New Game Design Journal for Chronicles of Spellborn

November 27, 2007

New Game Design Journal for Chronicles of
Spellborn

Sigils with ‘magical effects’ revealed

The guys at Spellborn want to make sure the
players can customize, tweak and tune their fighting characteristics whichever
way they like. This is done by using a wide variety of “Sigils” that can be
attached to the character. That allows customization without forcing players all
wear the same uber armor and weapons for a class. These can be collected from
different sources in game like quests and loot.

The recent dev article talks about the three
types of sigils: Skill, Jewelry and Weapon sigils and how the Sigils with their
‘magical effects’ can be used when they are equipped.

Feature article: Sigils
by El "Selachii" Drijver
A well known fact about Spellborn is the non-stat armor and weapons. To make
sure players can still customize, tweak and tune their fighting characteristics
whichever way they like, we have a wide variety of Sigils. These can be
collected from different sources in game like quests and loot.
Sigils are items with ‘magical effects’ which can be used when they are equipped
one way or another. There are three types of sigils: Skill-, Jewelry- and Weapon
sigils. I will handle the Jewelry- and Weapon sigils first as ‘item sigils’ and
conclude with the Skill sigils

Item Sigils
Like mentioned above there are two types of item sigils, one for jewelry and
one for weapons. First up, jewelry isn’t visible, you won’t be able to see the
rings or necklaces on your character in game, only in your ‘paper doll’ screen.

Both weapon and jewelry act as containers for
sigils, but the amount of sigils that can be fitted is determined in a different
manner. The jewelry has an amount of slots dependant on the item level and
rarity. Whereas the weapons have an amount of sigil slots dependant on your
player level, adding 1 every 10 levels. The reason we do it differently for
jewelry is to reward players that put in that extra effort to find that rare
item. The reason we actually can do it like this, is because jewelry is not
affected by the ‘dress to impress’ motto. If the slots on the weapons would work
the same and be dependant on the item level and rarity, we’d be back to square
one when it comes to player customization. Players would be forced to upgrade
their weapon because of the amount of sigil slots, even though they don’t like
the look of it.

This also means that players that run around in
the simplest looking armor can actually have better statistics then someone of
the same level who has shiny armor and looks like he’s the captain of a great
army. Players that go that extra length to find and earn the best jewelry will
have an advantage.

So, what kind of an advantage? I won’t give away
all the types, but some increase resistances to certain magical schools or
attack types, while others affect the maximum amount of hit points the player
has. Weapon sigils offer different bonuses, remember, jewelry sigils don’t fit
in weapons and vice versa! Enhancing your attributes or damage output is among
the effects the weapon sigils will offer to the players.

The item Sigils can be fitted, as well as
removed, only at the forge, for a reasonable fee.

Skill Sigils
Skill Sigils on the other hand can be added and removed on the spot, as long
as the player is not in combat. Skill Sigils go in to Skill Sigil Slots, which
are earned when you level up.
The player can assign the Skill Sigil Slots to skills of his own choice. It will
be possible to re-assign Skill Sigil Slots to different skills, so your decision
won’t be permanent, but we’re still making some final design decisions for this
mechanic.
Back on topic, Skill Sigils can be fitted in Skill Sigil Slots of skills to
enhance the effect of that particular skill. Some examples are increasing the
range, increasing the buff/debuff duration, increase the effect or add an extra
target to maximum amount of targets the skill can hit. Truly, the possibilities
are limitless!

On average, each sigil has ten ranks, each rank
being slightly better then the one before it. Of course, the higher ranks also
require a higher level, so to prevent players from using only the highest rank
sigils they can get for every Sigil Slot, it’s impossible to use the same Sigil
of a particular rank twice on one item or one skill. However, it is possible to
use multiple ranks of the same Sigil in the same item or skill. So if you’re
dedicated in increasing the Rune Damage from a particular skill at level 40, you
could add the Arcane Brand Rank 3, 2 and 1 to the same skill, not Arcane Brand
Rank 3 three times.

Rarity of the Sigils is not linked to level, at
each level there are more common and rarer Sigils which have different quality,
so it will be rewarding to collect them from early on.

As an extra coolness, some weapon Sigils also
have a visual effect. The forge will preview the effect when you want to put a
Sigil in your weapon. When multiple effect Sigils are added to a weapon, the one
closest to the hilt will determine the visual effect. The effect is a tracer
behind the weapon when executing skills and I can tell you that the effects look
absolutely stunning. We have over 20 effects currently in and they look
absolutely amazing from a streaking flame to runic symbols. Check the screenshot
for a little sample of me jumping around and swinging my weapon at Hawk’s
Landing with a Sigil in my weapon which has a tracer.

Balancing these Sigils is quite a big job as
well, I might discuss that next time