Welcome to the dev diary of Matthew A Cummings

In this dev diary, I'll be detailing my ongoing progress on the development of Synzza Star.

What is Synzza Star?

Synzza Star will be a tactical turn-based action RPG. While it will feature an expansive story set in a fictional universe like many RPGs, for now the focus of my work will be fleshing out the combat system. If you'd like to hear more about the creative-writing aspect of this project, tune into later updates on this blog for more details.

You may have noticed earlier I described Synzza Star as a "turn-based action RPG". That may seem like a counter-intuitive or even contradictory idea. Turn-based RPGs give the spotlight to the planning and strategizing process of the game by giving the player ample time to make their decisions. In contrast, action RPGs are usually much more dynamic, with allies and enemies alike dodging and launching attacks at the same time.

Synzza Star aims to strike a balance between these styles of games. Like in an action RPG, battlers will move and activate their abilities simultaneously, where the difference between a successful hit and a miss comes down to timing and prediction; however, between the actions of the player's characters, the battle "pauses" to allow the player to think about and choose their party's next moves.

The goal is to achieve a battle system that is more exciting and interesting to look at than a traditional turn-based RPG while still allowing careful planning and strategizing to be possible. This battle system will be the focus of my development for now.

What's next?

Synzza Star will be made in Unity as a 2.5D project. My general road map is to first make some simple pathfinding enemy AI to navigate a blocked-out level, and to then use that foundation to build the action RPG elements and then finally the pause mechanic which will allow players to plan their actions.

If you're interested in the roadmap, feel free to follow the project. I look forward to posting updates in the future.

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