Explaining the panorama (Concepts) (Discontinued info)

Edit [July 3rd, 2021]: A lot of mentioned here has changed, so for an explanation with more accurate info in regards the project, ignore this one and take a look at the next one

Here's the next one, been a while since I wrote this but I was busy and also correcting typos and fixing some sentences as I sometimes goof my wordings, even tho my native language is spanish, I still sometimes have problems with expressing myself in any language anyway.

Anyway, I'll now explain the basic concepts and "wording" of this project:

• Rings
  This is something VERY important in the game, this works as health restoration for your team, also their shared energy AND as a currency. There are 2 types of rings, the gold regular ones, which work for all described above; and the red special rings, which are rare and it's use will be explained later on...
  
  
  
• Dash Section
  Almost all levels will start with Dash Section, it refers to the "endless" runner section of the level. The gameplay style in these sections will be similar as any endless runner, the thing here is that it's not endless at all, it has a goal.
  This goal can be just a goal point or, the default for the proyect, enemies.
  Yes, enemies. They're not in the way, only thing you have to worry about in this section is obstacles (if it's a boss or anything like that, also blasts, or any special stuff I decide to add later on). There will be 2 types of obstacles, the normal obstacles that deals damage and other that cause instant loss/eath. If you collide with a first type obstacle, you'll lose some rings but keep on running. If you collide with a first type obstacle with no rings or collide with a second type obstacle (no matter if it's with or without rings), you lose.
  These enemies could be waiting for you or getting away. If it's the first option, you can take all the time you want on the stage with no worries. If it's the second option, the player has to hurry up and catch up to them; you can technically take all the time you need too, but not as easy because if the enemy goes far enough, you lose.
  
  
  
• Duel Section
  After the Dash Section, when you encounter enemies, either it was them waiting or running away, this part of the game begins. You have to fight and defeat each one of them in a RPG style battle.
  If the enemies you're fighting against were at the same point waiting for you, then the battle goes on and on until the player or the enemy wins. If the enemies, instead, were running away during Dash Section, you'll have a limited amount of turns to defeat them; if none of you wins and the turns counter reaches 0, then the enemies will start running away again and you'll be forced to catch up to them again.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Units
  
  This can be little tricky to explain, a unit is a set of one or more characters and/or forms.
  The game will manage these units through cards, so each set of characters will be represented/contained in cards.
  

  I'll put in example 6 theorical units:

  
  - Sonic The Hedgehog
  This unit would be literally just Sonic, you pick him and we're ready to go!

   

  - Super Shadow
  It may be Shadow's super form, but you wouldn't need to worry about him running out of rings or collect 50 rings to transform at all. The unit is explicitally named "Super Shadow", which means it starts off like that; it'll stay like that.

   

  - Amy Rose & Cream The Rabbit
  This unit has 2 characters, and they're on display the entire time. Amy and Cream will be running and fighting together.

   

  - Super Sonic / Super Shadow / Super Silver
  Notice that last one says "&" and this one has "/", that means this unit has multiple characters too, but they're not really working together. Instead, you can exchange between them all you want. But because it's the same unit, if one of them is defeated, it'll count as all 3 were defeated. Just as these example's "Super Shadow", they woulnd't need to collect a certain amount of rings to transform as classic games, they're by default in their super forms.

   

  - Sonic, Tails & Knuckles
  It's the same case as "Amy Rose & Cream The Rabbit", with the exception this unit does transform. The name by itself does not let the player know properly if the unit is capable of transforming, to know if a unit can or can't, the player has to see the card and the card will display a button if that unit has at least one transformation. In this example, just as in Sonic Heroes, this unit would transform into Super Sonic, "Super Bubble" Tails and "Super Bubble" Knuckles.

  
  
  - Sonic The Hedgehog
  Another unit with the same name you ask?, yes, there can be multiple units with the same name, unlike the first mentioned, this one has more Duel section abilities and is capable to transform into Super Sonic and Hyper Sonic. Just like Team Sonic, the only way to know this one transforms is by selecting this unit's card and see if there's any button to see transformations.

  
  
  
  Actually, there's another much simpler way to know if a unit transforms or exchanges (or both), I just didn't mentioned it before because to me it's a better idea to mention what it is about after mentioning the example, so you understand the "context" of what a unit can be. With that out of the way, there will be different card designs depending on the mechanic the unit has (with "designs" I only mean a color palette), I don't have "strict" names for those mechanics, but they basically are:
  
  - Normal: This is where the three examples fit in, Sonic on his own staying as he is counts as Normal; for Super Shadow, again, it's just him on his own and even though the character is transformed, the UNIT is not, there was no condition or anything to mantain that form, it's a Normal unit; for the case of Amy & Cream, they are more than one character but they work at the same time, with no exchanging mechanics nor conditions, so they're also Normal.
  
  - Transformable: The last 2 examples are from this mechanic, Team Sonic is a unit of multiple characters, but as mentioned with Amy & Cream, they have no mechanic or condition, they stay together, but they do have a condition to transform all of them; the last example is very simple, a single character that requires to meet conditions to transform into Super Sonic. Transformations can or cannot have requierements, but the 2nd case would be extremely rare.
  
  - Exchangeable: This is where the 4th example fits in, it's almost as if it was multiple units in one unit, there can be conditions or not to exchange between members of this same card. As mentioned in the example itself, if one of the members of this exchangeable unit is defeated, the unit as a whole is defeated, which means you won't be able to exchange no more unless it's revived or something of that matter.
  
  - Exchangeable and Transformable: I didn't made an example of this one but because I didn't wanted to over-complicate the examples. But now that I explained the examples AND mechanic of units, understanding this one should be easy. Multiple members in the same unit that can exchange between them (having conditions or not to exchange) and have the potential to transform them.
  
  
  
  I'll now show you the borders for the cards that will help identify what mechanics a card has.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  There are also signs and types, let me explain them quickly:
  
  Types are just "advantages" the unit has for Dash sections, those Types are "Speed", "Fly", and "Power". They were often used concept in Sonic games. For the case of this game, a unit can have 0 to all 3 of these types. The more it has the more parts of Dash sections it can go through. With 0 types, the unit is in high risk of finding itself where it needs a type but because it doesn't then it automatically loses.
  
  Signs are "advantages" the unit has for Duel sections. They're just "Rock", "Paper" and "Scissors". If your unit's target has a sign that loses accordingly to the game "Rock, Paper and Scissor" to your unit's sign , the unit's attack will be stronger. If the target has a sign that wins the unit's sign , the attack will get weaker. And if the target and unit have the same sign, the attack damage won't be modified. A unit will always have one and only one sign, this can never be changed.
  The damage modifier for when it's a stronger sign it'll be x1.5 and for when it's weaker it'll be divided by half.
  I'm planning to add other 2 sign later, but for now I'll just explain it to that point.
  
  I'll possibly add other stuff as "Series", "Tag", "Species", which will only "engroup" units. There's no need to explain that for now as I don't plan to add them anytime soon, it'll be for later if everything turns out ok.
  
  
  
  I made a card art for the Sonic unit I've shown you in my first blog:
  
  
  
  
  
  I'm planning to change the drawing, although it's not for sure, I could do it much better but I might leave it like that.
  
  

• Stats
  Just like in Sonic Dash and almost any generic/typical RPG, there will be stats in this project. All units, including all enemies will have the same type of stats.
  They are divided by the sections of the game (Dash and Duel). Because I want to keep things simple, I do not want to add too many stats, for now I thought of the following (I hope to not add any more, if I do I'll let you know):
  
  For Dash Sections:
  - Velocity
  The higher this number is, the faster the unit will go. You may want this number small so it's easier for you to dodge, however, if you're chasing an enemy and the enemy gets into a very long distance, you'll lose.
  
  - Boost
  This is a multiplier for Speed when Boost is activated (what'd be known as "Dash" in Sonic Dash), the higher this number is, the faster will the unit go while boosting. When a unit is boosting, the player no longer needs to worry about losing in Dash section, as the character breaks any obstacle and avoids any instant death hazard.
  
  - Length
  This refers to how long will the boost last.
  
  
  
  For Duel Sections:
  - HP
  "Health/Hit Points", this refers to how many points of health the unit has, the higher this number is, the higher number of damage the unit will be able to handle and survive. You can use abilities in Duel section or collect rings in any section to restore health.
  
  - ATK
  "Attack", it's the strength and force of all attacks the unit will be able to deal, the higher this number is, the stronger all of it's offensive abilities will be.
  
  - DEF
  "Defense", it's the resistance of the unit, the higher this number is, the less damage will recieve per attack.
  
  - CRI
  "Critical", it's a percentage stat, referring to a chance for the character to get a critical multiplier for an attack, this multiplier is not decided yet, right now I'm thinking of double the damage...
  -> If it's 0% then the unit will never deal an attack with critical damage multiplier
  -> If it's 50% then the unit has a half change to deal critical damage, a coin chance, it may or may not deal critical damage, depends on your luck
  -> If it's 100% the the unit will always deal critical damage (if not dodged, that will be explained shortly after)
  It is possible for a unit to deal critical damage on top of getting the multiplier from the stronger sign, which means that for example:
  If your unit, whose sign is paper, attacks a target with rock as it's sign, and then your unit dealt critical damage, then the damage will multiply by x2 from the critical multiplier and by x1.5 from stronger sign, making a total of a x2.5 damage multiplier.
  
  Maybe I'll change this stat to something that can affect the support and healing abilities too, in that case I'd change the name to Effectiveness, "EFF", although it doesn't sound as fancy/cool.
  
  
  - EVA
  "Evasion", this is another percentage stat, it refers to a chance to dodge attacks from the enemy...
  -> If it's 0% then the unit will never dodge
  -> If it's 50% then the unit has a half chance to dodge the attacks, a coin chance, it may or may not dodge, depends on your luck
  -> If it's 100% then the unit dodge all the attacks from the enemy (unless the enemy uses an attack that locks the enemy, this mechanic will be explained later)
  
  - ATT
  "Attention", when the enemy is about to attack one of your allies, this stat is a huge factor for that decision. It refers to a chance just as Evasion, but it's not really as a percentage, as it can go from 0 to any number. If a unit has a much higher ATT than the rest of the team, then that unit will much likely get hit before the rest, but then again, it's just a higher chance, the enemy won't always attack the unit with the highest ATT.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Grids
  
  Because the project handles cards, we'll be calling "Teams" as "Grids", as they're grids to insert cards in it. There are 2 types of Grids, there's the Main Grid and Support Grid.
  
  
  The Main Grid holds the cards of the units you'll be using, this grid can only hold up to 3 cards. That means during Dash and Duel sections you can only be using up to 3 units, although not at the same time.
  For Dash Sections, I'll add an exchange mechanic, where you can exchange the unit you're currently using to another member from the main grid after a certain cooldown timer.
  For Duel Sections, all members will be on stage, and to use them you just have to wait their turn.
  The order you insert these units in the main grid decides what unit will be the default starter for Dash sections and the Main grid's turns order in Duel sections. So the card in the 1st position in the Main grid would go first, then the 2nd card and finally the 3rd card, before it's the enemy turn and so on.
  
  
  The Support Grid holds the cards of the units whose passive abilities will be activated for the run. Those abilities will be explained afterwards. You can never ever be using the units from the Support Grid during a game, they're literally only to help, not to be used.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Active abilities
  These abilities are the set of actions the unit will be able to use during Duel Sections (depending on conditions if there are), each unit will always have at least 3 active abilities:
  - Attack
  Default normal attack, no cost
  
  - Guard
  Default normal guard, no cost
  
  - Chaos Limit
  This is what you'd normally call the "Super Ultimate Attack" of the unit, this one has a cost of red rings that were mentioned earlier, which are only obtainable in Dash Sections.
  
  
  Besides those 3 abilities, they can have more active abilities, they can be offensive, boost allies' stats, heal, and many other things.
  
  
  
  
  
• Passive Support abilities
  These abilities are buffs for the units in the Main Grid (there can be rare cases where it debuffs the enemies, or the team, it can go as crazy as each unit is designed), they can't be activated by command, they just apply to the Main Grid automatically unless there's some certain condition(s) the player must fulfill.
  A unit's Passive Support ability WON'T be activated if the unit is on the Main Grid, to activate a unit's Passive Support ability they have to be in the Support Grid, which means you'll not use that unit during the level, as explained earlier.
  

• Special
  This does not refer to something very powerful or anything like that, let's say it's the equivalent to "Notes" or "Other". If the unit can do something a normal unit can't, then that it'll be explained here.
  That means a transformable unit would have the transformation conditions and details in this tab/part of the unit's card. It could also have notes for a passive ability that applies to itself if it's in the main grid, then again, units will differ from each other.

I'll now go ahead mention what options you would find in the main menu (the list of options is subject to change as time goes on and I change plans or get new ideas):

• Story
  I don't think there's much to explain here in terms of the concept itself: It's to play the story of the game just to get used to it relatively quick and get some basic/useful starter units easily. I'm not 100% sure what's the story itself going to be, I just have ideas but none convices me fully.
  An idea I had was kind of a typical spin off type where everyone turned into cards and you have to save them all. The only one that'd be safe from that incident would actually be Tails, just to mix things a bit, and, of course, the first one he'd go rescue would be Sonic.
  Another idea that's actually not mine but a friend's is, after the events of Sonic Advance 2, Tails was programming a game (which is literally the one you're playing) and he gets a card from Cream, saying her mother was grateful for Sonic rescuing her and invited both for a cake. Tails would go find Sonic to give the letter and... well, that's how it begins but the idea actually stayed just like that. The concept of this idea was to actually not telling real story at all, but just have a chill life with no problems happening, Tails would remember past experiences as he was programming the game, in which obviously you'd be playing through.

  Another was to not try too hard and just go with something very simple and basic, Eggman captures a lot of animals to try build Eggman-Land and you've got to stop him, bam.

  
  The lack of concrete ideas leads to not knowing what exactly would happen RIGHT after selecting this option, could be a Mario Bros style map, a list of events, a hub world, who knows.
  
  

  Maybe I'll create a whole blog dedicated just for this section, once I know what's the story going to be and how the player will explore through it.












• Free
  This will open another menu, it will be very similar to "Events" menu from the game Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle. If you know what I mean, there's no real need to keep reading, as it'd be just that. If you don't know, I'll first share a picture:
  
  
  
  
  From left to right, the tabs are "Story", "Growth", "Challenge" and "Z-Battle", as you can see in the picture. The idea for the "Free" option is almost the same as this one, but the tabs would be different.
  From left to right, they'd be:
  
  - Original
  This list has all events that where created originally for this game, NOT confuse it with Story mode, as that one already has it's section (that was mentioned earlier). We could be talking about a stage that I created myself or some spin-off story within the Story mode, etc.
  
  - Official
  This one's way much easier to explain and understand, these are recreations of official events/levels from official Sonic games (or comics or any other official media), like the over-used Green Hill, re-telling small story portions from Sonic Unleashed, some tages from Sonic Colors, etc.
  
  - Fan
  Very similar to last mentioned, but instead of "official media", it'd recreate fan projects known in the Sonic fanbase, some examples would be Nazo: Unleashed, Super Mario Bros Z, Final Fantasy Sonic X, Sonic RPG series, etc. I'd first obviously ask the creators of each fan project before trying to find a way to collab with them.
  This one would be saved for last, as I first need a stable/functional game to collab with. Then again, I'm reporting all ideas (and progress) so... there ya go.

• Infinite Rush
  This mode has 3 options:
  - Only Dash
  Just a typical Endless Runner, it goes on and on until you fall a pit or crash into an object with no rings. You'd basically be playing another version of Sonic Dash, differences would be the fact you can exchange a unit to another and get external support (from the Support Grid).
  
  
  - Only Duel
  It's a Boss Rush, where you fight from the weakest enemy, to the strongest of the strongest bosses, when you win a battle phase, you go directly to the next enemy, without the need to go after them as "Dash & Duel". The enemy will be getting stronger and stronger as you go on
  
  
  - Dash & Duel.
  Dash & Duel is Dash section until you find an enemy and start a Duel section, then after winning it repeats but with higher difficulty. Each Dash section would be to prepare the player for the next Duel section, because as it was explained earlier, Rings work as energy (and HP recovery) and Red Rings allows the use of Chaos Limits (Which means "Only Duel" would be harder).







Grids
Here you build your grids, or using the common term: "teams". And that's it.






Units

This will display all the units you have, if you select one of them then their info will be displayed. Units don't enhance, improve, awaken or anything, once you get them they'll stay like that. I won't be adding a mechanic to strengthen them, as I mentioned earlier, I want this game to be simple. Although maaaaayyyybe in the future I'll change my mind. If I end up adding such mechanics to enhance the units, I'd explain how it'll work in a future blog.

Well, if I had to be honest, a friend of mine gave me an idea about "equipping" Wisps and/or Animals (those little ones inside badniks), I don't plan on adding them right away, once I finish a prototype/first release and everything works fine, THEN I'll start planning how would that work.

• Wisps (for future update, not doing it for first release, if there is)
  There's no fully realized idea yet for this section
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Animals' World (for future update, not doing it for first release, if there is)
  There's no fully realized idea yet for this section

• Shop (for future update, not doing it for first release, if there is)
  There's no fully realized idea yet for this section
  
  
  
  
• Missions/Achievements (for future update, not doing it for first release, if there is)
  There's no fully realized idea yet for this section

There's no progress to show, I've been busy with college, which includes another game, I guess I can take advantage of that other game to experiment with lighting and particle effects a little to see how it works.

In the next blog I'll give an example of how'd a player play, as a "theorical playthrough", I'll not be using only text, I'll draw and display some images to give design ideas and also the flow through the screens.

I think I'll be using PowerPoint to show you the screen/display ideas, I could use AbodeXD but it lacks of animations. I'll share that PowerPoint presentation to you in case you want to go take a look and I'll also record the presentation playing in case you don't have PowerPoint or feel unsecure about downloading it.

Well, that wraps it up for this blog so, until the next one!

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