Greed of Asmodeus (Videogame)

GREED OF ASMODEUS or alternatively, "Paorou's Ambition", is a proposed mobile videogame made out of an older prototype narrative strategy game of the same name.

Description
You play as a hero, leading armies against another hero who leads his own armies. For simplicity's sake, the armies are divided into three squads of ten people. You primarily control the hero's actions and simply give simple commands to the squads, such as 'Defend' and 'Attack'. These three squads will only clash with their counterparts across the field.

The Hero, being you, is much more flexible, as he can choose to help one of the three squads fight their counterparts, or disrupt the action of the enemy hero. Your hero is also capable of killing masses of enemies, sending them flying a la Sauron from the beginning of Lord of the rings, hence the Dynasty Warriors description. He does so with combos and outrageous stunts which you can design on the fly. So when the enemy hero and you clash, you can literally trade punches in mid air a la fly-by-wire kung fu movies. The game system for this will be discussed below.

You win if you can destroy all the enemy ground forces, or if you kill the enemy hero.

Character Creation
Before engaging in battles, players must create their own characters. It is actually a very simple process, but the number of play styles can be very varied.

The Hero - You.
You may design this character, mostly just for visual appeal and style. (Maybe a ryu-alike just punches people out of the way and uses a chi-blast, or a katana wielding guy uses quick sword draws like Kenshin from samurai X, etc.) The visual design and animation of the character may be the monetization aspect of the game, as they hardly affect actual gameplay other than looking more impressive and flashy than other players. In some ways this is important, as the over-the-top nature of the game is what makes it appealing.

But the meat of character creation is the determination of the Hero's stats/skills. These stats/skills are used in 'Combos', which involve the mixed use of the stats/skills in battle. Due to the balance of the system, you may change your character at any time, provided you are not in battle.

There are only five stats/skills to keep track of, with default values. the higher the number, the more effective the stat/skill:

- Life : 5 - This is your Hero's life. By default, he can take 5 damage before dying.

- Attack : 1 - This is what your hero uses to deal damage.

- Defense : 1 - This is what your hero uses to mitigate damage.

- Morale : 0 - Used to boost combos, or support your armies' efforts.

- Heal : 0 - Used to regain lost life points, or restore lost soldiers.

The player is then given 5 points, which he can use to increase his stats on a one-for-one basis. With the exception of Life, the maximum stat rank is 4, which can only be achieved by paying 2 points for the transition from rank 3. You may choose to save these points to customize your armies (see 'Armies' below).

''For example, I design a character who shoots beams out of his hands named PAOLOMAN. Since I want to support my buds offensively and power up my own damaging combos, I decide to save one point for them later. I have these stats:''

"PAOLOMAN"

Life : 5

Attack : 3

Defense : 1

Morale : 2

Points (after creation): 1

The player may opt to return to the default values and starting points at any time. Later on, he has the option to reduce his default stats to zero to have more customizability. The points for Attack/Defense are one-for-one, Life is two-for-one. The player has the option to have a character with only one Life, risky and foolish as it is.

Combos will be discussed in Gameplay mechanics, below.

Armies
Armies are the generic warriors your character leads. As above, the player may design their overall color scheme and pick from a bunch of generic designs. Monetization can be used here if they want to use more specific designs, such as camoflage-colored rifle-toting marines, as farfetched as that is.

By default, most players don't need to worry about their default stats, but if they saved some points from earlier, they can modify them like their heroes.

- Elements : 10 - This represents the number of people in the unit, thus its health and overall effectiveness.

- Attack: 1 - Unit ability to deal damage.

- Defense : 1 - Unit ability to prevent damage.

With the exception of Elements, the maximum stat rank is 4, which can only be achieved by paying 2 points for the transition from rank 3.

Following the example earlier : Since I saved a point from PAOLOMAN, I decide to put it into the Squad's attack, to fit the offensive flavor of my team.

PAOLOMEN

- Elements: 10

- Attack : 2

- Defense: 1

Looks : Guys with red samurai armor and KATENAS

As the Armies don't have combos like Heroes do, half of their combat efficiency lies in their Elements stat. These stats represent each of the three squads at the start of the battle.

THE BASIC MECHANIC
As this idea was originally a pen and paper game, it utilized many 6-sided dice to determine and resolve combat.

The basic mechanic of this game is to roll a 6-sided die and compare the result to the rank of the skill used. If it falls under the number, it passes, if not, it fails. This process is done multiple times, depending on the combo or element number. The player must then count the number of passing dice and compare it to the amount of passing dice produced by his enemy.

Depending on who has more, has less, or tied, different effects occur depending on the type of skill used. So for example: A person who attacked with more passing dice than an enemy who defended deals his damage. The defender failed to prevent it all.

Thus, the ranks and number of dice rolled increase the chances of succeeding, each in their own way. Combos and elements represent the number of dice rolled - stat/skill ranks represent the roll results that make passing dice.

This system of resolution will be carried over to the video game, and will mostly occur in the background, thus players are only aware of the results of using their combos and if their abilities succeed or not.

THE BATTLE
​VS _________	 _________ 	| A 1	|	 | B 1	 | _________ 	 _________ 	| A 2	| O  O  |  B 2	 | _________	 _________ 	| A 3	|	 | B 3  | _________	 _________

This is the format of the battle, A represents your team and B represents the enemy team. The numbers represent lanes and the squads that will clash with each other. The circles represent the heroes leading each army.

The Battle consists of multiple rounds that occur until a hero is killed or until an army is completely destroyed. A round has 3 main phases, some sub-phases:

Planning - deciding what moves should be done.


 * - Army commands - Order your armies to Attack or Defend, and they will only clash with their counterparts.
 * - Hero Action - Decide what your hero will be doing this round. He may choose to disrupt an enemy Hero by attacking him.


 * Disruption - If a Hero has been disrupted by another Hero, he may change his combo to suit this change in plans. But this comes at a Cost. (see Combos below)

Combat - Watch your plan come together. Most of the special effects, kung-fu and flying people occurs at this part.


 * - Support - Supportive skills (morale and health) always occur first, free from outside factors, unless disrupted.
 * - One on One Combat - If heroes face each other, this occurs.
 * - Hero Lane combat - If a hero decides to attack or defend an enemy squad, this occurs.
 * - Offscreen clash - the other squads kill each other offscreen.

Resolution - The aftermath of combat. Determine if anything dies or anything has bonuses.


 * - Spoils: Destroying an enemy squad confers benefits for the victorious party. You may choose an effect that brings victory ever closer.
 * - Victory Check : Are there no enemy army left on the field? Is the enemy hero dead? If any of these are true, the game ends. If not, return to phase one.

Planning
The planning phase is where you plot out your moves in a battle.

First you give orders to each of your still existing squads, whether they attack or defend against their counterparts in their lane. - Attacking deals damage to opponents, but the unit also recieves damage in turn. - Defending reduces damage a squad would recieve from his lane counterpart.

This is simple enough, since most of your attention will be on your heroes' actions: - Attack - The hero inflicts damage on his opponents. - Defend - The hero prevents damage to himself or to a squad. (if in a lane) - Morale - The hero buffs himself or his army for the upcoming clash. - Healing - The hero heals previous damage to himself or a target squad.

The hero may choose from any of the skills he has with ranks above zero, so by default he should be able to Attack or Defend. The rank determines the effectiveness of the skill, with 0 being useless and 6 being literally perfect at it. Ranks 5 and 6 can only be achieved with a morale action.

Then you choose a target for his action. - You may only target an enemy hero if you are attacking or defending against him/her. This counts as a disruption action. - If attacking or defending, you may choose a lane, where the hero leads his/her squad from the front, facing the brunt of the enemy squad's attack, or defense. - If using either of the two supportive actions (morale and healing) you can target your hero or a lane. If targetting a lane, you apply the results of his action to the allied squad in that lane before combat begins. If the target is your hero, the result is applied before combat begins. - If disrupted, one may still use supportive combos with the self as a target.

After you have decided the course of action for your hero, now you perform a combo to determine how your action plays out.

The Combo
The combo is a series of moves placed on a 'string' to increase the effectiveness of an action to epic proportions. By default, a string can support only 4 moves, but this can be increased by using morale actions or prematurely ending combos and leaving some string for the next turn. (For instance, if out of five moves, you only used 2, you have 3 more moves for your next turn.) The calculation is always 4 + moves carried over from last turn.

The only way you can lose the number of moves in your string is if you are disrupted, and decide to change your combo before entering the clash against the enemy hero. Your moves are then reduced by one, to a minimum of three.

By deciding what action you've decided to take earlier, you have taken up the first move of the string with that action. Now you may fill the string with more moves, with choices represented by the skills/stats you possess. Using the same skill/stat as the first move uses up only one move on the string. Using any other skill/stat uses up two moves - this option, however, brings other abilities into play with the combo, like deflecting an attack while dealing damage. It also allows players who have low stats in attacking but have skills elsewhere to have some chance against players who purely put their stats into dealing damage. However, a pure-use of the skill allows a higher chance of success when counting the effects of a resolution (see Combat Phase Below)

Each move actually represents the roll of a 6-sided die, compared to the rank of the corresponding skill/stat. So by purely using the skill, you are actually rolling more dice, as opposed to rolling less dice and hoping for specific dice to succeed. The order of the combo affects nothing but the visual effect seen during the clash.

Here is a chart of effects for nonstandard combos:


 * Attacking Action
 * Defense - If this move is successful, deflect one damage.
 * Healing - If this move is successful, the Hero recovers one health during resolution.
 * Morale - If this move is successful, this move counts as two successes towards resolution.(see Combat Phase below)
 * Defending Action
 * Attack - If this move is successful, deal one damage.
 * Healing - If this move is successful, the Hero recovers one health during resolution.
 * Morale - If this move is successful, this move counts as two successes towards resolution. (see Combat Phase below)
 * Healing Action
 * Attack - If this move is successful, deal one damage to enemy hero (if one on one) or enemy squad in lane (if targetting allied squad), otherwise nothing.
 * Defense - If this move is successful, deflect one damage of enemy hero (if one on one) or enemy squad in lane (if targetting allied squad), otherwise nothing.
 * Morale - If this move is successful, this move counts as two successes towards resolution. (see Combat Phase below)
 * Morale Action
 * Attack - If this move is successful, deal one damage to denemy hero (if one on one), otherwise temporarily increase rank of target's next Attack skill/stat use by one.
 * Defense - If this move is successful, deal one damage to enemy hero (if one on one), otherwise temporarily increase rank of target's next Defense skill/stat use by one.
 * Healing - If this move is successful, recover target's health by one during resolution.

For example, if PAOLOMAN wishes to support his squad 2 in battle while helping them destroy the enemy squad, he would take a Morale Action, then create this combo with this string:

Morale 2 (the action)> Attack 3 (the additional effect) > Morale 2 (filling in the last spot) for a total of 4 moves, leaving no extra moves for next turn.

Disruption
Though not technically a main phase (planning, combat, resolution) it occurs between planning and combat and doesn't necessarily fall in either. A disruption takes place when a hero decides to attack or defend against an enemy hero that did not target the disrupting hero with his current action.

Before combat begins, the disrupted hero is notified of this and can opt to change his combo to suit his opponent. But as detailed above, his combo string is reduced by one due to this mishap.

Disruptions always cause a one-on-one battle to occur.

Combat
Combat is when everything begins moving, when troops get healed, buffed and damage begins getting dealt to each other.

Combat technically takes place all at once, but for the sake of simplicity, it is presented in five steps:


 * Supportive Combat


 * One on One Combat OR


 * Hero Lane Combat


 * Offscreen Clash
 * Combat Animation

Mechanically, combat consists of two opposing forces, be it heroes or squads, rolling for passing dice and comparing it with each other to achieve effects.

The Combat Roll
Combat is when all the actions are rolled.

For Squads, the roll is as simple as a number of dice equal to their Element stat with each die having a target less than their action's rank. All dice that fall under the rank are counted as passing dice for either action. (defend or attack). Squad roll - 's passing dice = d6 with individual targets under .

For Heroes, it's a little more complex due to the combo system. The system must take account of each die and it's corresponding skill/stat and compare it with that skill/stat's rank. If specific dice succeed, additional effects may immediately kick in, depending on the skill/stat alotted for them. (Refer to the chart in "The Combo" above for the effects of stats/skills in combos)

However, the overall number of passing dice is still counted for the action/first move in the combo. Hero Roll - 's passing dice = 1d6 with target of  + 1d6 with target of  + 1d6 target of  + ...

The passing dice is compared to the opponent's passing dice (Though sometimes there are no opponents and all you check for are successes - see support step) and the result is compared to the chart below to determine the effect:

ATTACK

 * Win - Deal 1+damage equal to the difference between the two results.
 * Tie - Deal 2 damage to the opponent.
 * Lose - Deal 1 damage to the opponent.

DEFENSE

 * Win - Deflect all damage. (even those caused by specific combo moves)
 * Tie - Deflect 2 damage.
 * Lose - Deflect 1 damage.

HEALING
(NOTE: Heal means restoring lost life or elements, not adding new life/elements)
 * Win - Heal damage/lost soldiers equal to the difference between the two results.
 * Tie - Heal one damage/lost soldier.
 * Lose - Nothing.

MORALE

 * Win - Gain additional moves for next combo string if targeting self/ add bonus die to allied squad equal to the difference between the two results. Lasts for next action only. (However, the move can still be stored for future combos)
 * Tie - Gain 1 additional move for combo string/bonus die for next action.
 * Lose - nothing.

All this, however, takes place in the background, so all the player worries about is pass or fail. He only has to worry about how much damage he deals or if he is able to heal anything this turn.

Supportive Combat
If any hero is using Healing or Morale, and he/she is not disrupted, the hero immediately acts first. If both heroes are performing support actions, the Player's hero acts first visually (on his own device), the order here is irrelevant as the actions are technically taking place at the same time. The effects also resolve at the same time.

Support Actions performed in this manner are not contested and always count as successful with at least one passing die. (for the purposes of comparison, they compare against 0) However, they never benefit from ties.

The effects occur immediately before Lane Combat or one on one combat begins.

One on One Combat
One on one combat occurs if both heroes are in the same lane and both are using attack or defense actions. If one hero is using a support action he undergoes (well, underwent) Supportive Combat instead. Then the other hero undergoes Hero Lane Combat. (below)

It always occurs if a hero has been targetted. (disrupted or not) Support Actions become irrelevant in this case.

All support actions that target an allied squad instead target the self as a result.

One on one combat is essentially standard combat without the additional factor of squad support. (see Hero Lane Combat) Both heroes simply roll their combos, apply their effects, then wait for resolution.

Hero Lane Combat
Hero Lane Combat occurs if a hero decides to attack or defend a lane. He either protects his squad or leads the attack on his opponent. Either way he takes the brunt of the enemy squad's attacks. However, he always has the support of his own squad.

If another hero is in the lane and performing an attack or defense action, One on One combat occurs instead, and the squads clash offscreen.

First, check if the Hero and the squad are performing the same action. (Attack or Defense)

If they are, then simply combine their passing die results, and compare it with the opponent's, applying the effects outlined above. Take any successful combo dice with additional effects as well, then wait for resolution. Any effects as a result of this action will always apply to the Hero, particularly damage.

If not, it gets a bit complicated. The Hero and the squad have to compare their passing dice separately against the enemy squad's passing dice. So it's possible for the Hero to have his attack lose by two and his squad to win their defense, thus nullifying the enemy squad's attack while dealing at least 1 damage. The highest enemy's effects from both comparisons, however, will apply to the hero. (Deal 3 damage from winning, though this is nullified) So while certainly a powerful tactic, it still carries with it a degree of risk.

Offscreen Clash
This happens to all squads when one on one combat occurs, or to a lane if squads fight without any heroes present. They basically roll and compare their passing dice against each other and apply their effects offscreen. The results are generally just displayed in resolution.

The Combat Animation
After all the above steps are done, the player is presented with the combat without showing him all the rolls/rules that were detailed above.

The player simply sees the first action of his Hero on his device, seeing him undergo Supportive combat, One on One Combat or Hero Lane combat. Then assuming he has not undergone one on one combat, he sees his opponent act next.

Visually, the player sees his/her Hero performing a number of onscreen actions according to the moves on the combo string. For every small action performed, it represents one combo string move. If it was a nonstandard move that wasn't the same as the action/first move, a small indicator shows Pass or Fail above the hero as he performs his combo.

So if this was an attack action, the player may see his/her Hero perform a flurry of punches, for example. If this was a healing action, he may be casting a spell or brandishing his surgery equipment.

If his/her target is an enemy squad, a group of people are seen charging haplessly into the hero, and are repulsed by her attack. Eventually the allied squad joins the battle and obscures the player's field of view in the chaos of battle.

If his/her target is his opponent, they both perform their combos at each other's faces while a battle rages in the background. If the enemy's life is reduced to zero as a result of this one on one battle, the game immediately, seemlessly moves to resolution phase.

Squads of either team fight 'in the background' if they have no hero supporting them or fighting them. Only the results of their clash are shown in Resolution.

Resolution
If a squad has been destroyed, the winning squad may choose to MERGE with another allied squad, increasing their elements. Alternatively, it may choose to deal an automatic one damage to the enemy hero, or 2 damage to all other enemy squads, which cannot be defended against.  