Howdy,

So, after last week's pretty long description of what went wrong, this week I started planning the new combat system.

Most of the time was spent trying to find a reasonable set of values across each level such that the game is fun and easy to balance.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's talk a bit about the revised combat system. I won't bring special attacks or stances into it yet, since those are going to get their own thing later on.

So, the player is going to have a single combat "skill" which levels up when you get enough combat experience. Combat experience is gained by defeating enemies - unlike the previous combat skill, it doesn't depend on hitting them, or getting hit or anything.

Hitting enemies which are lower than your level will earn you less experience - I don't want the game to turn into a grind to get enough skill to defeat higher level enemies - progression should feel natural. If you can't defeat a certain enemy, then even better equipment or attributes should be able to plug the gap.

So, the player's combat level will effect a number of things - how accurate their strikes are, how much health they have, the chance of dodging a blow, and even damage dealt. Not all those progress at the same rate, so the bonus damage obtained from having a high level won't really compare to having a really good weapon.

The interface is still very much a work in progress, but it should give the player an indication of the bonuses they've got from their level.

So yeah, that's essentially it for this week, next week I hope to have this system finished, then I can start on (and explain in more detail) how weapons and armour work now.

Til then