MixZem | NT Game Design

Project Aims

Create a UI operated creature merging system that allows the player to combine creatures and edit their appearance.

Create a last man standing style tournament in which the player can participate against AI opponents.

Focus on the customizability of the aspects within the game giving the player as much freedom as possible in an almost sandbox experience

Create and balance a stat system for the creatures to enhance the combat gameplay.

What is MixZem?

MixZem is a creature merging battle game that focuses on customisation of the creatures within the game to create numerous combinations to battle with.

Not only are creatures visually merged together according to the players preference, but the creatures stats are combined allowing the player to cherry pick their creatures to create powerful combinations through mixing or splicing

Mixing and Splicing

There are two combination methods in MixZem.

Mixing allows the player to combine two of the five base element Zem to create an entirely new element giving the player up to 12 elements to work with. Each element has its own unique strengths and weaknesses.

Splicing allows the player to amalgamate two Zem to create a dual-element. This allows a Zem to take on a new set of strengths and weakness,s and depending on the combination can eliminate one of their weaknesses entirely, provide coverage against their weaknesses or can double their damage from their weakness in favour of strengthening their overall damage.

There are a total of 78 possible element combinations in MixZem.

Mixing

Splicing

Base Elements

There are 5 base elements that are accessible from the very start of the game. The base elements are a classic combinations of Aqua, Blaze, Terra, Volt and Wind with the player having to choose one to get started.

Many games utilise some iteration of these elements and they are widely known by players and how they interact with one another. For new players, how these elements interact can be determined from real world knowledge, such as using water to put out a fire or that fanning the flames intensifies a fires heat. It was important to use something familiar and rooted in reality to ensure that players have the best chance of understanding the the weakness/strength system.

Mixing:

The 5 base elements are the building blocks used to create new elements called Advanced elements, new Zem and expand the gameplay.

Tournament:

The base element Zem grant the player access to the Novice Rank of the tournament that allows all base elements at level 1. The tournament rank is the players tutorial into tournament battles and is quite low in difficulty. It sets the precedent for the subsequent tournament ranks.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

All Base Element Zem have two strengths, one against a Base Element Zem and one against an Advanced Element Zem and two weaknesses also against a Base Element Zem and an Advanced Element Zem. However at the start of the game with only the Novice Rank tournament available, the player only has to worry about their strength/weakness against other base elements. This gives the player chance to learn about the unique types and tackle the tournament without too much difficulty to get to grips with the core mechanics.

Advanced Elements

The Advanced Elements Ice, Nature, Plasma, Lava, Storm Light and Dark are unlocked after the player progresses past the Novice Rank of the Tournament and are created by mixing the Base Elements together. These new elements are designed with real world state change at its root with some fantasy elements squeezed in. For example Blaze (fire) + Terra (earth) = Lava. When the ground is super heated to its melting point lava is created. Advanced elements have the same overall strength as the base elements all having equal base stats. The introduction of the Advanced Elements adds another layer to combat later in progression where instead of only having to consider one weakness and strength in battle, the player has to consider that they have two to four weaknesses depending on the type or dual type they are competing in the tournament with. Not only this, but when combining types via splicing, a significant advantage can be created by splicing types that help to neutralise one or more weaknesses, such as splicing Lava with Nature which completely neutralises its weakness to Ice. How well the player combines their Zem can have a significant impact on the outcome of the Master Rank Tournament.

Special Cases:

Dark and Light are created when two opposing elements are combined (like Blaze + Aqua) meaning that this can be made from 5 different element combinations.

Mixing:

Currently these elements are unable to mix to create new elements however future development of the project could further expand the element selection by implementing this and creating new elements from the advanced elements

Tournament:

The addition of advanced elements introduces a new set of strengths and weakness and a new tournament rank Beginner Rank. The Beginner Tournament rank allows Advanced Element Zem up to level 3 to be entered. The challenge is relatively low allowing the player to test out different Zem to learn the strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Again much like the starting phase of the game which was focused on the Base Elements, the player's only concern is their weakness to other Advanced Elements because Base Elements and Advanced Elements don't fight together until the Intermediate Rank of the tournament. The tournament rank at this stage are all Advanced Elements and it gives the player a chance to familiarise themselves with the new types before any crossovers and additional strengths and weaknesses have to be considered.

Zem Tournament

Zem Tournament - Master Rank

The Zem Tournament consists of 4 ranks.

Tournament Rules:

There are 128 participants, the participant elements are determined by the tournament rank.
All Zem are paired up and compete in an auto-battle where the fastest Zem goes first.
Zem will take turns attacking on another, and the player can utilise buffs during combat to increase the lifespan of their Zem and help to ensure that they reach the final round.
The player has three buffs (four at master rank) that can be used to increase the longevity of their Zem
- Buff - Temporarily increases a Zems attack power (15 seconds) and has a 20 second cooldown, best used for an edge in combat against a high defence opponent.
- Balance - Temporarily neutralises a Zems weaknesses (15 seconds) and has a 20 second cooldown, best used against an opponent that is strong against your Zem to avoid taking critical damage.
- Heal - Fully restores a Zems HP but only has three uses, best used sparingly when absolutely necessary to avoid running out at a critical moment.
- Switch (Master Rank Only) - Allows the players Zem to swap its attack type to its secondary element to deal critical damage against a wider variety of opponents, best used when the players Zems primary type is weak against the opponent or its secondary type is strong against the opponent.

Rewards

The player is rewarded with a Zem when they win a tournament rank, there are 5 Zem to choose from for each rank, randomly generated each time (with the exception of novice rank as there are only 5 types to choose from)
- Novice Rank - select one of the 5 Base Element Zem
- Beginner Rank - select one of the 7 Advanced Element Zem (5 generated at random)
- Intermediate Rank - select one of the 12 Base or Advanced Element Zem (5 generated at random)
- Master Rank - select one of the 78 Dual-Type Zem (5 generated at random)

Rank Specific Rules:

Novice Rank

Novice Rank is available from the start of the game.

Allows the player to enter a Base Element Zem that is level 1.
All participants are Base Element Zem.
There are on average 24 of each Base Element entered into the competition.
The player is awarded a Base Element Zem when they beat the competition.

Beginner Rank
With the Novice Rank complete and more Zem in the players garden the player can now mix Zem to create Advanced Elements.

Allows the player to enter an Advanced Element Zem up to level 3.
All participants are Advanced Element Zem.
There are on average 18 of each Advanced Element entered into the competition.
The player is awarded an Advanced Element Zem when they beat the competition.
Approximately one third of the Zem entered into this rank are level 1, half are level 2 and the remainder are level 3.

Intermediate Rank

With the two previous ranks under the players belt and a decent knowledge of Zem strengths and weaknesses the player unlocks access to Intermediate Rank.

Allows the player to enter any Basic or Advanced Element Zem from level 3 to level 5.
All elements are entered into this rank.
On average there are 10 of each element entered into the competition.
The player will now have to deal with having two elemental strengths and weaknesses for the first time, with both Base and Advanced Elements competing.
Approximately half of the Zem in this rank are level 4, one third are level 5 and the remainder are level 3.

Master Rank

Finally, with the previous tournament ranks completed the player is able to begin splicing their creatures to create dual-types and enter them into the Master Rank.

Allows the player to enter a Dual-Type Zem from level 5 to level 7.
All elements are entered into this rank but must be Dual-Type.
There is a random set of Dual-Type Zem generated from 254 creatures in which each element is represented approximately 10 times.
The player is awarded a Dual-Type Zem when they beat the competition.
Approximately half of the Zem entered into this rank are level 7, one third are level 6 and the remainder are level 5.
In this Rank at least 3 max stat competitors will be generated (40 base stat for each stat) making them stronger than the average level 7 Zem.

Completion of the Master Rank is currently the end of the core game loop with the player able to go back and rechallenge any of the tournament ranks to collect more Zem and try to complete their Zemex

Elemental Strengths and Weaknesses

All but two Zem have two strengths and two weaknesses. A strength and weakness to a Base Element and a strength and weakness to an Advanced Element. The exceptions are Dark and Light which are neutral to everything. The player is aware from the start of the game that Zem have multiple strengths and weaknesses as this is described in the Zems descriptions and the players Zemex, however the player is gradually introduced to the Zem weaknesses in phases.

Phase 1 (early game)

The player has access to only the Base Element Zem and the Novice Rank tournament in which only Base Element Zem can compete. This means that the player doesn't have to engage with half of the element weakness chart while they get to grips with the games core mechanics and initial typing matchups.

Phase 2 (early-mid game)

The player can now access Advanced Element Zem and the Beginner Rank tournament in which only Advanced Element Zem compete. Again, like with phase one, the player only has to engage with half of the elements weakness chart as they learn the base strengths and weaknesses for this new set of elements. At this stage the player can also access the Training grounds and are able to level up their Zem to level 3 and understand how leveling effects their Zems stats.

Phase 3 (mid game)

The player has now completed their introduction to all of the elements and can now experiment in the Intermediate Tournament. Here the player has to engage with the entire Elemental weakness chart with all of the Base and Advanced Elements participating. The step up in difficulty is noticeable, however having completed two ranks of tournament already the player should have a good understanding of the element matchups and can learn the cross overs quite quickly using the same logic. Again all of the Zem strengths and weaknesses are presented to the player on multiple occasions via the Zemex or when selecting a reward Zem so the weakness cross-overs shouldn't come as a surprise but more of a welcome ramp up in challenge.

Phase 4 (late game)

The player now has access to the Master rank tournament in which they can only enter Dual-Element Zem. This is quite a large step up in difficulty as the player now has multiple strengths and weaknesses to consider as well as a new buff to use during the tournament that allows the player's Zem to deal critical damage against a wider variety of opponents and not hit half damage against opponents they are weak to. This rank of the tournament involves much more strategy than the previous ranks and encourages the player to make as many Zem combinations as possible to find a combo that they like the most. Winning this rank of the tournament ends the core loop of the game.

Phase 5 (post game)

With all ranks of the tournament complete all that is left to do is complete the Zemex. The Zemex registers all obtained Zem and Zem combos, giving rewards at specific completion intervals culminating in the player being awarded a special Zem at the end with incredible abilities. At this point the player has completed the combat elements of the game, so receiving something that's considered broken or overpowered here is of no detriment to progression but provides the completionists of the gaming world with a nice little trophy to aim for that they can then take to tournaments and dominate the competition to get even more Zem rewards

Base Stats

When the player collects a new Zem a random stat value is allocated between 34 and 40 to each of its three stats (Attack/Defence/Speed). All Zem were designed around having a flat 34 base stat across the board to ensure that all Zem are balanced and one isn't more viable in combat than the other.

Initially all Zem had base stats of 34, which meant that during the Novice Rank of the tournament where all participants are level 1, the only major gameplay element that determined damage or damage mitigation was whether the player was strong or weak against their opponent. If the player was neutral to their opponent victory would be decided on who went first. This made the combat feel a little one dimensional and predetermined, lacking the strategic element that was intended. A slight variance was added to the stat range so that the player could opt to collect high stat Zem for the advantage or lower stat Zem for the challenge. Alongside this, the player was given limited use buffs that they could use during combat to further enhance the strategic elements of the combat and improve survivability as the tournament is styled around last man standing matches.

The range of 34 - 40 was selected after extensive playtesting to provide some variation in how the combat felt during the Tournament. 40 felt like just the right amount of extra strength to make the combat feel more complex without providing too much of an edge that the max stat Zem just walked through the tournament. The range encourages strategy aimed to have the player want to collect Zem with the higher stats to have a slight advantage without it being compulsory where a weaker Zem didn't stand a chance.

The player got lucky and was given a perfect base stat Wind Zem.

Stat Modifiers and Training

When combining Zem either via Mixing or Splicing the two parent Zem that are selected will have their base stats combined. The highest stat from each parent is used to determine the resulting Zems base stats. This allows the player to cherry pick the best Zem putting them together to max out its base stats, where 40/40/40 would be the best combination.

The base stat is used to calculate a stats increase rate when a Zem is levelled up during training. The player can assign a Zem to the training area and select a stat they want to train in. The selected stat will be increased by 15% of the base stat on level up while the other two stats will be increased by 10%. The creatures type will determine any additional growth factors. For example, a Wind Zems Speed will increase by an additional 10%, so when training it would receive a 25% increase instead of 15% to Speed if Speed is selected to train in. (20% instead of 10% otherwise)

Combining Zem to max out base stats

Training the Wind Zem in Speed.

Zemex

In Progress

This project is currently in progress with new features being added and existing features being tweaked.

This page will be updated when new elements are completed.