A staple in RPGs is having a force for our heroes to overcome. What use is a story without tension, leading to release? Protagonists without Antagonists? Sanctuary Saga is ABSOLUTELY no exception to the rule and we have monsters, mobs, and bosses aplenty!! It was important to me while designing the general enemies of the Untamed Wilds that I was true to the game’s roots (tropes exist for a reason, people) while also putting my own little spin on them. With the row based combat and argument damage systems this gave me freedom to add more personality to basic monsters through their skills. And just like the player’s party, these monsters gain skills of their own as the player progresses through the game. A lot of development time was allotted to making each mob present unique challenges for the player to overcome and for new enemy skills to unlock varied play patterns. Since most of the game would be spent in this battle scene it was key to the game’s core identity. It's also important for the party to receive their due reward upon winning fights, so monsters also serve as Sanctuary Saga’s main loot piñata! While identifying systems I would use to create a world’s worth of antagonists, I focused on a few core rules to help them take shape. The traditional stats system of RPGs guided this process, for sure. Would they have strong Defense and/or Magical Defense? How high should their HP be? These stats would define how Tanky an enemy would be. Are they a melee based enemy stuck fighting the party’s front line or would they have some ranged attacks? How high would their Attack or Magic Attack be? With these all in mind I created four loose identities for enemies in Bruiser (melee damage dealer), Tank (damage sponge), Sniper (ranged damage dealer), or Mezzer (debuff/support). While adhering to these core rules, I had so much fun going through and creating my own take on enemies found in fantasy while inventing a few of my own. Once the enemies themselves were created, they were placed in Troops, defined as a single group of enemies the player must face. Think of this as designing a party of enemies to create engaging fights for the player. When creating these troops, I took into consideration what skill sets the disparate enemies possessed and how they would interact with other enemies I could pair them with. Some enemies are also just fine to be a group of four themselves to give the player plenty of headaches on their own (I’m looking at you, Harpies…). These Troops can be found in the battle scene once a player gets within a close distance of the enemy sprites found in the exploration scene. But any specific enemy sprite could represent different troops, so there’s even a little randomness if you keep finding yourself bumping into those pesky Slimes again. Think your current party can’t handle the troop you’re facing? Running away is free and will always succeed (though the enemies DO move so you should back away quickly once you run). This gives you a chance to use your Formation screen to swap your battling party around to better suit fights to come. All in all, my goal in enemy design was to create tension in fights requiring multiple decisions where the player can feel a sense of accomplishment when they emerge the victor. I’m hopeful that by combining the elements above we’ve landed on a battle system that's fun and engaging for players across the spectrum! If that sounds like your vibe, please wishlist and join us for NextFest here in a few weeks! Until next time, happy gaming!!