Game Design: Elements Pt. 2

In the first post about the Elements, I gave an overview on how they are portrayed in various philosophies and media. In this post, I'll go into more detail on their role within gameplay.

Elemental Affinities

Similar to the Rune system in LoL, Elemental Affinities will be an advancement for each unit that provides another layer enhancement. The Runes were designed as passive boosts that compliment a champion's playstyle. To keep things simple, I can consider the four main elements. These effects span the various roles, but they could be associated with the primary classes to further specialize their existing roles or to compensate for their weaknesses. They could be mixed and matched with the secondary classes to become even more unique.

• Water: Abilities summon a wave of Water, knocking back enemies 
• Hunters would use this to keep enemies away
• Mages might like this to further their crowd control
• Earth: Chance to deal extra Earth damage and resist stuns
• Warriors would default to this for becoming even more durable
• Hunters or Mages could use this to compensate for their low defense
• Fire: Abilities enhanced with extra Fire damage
• Mages would use this to add damage over time between their long spell casts
• Warriors or Rogues with natural defenses could use this for extra damage
• Wind: Gain increased speed and ability to phase through targets
• Rogues would use this to maximize their backstab uptime
• Hunters could use this to compensate for their low mobility

Progression System

In combination with the class progression system, this would multiply the number of class combinations by another factor. To prevent decision fatigue, the selection for each advancement would have to be spaced out for each unit. The milestones for each level can be as follows: 

• Level 1: Primary Class
• Level 10: Elemental Affinity
• Level 15: Secondary Class

This is assuming the run will end around level 30, so that the player fully advances their party around halfway through the session. Advancements cannot be too late into the endgame, or else  the player wouldn't have enough time to adjust to the different specializations. The endgame for Rogue-likes tend to be more fun to play since it's when the characters are more developed and powerful. The accumulation of these improvements should be rewarded by giving the player time to enjoy them. 

Further Thoughts

However, there are also the non-Elemental affinities that I listed which may be added. 

• Holy: Increase healing and reduce enemy damage
• Shadow: Drain life from damage dealt 

And that is not to mention the hybrid elements I had plotted out previously. Off the top of my head, they could provide the following: 

• Lightning: Abilities chain lightning between enemies
• Nature: Abilities can poison enemies
• Magma: Abilities create damaging ground effects
• Ice: Abilities slow or freeze enemies