The Arena of Spellcraft
An expansive arena, a virtual battleground where the laws of magic reign supreme. The scene is set within a fantastical realm, with intricate, ever-shifting landscapes that respond to the players' actions. Towers of arcane energy pulse in the distance, casting an ethereal glow upon the battlefield. (Bing Image Creator and ChatGPT) |
All game designs are interfaces. Building a new paradigm is literally like setting up a desk differently and making a new workflow. Improvising ideas based on the League of Legends keyboard layout and interface is esp. interesting as I do not usually think of this as a area for creativity.
Even so many years later, I am still thinking about that real-time arena game idea (probably works best as a MOBA) where players have QWER spell slots (plus maybe DF potion slots) that are the cards in their “hand”. Each player has a backlog of cards they can draw by interval, mana for those cards, and cooldowns per slot according to the card (with the next card previewed). Different spells can also have effects on the backlog or on mana consumption or on other cooldowns. This makes for different flavors. Different status effects can influence how people interact with their own decks. Counterspells can interrupt others’ spells, which all by default have a channel time.
Feels like this can solve a lot of issues in games where the pace gets quicker and quicker. Everything essentially becomes like a form of real-time Magic: the Gathering, but also with the elements of space and rhythm. It ideally would be the case that the “landscape” of the game is also highly modular and dynamic so that the players’ actions decide what kind of terrain comes out. This game *could* be a disaster to balance, but I think the big idea is to not let all effects have that too big an impact and so mostly forcing teams to come together via synergy. (Think about how even a “good” card in Slay the Spire does nothing in the right deck, due to how every single deck needs to act as an engine.) Maybe all characters’ spells need to be designed so that they have a minimal impact, plus some sort of major setup that can let things ramp up as needed. For example, a support character has a cheapish cantrip dash spell (tiny distance but also a short slot cooldown) that reduces the cooldown of an ally’s spell. From the moment players put their teams together, they need to imagine how all their cards will work as a full unit. It might be a nightmare to have a draft for this since you can imagine sideboarding before the game starts (the equivalent of “setting your runes”) might be onerous for new players. But most real-time games of this sort demand (damage) some sort of long-term connection to the interface. It could be nice to have it all fit in the ways we want.
I remember how I had a friend named Edward who would come up with new little designs in every game he played, whether designing champions for League or cards for Magic. He even would spend a ton of time customizing Neopets and such! It was inspiring. I am glad that this was a good influence on me in that regard.
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