The Crystal War

The Crystal War is a mixup of rogue-lite and auto-battler, developed for the Godot Wild Jam (Nov. 2021) together with AlleriaPax. The theme was INVERSION.

Instructions:

1. Assemble you team of fearless mercenaries.
2. Upon engaging combat with the opposing team you are presented with the option to deceive you fearless crew - after all it's about surviving... If you intend to do so, hit the "Inverse Sides" button.
3. After you made sure that you've sided with the right side, hit "Start Combat". The combat now plays out in a random fashion; observe the turns to improve your plan for the next combat.
4. If all of your mercenaries die... well you are dead too. This is perma-death. But, if your crew manages to beat the opposing team you advance one step in the overall war (there is a "war progress bar" on the right of your screen) and get to recruit new mercenaries to fill up your team. All mercenaries that survived the battle will increase their rank and become more powerful.
5. After winning eight rounds of combat you will win the war!

Tips:

• After winning a few combats, if you decide to switch sides... do not forget, that your betrayal does not change the past. You will possibly end up on the loosing side and need to fight more often. Inversing has its cost!
• Study the combat log to understand the happenings in depth.

Warnings:

• Due to time constraints there possibly are: bugs, stuff that does not easily make sense, really unbalanced stat combinations, mercenaries that are either shit or godlike, bugs.
• A tutorial / more in-depth explanation would have been needed, but I did not finish that. So, ... hit me up with questions!
• The game does not scale properly for every resolution.

Details:

• Races:
  • Humans and Orcs are rather basic and mostly differ in their base stats (Orcs having more raw power, but less sophisticated armour).
  • Golems are unaffected by magic damage, while Ghosts ignore opposing taunts. Both have penalties: lower HP (Golems) or no Armour (Ghosts).
  • Ghosts and Golems do not benefit from leveling up (their base stats stay the same, their class and traits/effects of course are influenced).
• Classes:
  • Ranger and Mage classes do not take retaliation damage, all other classes will be damaged by a counter-attack, unless they immediately kill their opponent.
  • Brutes (increased HP and Armour) and Thiefs (increased damage) feature increased base stats.
  • Magic and poison damage always bypasses armour.
  • Brutes get more tanky, while Thiefs increase their damage on leveling up.
• Traits:
  • Taunt: must always be attacked (except by Ghosts)
  • Haste: increases your chance to get the first attack. If you have more Haste then your opponent you will always go first
  • Splash: deals damage based on the mercenary's level to all enemies
  • Poison: the mercenary applies a damage over time based on its level, which is unaffected by Armour
• Effects:
  • Shatter: reduces the opponents armour based on level:
  • Lifesteal: heals for damage delt
  • Disarm: removes the opponents weapon, decreasing its attack
  • Demoralize: demoralizes the opponent and reduces its level by 1

Credits:

• music by mikeheartu.itch.io
• art from kenney.nl and craftpix.net