On paper, the damage subtracted should be proportional to the average damage of your deck, which should reduce the range of damage output, putting all players within reasonable striking distance of each other. This can be easily expanded to subtracting two cards if necessary. I’m excited to see how this plays.
Overall, and in my biased opinion, Elemancer is shaping up very nicely. I’m hesitant to say that it’s approaching its final form, but I think after seeing how stadiums play it should be in a good state for a more public release or showing to publishers. That’ll be a big step, and I’m hoping I can present a novel and interesting gameplay experience.
