Srevensia - Match Making Marauders Design Document Part A

I am supposed to be working on my novel, which would take a lot of time, perhaps 10 years to 20 years. After all, I have a life to live and I don't have much time to do work on it. But considering the amount of work that has to be done (generating battle data alongside with the actual wriitng), I fear that by the time I actually released it, someone else has already do the same and I will ended up getting sued. So, I decided to upload my files somewhere publicly accessible while I am working at it. Initially, I'm considering selling my rights with regards of these game design documents, but considering the hassle that I have to go through and the impact of that on my own life with unnecessary publicty, I decided to release them under Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution International as a partially anonymous identity. After all, I don't have the ability to do lots of things, so why don't let others who can do what they want? Perhaps one wonders why not a non-commercial license. That's because I don't think I should prevent others from making money from their work just because that I can't. With that, here's the design documents in three parts (the novel will be released under the same license):

Srevensia - Match Making Marauders Style A Design Document

1. Concept

Srevensia - Match Making Marauders Style A is a puzzle battle game. Players make matches of three to form spells or barriers.

2. Goal

To reduce opponent’s HP from 25 to 0.

3. Disclaimer

Most of this document uses 2D rank 9 with standard rules as template. Additional rulesets and alterations for other modes are detailed in additional game modes section.

4. Layout

Force: 0

Player HP: 25

Enemy HP: 25

Force: 0

·         Leftmost and rightmost column: Force meter – Keeping track of force accumulated.

·         Columns next to the force meter: HP meter – Keeping track of players’ HP.

·         Purple boxes: Spell field – Contains spell blocks for matching.

·         Red boxes: Player’s barrier counter – Keeping track of the condition of player’s barrier.

·         Green boxes: Player’s barrier field – Keeping track of the element & strength of player’s barrier.

·         Yellow boxes: Player’s barrier counter – Keeping track of the condition of enemy’s barrier.

·         Blue boxes: Player’s barrier field – Keeping track of the element & strength of enemy’s barrier.

·         Orange boxes: Turn counter – Keeping track of how much turns have passed.

·         Pink boxes: Block replacement counter – Keeping track of how matched blocks are changed.

·         Black boxes: Axis counter – Keeping track of which axis the attacks and defenses go.

5. Gameplay mechanics

a. Matching

Matching is done by swapping spell box so that three spell blocks of the same element/color form a horizontal/vertical line. Non-matching swaps are penalized with 6HP reduction and no force accumulation, which shall be explained in the force section.

When a spell block is swapped horizontally, the resulting match from it becomes an attack which will be always directed at the enemy. Conversely, when a spell block is swapped vertically, the resulting match from it becomes barriers which will be always directed at the player. Each attack and barrier formed from different elements has different effects that will trigger, which shall be explained further in match effect section.

In case of simultaneous matches, the match from the spell block selected for swapping will become the first and the next matches shall be alternating between attacks and barriers. If it is originating from the same block, the blocks parallel to the direction of the swapping would be the first.

Spell blocks always disappear after matched and replaced with new ones. How does the spell blocks get replaced will be detailed in the random number generator behavior section.

After 2 turns have passed, the active barrier counters would switch sides, as indicated at the axis counter.

b. Elements

The spell blocks in the spell field can be any of the nineteen elements of nineteen colors:

Color	Element		Star
	Fire		Wood
	Water		Ice
	Wind		Poison
	Earth		Sun
	Light		Moon
	Dark		Sound
	Neutral		Steam
	Metal		Crystal
	Thunder		Cosmo
	Dimension		Oracle

c. Match effects

Every element has their own match effect when attacking. The barriers also have their own effects:

	Element	Attack effect	Barrier effect
	Fire	Minimum damage is set at 1	Damage -1
	Water	Cover 1 block permanently	Restore 1 block to normal
	Wind	Ignore all enemy’s barrier effects. Cannot stop spell effects.	Ignore all enemy’s attack effects when any of the blocks align with the barrier. Cannot stop spell effects.
	Earth	All spell blocks turn 90 degrees clockwise with matching block as center. Out of bound blocks are warped through. Effect is overridden when earth barrier effect triggers.	All spell blocks turn 90 degrees clockwise when any block of match aligns with barrier with the block align with barrier as center. Out of bound blocks are warped through.
	Light	HP +1 if own HP is less than enemy	Get 1 force point per barrier strength reduction
	Dark	Bind 1 block permanently	Seal the aligned enemy border for 2 turns
	Neutral	Halves barrier defense (rounded down).	Bounce attacks at full power to a maximum of the amount of barrier reduced.
	Metal	Attack direction of the matching spell block always turns 90 degrees towards the enemy. Effect is overridden if matching block is aligned with metal barrier.	Attack direction of spell blocks aligned with barrier always turns 90 degrees towards the player when any block is aligned with the barrier. Defense strength is reduced by 1 per block affected. If barrier strength is insufficient to redirect attacks, blocks nearest to barrier are affected first.
	Thunder	Matching block is duplicated to the other axis. The duplicated block and the barriers hit by it have no elemental effects.	Duplicate enemy attack of the block(s) aligned to the barrier to enemy other territory.
	Star	Gain barrier of the enemy’s element equal to half the difference between player’s attack and enemy’s barrier strength when the attack does not break the barriers.	Gain barrier of enemy’s element equal to half the difference between player’s barrier strength and enemy’s attack when the attack breaks the barriers.
	Wood	Attack uses force points to break enemy’s barrier when attack cannot break it at rate of 1:1, which does not increase attack power when damage calculation is done. Gain force points when matched if the effect cannot be triggered.	Defense use force points to withstand enemy’s attack when defense cannot withstand it at rate of 1:1, which does not increase barrier strength when damage calculation is done. Damage gain twice force points if effect cannot be triggered.
	Ice	Activates a block adjacent to the matching block and launch it as an attack with no elemental effects.	Halves enemy attack power by half (rounded down).
	Poison	Attack itself does not cause damage. When hitting barriers, enemy barriers’ durability are reduced by 1 for 3 turns or until it is destroyed, whichever is earlier. When hitting empty areas, the enemy’s HP is reduced by 1 for 3 turns.	A random enemy’s barrier has durability reduced by 1 for 3 turns or until it was destroyed, whichever is earlier. If there are no barriers, the enemy’s HP is reduced by 1 for 3 turns.
	Sun	Randomly changes element of a random block. Resulting match count as player’s.	Randomly changes element of a random block. Resulting match count as player’s.
	Moon	Shift the blocks aligned with matching block in the direction of attack. Out of bounds blocks warp. Effect is cancelled if hitting moon barriers.	Shift the blocks aligned with barrier in the opposite direction of attack. Out of bounds blocks warp. Effect is cancelled when defending moon attacks.
	Sound	Creates a filter permanently. Filter turns enemy attacks into defense pieces. Player 1’s filters are dotted while player 2’s filters are dashed.	Change one of enemy’s filters to that of player. If there is no filters, a filter is placed at a block aligned with areas without barriers.
	Steam	Rise a block. Rose blocks block any attack from getting through once.	Raise a random the player’s defense area that is not the one being hit. Rose defense area is invincible for one attack.
	Crystal	Forms a mirror. Mirrors reflect attacks when hitting the surface. Reflected attacks back to the player have the damage and effect applied to the player.	Spins one mirror (90/number of dimension) degrees across blocks but cannot spin out of bounds.
	Cosmo	Creates a shifter. Shifters shift an attack to an adjacent area randomly without changing its direction, merging with another attack if applicable.	Spin a shifter 90 degrees counterclockwise within the same block.
	Dimension	Forms a warp. Block swapping bypasses warps. Warped blocks cannot be swapped. Matches involving warped blocks gains double effect.	Warped block is swapped randomly, favoring match forming swaps. Match formed this way is always an attack with blocks’ values doubled and resets the chain match order.
	Oracle	Barrier hit by attack has remaining barrier strength halved (rounded down) and reversed after the turn ends. If barrier is destroyed, effect is applied to the next barrier formation. Effect is cancelled if hitting oracle barriers.	Steals the strongest barrier to defend. If player’s barrier is stolen, both barriers are destroyed. If enemy’s barrier is stolen, player’s barrier is destroyed while enemy’s barrier is restored at full power. If there are no barriers, barrier strength is increased 25% (rounded down) before being destroyed.

All decimals are rounded down.

Attack effects always trigger first and defense effect only triggers just before the attacks hit the barriers. However, wind, earth and metal barrier effects trigger before the attack effects trigger. Also, attack and defense effects are independent of each other despite attack effects trigger first, i.e. attack and defense effects are determined before they trigger.

Covered blocks are marked with blue background and do not contribute to attack or form barrier pieces. Water blocks cannot be covered.

Bound blocks are marked with black background, and unmovable and unmatchable. Dark blocks cannot be bound.

Sealed borders, as marked with X in barrier counters prevent barrier collection.

Reversed barriers have the texts strikethrough, have negative values during calculation and have strength reduced when joining other barriers. Oracle barriers cannot be reversed.

Rose blocks are marked with sky blue diagonal line. Rose barriers are marked with sky blue border shared with status bar. Steam blocks cannot be rose.

Mirrors are marked with dark gray diagonal line. Crystal blocks cannot have mirrors.

Filters are marked with light purple borders. Sound blocks cannot have filters.

Shifters are marked with dark tan diagonal line. Cosmo blocks cannot have shifters.

Warped blocks are marked with light red borders. Dimension blocks cannot have warps.

Barriers change their elements when joined, but attacks on the same direction act independently.

Match effect that involves blocks affect blocks in the matched blocks path. If the effect cannot be triggered normally, they will trigger randomly at other areas of the spell field.

Only one block effect can be applied to one block at any time. If any effect causes multiple block effects appear on the same block, the effects are reapplied until multiple block effects do not appear on the same block.

d. Calculations

Attack Damage=Attack-Defense (minimum 0)

Actual Damage=Attack Damage+Damage effect Modifiers (minimum 0)

Force Accumulated=Actual Damage

e. Spells

Before spells can be cast, players must pay 10 force points, which shall be signified by the force gauge turning dark blue. Then, a match must be done or no spells will be cast. The element of the match done determines what spell is cast:

	Element	Spell	Effect
	Fire	Inferno	Deal 7 damage to enemy
	Water	Rain	Cover (number of elements) blocks for the remainder of the battle unless they are matched
	Wind	Breeze	Enemy's attack & barrier effects are disabled for 4 turns
	Earth	Earthquake	All matched blocks turn 90 degrees clockwise before elemental effects trigger for 4 turns
	Light	Luminate	Heal 7 points
	Dark	Shockwave	Seal all opponent's border for 4 turns
	Neutral	Spike	Reduce all enemy barrier strength by half (rounded down) and deal damage equal to half difference between number of barriers affected (whichever is higher on the same axis) and number of purple blocks in field
	Metal	Rotator	The next 8 turns has the metal attack effect stack upon all player’s attacks.
	Thunder	Thunderstorm	The next 8 turns has the thunder attack effect stack upon all player’s attacks.
	Star	Shine	The next 4 turns have star match effects stacked upon all player’s attacks and defenses
	Wood	Supply	The next 4 turns have wood match effects stacked upon all player’s attacks and defenses
	Ice	Freezing	The next 4 turns have ice match effects stacked upon all player’s attacks and defenses
	Poison	Poisoning	All barriers and the player’s HP are reduced by 1 for 3 turns.
	Sun	Shine	Board reset without force penalties.
	Moon	Blanket	All blocks move right 1 unit and up 1 unit. Matched blocks are unaffected. Blocks warp through matched blocks and playfield.
	Sound	Pulse	Convert 4 enemy filters to that of player’s. If there are fewer filters, new filters are made.
	Steam	Emission	Raise 4 random blocks and 2 random player’s defense areas.
	Crystal	Bling	Add 4 mirrors randomly
	Cosmo	Phase	Add 4 shifters randomly
	Dimension	Wormhole	Forms 4 warped blocks randomly
	Oracle	Yin Yang	The next 4 turns have oracle match effects stacked upon all player’s attacks and defenses

Once the cost was paid, the player cannot do the same again for the remainder of battle. All spells are considered attacks and chain match rules apply as detailed in matching section. Only one force may be activated at one time and the match effect rules for normal matches apply as detailed in the match effect section.

Only spell can be cast. When multiple possible spell effects trigger, the matching block is used to determine the spell cast.

f. Random number generator behavior

Random numbers are generated without regards of the board condition. The numbers fill from left to right, followed with top to bottom. In case of multiple matches, the match done by the matching block gets priority. Subsequent matches fill normally.

g. Board resets

When there are no match is possible, all of the blocks in the spell field will be replaced with new ones and both players’ force gauges are reset to 0.

h. Bonuses for matching more than 3 blocks

Matching more than three blocks of the same element grant additional value to the block used to form the match by the number of extra blocks matched. However, covered blocks do not count when determining the value.

If a simultaneous match occurs, the blocks are used to form matches gain value equal to (number of simultaneous matches – 1).

6. Options

The game mechanics are partly customizable through the below options:

-          Attack only: All matches turn into attacks without regard of any way the match was done

-          Adjacent match: Any three or more blocks which are adjacent to any of themselves counted as a match

-          Diagonal recognition: Diagonal matches are allowed

-          90 degree: matches done horizontally form barriers and matches done vertically form attacks

-          Parallel siege: matches done parallel with axis form attacks, matches done perpendicular with axis form attacks

-          Perpendicular siege: matches done perpendicular with axis form attacks, matches done parallel with axis form attacks

-          Non-matching spells: Spells can be activated without needing to match. With this option, players select a spell before match starts and it become the only spell usable for the players for the remainder of the battle.

-          Chain behavior V2: Matches after the first retain the same attack/defense property of the first match

-          Board pre-match: Allows the spell field at reset having matches already

-          Force matchable blocks: The random number generator will attempt to form potential matches

-          Block chain matches: The random number generator will prevent additional matches after existing ones

-          Inward gravity: Instead of the blocks being replaced, the blocks are pulled towards the barrier field and blocks filling the blanks.

-          Outward gravity: Instead of the blocks being replaced, the blocks are pulled away from the barrier field and blocks filling the blanks.

-          Fixed gravity: Instead of the blocks being replaced, the blocks are moving in a fixed random direction determined at the start of the battle and blocks filling the blanks.

-          Extended game: Both players start with 50HP. Spells are available once between 50 to 26 HP and another between 1 to 25 HP. If player does not activate force when HP is between 26 to 50 HP, the spell is considered wasted even when HP is restored back into range.

-          Long game: Both players start with 100HP. Spells can be cast up to 4 times, but a cooldown period of 6 turns is imposed after a spell was cast before the next one can be cast.

Chain behavior V2 and attack only options are mutually exclusive. Only one of 90 degree, Parallel siege and Perpendicular siege option can be active.

7. Alterations for other game modes

a1. 1D modes

The barrier fields at the left and right sides are enabled while the ones at top and bottom are disabled. As such, there is no barrier field switch per 2 turns. Rank 8 mode and thunder and metal elements are unavailable for this game mode.

a2. 2D quad play modes

The field is exactly the same, but the attack direction changes every turn. After determining who gets to play first, the second player is the player opposite to the first player, the third player to the left and the last to the right. When attacking, the player’s first turn attack is towards the enemy opposite to the player, the second turn towards the enemy left to the player and the third turn towards the enemy right to the player. The cycle then repeats for the subsequent turns. Players are not eliminated when HP turn 0 until only one player has HP remaining.

a3/1. Tag team assault mode

Gameplay is similar to 2d quad play modes, but players play in a team with combined HP. Team players are aligned 90 degrees with each other and turn order becomes Team 1 player 1, Team 2 player 1, Team 1 player 2 and Team 2 player 2. Team mates do not attack each other and player’s attack alternates between the two enemies.

a3/2. Tag team defense mode

Gameplay is similar to 2d quad play modes, but players play in a team with combined HP. Team players are aligned opposite with each other and turn order becomes Team 1 player 1, Team 2 player 1, Team 1 player 2 and Team 2 player 2.

a3/3. Tag team break mode

Gameplay is similar to tag team defense mode, but the goal is to reduce own team’s HP to 0 before opponent does.

b1. Rank modes

Elements are fixed and the board length is equal to that of number of elements in play. The rank modes are as follows:

Element	Rank 1	Rank 2	Rank 3	Rank 4	Rank 5	Rank 6	Rank 7	Rank 8	Rank 9
	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
		Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
		Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
			Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
			Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
				Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
				Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
					Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
					Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
						Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
						Exist	Exist	Exist	Exist
							Exist	Exist	Exist
							Exist	Exist	Exist
								Exist	Exist
								Exist	Exist
									Exist
									Exist

b2. Standard modes

Elements are chosen randomly before battle starts and board length is equal to number of elements in play. The possible number of elements is as follows:

Name	Number of elements
Easy	5
Medium	6
Intermediate	7
Advanced	8
Expert	9
Ultimate	10

b3. Casual modes

Elements are chosen randomly, but the board length is 1 more than number of elements in play. The possible number of elements is as follows:

Name	Number of elements
First	4
Learner	5
Novice	6
Amateur	7
Semi-Pro	8
Professional	9

9. Thunder element behavior in 2D quad play mode

In 2D quad play mode, thunder element behaves differently than in 2D advanced mode. When the attacking direction is to the enemy opposite of the player, the duplicate attack will be directed to either left or right side randomly. The similar applies with other attack directions.

10. Spells exclusive to Non-matching spell option

Name	Effect
Free Swap	Allows a block to switch places with another one. Resulting matches have the matching block values tripled.
Power Up	Increase all player’s barrier strength by 1.
Power Down	Decrease all enemy’s barrier strength by 1.
Aligner	Align player’s barrier to enemy’s barrier based on enemy’s barrier strength.
Disperser	Align enemy’s barrier away from player’s barrier field as much as possible, but the resulting damage is halved.
Barrier Break	Destroys all enemy’s barriers.
Reinforce	Convert barriers aligned to matched blocks into attacks.
Roar	All attack blocks have elemental effects active for 3 times.
Soar	All barriers have elemental effects active for 3 times.

11. Legal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. With that, as long as attribution is given by linking back to the blog and crediting this document to Murazrai, there shall be no restrictions of using or adapting this document, including for commercial purposes.