NECROQUEST
(A Casual Teambuilding Raid Mobile Game)
Within our small team, I took on multiple roles as the game designer, level designer, and unit designer. The project proved to be a valuable learning experience for all of us. We had initially planned an ambitious customizable village system, but it ended up being scrapped. This taught me a great deal about the challenges of small team development and remote communication. The key takeaway was the importance of effective communication when collaborating on a game.
In NecroQuest, players assume the role of The Death Knight, a mysterious and powerful being awakened in the afterlife. You command a single Crony initially, but by clearing levels, you can acquire more Cronies, unlock new abilities, and build your army. During gameplay, Cronies automatically advance towards nearby enemies, displaying their eagerness for battle. By using the joystick, you can control the Death Knight's movement, and he will automatically attack enemies within range when you're not actively controlling him. The Death Knight possesses the ability to summon dragons of different tiers, ranging from baby to full grown. Additionally, he can heal himself for a significant portion of health and employ a knockback fear ability. Each Crony you acquire offers unique stats and behavior; some teleport, others become enraged, some gain incredible speed, and a select few even summon their own minions.
Overall, NecroQuest delivers an enjoyable adventure where players can command their army, unlock abilities, and experience strategic gameplay. The development process was a valuable experience for our team, highlighting the importance of effective communication in collaborative game creation.
In NecroQuest, players assume the role of The Death Knight, a mysterious and powerful being awakened in the afterlife. You command a single Crony initially, but by clearing levels, you can acquire more Cronies, unlock new abilities, and build your army. During gameplay, Cronies automatically advance towards nearby enemies, displaying their eagerness for battle. By using the joystick, you can control the Death Knight's movement, and he will automatically attack enemies within range when you're not actively controlling him. The Death Knight possesses the ability to summon dragons of different tiers, ranging from baby to full grown. Additionally, he can heal himself for a significant portion of health and employ a knockback fear ability. Each Crony you acquire offers unique stats and behavior; some teleport, others become enraged, some gain incredible speed, and a select few even summon their own minions.
Overall, NecroQuest delivers an enjoyable adventure where players can command their army, unlock abilities, and experience strategic gameplay. The development process was a valuable experience for our team, highlighting the importance of effective communication in collaborative game creation.
4 Core Design Goals:
The project was 2.5 months of part-time remote work for the team at Startale Games, LLC contracted by Funovus, LLC. Our design goals were the following:
1 ) Hyper Casual:
This game needed to be able to handle very casual player interactions while still advancing the player, level to level (until their current team cannot complete a level. Then, they are returned to the hub world where they may upgrade and choose their Crony team). Also, minimal controls, so the player can easily multitask while playing the game. Our intentions with aiming for hyper casual were to accommodate players who would be playing while walking, watching tv, between auto-chess games, etc.
2 ) Create a sense of adventure and exploration while maintaining Portrait orientation.
We needed all the interactions with the game to be completable and readable while holding the phone with one hand. We also had to be aware of what the player would be revealing while exploring the map. The maps naturally became taller and thinner, most likely due to enemies needing to be placed in such a way that the player wouldn't be constantly flanked from the sides. This allowed the side areas to become spots for hidden chests or other collectables.
3 ) Increasable Stats and Abilities to change-up gameplay:
The main character (The Death Knight) has 7 increasable stats:
Each stat begins at level 1 with 100% effectiveness.
Each time a stat is ranked up, it increases a certain amount depending on the stat.
Below, I will be giving examples of values from the game that resulted in good balance.
Vitality: Is the character's Health Points.
The Health Points increase by +10% each level; resulting in 1041% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 500hp than Lv.100= 5205hp
Strength: Is the character's attack damage.
Strength increases by +6% each level; resulting in 694% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 50dmg than Lv.100 = 347dmg per hit
Heal Rate: is the amount of HP regenerated per sec.
Heal Rate increases +5% each level; resulting in 595% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = +10hp/sec than Lv.100 = +59.5hp/sec
Move Speed: Is the variable controlling how quickly the character can move.
Move Speed increases +1% each level; resulting in 199% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 5m/sec than Lv.100 = 9.95m/sec
Attack Speed: Is the variable controlling how fast to play the attack sequence again after the last play.
ASPD increases by +4% each level; resulting in 496% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 1 than Lv.100 = 4.96
Maximum Mana: MM determines your starting mana and your max mana. Mana is used to cast spells that deplete it.
Spells cost between 50 - 200mana. MM increase by 2% each level; resulting in 298% effectiveness at level 100.
Lv.1 = 150mm than Lv.100 = 447mm.
Mana Regeneration Rate: Is the amount of mana regenerated per second.
Mana Regeneration increases by 5% each level; resulting in 595% effectiveness at LV.100. Lv.10 = 10mana/sec than Lv.100 = 59.5mana/sec.
Cronies, or secondary characters, have 4 stats all modified by 3% every time they are levelled up.
Cronies have Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Mana Regen and HP. Cronies have levels tied to themselves, not to their stats. Meaning that a level 10 Crony will have level 10 Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Mana Regen, and HP. All these stats on the Cronies increase by 3% every level; resulting in 397% effectiveness at level 100.
The Enemy character stats must increase as well.
Different from Cronies, Enemy characters have only 2 stats; HP and Attack Damage. These stats increase based on a growth key variable. Meaning that based on what level they are, the percentage increase may vary. Between Lv. 1-9 an Enemy will increase by +5% each level. Between Lv. 10 - 19 they will increase by +10%, Lv. 20 -59 they will increase by +15%. Lv. 60-79 they will increase by 20%. Lv. 80+ they will increase by 25%. All of that results in 1940% effectiveness at level 100.
We have the enemy scaling non-linearly to ensure the feel of the game constantly changes. The same technique shouldn't work through the entire playthrough.
4 ) Unique activatable abilities for the main character and unique passives for Cronies
From the beginning we knew this was going to be a game about levelling up your team as much as completing the levels. To make levelling up interesting for the player, we give them 2 tokens, each level-up, to spend on 2 of their Main Character's 7 upgradable stats. Also, the Cronies they collect along the way need to be unique and upgrade meaningfully. Below are what I designed and implemented through the editor.
Death Knight Abilities:
My goal here was to make 3 unique activatable abilities for the Death knight, each with 5 tiers to upgrade through.
Dragon(Summon a Dragon): Costs 150 Mana
1) Is a baby dragon with 400hp, slow flight, and a low damage fireball.
2) Still a baby, but now with 600hp, faster flight, and a low damage higher rate of fire, fireball.
3) Large walking dragon with 800hp, a slow walk, and a mid damage fireball.
4) Large flying dragon with 1000hp, mid speed flight, and a mid damage fireball.
5) Largest flying dragon with 1500hp, high speed flight, and a high damage fireball.
*The dragon didn't have an actual flight animation, so I jerry rigged a short wing flap animation by looping it carefully timed with its other actions.
Self-Heal(Heal): Costs 100 Mana
1) Heal 10% health
2) Heal 15% health
3) Heal 20% health
4) Heal 25% health
5) Heal 33% health
Fear(AOE Push): Costs 50 Mana
1) Does a small radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a short distance and stunning them for .33 sec
2) Does a small radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a bit more distance and stunning them for .5 sec
3) Does a medium radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a medium distance and stunning them for 1 sec
4) Does a slightly larger radius search around your character, knocking enemies back farther distance and stunning them for 1.5 sec
5) Does a larger radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a fair distance and stunning them for 2 sec
Crony Passive Abilities:
Many of our Crony characters have abilities that activate once their mana has regenerated in addition to their auto attacks.
The abilities include:
Rage: When Rage activates, it triggers a search in a radius around the character and blows any enemies in the area back while stunning them for a few seconds. Then, for 45 sec the character is 1.5x their size and do increased damage.
Spawn: When activated, the character summons another smaller Crony. The character cannot summon again until their mana has regenerated fully and their last summon has fallen. Some summon smaller versions of themselves, some summon dragons, some summon basically just temporary meat shields.
Back Stab Dash: When activated, the character does a large radius search around itself and then dashes behind the nearest enemy and does a huge damage back stab.
Temporary Invincibility: These Cronies grow golden and are given increased attack speed for some time. During this time they cannot take any damage, but can still be moved by enemy attacks.
Fury: When activated, the character slightly increases in size, movement speed, attack damage, and attack speed. The skeleton in purple has Fury as an abilty.
Stun Smite: When activated, the character does a radius search around itself and zaps the nearest enemy. The hit enemy cannot move or use their weapons for 5 seconds.
Ignition: Cronies with ignition wield weapons that, on-impact, set their target ablaze. Most notably is the archer that runs around constantly consumed by flames.
The project was 2.5 months of part-time remote work for the team at Startale Games, LLC contracted by Funovus, LLC. Our design goals were the following:
1 ) Hyper Casual:
This game needed to be able to handle very casual player interactions while still advancing the player, level to level (until their current team cannot complete a level. Then, they are returned to the hub world where they may upgrade and choose their Crony team). Also, minimal controls, so the player can easily multitask while playing the game. Our intentions with aiming for hyper casual were to accommodate players who would be playing while walking, watching tv, between auto-chess games, etc.
2 ) Create a sense of adventure and exploration while maintaining Portrait orientation.
We needed all the interactions with the game to be completable and readable while holding the phone with one hand. We also had to be aware of what the player would be revealing while exploring the map. The maps naturally became taller and thinner, most likely due to enemies needing to be placed in such a way that the player wouldn't be constantly flanked from the sides. This allowed the side areas to become spots for hidden chests or other collectables.
3 ) Increasable Stats and Abilities to change-up gameplay:
The main character (The Death Knight) has 7 increasable stats:
Each stat begins at level 1 with 100% effectiveness.
Each time a stat is ranked up, it increases a certain amount depending on the stat.
Below, I will be giving examples of values from the game that resulted in good balance.
Vitality: Is the character's Health Points.
The Health Points increase by +10% each level; resulting in 1041% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 500hp than Lv.100= 5205hp
Strength: Is the character's attack damage.
Strength increases by +6% each level; resulting in 694% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 50dmg than Lv.100 = 347dmg per hit
Heal Rate: is the amount of HP regenerated per sec.
Heal Rate increases +5% each level; resulting in 595% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = +10hp/sec than Lv.100 = +59.5hp/sec
Move Speed: Is the variable controlling how quickly the character can move.
Move Speed increases +1% each level; resulting in 199% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 5m/sec than Lv.100 = 9.95m/sec
Attack Speed: Is the variable controlling how fast to play the attack sequence again after the last play.
ASPD increases by +4% each level; resulting in 496% effectiveness at level 100. Lv.1 = 1 than Lv.100 = 4.96
Maximum Mana: MM determines your starting mana and your max mana. Mana is used to cast spells that deplete it.
Spells cost between 50 - 200mana. MM increase by 2% each level; resulting in 298% effectiveness at level 100.
Lv.1 = 150mm than Lv.100 = 447mm.
Mana Regeneration Rate: Is the amount of mana regenerated per second.
Mana Regeneration increases by 5% each level; resulting in 595% effectiveness at LV.100. Lv.10 = 10mana/sec than Lv.100 = 59.5mana/sec.
Cronies, or secondary characters, have 4 stats all modified by 3% every time they are levelled up.
Cronies have Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Mana Regen and HP. Cronies have levels tied to themselves, not to their stats. Meaning that a level 10 Crony will have level 10 Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Mana Regen, and HP. All these stats on the Cronies increase by 3% every level; resulting in 397% effectiveness at level 100.
The Enemy character stats must increase as well.
Different from Cronies, Enemy characters have only 2 stats; HP and Attack Damage. These stats increase based on a growth key variable. Meaning that based on what level they are, the percentage increase may vary. Between Lv. 1-9 an Enemy will increase by +5% each level. Between Lv. 10 - 19 they will increase by +10%, Lv. 20 -59 they will increase by +15%. Lv. 60-79 they will increase by 20%. Lv. 80+ they will increase by 25%. All of that results in 1940% effectiveness at level 100.
We have the enemy scaling non-linearly to ensure the feel of the game constantly changes. The same technique shouldn't work through the entire playthrough.
4 ) Unique activatable abilities for the main character and unique passives for Cronies
From the beginning we knew this was going to be a game about levelling up your team as much as completing the levels. To make levelling up interesting for the player, we give them 2 tokens, each level-up, to spend on 2 of their Main Character's 7 upgradable stats. Also, the Cronies they collect along the way need to be unique and upgrade meaningfully. Below are what I designed and implemented through the editor.
Death Knight Abilities:
My goal here was to make 3 unique activatable abilities for the Death knight, each with 5 tiers to upgrade through.
Dragon(Summon a Dragon): Costs 150 Mana
1) Is a baby dragon with 400hp, slow flight, and a low damage fireball.
2) Still a baby, but now with 600hp, faster flight, and a low damage higher rate of fire, fireball.
3) Large walking dragon with 800hp, a slow walk, and a mid damage fireball.
4) Large flying dragon with 1000hp, mid speed flight, and a mid damage fireball.
5) Largest flying dragon with 1500hp, high speed flight, and a high damage fireball.
*The dragon didn't have an actual flight animation, so I jerry rigged a short wing flap animation by looping it carefully timed with its other actions.
Self-Heal(Heal): Costs 100 Mana
1) Heal 10% health
2) Heal 15% health
3) Heal 20% health
4) Heal 25% health
5) Heal 33% health
Fear(AOE Push): Costs 50 Mana
1) Does a small radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a short distance and stunning them for .33 sec
2) Does a small radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a bit more distance and stunning them for .5 sec
3) Does a medium radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a medium distance and stunning them for 1 sec
4) Does a slightly larger radius search around your character, knocking enemies back farther distance and stunning them for 1.5 sec
5) Does a larger radius search around your character, knocking enemies back a fair distance and stunning them for 2 sec
Crony Passive Abilities:
Many of our Crony characters have abilities that activate once their mana has regenerated in addition to their auto attacks.
The abilities include:
Rage: When Rage activates, it triggers a search in a radius around the character and blows any enemies in the area back while stunning them for a few seconds. Then, for 45 sec the character is 1.5x their size and do increased damage.
Spawn: When activated, the character summons another smaller Crony. The character cannot summon again until their mana has regenerated fully and their last summon has fallen. Some summon smaller versions of themselves, some summon dragons, some summon basically just temporary meat shields.
Back Stab Dash: When activated, the character does a large radius search around itself and then dashes behind the nearest enemy and does a huge damage back stab.
Temporary Invincibility: These Cronies grow golden and are given increased attack speed for some time. During this time they cannot take any damage, but can still be moved by enemy attacks.
Fury: When activated, the character slightly increases in size, movement speed, attack damage, and attack speed. The skeleton in purple has Fury as an abilty.
Stun Smite: When activated, the character does a radius search around itself and zaps the nearest enemy. The hit enemy cannot move or use their weapons for 5 seconds.
Ignition: Cronies with ignition wield weapons that, on-impact, set their target ablaze. Most notably is the archer that runs around constantly consumed by flames.