The Combat of Cryptic Conjure
Say that three times fast.
Cryptic Conjure is, at its heart, a multiplayer action-RPG. These elements ultimately drive the underlying value and economics of spells, artifacts, crysta, and everything else in the game; it gives them intrinsic value beyond that of mere possession.
Players will be journeying with up to three others through a variety of dual-elementally themed dungeons across the land of Kyra. Each dungeon is a mixture of two elements to create some unique environments…for instance, the Fire and Life elements combine to create a unique forest system full of plants that utilize geothermal energy for food, rather than traditional photosynthesis.
Combat is all about spells, but unlike a lot of action-RPG’s, you have a limited number to bring into combat. The number increases as you level up, but in the earlier levels, you’ll only be bringing in somewhere between four to six. This means that your “spell loadout” is of the utmost important…especially when playing with others.
These spells determine your role on the team. Sure, you might load up on healing spells and be considered the traditional “healer”, but because of the relative scarcity of spells and relevant elemental alignments, it’s much more likely that most players will take on hybrid roles of some sort. We’re also adding a number of important actions a player can perform, such as MP collection and redistribution, analytics to get more awareness of where enemies’ attacks will land, and so on. Rigid combat roles will be viable, but rare, in Cryptic Conjure.
Combat itself is fast-paced. Many spells require aiming components; whether it’s on a line, a cone, or an area of effect, spells will require some precision. In addition, enemy’s attacks may often show a radius of effect before they’re triggered, so you have a chance to dodge. Spells require MP, and the dodge…a type of teleport dash…requires stamina, which rapidly regenerates. Stamina is also tied to your melee attack, so managing your stamina is a constant battle between offensive and defensive capabilities.
One of the biggest goals in Cryptic Conjure’s design was to foster teamwork, so to that end, we’ve created the Elemental Chain system. Each level of each dungeon has a unique “cycle” of elements…let’s say, Fire, then Wind, then Light…that will give extra damage if attacks land in that order. Spells will often have a significant casting time, however, so numerous teammates will have to work together and time out their casting to achieve maximum damage. In addition, if two players share the same spell Essence and cast it at the same time, a Resonance bonus occurs, boosting damage even further. This encourages players to share or trade their Essence tokens on the blockchain, but remember, doing so weakens the spell for all players, so this decision should be made carefully.
There’s tons more detail to go into…how enemy enmity is managed, MP regeneration, the “chanting” system…but we’ll get there when we get there.
Stay tuned for more dev updates, and our initial pre-sale of assets, coming in just a few weeks! Learn more at www.crypticconjure.com.
