Hello Everyone! Welcome to the first devlog for Hexbreaker. I'm Archie, one of the artist on this team, and I will be taking you through what you can expect from this game going forward.

Hexbreaker is inspired by the rogue lite genre and will be using turn based combat at it's core. Hexbreaker will have you follow an exorcist escaping the Spirit Realm after being trapped after an exorcist gone wrong. We would like to design our game to focus on giving the player impactful choices,  a strategic and punchy combat, as well as provide an immersive otherworldly environment. To deliver our goal, we will include 3 additional systems to our turn based combat: Quick Time Events, our Talisman System, and the Hexbreak mechanic. 

Quick Time Events

Whether the player chooses to attack an enemy or defend, the player will be presented in a QTE pop-up to either improve or impair the overall effect of the chosen action. To keep players on their turns we plan to implement a variety of QTE's that each having an equal chance of appearing at the set time, this way each action would feel different and allow a higher level of engagement from the player. Possible events that might appear during combat included timed events, sequence events,  or even a repetitive input event.  

A timed event will require the player to match the expected input in sync with the timing of the QTE. The second event, sequence, will require the player to match 3 different inputs as they are displayed on screen. The repetitive input event, which we call tapping, will require the player to push the required input a set amount of times over the duration of the event.   

Talisman System

To make each encounter unique, we introduce our Talisman system. On the start of combat the enemy team will inflict 3 curses on to the player. These curses are extra rules the player must follow that will impact combat and player progression. These curses will be visible on the enemies talisman. Curses can range from boosting the enemy stats or granting the enemies extra effects, limiting the player's actions or reversing the player's expectations, to even limiting player navigation on the map or removing the options for rewards. When the player wins combat, talisman can be purified and collected by the exorcist allowing augmented actions and boons to allow the player to better control combat.  Once a player collects a talisman, the player will be given the choice to use the talisman along side their action for additional benefits. The strength of each benefit determines if the talisman can be used repeatedly,  on a turn basis, or a limited amount of time per combat scene. Talisman effects could grant additional attack or defend strength, healing or energy regeneration, or even additional augments like countering hits or granting free actions.

Hexbreak

Over the duration of combat, each action the player takes works to fill the Hexbreak charge bar. Hexbreaking is going to be the player's way of shattering the curses received during combat. Due to the time invested in charging the Hexbreak bar, this attack will be  treated as a perfect attack and then deal additional damage to give it the status of the player's strongest attack. At the same time, the player will shatter one of the current curses, helping to restore the battle to the more standard loop. Hexbreaking curses is an important skill player's should prioritize because the possible reward options for talisman is directly linked to how many curses broken. If the player was to shatter only 2 of the 3 curses, the player would only be able to choose a talisman from a pool of 2 compared to a pool of 3 if all 3 curses were broken.

With an overview of these 3 systems completed, it's time for me to bring this devlog to an end. Stay tuned as we dive in deeper to these systems over the coming weeks, or if you're like me, you'll stick around to see these systems represented with some visual improvements.

See You Next Time!

-Archie