Hello everyone!
So, about our Design Philosophy
One of the main pillars in our game is represented by how we handle combats, and in that way we look to challenge even an expert player. You might have read news articles or seen some videos about this, but it is still a good idea to go over some basic gameplay concepts and talk about the challenges you might face ahead, so that you can decide if this is the game you are looking for.
Element: Space is above all a Turn-based Strategy Game in which every combat is a puzzle to solve: we have simplified shooting mechanics because the focus of our game is the clever use of the combined skill-set of our party members and regular attacks are an addition to that effect. In that sense, the comparison to other turn-based tactical games, is just natural. But that is only the beginning of it.
Every combat is like a game of chess. Using cover properly for defense, flanking for offense and spamming your team's skills is paramount for victory. Just attacking enemies straightforwardly will be a guaranteed recipe for disaster.
What you will face
As a fugitive that has the whole galaxy against him, your team of three characters will have to face insurmountable odds in enemy territory, and of course they will not always get away from it unscathed. Resources will be scarce and enemies will be plentiful, pushing our characters to the extreme. Being smart in life and item management will also be important to surviving the many combats of a mission.
That is how the game becomes a struggle for our team of heroes. They are alone, they are outnumbered, they are the last hope for the galaxy and they will have to earn it! This, we feel, is the combat design we were aiming for.
We understand how this difficulty level can be daunting for many players that thought this was more of a casual experience. We´ve made this choice consciously, but trust us, if you are not afraid of a challenge, give it a try and suddenly you will realize your team is much better armed and ready to face this amazing challenge than you can possibly imagine. It’s ok to make mistakes.
The basics of turns
Element: Space offers a dynamic experience on every mission (and even in every combat inside that mission). It's all about positioning and the capacity to combine your team´s attacks and skills in the most efficient way. Explore and use the tools and skills your party has and use it wisely, it will be the key to victory.
Every character has 2 action points: one used for movement (secondary action) and one that can be used to attack, use a skill, activate overwatch and reload (primary action). Sprinting (double movement) will consume both action points. All consumable items (like Medkits) are free to use once per turn. These actions can be used in any order, by any character, and don't exclude each other (except for sprinting).
This is important because it´s a great idea to really know what skills you have available to use and in what order (for example, lowering Shields with Zero makes for a better sense that attacking an enemy with Shields directly). Once all your team has used both actions, your turn is over. You can choose to finish your turn even if you have unused action points. Positioning, knowing your choices and the right use of skills are key for winning the game.
Melee Lock
Our game has a unique mechanic that we find very fun but also very dangerous to use. When you attack an enemy in Melee (by clicking on an Enemy with a Melee weapon selected), your character will be “locked” in close-quarters with them. This will provide both melee-locked characters with a 50% chance to avoid incoming fire. If you have a ranged weapon selected and you are very near to the enemy, your ranged attack will default to a weak melee attack.
To break melee-lock, you can either use a skill to displace an enemy or ally, hit with any attack or try to move away. Be careful though, cause if one of the two “locked” characters tries to move away, the will receive a free-melee attack, so be careful when moving out of melee-lock!
Choosing the right team
Once you start doing a few missions, your team's roster will grow, and you will have different companion choices for different missions. Knowing who to take to a different mission is vital and can make the difference between winning and losing.
The difficulty can reach a very high level at any time if you choose a squadron whose abilities are easily countered by a Faction´s Perk (like bringing an all-melee squad to the CSAC missions, ouch!). Always try to read all the “Enemy Intel” in the briefing before moving forward.
We will of course keep improving on the feedback so that we never reach a point in which the player feels cheated by the enemy.
Improving your characters
Every character possesses a development tree in which you will see their two main Archetypes and their unique Skills, all of which have unique improvements. You will have to choose the combination of Archetypes and Skill improvement that best suits your way of playing.
Most companions will also be able to either use their unique weapons or equip different weapon categories. Only the captain can use any weapon in the game, he is that good.
By advancing your relationships with other characters and gaining their loyalty, you will be able to unlock a unique ability for each companion. This way, each character offers you very different battle possibilities and they will be a key part of the game to understand how to use them to achieve victory.
Playing through the whole game should take you around 12 to 15 hours, without adding to that the possibility of a replay for you to meet all the other companions and develop their stories fully.
Cheers
Javier Entelman
Creator of Element: Space
