Showcase Saturday - Diversity and class roles

As we get closer to a demo build in our new engine, we're excited to show off more content to our followers. While a lot of our mechanics are in place, we want the chance to playtest them before we start broadcasting them publicly. However, today I did want to take a bit of time to explain the basic idea of Alkanaur's combat system, which revolves around class roles. 

One of Alkanaur's overarching themes is strength in diversity. I feel that the best way to reinforce a narrative theme is by matching the game's mechanics to that theme, so I decided to try and encourage diversity through Alkanaur's combat. The combat system focuses on clear strengths and weaknesses for each type of character, pushing the player to field a team that can work together to secure victory. Every character class in Alkanaur will fill a couple of the following roles:

Tank – Tanks absorb enemy fire while fighting on the front lines. They lock down adjacent enemies and keep those enemies from approaching allies with less defenses.

Striker – Strikers deal sustained damage every turn, usually from range. As long as they aren’t locked down or killed by enemy spells, they can mow through any enemy, no matter how sturdy that enemy is.

Mage – Mages lock down enemies from afar, freezing, slowing, stunning, and otherwise harassing targets with their arsenal of spells.  They can also damage multiple enemies at once with their AoE (area of effect) spells.

Burster – Whether from afar with potent incantations or up close and personal with a wicked dagger, bursters deal impressive amounts of damage in a single turn. They generally require time to amp up their damage or prep their spells, so they might need to be protected until they can take down a vulnerable, important, and unfortunate target.

Support – Supports help their allies and hinder their enemies with utility spells. They can also provide healing to keep injured squad mates from dying.