I have got a cool magic combat game concept in mind which is similar to magicka (or how it’s called), but there’s a small problem.
Explaining game concept
>Idea
Basically it will be a keystroke based magic combat game where players press multiple buttons to perform attacks.
>Main mechanic/Controls/The problem
I came up with 2 type of keys: code keys and manipulation keys.
Code keys: 1, 2, 3.
Manipulation keys: Z, X, C, V, F, R, LMB, WASD
Code keys are keys that are used to perform an attack that requires a strict pattern of keys to be pressed.
Manipulation keys are keys that allow you to create a simple magical attack or to modify a keystroke attack.
Explaining each manipulation keys
- Z - Manifest magic. Used to create a “magic unit”. For example: if you use rock magic, you will summon a rock out of the ground that will be used for attacking. If you press it multiple times you will summon more rocks waiting for the next command.
- X, C, V - Will be individual to each magic. Somehow modifies magic units or keystroke attack.
- F - Use defensive option of keystroke attack/use magic units as a defense.
- R - Throw away/reset magic units.
- LMB - Use magic units as an offensive attack. For example: if you use rock magic, you will launch all of your summoned rocks at the enemy.
- WASD - Used to set a direction of the attack.
>Not important/Other mechanics
Mana. Im planning to not implement cooldowns or make them very short, but instead have a mana bar that is required to perform magic attacks, which gives players more freedom.
Evasive. The game will also have melee combat in case you ran out of mana. Since some players might be crazy and do super long and painful combos, while all the enemy can do is stare at them I decided to add evasive which is a free out of combo card. However, the way other games do it is you just press a button, and you get iframes while the evasive is on cooldown.
What I want to do is to make it so the moment player gets stunned, he gets a quick time event. He has to press random buttons to fill the bar. When player fills it he gets out of the combo.
To balance it a bit, I also made it so when players gets damaged, the evasive bar deplets, but with each hit it lowers less, which will encourage people to make a combo with less hits but good damage.
The problem
I think after reading the main mechanic you will realize that the game is pretty complex. Not only to play but also to make the game itself. I am not creating a game like this because it’s so complex, so until I will think of the way to make it simple while also keeping it somehow immersive, it will rot in my head and this post or if somebody else will make it (which is probably not happening). It might take a long time for me to think of something so I made this post hoping to speed up the process a bit and get some help.