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Questions / Game mechanics

« on: April 10, 2009, 03:10:16 PM »

Imperial Hero Game Mechanics

Concept

Imperial Hero is a web-base role-playing online game. The events in it occur in one of the numerous empires in IO Multiverse. The idea is: “Until now you have been the Emperor, ruling millions of people. Now you will be one of those millions.”

Game Geography and Economics

-   The State, in which the events occur, is called the Ayarr Empire, with Imperial City being its Capital.
-   The State is divided into 21 provinces, each province has a central town or village and multiple battle zones, called dungeons, filled with various bandits, thieves, pirates and wild beasts.
-   The provinces in the State are categorized by difficulty, as the close ones to the Capital are “easier” and the further they go, the “tougher” they become.
-   The Ayarr Empire is surrounded by impenetrable natural barriers. To the west – by Sea of Sorrow. To the east – by Dark Wood. To the north – by Ice Mountains. To the south – by Desert of Despair.
-   At any given time of his development the hero can visit the province’s  main town or village, to buy, sell or repair his equipment, to receive special assignments, called “quests”, which, upon completion, will be rewarded, etc.
-   The hero can go in the State’s Capital – Imperial City – at any time he wants to, after he achieves level 4 of his development. There, he can visit the Arena and challenge another player to a duel.
-   There are Auction Houses in many of the provinces, where the hero can auction items that he thinks he will get more money for from other players, than selling them in the NPC (Non Player Characters) stores.
-   The hero can hire combat companions (mercenaries) in the provinces’ taverns. Those mercenaries are NPC and will fight along side the hero. They can be equipped with weapons and armor and receive experience as well, effectively leveling up as normal heroes.

The Heroes

 - The heroes in the game receive experience points upon defeating foes in battle – humanoids or monsters.
 - The experience rewards, as well as the monsters’ strength, item rewards, crafted items, as well as the dungeons in which the hero can explore, are divided into 5 Tiers:
 - 1st to 9th level – Tier 1
 - 10th to 19th level – Tier 2
 - 20th to 29th level – Tier 3
 - 30th to 39th level – Tier 4
 - 40th to 50th level – Tier 5

There are 3 hero classes in the game – Warrior, Ranger and Mystic

-   The Warrior possesses great strength and significant amount of health. He can equip the heaviest weapons and armor and usually is the first one to engage the enemies in battle, taunting them all to fight with him. The Strength and Vitality are his primary attributes.
-   The Ranger is the one using all kinds of ranged weapons – bows, crossbows, throwing knives and javelins. He can equip middle-weight armor. Agility and Dexterity are his primary attributes.
-   The Mystic possesses the power to heal wounds and to buff his allies. He can use only light armor and weapons. A weak fighter, his power is in his mystical abilities. Agility and Intelligence are his primary attributes.
-   All heroes start their development in the same place – Hope Village. This province is Tier 1. That means everything in it – monsters, items, rewards – are in between level 1 and level 9.
-   Gameplay rules and mechanics prohibit items or monsters from a different Tier to appear.
-   All heroes start their development, equipped with basic weapon and armor in order to survive during the first stages of the game. They also receive 100 gold and 24 AP (Action Points) to start with.
-   Travelling to a dungeon or a province, as well as crafting an item, require AP.
-   Each hour the hero regenerates 1 AP.
-   For each foe defeated the hero receives certain amount of experience points, as well as possible loot which the enemy will drop as a reward.
-   Each level requires certain amount of experience points. When these points are achieved, the hero moves into the next level of his development. As a reward for his deeds, upon leveling, the hero receives bonus attribute and skill points which he can distribute.

Hero Attributes

-   Strength – determines hero’s power and thus – the amount of damage he can inflict upon his enemies with his weapon.
-   Vitality – determines hero’s amount of hitpoints.
-   Agility – determines hero’s speed in combat.
-   Dexterity – determines hero’s mastery with his weapon.
-   Intelligence – determines hero’s amount of Spirit, as well as the experience points amount he will receive for vanquishing enemies.

The Professions

There are 3 main and 4 collecting professions in Imperial Hero.

Main Professions

-   Weaponsmith – specializes in crafting metal or wood weapons.
-   Armorsmith – specializes in crafting metal or leather armor.
-   Jeweler – specializes in crafting jewels – metal or incrusted with gems.

Collecting Professions

-   Miner – Can gather raw ores, coal, edge stones and gemstones. Can smelt the ore, thus, creating ingots, which can be used in crafting metal weapons, armor and jewelry.
-   Carpenter – Can gather raw wood and craft it. The crafted woods can be, then, used for making wood weapons and shields.
-   Tanner – Can craft raw animal hides, thus, making leather, which can be used for making leather armor and shields.
-   Stone Polisher – can craft gemstones into gems, as well as processing rare crystals, which can be used in making jewels and sharp weapon blades.
-   The hero is allowed to choose one main and one collecting profession, but he can change them whenever he wants to. However, should he change his profession, he automatically loses all his crafting points and masteries.
-   All the items which can be crafted require crafted materials and a recipe.
-   When he chooses profession, the hero automatically receives all the Tier 1 recipes as a gift. All other recipes he can acquire through buying them from shops or as a reward, dropped by vanquished enemies.
-   For processing raw resources into crafted ones, as well as for crafting items, the hero receives certain amount of crafting points.
-   The more crafting points he has, the better the chance is to craft a unique item, which possesses far better stats than the common one, as well as the better chance he has for creating bigger amount of crafted resources than the base one.
-   Every 100 crafting points increases the hero’s crafting mastery.

Hero Specialization

-   Upon reaching level 15, the hero is eligible for choosing specialization, thus, improving his skills in certain area. Each Hero can choose one of 2 paths to specialize.
-   The warrior can choose between Guardian and Fury Warrior. The Guardian receives bonuses and skills in increasing his defense abilities. The Fury Warrior receives bonuses and skills, which increase his offensive abilities.
-   The Ranger can choose between Shadow Hunter and Ghost Stalker. The Shadow Hunter perfects his bow and crossbow mastery. The Ghost Stalker emphasizes on improving the use of daggers, javelins and shields.
-   The Mystic can choose either the path of Light or the Dark. The Light Mystic learns powerful blessings, with which he grants great bonuses to his allies during battle. The Dark Mystic chants powerful curses upon his enemies.

The Battle

-   When the hero chooses dungeon, in which to fight monsters or humanoids, he receives comprehensive information about the possible enemies he may encounter, as well as the raw resources he can gather, using his collecting profession.
-   Each dungeon contains different kind of enemies and resources, which spawn with different % chance.
-   The hero may choose whether to fight or to gather resources. He can’t do both. However, certain resource sites may contain guards, which have to be defeated, before the resources can be gathered.
-   The battles in Imperial Hero are calculated instantly and the hero receives a detailed battle report.
-   The resource gathering is automated as well.
-   When the hero chooses to go to a dungeon, a time is counted for his journey both ways. This traveling time can be decreased with certain skills or if the player is a Premium Member.