Busy weekend, back to Marpeg!
Over the weekend, I got two new goodies into Marpeg.
The first is that examining an actor will tell the player if the subject is unconscious or dead. I had written this into the test monster's description, but decided that it was a pretty convenient way for a player to get info on the actor and automated that into every actor's description when they are examined.
The next is some basic combat. Because Marpeg has no visuals, it's pretty easy to draft new commands and actions quickly. Added three new commands "STAB", "SLASH" and "BEAT". The player uses these three independently, rather than just one attack button. Different weapons penetrate different armor better, depending on each attack. For example, a slashing attack works well against bare flesh and lightly armored opponents, but chain mail or plate will deflect it easily. Understanding how different armors worked against different weapons and techniques is going to be fundamental in both producing the content and for players to react to them.
Right now, the attacks only play a simple message, but I have plans to elaborate upon this later. For example the "BEAT" command, which used to knock enemies unconscious when the player has no blunt weapon. Rather than just a generic message about punching the guy, I'm taking some inspiration from Last of Us and moving towards a lot of messages describing use of the environment and the blunt portions of other weapons. Like, using the pommel of a sword or the shaft of a spear to bludgeon the enemy as well.
Thankfully, I hadn't wasted all of my time in 29 Palms. During downtime, I had drafted some combat algorithms for damage, evasion, missing and magic to get a rough idea of how I want them all to shift around depending on your character and the weapon you use. Melee was easy to put in because I didn't have to go over the formulas a hundred times while programming them, already did that before.
Ranged combat is next and then I'll be branching Marpeg to work on a side project for a bit. I'll have some more news on that soon.
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