My MAGICAL solution to weapon durability! | Devlog

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Music: Gaur Plains (Night) - Xenoblade Chronicles

[@arrowsden]

If you’re planning to add in spells that are triggered for healing and throwing, maybe you could consider allowing the player to set what spell they want coming from what action? You could also potentially have the spell have different properties based on its trigger, like a fire spell on throw would cause an explosion where the weapon hits, but if it’s on your heal it could instead summon balls of fire that rotate around you as a sort of shield?

[@madcontrollerx263]

This! This was what I was immediatelely thinking about!

[@DylBro101]

It reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. Selecting spells to buff a specific action and being able to swap interchangeably when needed.

[@Alchemyst326]

Another customization option that doesn't require player input would be to link different spells to different weapon types. This is the first video on this game i've watched, so I'm not too familiar with weapon variety, but you could make it so each weapon falls into a particular category, and each category has its own spell on breaking, i.e., heavy weapons do a big earthquake or fireburst around you, ranged weapons might do an auto-targeted lightning bolt, short weapons might do light AoE damage but also push enemies away and stun them, or freeze them. This would encourage players to gather a variety of weapons, even ones they don't necessarily like to fight with, as it would give them access to situationally useful spells.

[@ericsilva6787]

Also, different weapons could have different effects, the stronger weapos having bigger spells

[@snuffy_tv]

I really like your solution to the durability situation. Ive never seen a weapon break mechanic like this and I think its going to be great in practice. When you were talking about attacks charging weapons up I kept thinking of the soulreaper axe in OSRS, the more hits in a row you do the stronger subsequent hits become. Excited to see where you take all of this. :)

[@datnastysalad5616]

Weapon durability works in BOTW and TOTK because they're everywhere, you can hold multiple, and they have unique interactions. Because you can only hold one thing at a time, i think scrapping weapon durability was a good choice. I also like the healing mechanic. Great solution!!

[@catmaster42]

Although, i'll be honest, it leads to -really -bad habits and a few other MAJOR problems as well. I do not think botw or totk weapon durability is healthy by any means due to them leading to bad habits. (I can go into more detail if want but I don't expect a response tbh)

[@flyingfox3296]

@@catmaster42 I'm interested!

[@amandaslough125]

​@@catmaster42Please share this youtube comment essay.

[@catmaster42]

@@amandaslough125 Generally, how I played the game (Like breath of the wild and stuff) Especially for master mode... The game became very grindy and caused bad habits, trying to get the most durability type weapon (Royal claymore go brr) and even then, barely using it, and more cheesing most encounters to not waste weapon durability on most enemies. Turns into that holding until that "Perfect time" thing since weapons is a resource. Espcially for those that understand the game greater, it leads into just... NOT using weapons and using alternative means to kill enemies, which turns into the most cost effective way to kill enemies. Tears of the kingdom added weapon repairing, which only amplified this problem of grinding, which just turns into get best weapons, fight enemies with weapons until nearly broken, then just spend the -way- too long repairing and repeat this. Easily have 200 something attack with high durability within near the start of the game and will just cause the player (Me) to just fill up purely on preferred weapon (Breath of the wild, royal claymore / tears of the kingdom, high damage weapons) Just my experience with it... Now if the game added a system in place to reward the player for breaking weapons (somehow...) it might be a bit more interesting, but would need to be good and compliment am think? Weapon durabiltiy is just a very weird system overall

[@timdithmer9184]

Does this mean, more Devlog's now? :O Hyped! Love to hear you are working on your passion full-time now!

[@dev.bodyaq]

I think that you can incentivise the player to switch weapons by making enemies more vulnerable to certain types/elements of weapons. One thing I always thought made sense was for spears to be more effective against armoured enemies but naturally less so against crowds

[@dylanjackson0805]

Super excited to see where else this project goes! You inspired me to make my own game in the Top Down format, and I am LOVING IT! Thank you! Keep up with the amazing content!

[@GamingTardigrade]

I keep on admiring the art work. The animations are so smooth and satisfying to watch. Amazing to see!

[@stray1239]

*the weapon shattered in your hands, as you are filled with the power of moonlight and your health increases. you feel that somewhere, on the other side of the screen, some youtube commenter's mind was blown by the genius of such a mechanic.

[@joserobertodantas1516]

These are some cool mechanics. Btw, I liked the idea of the weapon becoming dull after the durability was lost. The player being able to repair it would solve the presented issues.

[@jovegraham6904]

I stumbled upon these devlogs a few months ago and I've been following along ever since! Keep up the great work!

[@Dashmaster305]

Subscribed! You're not like so many other devlog channels who describe their game and how they made it, but not the questions, mechanical interactions, and effects of each decision like you do. It makes the videos interesting without the need for that *_IN YOUR FACE_* fast pace editing style that's too afraid to stay on one subject for over 2 minutes. I feel like I get something of value as you explore a question with each video, and as a side affect of you explaining the mechanical _interactions_ , I feel like I know how the game feels without having even seen a trailer yet! Good stuff 😎

[@woqu99]

The way your aprocing your game, mechanicaly first, then everything else is really fascinating,

[@bholmesdev]

The amount of polish on all of these ideas is amazing, especially when you’re not sure it’ll stick. That healing animation + sound effect is so satisfying ✨ And congrats on the full time switch!

[@name-ie9qo]

This is super clever and creative. I admire how you're really focusing on crafting a unique experience by tweaking fundamental things like durability - which most games would overlook and default to a standard durability system. Wishing you the best in your journey!

[@Legendary_Honey]

I think a lot of devs don't realize that gameplay variety comes far more from interesting enemies - the kind that require a specific solution to defeat, like learning enemy patterns in a Souls game, or figuring out the puzzle for a Zelda enemy - than weapon variety. You could have one singular main weapon with only a few attacks (Ocarina of Time) but the combat never gets stale because the enemies always keep things interesting.

[@robertpopowski4712]

I think that in general these changes are very cool and the animation of regaining life looks great.❤

[@eboatwright_]

_Oooh_ that weapon snap animation looks so satisfying!! Good luck on doing game dev full time! :D

[@bensdecoypoondummy1189]

I like hearing your in depth thought process on these. I think you're taking it in a good direction! Very inspiring stuff

[@tasoganedude]

4:35 This is an AMAZING idea! Receiving damage is the player's mistake. So sacrificing your consumables is the trade-off to fixing that mistake. They would have to trade their power and extra money method for restoring health.

[@woomod2445]

This is an amazing solution to the design goal of weapon durability. Congrats and cracking the code there!

[@MarcusSanatan]

Your solution to encourage using different weapons feels truly unique, kudos for accepting feedback and bringing something brand new to the table!

[@_meowntain_]

I saw this devlog series and noticed it was super similar in style to my own game I’m working on. Thanks for the inspiration and motivation :D

[@leagueoflanky]

Mate you really know how to make satisfying animations/sounds! The healing from the weapon is so satsifying dude!

[@mz_eth]

Great video! And seriously congrats on going full time. It feels like a pipe dream for me, so it’s inspiring to see people find success

[@fabiolean]

I LOVE simplified damage and health systems. And I think breaking your own weapons to heal is very elegant. Great ideas!

[@SuperKendoman]

Much love to you and your channel, my friend. I truly believe that by showing so many people your tutorials and ideas, that the indie games industry will thrive

[@mrIido]

that's honestly such a creative solution! First video I've seen of yours, immediate subscribe

[@FrogTonic]

Like the changes so far! I didn’t even think about the healing, but with the whole positive incentive thing, it seems like it is working out more! Glad my feedback was able to help you with some of your decisions. Can’t wait to see more of the game as it progresses!

[@Challacade]

Thank you for the comment that made it into the video 😇

[@Kiiaro3D]

Glad I found these devlogs, I really loving this artstyle

[@wolfeygamedev1688]

The consume to heal is good game design, I like it!

[@jojo.s]

I just saw this and even though I'm not a fan of pixel art, I love how smooth & fast your game looks! I would actually love to play this

[@babi8256]

Great idea to use weapons to heal. Also, maybe a fully charged weapon heals for 2... so you might try to get those last few hits in to get some extra healing. Also if there are RPG elements, you could alternatively consume a weapon to gain xp in some skill. With a fully charged weapon giving you more xp. Overall, super fun watching you develop this game!

[@zylo202]

Just found this series, but I really like your solutions to make the player not feel bad about durability. Besides incentivizing the player it also seems to have added more depth to your core gameplay loop. *chefs kiss*

[@darenn-keller]

Great video! Congratulations on going full time. 😊That's a great solution to weapon durability. I really like seeing the process that lead here and how your community helped you improved your game.

[@presuntomr]

The idea of breaking weapons to heal is genius! I love it 😮

[@ascomol37]

The idea is very cool: one thing i feel could work is making it so stronger weapons heal more, otherwise a player might only stick to using weak weapons to heal. however that would probably come with balancing issues

[@UsernameNotTaken2]

Honestly- that's a cool idea. Love the idea of breaking weapons to cast spells- like- it's a component. Nice work!

[@heeho5495]

Really cool, just stumbled on to this video but I've never seen a durability mechanic as interesting as this!

[@rpgamersgamecorner7181]

You're putting a lot of effort into this project, and I'm very curious about the future! Keep up the good work!

[@IceTV123]

your game looks really cool and i will definitely be coming back for more devlogs

[@vaughnloertscher4572]

The weapon durability was the one aspect I was worried about but I think this new system works so much better!

[@KaitheArtGuy]

I always love seeing how other devs get around a problem, great thinking!

[@SpikeStudio]

Congrats on going full time! The magic almost “upgrading” the mechanics throughout the game is a cool concept :)

[@AtomSpirit_]

Good luck in journey man! Love to see more progress keep up the good work

[@modernrecipes]

this is really cool, your approach is very good its clear the game design will benefit from the thoughtful approach. very very interesting

[@hynnd323]

I keep being surprised by how creative and smart these design solutions are. Love it, I think this system has a lot of potential!

[@baysha3231]

Just found this channel and your game looks pretty cool. Love the design of the protagonist. On the topic of having to balance weapons for the new system, you don't have to have weapons only deal 1-2 damage. Since enemy HP seems to be hidden in this game, you can have enemies have numerical HP while still having the player have hearts as health.

[@Negreb25]

Well done 👍 You are too underrated

[@tannerb1475]

Superb graphics! I like the moons instead of hearts health system, looks pretty cool and is quite memorable. Thanks for sharing your progress! :D

[@Suavemente_Enjoyer]

Good job man! I’m excited to see how this turns out!

[@froggaming783]

i really like the weapon destruction to heal/cast spells! gives a good sense of risk reward to getting those heavy hitting spells in since your also getting rid of a heal, simplifying the health down to one hit does one damage to the player is also pretty smart for making damage feel more meaningful, but i feel like the same being applied to enemies could lead to some balancing issues later, i dont know what youve got planned for balancing things down the line, but i noticed during the clips of the eyeball/beholder boss fight the damage tick of the torch fire was doing huge amounts of damage to the boss since it was applying the same amount of damage as a normal hit with a weapon but without any risk

[@Jaxi._.]

This is a dev log I’m actually interested in. Great work

[@oldsoul3539]

I like it. Perhaps instead of the weapon breaking you briefly hold it up and it turns white and bursts into magic, either transmuting it into moonlight or sacrificing it to the moon diety. Maybe "moonburn"? Idk how strong the moon theme is. Perhaps moonlight could be healing for you, you regen if you're outside but not while inside, though maybe there could be beams of light coming down from the sky you can heal at, that might be used as respawn points too. Only if that fits with your existing story, idk.

[@brenesmasterv1262]

Hey there! Newcomer to your channel, rn I'm starting a course for game dev, so I'm pretty new in programing. The thing is that I love gamedesign and I've readen a lot about it, so maybe I can tell an interesting ponint. The thing is that about what did you say about Zelda, the durability mechanic is to make the player think out of the box, like: Do I have to fight them, can I? Or maybe, do I try to steal his weapon, etc. It's a cool mechanic and a great way to make the player use all sorts of weapons, but it's not a must have, so you can just not implement it. Even with that, I love the idea that breaking your weapon heals you or casts a spell! Keep on going!

[@XenoPon2]

Gaur plains. Nice👌 Great music choice

[@kermitkitchen]

I love the weapon consumption for health idea so much that I actually gasped out loud.

[@SergeyLergDev]

Very cool mechanic, great job! I also recommend changing your invulnerability transparency effect for the player, it's looks cheap and it's much less noticeable (since you are blending your character with the background). Flashing with the brighter looking sprite (e.g., color *= 1.2) would be much more noticeable and would look better in general. Flashing outline could also work.

[@Mindstormer]

Great fixes and with potential abilities to enhance the heal and throwing abilities sounds very incentivizing. Well done good sir

[@AllyProductions]

Whoa, I randomly stumbled on this video and I'm so glad I did - This game looks great!

[@thygrrr]

Feels so satisfying, clean and polished!

[@misticalinteractive]

Thank you for the video! You put some really interesting ideas there! It was a little lesson of game design for me.

[@madmelon9993]

I wish I had seen this video sooner! Very interesting solution for a difficult problem

[@aster_jyk]

I always look forward to watching these now. I think you're doing a great job exploring designs for the weapon system. One piece of feedback from me, though, is that I LOVE damage numbers, especially if they're small, like in the range of 0-100. Something about seeing those numbers pop out is really satisfying to my ape brain, and it lets you add progression into the game. It's kind of a "cheap" tactic, but it works nonetheless. Vampire survivors is an example of a popular game that did this well, where your damage starts out at ~10 and ends at ~100, making you really feel like you're getting stronger. Another one: Runescape starts you out at 1-2 damage per hit, and the dopamine hits progressing to hitting 50+ at endgame was kind of wild. It definitely depends on the scope and style of your game, though. It's just one decision out of many, but it affects a lot of systems. Good luck on your designs!

[@Challacade]

Thank you for the feedback!

[@JJW410]

Really fun deisign decisions here! Glad this got reccomended to me :)

[@fygygufyufyyfhchcxgxy4290]

Think is a pretty good idea, and i have a small one. So what if they were enchanted weapons that can give them more range, speed, effects... but when you use them, you get another thing like maybe a temporary shield or shows down nearby ennemies, but idk it's your game, your choice.

[@dwopple4516]

I think it'd be really cool to keep the concept you currently have, but still have a durability for weapons, but if you reach the final hit of your weapon, you do bonus damage, or maybe activate some cool unique spell depending on the weapon type. All this while still having the option to break your weapon at any time to heal. Maybe if you have some sort of visible way to show your weapon's durability (sprite changes with ie 3 stages), you could change the amount of healing a damaged weapon gives, compared to a new shiny weapon. Maybe only some weapons heal if you break them, and some give you some other sort of bonus! Just my idea tho. First video i've watched by you, it looks very interesting! Goodluck on your game dev journey :D

[@foreducation408]

your game looks really fun to play, keep up the good work.

[@tommyford1301]

First time seeing your project, looks awesome dude! Love the art style. Just a little idea, might just be me but was a little hard to tell the cresent moon meant half a 'heart' before you explained it. Love the visual idea of moons, but maybe it's a little too curled around at the moment?

[@noiadev]

Huge congrats for going full time!

[@juni6020]

wow fantastic changes! Love your changes that is incredible!

[@gogonifox8542]

Love the way this game is going!! Maybe an idea for incentivizing throwing your weapon could be to get a short burst of movement speed. That would help you to get to other weapons faster so you aren't defenseless after you threw your perfectly good weapon. It makes sense to have an aggressive option aswell as the more passive one. You could even throw in some extra attack speed so if you have a new weapon right next to you you wouldn't feel like you wasted the advantage of throwing your weapon.

[@fumetsusozo]

A big improvement getting rid of pointless big numbers for health & damage as that stuff takes away from the simple charm games like this should have IMO. As a suggestion besides weapons healing, you could also consider giving different weapons separate bonus buffs when broken, example is break your axe and get a buff to do double damage for 10 secs.

[@NicoA47]

Very new to your channel and your game, but the art style is AMAZING

[@soulfulfakealligator]

I liked how Hades incentivized switching your weapon. In every run, there's a different weapon getting a boost

[@soulfulfakealligator]

I like the sound of your solution too 😊

[@ArthurPessoadeSouza]

Devil May Cry had a mechanic that encouraged weapon swaps mid combat, with style points. In general there a few mechanics that can be introduced. * RPGs experience/expertise bonus can be introduced based on how creative a combat was. * Combat loop (Shields stuns enemys => Swords deals more damage to stunned enemys => Swords can knock them far away=> Bows deals more damage on targets far, etc) * Enemy weakness (Rock monsters only take damage from blunt weapons, flying monsters from bows, etc...)

[@dcruisee]

to make it more clear when an enemy has lost health, you could do something similar to the game “deaths door”. in the game there are no health bars, but enemies gain glowing cracks that cover them more and more until the enemy dies. a visual cue like this may help clear things up, especially when there are many enemies it is useful to know which are lower health.

[@TheAgentAPM]

I'll speak from my experience. Your idea reminds me a lot of Panzer Paladins. There are a lot of melee weapons with limited durability, that can be thrown at enemies or broken for their special effect like small healing or temporary buff. This didn't actually stop me from hoarding them, especially the unique weapons dropped by the bosses which I kept as my trophies. Keep in mind fomo-perfectionists like me.

[@lopedope8755]

This is a great solution, I think you should change some of the feedback so the player knows that the damage is much higher when you throw it.

[@Encarvlucas]

I love this idea of a trade off between using the weapon you want and getting some life. Game looks great btw!

[@owenbaraff4839]

i played the demo ! this is my new favorite game 1

[@michaelvicente5365]

congratz on being a dev full time!

[@szenosdev]

Your devlogs are awesome!

[@blikthepro972]

the way im seeing it now, instead of having my favorite weapon that breaks and replacements i don't want, now i have my favorite weapon and healing packs everywhere

[@federicoc6839]

This is actually great balancing. Pro stuff!

[@bortimer96]

The healing + spells idea is AWESOME!

[@ovix4150]

Wow, I love this art style!

[@constantspider]

the fact that devlogs of games i see are generally forgiving, i now want to see devlogs for getting over it

[@MegaGlaive]

Another approach you can take is to charge a weapon using hits, or even kills. When you spend it with a spell, the power of the spell is proportional to the amount of charge present on the weapon. This charge can only go up to a certain limit before the weapon is simply saturated. Certain special weapon classes (or spells) can take it a step further, and have violent reactions to being saturated (I,E: your weapon could explode in your face)

[@canuniverse3367]

using weapons for healing 🙌, like this idea so much, kudos!!!

[@JKDoodleBox]

Your video popped up in my feed, so I'm gonna make a suggestions without knowing full well what your game is about, but based on what you have mentioned. Positive Incentives: Maybe you could consider rewarding players to deal higher damage when they use the "right" weapon against certain enemies, but only if they sort of "time" their attacks well. Like for example, using a sword against an enemy with "rock / tough" attributes, slashing attack would "sharpen" the blade and causing eventual combo attacks to deal more damage. This would also allow players to switch between different weapons when fighting against different enemies. Boomerang could probably gain more damage against elemental enemies as it sort of "absorb" their attacks and returning it back to them. Spear as their main attacks are thrusting could deal even higher damage when thrown. Things such as torch could deal AOE damage if in the right environment causing little patches of fire and dealing damage when the enemies stepped onto it. e.g. the forest area you showed alot. Your game is giving me sort of like a roguelike genre vibe, which I always enjoy having to time my attacks or plan my dodges well against tougher enemies. Like Hades. A parrying system would be cool to further enhance how the sword sharpening mechanics would work. So rather than giving positive incentives towards using a weapon, which I suppose the usual higher combo = higher attack damage system is, why not reward players for proper planning and technique showcase?

[@Peter-xw2py]

For me the worst part of the Zelda durability is that it felt awkward in the middle of combat. You either need to look for a weapon on the ground dropped by an enemy or pause the game by going into your inventory. Both of these for me feel weird like tripping in the middle of a fight. Also I just get anxiety about I weapon I found breaking and not being able to get it again. I know I could just look it up online but that doesn’t feel good to me.

[@Gambit-YT]

I do like Terraria's mana mechanic where it will eventually need to recharge and you'll need to switch to melee weapons because of that. Your limited-use torch reminded me of that.

[@MultiSoulZero]

youtube algorithm fed me this one, and as someone who loathes weapon durability, this is a super great alternative for "using up" a weapon! Def following this game's development now

[@Mikael._]

Really good idea for the weapons, giving more uses for them, maybe a mechanic where the player can do the inverse could also be interesting, sacrifice a bit of health to summon a random weapon, giving the player the choice of having a bit more danger in exchange for some damage.

[@erdemkurt7148]

I played the game and its AMAZING. I love how its simple but not so simple. Cant wait to see full version. I discovered 2 bugs. 1) when you die, sometimes i can see my undead body and the enemys 2) i was in the cloud-electric world. I was in a moving platform and i dropped my electric rob and it fell down. Then when i use my sword, i cant see my sword. Like i can attack and see sword effect but cant see the sword. When the full version comes out, woukd it be priced? Or free?

[@ticklishwasabi]

For incentivizing weapon changes you could have a system where the weapons evolve over time. One game I think that did this really well was Rogue Galaxy for the PS2, where a bar would fill the more you used the weapon, and if you fill the bars of two-like weapons you could combine them into a third new and stronger weapon. This way you are always changing weapons, and are incentivized to do so, but you also recycle the previous weapons so you're never losing them and they don't feel like you're throwing them away.

[@norugames7568]

Never heard of you before today and i just binge watched all your devlogs :D this is amazing Love the game and changes but honestly i think i slightly prefer the previous health system with numbers Maybe you could try making the higher damage numbers a lighter color or bigger so theyre more noticable since you said its difficult to tell apart different values Sorry if this message doesnt make sense im eatching this after an exghausting day

[@xuraith]

them mechanics you got there are pretty damn slick (sticks notes in pocket)

[@Wyatt360animation]

I think you should add moon crystals that give you more hearts like the life crystals in terraria

[@doromgames]

absolutely love your content