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Author Topic: dynamic magic system, through keywords  (Read 2266 times)

Macunfadebo

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dynamic magic system, through keywords
« on: July 16, 2013, 09:16:01 am »

possible to have hundreds of different spells with just a few keywords
the mage types the words and a spell creator function processes them and casts the correspondent spell

inspired by tibia

two types of magic, instant and runes

instants are cast instantly, as soon as you say the words, rune spells are stored in previously blank runes, so you can cast
them later (when you're lacking the mana for an instant) or even give them to someone else

first word in a spell must be either ex(for instant) or ad(for runes)
second word must be referent to the area of effect

ori - 1 sqm (an instant ori would be cast immediately in front of you, a rune ori would be cast wherever you click)
ura - cast on yourself (for instants or runes), can be used with either positive or negative effects, but who would use it with negatives?
evo - more than one sqm, there are modifiers to determine the exact area (for instants the area is centered around you)


then there are words for effects, each spell can only have one effect

flam - fire
pox - poison
vid - invisibility
mort - negative energy
vita - healing
vis - electricity
lux - light(illumination), does no damage
frigo - cold damage (or freezing with ut)


effect modifiers:
grav - makes a field or item, depending on the effect, doesn't work with all effects
gran - stronger version (or lasts more)
ut - adds an effect to the target, like regeneration (vita), curse (mort), burning (flam), poison and invisibility don't require this
ana - cures the adversity or effect (not for all effects), e.g. adori ana pox would make a rune that cures poison, adevo ana vid would cancel invisibility of all creatures in a certain area


area modifiers:
hur - wave area (in the direction you're looking, or for runes in the direction it was cast)
mas - just a generally bigger area, can be used more than once, up to a limit


this is just the basic, lots of other effects and modifiers can be added, like sleep/drunkness/whatever, you just need to check a latin book first :)

and of course, based on the words the mana cost and any other cost or requirement would be calculated, so your spells would all be automatically balanced
« Last Edit: July 16, 2013, 09:34:54 am by Macunfadebo »
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Levi

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2013, 10:53:06 am »

Reminds me of the spell system in Ultima 4.   "IN SANCT GRAV"!

I think "Ura Flam Ut Vita" would be a fun spell.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2013, 10:59:30 am by Levi »
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P(ony)SI

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2013, 12:34:36 pm »

I think "Ura Flam Ut Vita" would be a fun spell.
It looks like being near strong sources of heat would heal your body.
I wonder what "Adori Mort Ura Mort" would do.
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Levi

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2013, 12:37:27 pm »

I think "Ura Flam Ut Vita" would be a fun spell.
It looks like being near strong sources of heat would heal your body.

Hehe, I was thinking setting yourself on fire while regenerating would make a good party trick.  :)  Its a good point though that its pretty easy to interpret the effects in different ways.
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Sergarr

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2013, 02:28:32 am »

Exevo Grav Gran Hur Mas Lux.
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Killjoy

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2013, 03:31:28 am »

This sounds a bit what the game magicka essentially did.
Instead of words elements were bound to hotkeys.

You could make such a system work to some degree. But without defining interesting special cases for word combinations what you get is something that looks more like the spell crafting system in Oblivion.

Unless of course you make the system extremely complicated with a lot of built in hidden variables that control how things work. But this can be hard to balance, which in a roguelike might not be such a bad thing. Procedurally generating enemies that use spells which break everything could be fun.

This thought process actually got me thinking a bit..

I should experiment when I get home from work.
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coolio678

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2013, 04:34:25 pm »

This sounds a bit what the game magicka essentially did.
Instead of words elements were bound to hotkeys.

You could make such a system work to some degree. But without defining interesting special cases for word combinations what you get is something that looks more like the spell crafting system in Oblivion.

Unless of course you make the system extremely complicated with a lot of built in hidden variables that control how things work. But this can be hard to balance, which in a roguelike might not be such a bad thing. Procedurally generating enemies that use spells which break everything could be fun.

This thought process actually got me thinking a bit..

I should experiment when I get home from work.
Didn't Armok1 have randomly generated spells? I remember reading that someone got a spell that attacked by teleporting their spine into enemies.
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Macunfadebo

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2013, 01:03:41 pm »




« Last Edit: July 21, 2013, 01:51:26 pm by Macunfadebo »
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Khloe80

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2013, 06:05:05 am »

My preference is
Ura Vid Gran and Mas (to be used more than once, of course)   ;)
In the name of magic!
Thx for the post, cool and different topic  8)
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Girlinhat

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Re: dynamic magic system, through keywords
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2013, 10:11:56 am »

I don't have much productive to add, but my steel-trap of a mind never let me forget about "Vapors of Insanity".  It's a free, incomplete, buggy game that included a broken magic system (game was built balanced for warriors) that worked off a keyword system.  You could make a new spell by selecting from existing spells, so you could take 'fire' and 'fire' and make a spell of 'fire-fire'.  Then you could combine further, and take 'fire-fire' and combine it with 'earth' or with 'fire-fire' again, and end up with 'fire-fire-earth' or 'fire-fire-fire-fire'.  So it got a little silly, but the increases string of keywords increased MP cost to cast, so it sorta made sense.

A little tweakery, it could be more of a 'research' to combine keywords and refine the exact power distribution of each element so you would 'climb up' the tech tree by adding, refining, and building up.