Home
The Game
Media
FAQ
Wiki
Contact
Forums
Press
PRE-ORDER
StarCrawlers Explore & Combat Mode Pre-Alpha video
Hey George here from Juggernaut Games! We’ve put together a short video of uncut footage from our Pre-Alpha build of StarCrawlers to share some details on what it’s like to play in Explore and Combat modes. Time stamps correspond to the video above – let’s go!
0:00 : diving straight into Explore Mode – here we’re navigating one of the rooms in a procedurally generated level. StarCrawlers has grid based WASD (+ QE strafe) movement that should feel familiar to veterans of first person dungeon crawls, with smooth continuous movement if you’re holding down walk.
0:10 : Loot! Loot lockers will be scattered around, some obvious containers like this one, some hidden (don’t poke around in the air vents) all containing level appropriate loot and maybe a few credits. Here we’ve found a shield generator, a piece of armor, a weapon, and a Space Monkeybear gun charm – adorn your weaponry for both enhanced stats and to make a fashion statement.
0:24 : Doors – they love nothing more than to open and close for you. Orange lights mean you haven’t been through this one yet, and blue means you have. Locks to hack coming soon!
0:25 : And here’s the doorman – a Crabby from Inferno Squad. Enemies in Explore mode have a variety of actions they can take to cause trouble for you before you close for combat, and can alert each other of your presence – you can see Crabby telling his buddies he’s seen you right before combat starts.
0:26 : Combat Mode! Enemies in Explore Mode represent 1 to 5 foes once you transition into combat. We started combat with this Crabby head on, so neither side gets any special bonuses – if they had snuck up on us or vice versa, someone would be getting a sweet initiative bonus, sorting them into the battle order earlier.
>>> StarCrawlers uses a time unit combat system. Quick attacks costs less TU, slow attacks cost lots of TU, and the TU cost determines where you end up in the battle order. A character with lots of fast actions such as the Cyber Ninja can execute several actions before the next character acts, while the Soldier tends to favor beefier attacks with a high TU cost.
0:30 : It’s Sterling the Soldier’s turn first, and he goes with Shoot – a vanilla ability that uses your equipped weapon and has a TU cost determined by the weapon.
0:33 : It’s a Plop! These little guys are very common and come in a variety of flavors. He’s going to use a Barrage attack on Sterling in response to getting shot – a high TU cost for Plop and a pretty hard hitter.
You can see Sterling’s shield is absorbing the damage of the attack.
>>> Shields and Hitpoints are vital to your character! Shields are your first line of defense against getting dead, so you want to stack those up to avoid damage to your Hitpoints. Shield energy regenerates very slowly in combat and with every step you take out of combat, so you can’t rely on them alone to keep you alive. Hitpoints don’t regenerate in combat or in explore mode, unless you’ve packed some medkits – surviving a mission is all about making smart choices in both Explore and Combat to keep your team alive.
0:45 : Our Void Psyker is using her Improved Shield Drain. Void Psykers are fantastic at manipulating the energy from enemy shields and turning it against them. This attack removes a healthy chunk of Crabby’s shields while also inflicting some bonus damage that bypasses the remaining shields. It also generates Void Energy which powers up the Void Psykers damage and attacks, but can also Overload if it gets too high…
0:50 : Crabby pinches Sterling, which is just rude – more on using melee attacks later!
0:55 : Kip the Cyber Ninja uses Expose Weakness on Crabby. Cyber Ninjas are most effective on unshielded targets, but Expose Weakness increases the damage of the next attack on the target by a significant amount. He’s setting Crabby up for a big hit…
1:00 : Tigre the Hacker is using Acid Pool on Plop. Hacker attacks are part nanobot manipulation, part programming technowizardy, and all pain. While they’re not big on raw damage dealing, they excel at debuffing targets and applying damage-over-time effects. Acid Pool is going to slow Plop by adding an extra TU cost to all of his actions while also inflicting damage at the start of his turn.
1:10 : More Expose Weakness! The small amount of damage is also just enough to shatter Crabby’s shield, leaving him open for the killing blow. The cheap TU cost of Expose Weakness means Kip is able to act again before the Soldier takes his turn.
1:13 : Kip puts Crabby out of his misery with Assassinate, a signature move of the Cyber Ninja. Assassinate is a heavy damage attack with a high TU cost that is buffed even further if the target is afflicted by Expose Weakness, and Crabby’s got two of those on him.
1:30 : The Void Psyker finishes the fight by dumping all of her available Void Energy into Jolt for a big hit on the remaining Plop.
1:30 : Victory! Every character on your team will gain xp and skill with their equipped weapon when they survive a battle. Xp goes towards leveling up and gain ability points and base stats, weapon skill improves hit chances and base damage.
So that’s a deeper look at StarCrawlers in it’s current Pre-Alpha state! Like what you’re seeing and want to see more? Check in here at starcrawlers.com and follow us on Twitter @StarCrawlersDev for all the latest!
This entry was posted in DevBlog on January 28, 2014 by Thunderflux.
Post navigation
← Starcrawlers Gameplay Trailer Quick GIF – The “Crawling” Part! →
Find us on the web
StarCrawlers Official Wiki
Pre-Orders Now Available
Recent Posts
IndieGames Live Interview
Weekly Livestreams
Development Diary #2
Visual Design and Concept Art
Pre-Orders Now Available
Newsletter
Interested in Starcrawlers? Sign up for our newsletter!
Email address:
Your email address
Archives
November 2014
October 2014
July 2014
May 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
© 2012-2015 Juggernaut Games LLC. Privacy Policy Terms of Service