Tower of Kana

Edutainment

Most or all games are exorcises in mapping tokens and wiring the brain for faster response times. for example, in an RTS game we learn to recognize the units faster and faster. I remember Total Annihilation just looked like a noisy mess the first time I played it, but now I can recognize and name most units, and I also know their tactical meanings. Isn't that pretty close to how we learn to read?

For this game, sense of progression is two-fold. Just learning something isn't enough to keep a player focused on the game, so I think coupling it with some RPG character development and item collection would help to make the player put up with grinding 'chores'. That works for MMORPGs, so why not edutainment? Often with games we map nonsense, so why not try to make something of it that we can use outside of the game?

So what do I have in mind? Well, since the player progresses through something, and we're talking about learning a language here, why not use the Tower of Babel for inspiration? Actually, I've been playing Tower of Druaga lately, and since I like to redesign games I'll use ToD for inspiration. The tower can't bee too linear however, because local area replay value is important and the player should be able to choose lessons of his/her liking (to some degree).

Here's the Kana (Katakana and Hiragana) that will be the topic of this game. Maybe it can be expanded to Kanji and Japanese words and grammar too.


The tower

The tower is divided into sections, floors and rooms. A section is themed with a certain writing system, such as Hiragana. The floors can be themed with Kana ending with a certain vowel, and the rooms have the monsters and items. The player can move towards key rooms and will then have to battle a monster in every room. Moving away from the key room will not generate a monster encounter.

Each section is locked, and the player will have to find all the keys of a section to get to the next. Between each section there is a Trial floor where - a floor where all the Kana and enemies from the previous floors are mixed. Maybe a boss too.

The first floor is the hometown and bank. Here the player can heal, store items and maybe buy stuff. Dying (and being 'zapped') also brings the player back here. Only the floors between the sections have to be beaten again if the player avatar is returned to the first floor. Beating them should be trivial if the player has done his homework.

Each section has a treasure chest which will teleport to a random location within the section every time it's grabbed. This will strongly encourage the player to visit different floors even after all keys have been grabbed (if the player wishes to grind to pass the Trial floor more easily).

Unvisited sections are toned down (dark or solid). Also, all of the tower might not fit on screen. If the player were to see all of the tower, the task of completing the game might appear overwhelming. By showing just a small part of the tower, the player can relax and take one step at a time.

One problem is leveling. Even if a player levels up a lot he will still be a beginner when it comes to reading the Kana of a new section, possibly making things unbalanced. This means it might be a good idea to split the tower into several to keep the tutorial sections short. Then each tower could have a brief tutorial section, then a mixed section which can be grinded, then a hard master section to make the game scalable for skilled users. Also, with three towers it's possible to make players choose their own area of study better. Then there could be a (to some) really hard last tower with everything mixed.

Floor traits

Kana = What type of lesson is there for this floor? Lesson = Ishtar key (reference sheet). Some 5-15 Kana to learn. Trial = No Ishtar key. Mixed Kana from floor of the section. All keys must be had to access. Fauna = Some kind of link to what range of monsters are present. Boss = Is there a boss alive here, and if so, who? Dark = Need book of light to see properly. Left/Right = Direction to move in to get monster encounters. Completed = Variable keeping track of whether the player have completed the floor or not. QuestionLen = Some questions are longer so the AI will have to fake reading slowly.

Dying

Zaps back to first floor. Loses gold and loose items?


Battles

Battles is where the meat of the game is at. Each room throws a monster on the player (if the player moves in the right direction). A Kana will appear between the combatants, and the player is presented with a few answer options of which one is correct. A skilled player will recognize the romanji corresponding with the Kana and answer correctly. Doing so will make the player avatar attack and drain the HP of the monster. A new Kana will soon appear, allowing skilled players to attack very fast. Early sections have monsters which are very slow to attack, allowing beginners time to think. Battles are real time.

If the answer is incorrect, the player avatar will miss, the monster will get a free attack and the player will also have to wait a bit longer until the next Kana appears.


Player hits monster

NextKanaTime = 100sec / Player.Agl

Skilled players will benefit more from a high Agl since they have a fast enough response time. A beginner will take many seconds to identify a Kana so the benefits of quickly getting a new one is proportionally small. Skilled players should be able to rush through the early sections quickly and they should not be forced to keep tempo with beginners.

The Kana is spoken (KA!) and expands/flashes to attract the eye. This might help the learning process since the player gets more sensory input. Feature creep though, I don't have sounds for all Kana.

Player misses monster

NextKanaTime = 500sec / Player.Agl

The Monster gets to attack immediately.

Miss sound?

Monster hits player

NextKanaTime = 100sec / Player.Agl() // How soon the monster gets to see the Kana, same mechanic as the player. Monster.NextAttackTime = 100sec / Monster.Agl() // The monster 'AI' fakes taking time to read. Monster.NextAttackTime = Monster.NextAttackTime * QuestionLen

I'm thinking that monsters have their NextAttackTime reset every time they are hit (in which case the Kana also will be replaced because the player obviously made a correct answer). This means that monsters will not always eventually attack, merely giving the player free time to attack before the monster eventually does. Instead, skilled players can go through fights without taking any damage. Maybe the monsters get distracted by getting hit. Also since the Kana is replaced after a successful player attack, this means the monsters have to be reset, if they have to read the Kana to attack that is... The Kana is not always replaced after the player has taken a hit. This is partly because I have the mechanic for the electricity attack changing the Kana, but it's also nice to give the player a chance to guess on each Kana.

I suppose in some cases it's possible that the monster's response time is faster than the Kana appears to the player, making the fight impossible, but if that is the case, the player has probably run too far ahead. I think

Damaging monsters

Monster.HP lowers by Avatar Str plus Weapon Str then multiplied by a Vulnerability if there is any. Since the stats of the monsters are more or less hidden, I think it's good to put the vulnerability info on the player's side where it can be seen and understood. A weapon can be more effective against a certain monster BodyClass for example. However, a monster doesn't have any special hidden resistances against player weapons.

( Player.Str() + Player.Weapon.Str() ) * Player.Weapon.Special( Monster.BodyClass* )

*I'm not sure if each Monster is a class, or if they're instances or indexes of the same umbrella Monster class.

First, Player class' Str function returns the Avatar's Str. Could be slightly randomised..?

Then, Player class' Equipped Weapon pointer to Weapon class' Str function returns the Str of the weapon after whatever dices have been rolled and special traits have been added.

Last, almost the same thing but this time the current Monster's Body Class is fed into the Equipped Weapon and if it matches any Special modifiers then the previous damage value will be modified.

If Player.Agl() is equal or smaller than Monster.Agl() then the Monster will do a shield pose rather than a take damage pose. Damage will be reduced by 10% without a shield, and 40% with (Knights have shields so you need good agility to find openings). Agl() could return a randomised value so there's always a chance/risk of shield blocks when the Agl values are about equal.

Damaging the player avatar

If Player Agl is equal or larger than Monster Agl then the shield will be used to modify the damage.

After that the armour will be used to modify the damage. It's the same function as the shield though.

See Monster traits and Attack methods below for the various effects which needs to be in place here.

If the shield was used, then the player avatar will do the shield animation, otherwise it'll do a take damage animation.

The Monster attack use a splash graphic based on attack method. It briefly blinks over the Player Avatar. This spices things up a bit, and since the monster attack method is a trait on the monster's side it's important to show what kind of attack the monster uses.

Maybe some numbers representing the damage flashes too. Numbers are an easy way to give the player a sense of progression. These numbers would represent the full damage and not the damage which is possible to subtract from the Monster HP.

Player avatar level up

People who want to level up (by grinding) should be teased to move around a bit. It shouldn't become too preferable to grind on certain floors because the player knows the Kana there.

Naturally, the Trial floor will be hard to beat if the player just practices a limited set of Kana. Since the players need to pass these floors periodically, it's encouraging the player to be all-round. But a few other things can be made to tease the player to move around more.

I'll refer to XP (experience points) as 'kills'. Maybe you get little skull symbols or something.

There could be a treasure chest which moves between the floors of a section every time the player grabs it. It contains random equipment and sometimes fat 'kill' boost (10 or so).

Each section has its own 'kills' ladder with thresholds for gaining player levels (and thus soul points). For example, the easy tutorial sections could all have the a copy of the same ladder. This would be a short ladder where it quickly becomes hard to gain new levels, encouraging the player to move on to another section where the ladder is fresh. Although, the ladder should not be so short that the player have no chance to learn the Kana of the current section.

Maybe XP gains are higher on the Trial floors. Double kills, perhaps. Monsters are harder there than on the regular floors.

Treasure chest spawning

Check if the section is left or right, then put the chest rnd(tower width-2)+2 rooms in, or rnd(tower width) if the player has the Chime.

Soul points

Without the Blue soul gem Con, Str, Agl goes up by +1 (a total of 3 pts) and an additional +2 soul points are given to assign to anything.

With the Blue soul gem +5 soul points are instead given to assign to anything.

Player avatar traits

Name = "Nanika" - maybe the player can customize name and appearance, such as skin and hair style. It wouldn't show much under the armour though. Images = Four poses, Idle, Attack, Take hit, Shield. * all outfits and weapon types. HP = Current health (Con is max). Con = Health max. Agl = How fast a new attack can be made. Str = Adds to damage. Kills = Should be per section, I think. Soul points = Unallocated. Weapon = Pointer to a weapon. Armour = Pointer an armour. Shield = Pointer to a shield. Items = Array with items. Floor = Vertical position in tower Room = Horizontal position in tower

Monster traits

Name = "Green Slime" and such. Image base = Each monster has four images, Idle, Attack, Take hit, Shield. Level = Basis for random drops, perhaps. HP = Current health. Con = Health max. Agl = How fast a new attack can be made. (* random time for monsters) Str = Adds to damage. BodyClass = For calculating vulnerabilities, Weapon vs BodyClass (Slimy, Meaty, Armoured, Ectoplasmic/Undead, Dragonite) Leech = Drains player's HP continuously. Flurry = More answer choices. Ropers. Flip = Kana is vertical? Mirror Knight. Teleport = The monster is phasing around (becoming transparent every now and then), providing only short glimpses of the Kana (which is invisible while the monster is phasing). It's possible to attack the monster while its phasing though. Ghost = The monster is an opaque silhouette and can only be seen if the player has the magical lantern/candle. Regenerate = Slimes do this. % of Con. per game tick? Reflective = Some damage back at'ya. Shield = Can be used if the Agl. trait is superior to that of the player avatar. Attack method = One of [see below].

Monster attack methods

These are probably best based on Str. One per monster. Strike = Regular damage Knockdown = Ignores armour Fire = Fire obscuring Kana during/after attack Elec = Changes Kana after attack. Wave = Damage is % of player HP. Zap = The succubus can zap the player back to the first floor. Very slow to charge. Exploding = Suicide after a long time (countdown with a few dummy attacks? Show counter?). Big damage.

Equipment compulsory traits

All: Name = "Fist of the Sun", "Blade of Quirkiness", "Will of Phrimkegon" and such. Generated names which reflect dominant specials if any. If it has bad values it can be "Cursed" or "Evil". Or maybe the player can name the stuff? Special 1 = - Special 2 = - Special 3 = - Worn-in = Just like shoes and favourite pens, equipment can also be worn in, buffing it up. This is a % mod for all traits. There's 'kill level up ladder' for every item, meaning each item can be levelled up independently of the player avatar. This makes it fun to have favourite items that one can grow attached to. Weapons: Str = E.g. +60 to +88 ( i.e. 60+rnd(28) ) Armours: Absorb = Taken damage mod, E.g 30% or -14 Shields: Absorb = Taken damage mod, E.g 10% or -7 Shields are more likely to have the special 'Hyper' (absorb first blow)

Equipment special traits

Some there's a small chance that equipment has a special traits (three slots with a 25% chance each). These can be both good and bad. If the player have the scale of Balance then special traits can't be negative. Sometimes % are used to make the items viable to keep from early level. However, more powerful items are generated in more difficult sections.

Weapons: Critical edge = An % chance of adding or X extra damage where X can be negative. E.g. 5% chance of * ( 50 to 175 % ) or 4% chance of + ( -24 to +5 pts ) Power = Extra damage. E.g. +10 or 95% Balance = Agl modifier. Balanced in a good or bad way. Slayer = damage mod against Monster.BodyClass. Can be negative. E.g. Slimes +25 or damage mod against specific monsters (higher value since it's more specific). E.g. Green Slimes 140% Armour & Shield: Hyper = Bool. Will nullify the first monster attack (per room). Defiance = defend mod against Monster.BodyClass. Can be negative. or defend mod against specific monsters Balance = Agl. modifier. Balanced in a good or bad way. Unzappable = Can not be zapped. Rare. Reflective = Absorbs and rebounds % damage at monster. ShockSafe = Can absorb a % of Knockdown attacks.

Special items

Candle/lantern = See ghosts. Book of light = Lights up dark floors. A must have for some floors perhaps. Green ring = Will reduce Leeching damage. Crystal Rod = A key which allows the player to gate home. Early item. Blue soul gem = Allows all soul points to be allocated as the player wishes. Late item, but skilled players can rush up and get it early, and thus benefit from being able to distribute their points as they wish on a lower level than normal. Health Potions = Can be many. Use up to heal. Dragon potions = Gives a big but temporary Str (damage) bonus for one room. Rare late item. Pickaxe = Used to escape a battle (room). Limited uses, changes from gold, silver to bronze, then disappears. Late item (because the player should not be able to avoid early lessons). Maybe this item moves the player up or down one floor. Chime charm = Bell which makes treasures easier to find, or more frequent, or something. Jet boot charm = The player can rush through already completed Trial floors. Late item. Gauntlet charm = +X Agl. boost. Pearl = Dragons get lower Agl. (attack rate). Rare. Balance charm = Treasures with special traits can not have negative percentages. Rare. G. Crystal Rod = Key to reveal Druaga. Late item. R. Crystal Rod = Key to reveal Druaga. Late item. B. Crystal Rod = Key to reveal Druaga. Late item. Sapphire mace = ? Ruby mace = ? Green necklace = Kana does not change after an elec attack. Rare. Blue necklace = Resistance against dragon attacks. Rare. Red Necklace = Kana can not be obscured by fire. Rare.

Inventory

There could be 10+10 slots with equipment. The first 10 are carried equipment. The first 3 of those are Armour, Shield and weapon. The next 10 are also carried, but will be lost upon player death.

Then there's a bank with plenty of slots.

The items in the slots can be studied by clicking left mouse button. This will bring up a little box with a description and stats. The item will also attach to the cursor as long as the button is held. It can then be dropped into another slot (swap place with whatever is there). If the mouse misses a slot when drag-dropping then the item will snap back to it's original position.

Right mouse button will activate the item. This action could be potion use, pickaxe escape, etc.

Ideas for weapons

In the original game you walked with your sword in front of you, much like a tourney knight with a lance. You didn't slash or whack enemies, so I think it's suitable to have a sword-lance of some sort. These should be easy to draw since they are generally shown from the same angle (and can be rotated, no new images have to be hand drawn).

Noob: ? Standard: Plain steel, Elegant silver, Buff gold Unique: DragonSlayer green, Hyper teal Skull: Saw edge steel Prank: Lollipop? Drill Maces (from new Druaga anime): Mace 1, Mace 2, Morning star, Ruby mace, Sapphire mace.

Ideas for armour

Plain steel is the most common. All of these may have special traits. Maybe each type has their own name generator and likelihood to get certain traits. Skull themed stuff might get high Slayer traits but lower traits of something else as a balance. Armours will have to be hand drawn in 4 different poses, so I don't want to do too many of these.

Noob: Plain leather (default) Standard: Plain steel (common), Elegant silver, Buff gold Unique: ? Skull: Black studded and partly armoured, Prank: SG uniform/Bunny girl, Ultraman, Shoulder pad&huge boots

Ideas for shields

Noob: Wood (Early), Steel banded wood Elite: Plain steel, Elegant silver, Buff gold Unique: ? Skull: Skull face. Prank: (:3) catface?

Feature creep

Story

In the original games Druaga usually turns the benevolent Quox (a dragon) evil, does the tower thing and steals some heavenly rod and later 'naps princess Ki who ran to get the rod back. Then Gil, the hero, has to rescue Ki and get the rod back.

For my story: Maybe Quox is kidnapped by Druaga who uses the dragon's soul to make Reptilemen and Dragon minions. Druaga then besieges some temple (in a city) where the tower may have stood earlier. He uses an artifact to resurrect the tower, climb to the heavens, then grabbing some world destroying artifact. He also opens a portal to a monster world. The tower is now populated by all sorts of monsters, but Druaga himself will have to rest for a while before he can finally destroy the world. To make the surrounding people less likely to attack him, he steals their language/writing. Now it's up to the player to climb the tower and (re)learn the language, and kill Druaga. I guess it's the dragon who gets to play the role of the damselle in distress this time around!

The default hero could be a girl called Nani (which means 'what' in Japanese). Maybe Nanika, as it's similar to Annika and Nani-ka means 'What?' in Japanese. As a last name, maybe Areka (Mai Otome has a character named Arika). I think this would basically make her name (Nanika Areka) mean 'What? That?' and it would refer to the Kana being unknown.

Monsters

Slimes

All (Slimy) Green slimes appears in first section, easy. Green small (Strike) Green cluster (Knockdown) Green mage (Dark green, Wave) All (Slimy, Regenerate) Black slimes are much harder. Mid game. Black small (Strike) Black augment (Blue, Knockdown) Black augment (Red, Elec) Black Kaiser (Yellow, Fire)

Ropers

All (Slimy, Regenerate, Flurry, Strike) Early-Mid game. Blue small Teal large

Knights

All (Armoured, Strike) Early to end game, increasing difficulties, but mostly vanilla characteristics. Well armoured. Blue Black Mirror (Flip, Reflect) Red Hyper

Magicians

All (Teleports, Meaty) Early to late game. Purple Mage (Elec) Green Druid (Fire) White Sorcerer (Knockdown) Orange Wizard (Wave)

Ghosts

All (Ectoplasmic, Ghost, Wave) Gray

Wisps

All (Ectoplasmic, Leecher) Red Blue

Dragons

All (Dragonite) Green Lizardman (Strike) Black Lizardman (Strike) Green Quox (Fire) Silver Quox (Fire) Black Quox (Fire) Druaga (Flurry, Regenerate, Teleport, Strike)

Misc.

Succubus (Meaty, Zapper) Pacman ghost? (Ectoplasm, Strike, Regenerate) Twin Girasu (Vampire no bouken) Purple mud man (PC engine) Sea Urchin (PC engine) Bomb (PC engine, Exploding)

All new?

All (Meaty, Strike) Early game. Needed for variation to prevent player from getting bored early. Spider (simple creep enemy) Bat (PC engine) Rope (Tentacle of a green roper) Skeleton (None, Strike, Regenerate)

- draft end, footer,