This year, I decided to compete in SIGURD, the 1-chapter hacking contest! I decided to take a concept that I’ve been mulling in my head - an accuracy system, not unlike Limbus Company’s Sanity system, where accuracy is SP + Weapon Hit, and the better (or worse!) you play, the better/worse your hit. But no fear! You never miss - you simply hit, or hit harder.
In this hack, you play as Orlen, a Master of the Arte, drawn into a battle over the grave of a famous hero. Use your unique tools, the flow of the battle, and Orlen’s mastery of the Arte to seize control of the tides of war!
Features:
A unique accuracy system, where each unit gains or loses accuracy based on their current performance in battle, based on kills, weapon triangle, and choosing your battles wisely.
A unique weapon system, where you can never miss - instead, you gain additional damage per weapon on “hit”, or on “Heads”. But no fear! Weapons can have unique effects on “Heads” or “Tails” to keep you - and your foes - on your toes, with powerful buffs and debuffs.
A bit of graverobbing, a bit of necromancy, here and there.
The core heads/tails mechanic was pretty cool! I especially appreciate how it made “missing” not feel nearly as bad as in most games - I found myself repeatedly gambling on 40-60 hit rates at the beginning, since a grazing hit still helped & the lord’s ability meant that even dying wasn’t the end. Although I only used it once, in the early-game, to revive Pewre.
However, I managed to get almost everyone to 50 SP by roughly the middle of the map, and from then on it felt like the stakes massively diminished - I kind of stopped engaging with the mechanic aside from making sure to keep WTA since everyone had almost always 100 hit. It had the effect of making the early-game feel much more engaging than the late-game - which is actually pretty similar to most full-length campaigns in way. Still, there is definitely something fun about getting a massive power boost & absolutely destroying once-dangerous enemies.
I liked the structure of the map, and the twist of the bosses collapsing the bridge behind you was pretty cool & meant that you actually had to engage with both sides of the map. However, it did feel a bit too big and began to drag by the end: both because everyone had 50 SP already, but also because there were basically zero anti-turtling incentives and all enemies were incredibly static. I ended up skipping the other boss and just escaping as soon as I could.
I will admit that I found the story a bit confusing, although maybe I’m just tired. The ending was nice though, and the graphics all looked good - especially the UI for the heads/tails mechanic, everything was pretty clear and that was much appreciated.
Overall, it was a nice concept, just feels like the map/placement could use some more work - I think I would’ve actually enjoyed this more had it ended once you defeated the first boss, without the escort section, as cool as it was. It looks like some parts were a bit rushed anyway - the first boss appeared as moving yet never moved for me, the other one had no weapon ranks and seemingly couldn’t attack, there were two enemies in the corners which couldn’t move, etc. - so maybe just ran out of time to balance this, which is totally fair!
Yeah, I ran out of time- a few more hours of work would fix many issues I noticed myself. Story insertion was a last-minute thing - I rewrote the script entirely, which changed things such as the cast, bosses, layout, etc, and inserting it was a rushed job. I had tested the map flow and gameplay before that, so I didn’t catch the bosses lol (and I’m not the best at enemy placement lol).
For SP, that’s something I’ve been worried about. Because of how SP’s handled, you’re rewarded for good gameplay, and struggle with bad gameplay. There aren’t many ways to lose SP, apart from leaving your units at low HP or picking the wrong fights, which I’ve been struggling with.
I’ve been considering things such as more weapons that can decrease SP, or skills that can decrease it. However, if you jue play well, you can also just ignore them. I made this game as a test to see how the system plays out in practice, and I’ve definitely seen where it works (early game) and where it fails (late game, when everyone has 50 SP).
I’ll go ahead and fix the bosses - first boss shouldn’t move, second should def have weapon access lol. I’ll also use this to see how I can fine-tune the SP system, to keep it more dynamic. Thanks for the feedback!
Just finished playing through this, was a very unique experience!
Feedback
Gameplay-wise, I love the idea of two “levels” of attack instead of purely hit or miss, it opens up a lot of interesting design space that wouldn’t work under regular FE rules. Within the game itself, my favourite implementation was definitely the additional debuff effects of the mage’s tomes, with the Devil Axe being a close second.
The SP system is also very cool, giving each individual combat more of a long-term impact; having said that, it does definitely snowball too easily. Combining that with the lack of aggressive enemy movement/reinforcements and the ability to easily resurrect your units, and by the time you reach the second half of the chapter there’s very little challenge left. Personally, I feel like more aggressive and/or powerful enemies would help make the SP system more of a back-and-forth; given the safety valve of unit resurrection, the map could probably afford to be more lethal without the difficulty spiking too much.
Story-wise, I really liked what was shown. The writing does an excellent job of implying a much wider narrative and much deeper relationships than what can be directly shown in such a limited space, especially when it came to Orlen and his family. I’d love to see the ideas and themes from this developed into a larger story, even if it’s not a direct continuation of the one here.
Overall was definitely a map worth experiencing, great work making it!
Thank you for playing, and for the feedback! 2 out of 2 makes it def sound like SP snowballs too hard. Actually, even before releasing, I was considering a 25 SP cap, instead of 50, so even at the cap Heads is not guaranteed, unless you’re using a super accurate weapon at WTA. I’ll likely do an run with it, and see how the later half of the map plays with it.
You’re also right about aggressive and stronger enemies. The part I was most iffiest on was tuning enemy stats and placement, and it shows. I’ll revisit it and see where I could increase the lethality without making it too unfair.
Again, thanks for the feedback! I hope you enjoyed it!
I’ve uploaded a new version! This includes some critical bug fixes avoiding softlocks, script formatting flaws and boss fixes. It also includes non-critical balance changes. I’ve changed the max cap from 50 to 25, halving it. This doesn’t affect early game at all, but later game it makes it a bit harder to steamroll.
Lightly tested by myself, so mechanically it works for sure. Flow wise there might be some changes, though I’d need outside playtesting from someone better than me to see both sides.
For SIGURD purposes, I’ve included the original build as well in the dropbox link. If you want the original original version, it’s under No_Grave_Unturned.7z. If you want the new version, it’s under No_Grave_Unterned_1.Necro.7z. If you’re not a SIGURD judge, I’d recommend the latter lol.
Just finished it, and it was a ton of fun! Super mechanically unique and interesting, I’m a fan.
Full Thoughts
The way the accuracy system works is super cool, especially with how different weapons function based on heads/tails. The devil axe was really cool, and I liked the tomes a lot, even if they were definitely a bit on the stronger side.
My only problem with the gameplay was reviving units being basically free, because about halfway through the chapter I realized I could just use human wave tactics and be completely fine. Even then, it was still fun, the mechanics carried it enough for the rest of the chapter regardless.
The story was also really intriguing. It leaves a lot to implication, which I like. Would be interested to see it expanded into a full game if you wanted to go through with that, but honestly? I think everything here works perfectly as it is without elaboration, so I wouldn’t be too disappointed if otherwise. I like the characters and think their story is really fun.
I haven’t played that many other SIGURD entries yet, but this one might just be my favourite so far.
Thank you for playing! Glad you enjoyed it - I had a lot of fun creating new weapons with the system, since small details can make them pretty cool.
Yeah, the revival normally is just a backup plan rather than something necessary. Increasing Revive cost for normal play is something I’ve been considering, but ultimately, I’m not too pressed about it. I find human wave tactics a lot more fun and in theme with the story.
For the story, I rewrote it entirely almost last minute- it was just a bog standard FE story before I hard pivoted into necromancy, since it worked well with guaranteed damage. I’m a lot happier with this iteration than before, and will probably leave it here. Glad you enjoyed it - and I’ll probably leave it here as is, with only some elaboration elsewhere.
