What is Spell Sculptor?
Spell Sculptor is a game I developed during my senior year of my undergraduate at University of Kentucky.
This project is a turn-based dungeon crawl in which I designed and implemented a magic system where the player can find a number of effects and modifiers that they can use to create unique spells.
Additionally, I implemented two main variations of enemy AI, one that controls basic enemies and one that controls a boss fight at the end of the game.
Finally, I designed two levels, a main level and a robust tutorial, since the magic system is a bit complex and requires proper explanation.
This game was developed in Unity, and I am the sole programmer and designer. For art, I brought in and implemented asset packs I found online, and made some pixel art myself in Aseprite, particularly for UI elements.
Short video showcasing basic enemy AI, moving and attacking the player.
The Design Behind Spell Sculptor
I wanted to give the player the tools to craft unique spells where the various spell components, those being effects and modifiers, interact with eachother and the environment in interesting ways. For example, using the Arcane Bolt effect alone just creates a weak projectile. But pairing that Arcane Bolt with a Possess effect creates that same weak projectile, but this time it briefly takes control of the target it hits.
There are other interactions as well, such as casting Inflame on a creature versus on a weapon. The creature takes damage over time, but the weapon instead deals additional damage on hit.
By designing the game in this way, a sense of wonder is created. "What does this spell combo do?" "What will it do when I cast it on something else?" And that exploratory spirit is rewarded by the magic system in the form of powerful new spells that make the player feel unstoppable, or like a shadowy trickster who turns enemies against each other. Or, like a bit of a fool. What does the Summon Creature + Inflame combo do? Well, it summons a flaming creature that takes damage over time, so I hope you weren't relying on that creature to stick around. I wanted the system to be able to produce comedic failures in addition to the cool powers; it adds spice to the exploration.
Challenge: The Magic System
Every effect needing to work with every other effect
One of my commitments for the magic system was making it completely modular. Any effect can be slotted in to any spell and do something that's, hopefully, intuitive.
To make this happen, I decided to structure the system in such a way that every spell has a single "Main Effect" which is then modified by a number of "Secondary Effects". The main effect provides the target(s) for the secondary effects, and the secondary effects can perform their functions essentially as normal.
Different effects provide different kinds of targets to their secondaries. Damage dealing effects provide whatever it was that they damaged, whereas summoning effects provide whatever creature or object that was summoned.
By being consistent on this, I created an implicit set of rules that the player can learn via experimentation, rewarding their exploration of the system in a meta context as well as in-game.
Click here
Lesson: The Value of Tutorials for Developers
A full showcase of the Spell Sculptor tutorial.
Tutorials are valuable for players of course, but they're also valuable for developers themselves. To design a good tutorial, you have to deeply understand the systems you're explaining. And you have to understand the target audience as well so that you can communicate effectively with them.
Tutorials are also a lesson in brevity. No one wants to essentially sit in class for 30 minutes before they can play their shiny new game. Can you explain your mechanics concisely? If you can't, why? Maybe you just havent discovered the right angle to approach the explanation from, or maybe you don't understand your own systems as well as you should.
Or you could come to the unfortunate realization that your systems are just too complex. If even you as the developer can't explain them well, how can you expect players to understand them?
Admittedly, a lot of these lessons have come with hindsight. This is a roughly five year old project, and looking back on it now, I can poke many holes in how the tutorial was designed. Especially in regards to brevity; it's long and there's far too much text. Still, this was my first attempt at making a tutorial and Spell Sculptor is a complex game to try to teach. I'm proud of what I was able to do, and of the lessons I learned from it.
Click here
Usage of AI Tools
I didn't use AI tools on this project at all. It predates readily available AI tools, or at the very least, predates my knowledge of them.
