Disclaimer: All the art you see in this devlog is nothing more than a placeholder!
Now, with that out of the way, welcome to the first actual devlog for Project Spellcast. This week, I managed to complete a major milestone, which I am quite proud of. I laid down the foundation for the spellcasting system itself and managed to implement two basic spells as well – Fireball and Voidball. However, I seem to be jumping the gun here, so let’s dial it back a little bit.
How does the spell system work?
In my previous devlog, I mentioned that the spell system is inspired by the Magicka series. And while this is true, I saw it as necessary to simplify it a little bit. This way, I will be able to avoid the hectic kill fest that is the combat in Magicka and craft a more streamlined, skill-based, and cohesive experience.
A spell is made out of two elements – a Spell Body and a Magical Element. There are five types of each and they are chosen by the player with five Spell Buttons. Hitting Spell Button 1 will set the Offensive Spell Body, for example, which will show up as chosen in the top left corner of the screen. Hitting the same button a second time, once you have set the Body, will set the Fire Element. Casting a spell with those two chosen will result in a Fireball.
In the GIF above, you can see me cast two consecutive spells – a Fireball and a Voidball. I cast the Fireball by hitting Spell Button 1 (Q in my case) two consecutive times, then hitting the Cast Spell button (Shift). The Voidball is cast as follows – Q, R, Shift.
How many spells will there be?
In total, the game will feature 30 spells the player can cast – six of each Spell Body type. However, at first, the player will only have six available, which will be cast by using the Spell Body only. In order to infuse those with Spell Elements, players will have to find the cards for those elements. So, the further you are in the game, the more spells will be made available to you. At first, you will have to rely heavily on your sword and the most basic of hexes.
What are the Spell Body types and the Spell Elements?
The five Spell Body types are as follows:
- Offensive
- Defensive
- Self-Cast
- Dash
- Sword Enchant
The Spell Elements are:
- Fire
- Void
- Earth/Plant (still deciding how exactly to call it)
- Frost
- Summon
I have some pretty cool combinations planned for this system. And most of the spell will have both combat and utility uses. However, I am not quite ready to reveal all of them yet.
Closing Thoughts
I’ve been hard at work this week and I managed to finish my weekly sprint on Thursday. This allowed me to tap into my backlog and make solid progress towards an MVP. However, there is still a lot of work to be done and next week will be a tough one. I have estimated quite a lot of tasks and with my full-time job taking a lot of my time, it will be a tight fit.
However, I will do my best to not lag behind my planned schedule. So, hopefully, I will have an exciting update in a week’s time. In the meantime, feel free to reach out on Twitter (@dsm_dastmo) or via the form on my homepage.
