Rift of Elements
Group project
Overview
Rift of Elements is a compact RPG experience, driven by dice, cards and exploration. Combining mechanics from table-top RPGs, deck-builders and tactics-style games, Rift of Elements delivers a D&D experience on a casual scale.
Project cONTRIBUTION
Game
Design
Cinematics
Encounter Design
Inspiration
The three main inspirations for this game concept were:
Take the table-top experience.
Leave the timesink.
Take the compact design.
Add more decision making.
Take the replayability.
Leave the steep learning curve.
Gameplay Pillars
Pick up
Put Down
Rules-lite
CRPG
Small game
Big world
Intuitive
Design
Move Fast
"Put me back in!"
Feast or Famine
UNIQUE SELLING POINTS
These pillars will result in this unique player experience:
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Experience the strategy and satisfaction of TTRPG combat, in a core loop then length of your commute
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Watch your enemies burst into dice, then use those dice to chain your attacks and feel like an unstoppable force
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Level your characters by growing your dice pool, rather than agonise on how to increase your stats, make decisions on the fly by playing your dice as the situation requires.
gAMEPLAY bREAKDOWN
The core gameplay loop moves the player through exploration, combat and management phases. Players explore a series of dungeons, filled with encounters. During turn-based combat, players control their two characters, finding synergies between fighter and wizard style strategies. Out of combat, players can edit their deck and improve their dice pool.
Explore Dungeon
Turn based Combat
Synergise Attacks
Upgrade deck & dice
Hour to hour:
Clear dungeons, defeat guardians. collect cards and upgrade your dice pool.
Minute to Minute:
Strategise during turn-based combat, using synergy between two characters.
Second to Second:
Spend dice to activate cards and play out attacks and effects.
60-second gameplay Slice
0-5 seconds
The player enters combat mode. Perspective shifts to third person, top-down. Decks and dice are now shown in a combat UI. The player can survey enemies in the encounter.
5-10 seconds
The player's turn begins. Six cards are drawn, three from each of the character decks. The players dice pool is rolled.
10-30 seconds
The player choses how to spend their dice pool. Dice can be played onto any of the available cards to activate their effect, the strength of the effect is in relation to the value of the dice. The player can also chose to play one of their standard actions (move, block, simple attack). The player can play as many actions as they have dice.
30-40 seconds
The player watches their attacks and actions play out. If any enemies are reduce to zero HP, they burst into temporary dice.
40-55 seconds
The player can spend temporary dice on any of their standard actions or remaining cards, chaining attacks. They can instead chose to spend dice on XP, building towards increasing their dice pool. Temporary dice are expended as soon as they are played.
55-60 seconds
The player ends their turn when they choose to. Any unspent temporary dice are lost. Their dice pool is reset and unplayed cards are moved to the discard pile. Play moves to the enemies turn.
Combat Design
pitch deck
