Demonschool Devlog #1: Burn status

Like many tactics games, Demonschool has a number of status effects. Some of them are old standards. There's Poison, which reduces a character's HP by 1 per turn, or Stun, which keeps a character frozen in place until they are healed. Others are tweaks on effects we've seen elsewhere. Doomed, for example, kills the inflicted character within three turns unless they're healed, regardless of how much HP they have. Tethered is a Stun-like status that's only inflicted as long as a character is grabbed by an enemy. We also have the Possessed status, in which a demon rides your characters like a jockey, trying to move them into places where they'll take damage.

But today I want to talk to you about Burn. This effect came to be when looking at the firey enemies we had already created. They should have something special to them, right? So our first stab was this: A character with burn status slowly loses HP, just like with Poison.

How should we differentiate this status from Poison, then? The idea came to me when I had one of our characters - which was currently on fire - punch a desk. With the desk being wood, it felt like it should go up in flames. So we got the idea that Burn status could be conferred to objects.

Then I thought of Far Cry 2 and how that game in its earlier days would allow fire to propagate across the entire map if left unchecked. Why shouldn't Burn status communicate across everything in the battle, I thought?

We tried it, and it was ridiculously fun. Now, if your character is on fire and they hit an enemy, the enemy will also be set on fire. If you hit an object, that goes on fire too. If your burning character stands next to an enemy or even a friend, they will go on fire next turn. You can set the whole playing field aflame. The problem is, of course, you're slowly losing health as you go around setting everything ablaze. You want your characters to lose health at a slower rate than everyone else. So the thing to do is heal your character. They'll lose their burn status in the process, but you can always retrieve it again from the flaming surroundings. So a brawler/healer combo, running around the world setting things on fire and healing each other, can act like a (twisted) firestarter team.

Demonschool has equippable techniques as well. These allow you to customize your characters, giving them resistance buffs, new movement methods, and lots more (we'll talk about this in a coming devlog!). We use techniques in lieu of a traditional leveling system. It's more like customizing your build than gaining stats through straight experience.

Several of these techniques are related to status effects, such as immunity to poison or stun. One of them allows your character to heal while standing in fire. So just imagine the combined effect of fire propagation with fire heal. It's a pretty powerful technique when you can line things up.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more behind the scenes looks at the development of Demonschool, and don't forget to wishlist the game on Steam!

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