This info is outdated. Please see https://www.mcrpg.com/
In my last blogpost, I said that I would give specifics on gameplay later, and here we go. Please keep in mind that this is super subject to change as we actually experience increasingly larger scale gameplay in the Alpha and Beta stages.
This is (very loosly) based on the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. If you haven't read them, do it! They are awesome. But this game is based on those novels about as much as HG was based on Hunger Games. You get the same feel, but none of the specifics are there - so reading the books won't actually give you an edge in gameplay or anything.
Gameplay Objective
When the game starts, you are randomly (intelligently) dropped into a 10k x 10k world with some super basic supplies. At the center of the map is a large deposit of Atium (emerald ore). In a deviation from the books, the number of Atium blocks you have collected:
- Is your score, displayed on the website and in-game
- Determines the number of abilities you can have active
So, the more Atium (pronounced AY-tee-uhm) you collect, the more powerful you are. However there are a couple of caveats:
- When you are killed, you lose ALL of your atium reserve, and 25% of that reserve is split between everyone within a 10 block radius of you.
- Since you lose all your atium reserve when you die, you also lose all of your active abilities when you die.
- If you have 1 or more active abilities, your location is shown on a map on the website at all times (though, there is an ability that lets you go invisible on the map when in use)
- You earn your first active ability with 50 atium collected - however, you can choose your ability at any time after this. You will not show up on the website map until you actually assign your first ability. You can use this strategically to gain a stealth advantage until you have leveled up more.
So, the basic goal is to collect atium by either mining it at the center of the map, or by killing other players and stealing a portion of their atium. Since most of the atium is lost when killing other players, it's more efficient to mine it than to kill low-level players.
It's also worth mentioning that when you mine atium, the value is stored on your account. That is, it does not take up space in your inventory, and you can't give it away or store it anywhere. It is an inherent stat that is tied directly to your character.
Abilities
After you die (or when first spawning), you have no abilities. You earn your first ability once you collect your first 50 atium. After you collect your first 50 atium, you can choose an ability. Collecting more atium will allow you to choose additional abilities, but each successive ability will require significantly more atium. These numbers will require lots of testing to refine, but as an illustration:
1st ability: 50 atium
2nd ability: 250 atium
3rd ability: 1250 atium
4th ability: 6250 atium
5th ability: 31250 atium
All these abilities can be activated independently, or at the same time.
There are two types of abilities: Allomancy (/burn) and Feruchemy (/store and /use)
Allomancy
When using allomancy, you burn items. This means you must collect or craft a specific material, and when you toggle your ability on, it destroys those items in your inventory as a way to sustain the ability.
The strength of allomantic abilities cannot be adjusted. They always burn at the same rate and give the same benefit.
Some examples of abilities that utilize allomancy are: (these are very subject to change)
- Gunpowder: Do extra damage, have extra health (burns 1 every 10 seconds)
- Sugar: Modest speed boost (burns 1 per second)
- Mycelium: Hidden from the website map (burns 1 every 30 seconds)
Feruchemy
When using feruchemy, you store an ability for use later. So, you might /store healing, thereby slowly losing health over time so that you can later /use healing to heal yourself. This is a neutral ability. You give up something for a period of time to gain it later. However, the rate at which you store and use abilities can be adjusted. You might choose to /store health, losing 1/2 heart every 30 seconds for 10 minutes (10 hearts stored up), then later /use health, gaining 5 hearts per second for 2 seconds (used 10 of your stored hearts).
These feruchemical powers are not stored within your body, they are stored in metal minds. A metal mind is a crafted item (think two iron blocks crafted together). You must have a metal mind in your inventory to store or use it. Metal minds have a capacity depending on their levels, and can be upgraded to higher levels (and capacity) by using more resources.
There will be default /use and /store rates programmed in (fast, medium, and slow - tailored for each ability), but you will be able to fully customize your own rates on the website.
Some examples of abilities that utilize feruchemy are:
- Store health (+1 per 1/2 heart lost), use health (-1 for each 1/2 heart gained)
- Store strength (+1 for every hit against an enemy with damage dealt reduced by 1 heart), use strength (-1 for every hit against an enemy with damage dealt increased by 1 heart)
- Store mining speed (+1 for each block broken for each 10% increase in time required), use mining speed (-1 for each block broken for each 10% decrease in time required)
- Store hunger (+1 for each 1/2 food lost), use hunger (-1 for each 1/2 food gained)
And that's a basic overview of the gameplay. Feedback is welcomed. You can shoot me an email at hclewk@minecraftmistborn.com with any feedback you have. I think it will be a ton of fun to play, and it brings in a lot of new gameplay concepts. Thanks for the support!