The combat system is one of the core features for most of the video game genres. One of our main aims was to design a mechanics that would work equally good both for battles and for peaceful challenges like researching or diplomacy. This way we could substantially diversify the interactions with the game world, stepping away from just killing everything around and allowing a player to choose different tactics to achieve the game goals.

Inspired by the boardgames, we started from paper and dice prototyping. Boardgames are very successful in terms of abstract mechanics, so they are a good source to learn how to design your own.

Today we want to introduce you the mechanics behind our challenge system and UI preview of the challenge screen.

Let’s imagine that your party has encountered a group of three Mogeras. These subterranean creatures feel very uncomfortable on the surface where they were chased by hunger. You have a selection of 5 tasks: Fight  these abominations, Scare them away or even Feed them. You need to fulfill 3 tasks to win this challenge.

Your party has a pool of available skill actions that depend both on the individual capabilities of each beast in the party and on the relationships between the party members. A player needs to choose the party members wisely as it may happen that one talented beast would be better than a constantly quarreling mob. Also note the fifth task, Feed. The required actions are not beast skills but resources – in this case, meat – that you can take from the inventory.

Mogeras are strong creatures, so a party needs 3 Attack actions for tasks 1 and 2. Although they are frightened and unaccustomed to the surface, so scaring them in tasks 3 and 4 will take only two Trick actions. Feeding them in task 5 takes 3 Meat items because Mogeras are very hungry and voracious.

An action can result in a success, a pass or a fail. By default, there are 6 outcomes for each action: 2 successes, 3 passes, and 1 fail. For example, the possible outcomes for an attack skill look like this:

Every outcome has the same chance, so there’s a 33% chance of a success, a 50% chance of a pass, and a 17% chance of a fail.

There can be more than one fail or only one success if a party member using that skill is ill, depressed or has another strong negative status.

The challenge is turn-based. Each turn starts with an attempt to successfully use all of the available skills and resources and ends with either fulfilling a task or switching to a new turn.

So you start a turn and get something like this for a full party with an ally (here we suppose that each of your beasts has 3 Attacks, 3 Tricks, and you used 5 Meat for this challenge):

The green color means a success, the gray is a pass and the red is a fail. You can use only the successes to fulfill the tasks by simple drag-n-dropping successful actions onto the task that you want to complete. The failed skills and materials are removed from the pool and can’t be used again. Passes can’t be used for dealing with the tasks at this turn, but they are not removed from the pool and can be used for another attempt.

Our party has 6 Tricks and 3 Attacks as successful this turn, so you may choose to close either a Fight or a Scare task. Usually, a party can finish only one task per turn. If there are not enough successes to handle any of the tasks, a player starts a new turn and makes a new attempt using all of the available skills and resources again. As you might guess, the pool will reduce with each attempt because of the fails. You lose the challenge when you’re out of skills and materials and you failed to fulfill the required number of tasks.

This all would be kind of dull and look like “click a button until you get what you need” game, but we have a number of additional modifiers that provide enough possibilities for different tactics.

1) Additional Actions. Actions that can be performed by a player until the end of the turn. One of such actions is available for all beasts. It is Concentration which allows you to discard one skill or resource from the pool to keep the outcome of a chosen skill or resource for the next turn.

There’s a variety of other Additional Actions which aren’t available by default and depend on the genetics, professions, and other quirks. Certain beasts can have a possibility to:

• alter the turn outcomes by making different kinds of additional attempts
• allow to finish a few tasks within one turn
• provide automatic successes etc.

The similar modifiers can be provided by artifacts in the inventory of a party.

2) Instant Actions. These actions are automatically triggered when a certain condition is met. For example, one of the party members has a Looney Genius perk. Each time when a player fails to finish a task and doesn’t choose Concentration additional action at the end of the turn, there’s a chance that a Looney Genius will go into a rush mode. Each skill of this beast in a rush mode gets one more success and one more fail, so now there’s 50% chance to get a success and 33% to get a fail from each skill until the end of the challenge. This beast also doesn’t discard a skill or a resource for Concentration.

Attack skill outcomes affected by the rush mode

3) Special Conditions. A variety of modifiers that doesn’t fall under the previous two categories. Here are some of them:

• Fails may trigger unpleasant consequences like wounds for party members
• Tasks must be finished in a certain order
• Skill pool is restricted. For example, party members interfere with each other, when investigating a small cave. N random skills are removed from the pool where N depends on how many members are in a party.
• Random skills get a decreased success chance or an increased fail chance etc.

We hope to hear your thoughts about this system!

Thank you for reading! :)

I have a couple questions about this system and the example you gave us:

• What is the most "peaceful" route to fulfulling the challenges, for those who want to avoid violence?

From the looks of it and my understanding, if someone were to want to avoid harming these creatures they would want to complete the Feed task and the two Scare tasks. However, Scaring already frightened creatures into submission or fleeing can seem rather cruel as well. Is there no option for those who would like to appease the creatures and simply move on from them? They are on the surface due to hunger, as the post says, not due to harboring ill intent.

• Cleansing the Desert (Part 1)?

The title of that fight makes it look like it is part of an overarching quest that will consist of multiple fights. Am I correct in making this assumption? And, if so, the 'cleansing' aspect implies the creatures need to be gotten rid of. Will quests such as this require you to take the most aggressive attack strategy possible in order to wipe out the creatures you encounter?

• What does winning a fight entail?

Naturally, one would expect some experience gain from winning fights, but how else does this work? When you win a fight by aggressive means do you leave the creatures beaten and defeated, unable to defend themselves against any predators that may find them, or do you outright kill them? If they are dead, are we capable of looting the bodies for things such as skins, fur, teeth, bones, or meat?

• Wild creature artwork adopting the beast art style?

This is out of my own curiosity, but will the creature art change? Here on BeastKeeper the Beasts and Creatures/Monsters have very similar art styles, making them feel right at home in the same world. However, the Mogeras above are clearly seperate beings, and their artwork offers no variation for individuality among the wild creatures. So, will they a) receive new artwork later on to resemble the overall feel of the other BeastEon art and/or b) be given random variations to their patterns such as with the generated beasts?

Thank you for your questions! :)

What is the most "peaceful" route to fulfulling the challenges, for those who want to avoid violence?

From the looks of it and my understanding, if someone were to want to avoid harming these creatures they would want to complete the Feed task and the two Scare tasks. However, Scaring already frightened creatures into submission or fleeing can seem rather cruel as well. Is there no option for those who would like to appease the creatures and simply move on from them? They are on the surface due to hunger, as the post says, not due to harboring ill intent.

Mogeras are primitive carnivore creatures with mental capacities similar to those of a modern reptile. There's no way to get rid of them without killing except scaring, tricking or feeding. Their needs and desires are simple – food, safety, territory protection, breeding and things like that. If a player doesn't want to harm them or at least scare them, then the best solution would be not to engage in this challenge and leave them alone. Not all challenges suppose the use of force, but in this case there's no other choice. If a party doesn't want to fight but already engaged in the challenge, it's possible to try and retreat from the battlefield. Though it's better not to start a challenge at all to avoid taking damage and checking your running skills. Even before the start your party sees what type of standard tasks a challenge has (like fight and scare, persuade and trade, fight and trade etc.). Individual challenge modifiers (hungry, scared, angry etc.) aren't known before the start unless your party has an experienced Scout who can uncover more details about the challenge without engaging in it.

Cleansing the Desert (Part 1)?

The title of that fight makes it look like it is part of an overarching quest that will consist of multiple fights. Am I correct in making this assumption? And, if so, the 'cleansing' aspect implies the creatures need to be gotten rid of. Will quests such as this require you to take the most aggressive attack strategy possible in order to wipe out the creatures you encounter?

If we're talking about the quests, then it's possible that the quest ending will depend on the strategy that a player has chosen to solve the challenges related to this quest. You’re not forced to choose the most aggressive way, but some of the choices may have consequences. The profit from the challenge itself will be different depending on the chosen tasks as well. For example, scaring monsters away means that you won’t be able to loot their bodies.

There are two more things that need to be mentioned here.

First, not all of the solutions are equally easy. Depending on the challenge, one strategy may be more effective than the other.

Second, the preferred strategy will highly depend on your party. A pacifistic party member will highly dislike the aggression while a trained warrior will be bored by constant peace. The relations inside the party, the mood of each party member and thus the effectiveness of a party as a whole will change depending on the challenge conditions and the chosen strategy.

What does winning a fight entail?

Naturally, one would expect some experience gain from winning fights, but how else does this work? When you win a fight by aggressive means do you leave the creatures beaten and defeated, unable to defend themselves against any predators that may find them, or do you outright kill them? If they are dead, are we capable of looting the bodies for things such as skins, fur, teeth, bones, or meat?

In the case of fighting the beaten creatures are killed by the party. The killed creatures will provide a variety of loot including different crafting materials and food.

Challenges will help to level the respective professions and skills. Though there's no regular XP that can be earned by everyone in the same way. It's not possible to train a scientist by killing rats or to gain muscle while researching an ancient tome, so a party needs to choose the corresponding challenges if the main purpose is training.

Wild creature artwork adopting the beast art style?

This is out of my own curiosity, but will the creature art change? Here on BeastKeeper the Beasts and Creatures/Monsters have very similar art styles, making them feel right at home in the same world. However, the Mogeras above are clearly seperate beings, and their artwork offers no variation for individuality among the wild creatures. So, will they a) receive new artwork later on to resemble the overall feel of the other BeastEon art and/or b) be given random variations to their patterns such as with the generated beasts?

The creature art won't change except getting color variations. The wildlife of Europa is very different from the fantasy-like beasts who live in cooperation with humans, and the history of the world is a bit different from what it may seem to a commoner. Not all living creatures come from a fairy tale; in fact most of them don't. We suppose to uncover the full lore of the world through eon quests.

Thanks for the answers! Most of the things I was curious about were answered, but a couple more questions/comments based on your answers have arisen.

Mogeras are primitive carnivore creatures with mental capacities similar to those of a modern reptile.

How does this fit in with their Bestiary entry and Lore? "To tame a Mogera is a most difficult task, indeed - not only because of their aggressive nature and strong individualism" and "it seems that the Mogeras in this area became much less territorial and even formed some sort of a group or society" both suggest that Mogeras possess the intelligence of normal Beasts undernath their primitive instincts, or at least partially.

Even before the start your party sees what type of standard tasks a challenge has (like fight and scare, persuade and trade, fight and trade etc.).

This section wonderfully helps to clarify my former confusion on the subject, thank you! For those who would like to play as a pacifist I can see this being useful to help them avoid confrontations where violence is the only route to true victory.

The profit from the challenge itself will be different depending on the chosen tasks as well.

I find this concept very interesting and can't wait to see how it is implemented. It sounds to me like a "rate of ideal success" for what the quest giver was expecting us as the Beast Lord to complete for them. It isn't a simple "provide x" quest with possible added conditions like we have on BeastKeeper, but a more immersive world with NPCs who have a certain level of humanization to them, able to react accordingly if we do not perform a satisfactory job.

The creature art won't change except getting color variations. The wildlife of Europa is very different from the fantasy-like beasts who live in cooperation with humans

I have two different concerns for this, however neither really affects the main gameplay. One is a concern for the lack of uniform artstyle being present throughout the official content of the site. Everything having a certain feel, aesthetically speaking, for the style can help set the tone of the site. It isn't wanting the wild creatures to be "cutesy and friendly" looking, like a fairy tale, it's more so a matter of their art looking like it belongs alongside the others. The new dragon raises concerns regarding this as well due to how different it is to the other Beasts.

Secondly would be how this fits in with a couple of the Bestiary entries mentioning Beast Lords taming monsters, those being the Mogeras and Dymetropsids. A different art style indicating the creatures are entirely different than normal Beasts on a genetic level could be interesting, if this is indeed explained at some point, but if Beast Lords are able to tame and breed them then how does this hold up? Are they not as genetically malleable as normal Beasts are even when tamed?

((Also, a question that is completely unrelated to this but I thought I should ask since you're answering questions here..... will Ollie be joining us in the new Europa? Or, rather, can Ollie please join us? XD Since discovering his existence before he's been a favorite of mine and I'd love to see him carry over and continue his shady ways in Beastopia.))

"To tame a Mogera is a most difficult task, indeed - not only because of their aggressive nature and strong individualism"

Individualism means that they are not social and are highly territorial. Like some reptiles and arthropods that attack everything that moves, and eat everything that moves sometimes including their own kind. Though some people keep such animals as pets, they never become tame or obey their keepers. They even don’t distinguish their keeper from other people not to mention having any kind of warm feelings towards humans. It’s just the keeper’s skill and ethology knowledge that allows to keep them as domestic animals. The exclusions are extremely rare.

“it seems that the Mogeras in this area became much less territorial and even formed some sort of a group or society"

The case described in the report is so extraordinary that it led to the change of an eon. That wasn’t caused by the inner nature of Mogera but something that formed under the pressure of stressing environment. The developing social structure could be a hint of some evolutionary process in this species, or maybe just a natural phenomenon when different animals including solitary predators form large groups without attacking each other while facing a natural cataclysm. We’ll never know unless such colony would be formed again somewhere else.

I have two different concerns for this, however neither really affects the main gameplay. One is a concern for the lack of uniform artstyle being present throughout the official content of the site. Everything having a certain feel, aesthetically speaking, for the style can help set the tone of the site. It isn't wanting the wild creatures to be "cutesy and friendly" looking, like a fairy tale, it's more so a matter of their art looking like it belongs alongside the others.

Not sure, the only difference in the style that I see is that monsters have thicker and darker outlines. It’s possible to tone them down but right now this is not a priority, so I can’t promise that this will be done. I don’t see any other difference other than that and the fact that Beasts were obviously bred according to the human standards of beauty while monsters look more like natural wild creatures.

The new dragon raises concerns regarding this as well due to how different it is to the other Beasts.

The beasts that don’t have enough details (namely rocs and pumas) will get them to match the new dragon.

Secondly would be how this fits in with a couple of the Bestiary entries mentioning Beast Lords taming monsters, those being the Mogeras and Dymetropsids. A different art style indicating the creatures are entirely different than normal Beasts on a genetic level could be interesting, if this is indeed explained at some point, but if Beast Lords are able to tame and breed them then how does this hold up? Are they not as genetically malleable as normal Beasts are even when tamed?

From the gameplay point of view monsters can’t be tamed. They are not domesticated animals like Beasts.

Actually the Bestiary entries mention that it’s better not to try taming them :) Of course, taking into account that different Beasts were living side by side with the humankind for a long time, there were attempts to tame and utilize all kinds of creatures including monsters. Most of those attempts were unsuccessful and often resulted in losses and casualties.  Not so many species have social compatibility with humans no matter how intelligent they are. In real life, some people may try raising from birth a great white shark or an anaconda and call it tame, but it will remain “tame” only while its needs are 100% satisfied. Once it becomes hungry, scared, territorial, hormonal or feels any other urge, its keeper will be the first target for aggression.

((Also, a question that is completely unrelated to this but I thought I should ask since you're answering questions here..... will Ollie be joining us in the new Europa? Or, rather, can Ollie please join us? XD Since discovering his existence before he's been a favorite of mine and I'd love to see him carry over and continue his shady ways in Beastopia.))

We don’t plan to reintroduce any of the characters from BeastKeeper. There’s a long time passed between BeastKeeper and BeastEon. Beasts became sentient instead of just being very clever pets, so we’re talking about hundreds or even thousands of years.