Character Creation
Character creation options are deliberately limited Web of Lives to cosmetic changes only. As Web of Lives is a procedurally generated game we did not want players to be forced to pursue a character type. As such the player is limited to four options when creating a character: Appearance, Gender, Name and Starting Weapon.
Appearance
Appearance modification allows the player to swap base heads and bodies for their character. The character creation screen shall allow for one of four heads and one of four bodies to be selected for the sake of the character's in game sprite. These options will not include armor, but will represent what the character is wearing underneath the armor. Effectively the starting sprites are the character's undergarments. These sprites shall be androgynous. The initially selected sprites are randomized on load.
Both the head and body should be flanked by a pair of arrow buttons that cycle between the sprite options.
Gender
There is no intention for the gender of the character to impact their ability to perform any actions in the course of the game. Options include Male and Female. This is populated randomly on load.
Uses a drop down menu for selection.
Name
A name may include, at maximum, 32 characters from the ASCII character set. As the game has online interaction there must be some form of name verification to filter out swear words or particularly offensive phrases (this is vital since it could give the game a bad reputation if the cloud was flooded with offensive names). On load this is populated with a randomized name.
Modified through A text area.
Starting Weapon
The player may select from one of the weapon archetypes outlined on the items page. On load a random weapon is selected.
Employs a drop down menu for selection. Each weapon should have a tool tip describing its pros and cons.
Other Elements
- The lower left corner of the screen shall have a "return" button that returns the player to the main menu.
- The lower right corner of the screen shall have a "begin" button that starts the game proper.
- The options outlined above shall be left justified in the order described.
- The right side of the screen shall offer explanations for the four character attributes.
Character Attributes
On character creation all character attributes shall be initialized to 10.
HIT POINTS (HP)
Hit Points are the main stat of Web of Lives.
- Every playable character has an allotment of Hit Points that determine whether or not they are still alive.
- Every attack against the player character will deal damage to the Hit Points decreasing the total.
- When the total number of Hit Points reaches zero the character "dies" at which point the game over logic shall run.
- Players may recover Hit Points through resting or potions up to the maximum Hit Point total.
The Maximum Hit Points of a playable character is defined as follows:
<math> HP = 2 * CON</math>
Constitution (CON)
Constitution is the most common stat to find on items in the Web of Lives game world.
- Constitution represents a player's ability to survive combat, as it directly impacts HP as seen above.
Strength (STR)
A factor in the damage calculation for melee based weapons.
- The more Strength you have the better you can smash a creature to pieces.
For more info on the impact of STR on damage see Items
Dexterity (DEX)
A factor in the damage calculation for range based weapons.
- The more dexterity you have the better you can aim at a creature's vital spots.
For more info on the impact of DEX on damage see Items
Luck (LUK)
The Luck stat should be mysterious to the player, and a rarity on items.
Luck's impact in terms of a percentage is calculated as follows:
<math>LuckModifier = \frac{Luck}{500}</math>
The impacts of Luck (LuckModifier additive unless otherwise noted):
- Luck applies several Combat Modifiers.
- Increase hit rate for ranged weapons.
- Increases the critical rate for melee weapons.
- Luck improves the rate of item spawns and decreases monster spawn rates.
The impact of Luck is subtle (not expected to exceed 1% under normal play). Its purpose is to make the player feel as though they are in control (however slight) of the pseudorandomness of the game world.
Lives (LIV)
Lives indicate how many times the character can die before it becomes unplayable.
- The only way to affect the Lives attribute within the game is to die.
- When a character dies, the player's Lives attribute is reduced by one.
- When a character's Lives is reduced to 0, the character is no longer playable.