Elemental Skills Discussion

[Lore]

Hi Folks,

I'm currently in the process of developing skill trees for my classes and I've now hit a snag.

In my game, there are 4 main characters, who each use 1 of the archtypes in my game: Fighter, Rouge, Mage & Ranger. Each character starts at the top of the tree class tree and throughout the game will unlock the additional classes in their archtypes. Players level up these classes to gain access to better skills, some of which can be used in any of the classes they train in.

I'm currently working on the Mage Archtype, and the skills for its 3 classes:

Elementalist: Uses the forces of nature (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth, Wind & Water) to damage foes.
Warlock: A combat mage that uses Light and Dark abilities to attack and debuff their foes, but also can be used as a secondary mage healer.
Divine: The healer who uses both Light and Life magicks to buff and heal their party members.
​

The snag I've hit is with the Elementalist skill tree. While I have used a spell generator to generate a number of spell names, I'm not happy with most of them.

What do you guys do in these situations? Feel free to also suggest names that could be used for these types of spells too. :)

Thanks guys.

 

[Jiriki9]

Well, that really depends on your approach on the game.
I personally usually go for names which describe the effect of the spell in a simple ingame-way: Examples would be Flame, Fireball, Geysir, Tidal Wave, Stone Fist, Earthquake, Frostbite, Blizzard, Wind Gust, Tornado, Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning.

Of course you can go for a more game-ish style as well and just name them <Element>1-5 or such...

 

[Lore]

An approach I'll keep in mind. Thanks @Jiriki9 :D

As for the <element> 1-5 etc idea, that is still an option. I may still go with that simple method if all else fails and I give myself an aneurysm. Haha. :)

Thank you for your input! :D

 

[Isaac The Red]

Worry about skill names later, Their names will become more apparent as you make the skills themselves. A simple Fire spell that just pops and does some fire damage may just take the name, "Flame" or "Fire" generic but expected of a simple spell, while a Powerful Fire Spell that Leaves a D.O.T. effect behind May take the name of "Immolation" or "Hell Fire" If you start from the skill name and then design the skill, you put a subconsious leash on your creativity before you even begin being creative. :3

 

[GYIYGABITE]

If you are stuck with finding names, what I would do is just give simple names to what the spell does. That way when the player is looking for a spell to cast, they don't have to read the description. Here's an example:

Flamebolt - Description: Deals minor fire damage to one target.
Fireball - Description: Deals major fire damage to one target.

There can be situation when the player can get confused or wasn't aware that he/she casted the wrong spell. To be more clear, I would write this:

Fire I - Description: A firebolt that deals minor fire damage to a target.
Fire II - Descrption: A fire ball that deals major damage.

With this, the player now can differentiate which one is more powerful. Now can you do the same with maybe a spell that targets everyone? Of course! For example:

Arc Fire I - Descrption: A fire wave that deals minor damage to all targets.
Arc Fire II - Description: A fire storm that deal mayor damage to all targets.

You can also go Dungeons and Dragons style as well!

Minor Fire / Augmented Fire / Mayor Fire!

Sometimes, simplicity can become your best ally.

 

[Lore]

That's what I've done for the time being, just put in potential placeholders for each spell (Fire I, Ice I, Thunder I, etc). :) Thanks for the input :D

 

[SalmonWine]

Personally, I enjoy going with an "establish and evolve" method.

Lets say your first fire type skill is a simple skill, Flame
Deals minor fire damage to one target

Then, you step it up with Fireball

Moving onto Flameblast

Then, since its in a skill tree and people will know what the element is in that particular branch of the tree by now, you get wacky

Supernova
Cataclysm
Hell Fire

 

[hbn]

Kept default eight elements, each element having ten magic, five offensive, five recovery/status effects. Each follow some form of naming convention similar to what @EonTripleX calls the "Establish and evolve". Basic 1st level attack skills are just fire, ice, thunder, etc. 2nd level called stuff like burn, frost, shock up to the last level, pryomaxia, cryomaxia, electromaxia. The defensive magic, has some correspondence to it's element but not much.

It doesn't matter completely which one you use so long as you're consistent and it fits. Final Fantasy tends to follow the -e -ra -ga -ja suffix pattern, except for FF7 which uses Fire, Fire 2 and Fire 3.

I don't use a skill tree, magic won't be learnt in shops or bought with AP. It is equipped through augments. Sounds similar to materia but has differences in working. You don't level skills up using AP. They level up with skill usage. Augments may unlock certain levels of certain elements of either attack or defence but not all. Not sure whether or not to make that particular augment's progress be shared to characters or unique by design. It's only a planned mechanic, not even begun trying to implement it completely other than create some basics. I still have 8 recovery/status magic skills to create.

I'm not sure how non-elemental magic may work, I've not done any.

 

[SalmonWine]

Regarding elements themselves, the standard eight aren't necessary. The way i see it, there tend to be 5 working types of element systems

Basic - these are your starter pokemon elements, water earth and fire.

Simple - This is when you throw in one more piece, like thunder or wind.

Standard - Here, you take the four elements you picked from simple, and throw in dark and light.

Advanced - These are RPG Maker's standard 8 elements. Fire, water, earth, ice, light, dark, thunder, and wind.

Expert - Take your standard 8 and throw 2, 3, or even 4 more. Poison, steel, bomb, etc.

As for non elemental systems, they can ONLY work if you do some advanced stuff with skilfls and weapons. My game Silence is being made without an elemental system, and the combat works fine

 

[hbn]

I did consider redoing the elements to have a 'synthesis' system. You have Earth, Water, Wind, Fire (and Light, Dark and Nature) and then you combine any of those to create a new spell, combining up to three in total. Fire + Fire + Fire is just a really strong fire spell, Fire + Water = some sort of steam attack, Earth + Fire + Wind = some sort of meteor attack, but that idea has been reserved for another project that was planned in VX and is now just an idea on paper.

 

[Jiriki9]

The combination idea IS kind of nice.

On the number of elements...it all depends on the style of game and combat, and on taste, probably. Lore can also play a role of course.