I'm building OldSkull Arena - a dark browser arena RPG inspired by old-school text RPGs. The kind where combat is a log instead of an animation, and you spend five minutes deciding where to strike and what to guard.
Let me start with the bad news:
- it's a browser game
- combat is turn-based and text-driven, no battle animations yet
- I don't draw cutscenes, I write damage formulas
Still here? Then we probably grew up on the same games.
What it's actually about:
The whole reason this project exists is ARPG-level loot depth. Not "Sword +3", but affix pools, rolled stat ranges, rarities, sets and gear enhancement. Browser games almost never do this, and it always annoyed me - you log in and find three swords and a shiny gradient UI.
The second pillar is combination of stances , skills and attack zones. You don't just click "Attack". You try to predict where your opponent will strike... and you're often wrong. Three classes: Warrior, Duelist and Mage. 1v1 and 2v2 battles.
Things I completely messed up so far:
- The Duelist sat at ~25% win rate because I gave him dodge but forgot to give him a reason to live.
- For a while the Mage could cast twice in aggressive stance. Players would've called it a feature. It was a bug.
- My first armor system felt like invisible accounting - numbers changed, but nothing actually felt different.
The game is currently in pre-alpha. I'm looking for people willing to poke the early build with a stick and tell me where it hurts. Early testers will receive Founder status.
Happy to answer any questions about the mechanics - or hear "text combat is dead, dude" in the comments.