Protecting Players from themselves

No one enjoys a 2 hour board game if they spend the entire time regretting a choice made 10 minutes into the game. Here’s the thing, if a player can make a mistake so early in the game that makes the rest of their experience unfun – the game designer should...

PvP PvE Alt Endings

The most immediate difference between our PvP and PvE mode is that in the PvE mode players are not allowed to challenge other players. We are making this the default mode for players playing in exploration mode (the version of the game where the combat mechanics are...

Buffing the Universal Move Pool

In earlier iterations of Aethermon, an Aethermon’s Specific Battle Moves tended to be slightly more powerful than the Battle Moves available in the universal pool. The rationale here was partially thematic – if Thunder Aethermon were supposed to the fastest...

Balance Class Specific Moves

Game design mistakes tend to take one of two forms: (1) an issue or improvement was never considered when it should have been; or (2) an issue or improvement was considered and the wrong decision was made. Upon identifying the first kind of mistake, the solution tends...

Reducing Player Overhead 2

To truly immerse players in the Aethermon experience it was essential that players had a tangible sense of their Aethermon’s growth over a playthrough. Representing this growth however created a conundrum – the most overt ostentatious displays of character...