My thoughts on FORCED 2 and potential modes!

Daily Challenge

Shard races and other extra challenges need to be consistent for everyone. They need to spawn on the same levels on the same positions for every player. When I run the dailies multiple times, at least for me the shard challenges seem to spawn on their own RNG. Extra mana and card draws are very crucial to getting a good time, so RNG here is a detriment to an even playing field.



They need to spawn on the same levels on the same positions for every player. When I run the dailies multiple times, at least for me the shard challenges seem to spawn on their own RNG. Extra mana and card draws are very crucial to getting a good time, so RNG here is a detriment to an even playing field. Only the first attempt at the daily should have the score submitted. I actually haven't tested this one yet as I haven't beaten my original score and dailies have only very recently started working for me. I know I am able to run the daily multiple times but I'm not sure if it would overwrite my old score. The reason for this is that the dailies should be a challenge of a player's overrall skill, rather than ability to crucify a single set of levels. If a player can run a daily multiple times it rewards a curve of attempts over skill, which I don't think you guys want to go for. It should say Daily Challenge Practice or something after you've already submitted your score once for clarification.



I actually haven't tested this one yet as I haven't beaten my original score and dailies have only very recently started working for me. I know I am able to run the daily multiple times but I'm not sure if it would overwrite my old score. The reason for this is that the dailies should be a challenge of a player's overrall skill, rather than ability to crucify a single set of levels. If a player can run a daily multiple times it rewards a curve of attempts over skill, which I don't think you guys want to go for. It should say Daily Challenge Practice or something after you've already submitted your score once for clarification. Balance across characters and decks is really tricky on the daily. RNG really affects what kinds of rooms you get, where some are much more suited to one and might wipe another early. Perhaps there could be rankings split for each character, or a solution that I think is better:



Provide premade deck choices (2 per class I think would be good) for each class for each daily , requiring the players to pick from those decks for each daily. The decks would rotate around. There are several reasons this would be beneficial:

It makes the players use cards that they normally wouldn't try out. Simply trying out cards that don't "sound good", such as many of the active cards, will take a long time for most players. Many wouldn't try out some things that they may end up loving simply because they don't have to. I know personally that a few cards surprised me with how useful they are (such as Windbag or the 200 DoT to all enemies one) that took me forever to try out. This can also be used to teach players certain combos, like perhaps a card draw deck that involves the instants, lucky dice, many low cost cards and the mana gain on draw.

The decks should all have a preset draw order that is shared between all players. This way RNG is minimized and you don't get, say, one player getting two mana crystals and a +50% AS buff as Ravager on first draw where another player gets two +100% health and a bloodthirster first draw. Some serious imbalances in speed come with RNG determining the daily draws, and with standardized decks and consistent draws per daily (the draws would of course vary each day) you can mitigate this very well.

In general, the current design will make most players get really good at the Best Build™ rather than in general at the game. By exerting more control on the dailies you can guide the meta and train every player to become better at everything, increasing our experience and versatility.



, requiring the players to pick from those decks for each daily. The decks would rotate around. There are several reasons this would be beneficial:

Daily Standard

Provide the class, provide the deck, and completely standardize everything as suggested before.



Allow unlimited attempts at this mode, recording the score for the fastest run. This scratches the itch of those who still want to grind out the best possible score, and provides a nice, perfectly flat competitive mode for everyone who hates competitive variance ;).



This is also a great platform to branch into making neat challenges, such as making a daily that has only actives/instants as cards, or things like that.

Champion's Test

A weeklong mode of pregenerated levels that are standard for each player . One daily each day. Entry is allowed at any time, at a penalty of probably 1.5*median time score for each missed day, calculated at the end of the week's session. Only the first daily attempts count.



. One daily each day. Entry is allowed at any time, at a penalty of probably 1.5*median time score for each missed day, calculated at the end of the week's session. Only the first daily attempts count. Character and deck choices are completely freeform and up to the player, but they will be chosen upon entry into the week's Champion marathon and can't be changed in any way until the end of the week's marathon. Deck draws will become RNG based again for this mode, varying for each player, unless the players have the exact same deck in which they will get the same draws for each daily.



and can't be changed in any way until the end of the week's marathon. Deck draws will become RNG based again for this mode, varying for each player, unless the players have the exact same deck in which they will get the same draws for each daily. This mode tests a player's ability with a build they want to enter against a variety of different outcomes. Having it last a week will mitigate the RNG's disparity against each player, drawing the results closer to a true test of skill with the build. This will be a mode for those most hardcore into the game and will draw the greatest meta from the community. At one attempt for each Champion daily, this will also encourage consistent play among the playerbase too and dedication. There should be no penalties for missing a day other than the 1.5*median time at the end for the missed days.

Duel Rush

Duel Rush is like a match, but either 1v1 or 2v2 (or whatever). Both teams exist in the same instance , in levels separated by various impassable barriers and symmetrical. Hit detection is still calculated client side, regardless of whether or not the mode is a server or pure p2p implementation.



, in levels separated by various impassable barriers and symmetrical. Hit detection is still calculated client side, regardless of whether or not the mode is a server or pure p2p implementation. Teams begin each arena at the same time. Each player spawns for each arena. If one player dies, add a time penalty (maybe 15s) to that team's score for that arena. If both players die, double the penalty. When the faster team completes the arena first, the other team gets a 30 second timer to complete it. If they don't complete it within this timer or all die, they are awarded the winning team's time + 30 seconds, and any additional penalties due to death. After the times for the arena have been awarded, teams will each get a 15 second period where they are awarded their rewards, look at their cards and choose purchases. Have these options set at good defaults and adjustable by the creator of the game lobby, while being visible to all players before the start of the game. Each team will attempt the entire set of levels this way (which is more fun imo), with the winner being decided by the team with the best time. I'm on the fence about mana penalties for dying... there should probably be some, but you don't want it to snowball too hard, and the penalties for death shouldn't be *that* high as you want the ability to come back. There will also need to be an option to forfeit the match if it gets too bad - this shouldn't boot the other team out of their session, as they should still be allowed to complete it if they wish.



I'm on the fence about mana penalties for dying... there should probably be some, but you don't want it to snowball too hard, and the penalties for death shouldn't be *that* high as you want the ability to come back. There will also need to be an option to forfeit the match if it gets too bad - this shouldn't boot the other team out of their session, as they should still be allowed to complete it if they wish. Duel-specific cards (either in decks you can make for duel purposes, or have them as awards for challenges in the duel, or both) that debuff the opponents, provide team benefits (if applicable), activate traps on the opponent's arena, or spawn monsters on the opponents side. THe main problem is the lack of agency in affecting another player's game at the moment. Things like this needn't be limited to cards though, as you could have...



(either in decks you can make for duel purposes, or have them as awards for challenges in the duel, or both) that debuff the opponents, provide team benefits (if applicable), activate traps on the opponent's arena, or spawn monsters on the opponents side. THe main problem is the lack of agency in affecting another player's game at the moment. Things like this needn't be limited to cards though, as you could have... Activated traps and spawners via interactable or destructible environmental entities. If any of you have ever played the free online game TagPro, there are these buttons you can stand on to create barriers and/or activate traps used to mess with the enemy team. Things like that in this game could be a blast in ♥♥♥♥ing with your friends/opponents!



via interactable or destructible environmental entities. If any of you have ever played the free online game TagPro, there are these buttons you can stand on to create barriers and/or activate traps used to mess with the enemy team. Things like that in this game could be a blast in ♥♥♥♥ing with your friends/opponents! Competitive challenges, where the teams compete to get the reward. For instance, you can have normal shard races and you can have competitive shard races, where there are a total of 9 shards, whichever team getting 5 or more upon completion of both arenas getting the bonus. Upon a player taking damage, they could drop a shard to the opponent's side too, adding depth to the shard races besides just rushing to get them first.

Survival

Solo or as a team survive as many levels as you can .



. Levels increase in difficulty infinitely . Past a certain point this may be difficult to do while keeping game performance smooth.



. Past a certain point this may be difficult to do while keeping game performance smooth. I recommend making elite enemies that appear only in this mode (or perhaps challenge dailies) that have buffed stats compared to their normal counterparts, and perhaps tack on some more generic abilities (like buff auras) and whatnot in a Diablo-esque manner. The scaling on this would be something that would need tweaking, but ultimately with this system I absolutely know that many people would love it.

Duel Survival

Basically like survival, but dueling.



Heavier emphasis on arena design with ways to ♥♥♥♥ up your opponents.

Cards

Generic ability cards. Generally these would be less powerful than most of the normal class abilities, but you could make some truly crazy builds with this sort of thing. I'm on the fence about whether or not to make these swappable with abilities you spawn with, or have them as draw requirements. At the very least...



More class ability cards! Rather than just upgrades, variety in the class abilities could help cause an explosion in the variety of ways to play this game. Similar to how it was done in FORCED, having more abilities to choose from to create a set is great. I'm almost positive you guys are planning this.

Hey guys! I'm loving FORCED 2: The Rush so far, and I want to see it succeed, so I wrote a little post outlining some of my thoughts about the game. I'll try to leave balance in general out of this post and make that a separate post since it definitely deserves its own discussion.Keep in mind these are my unfiltered thoughts, and I hope I don't come off as rude sometimes or step on anyone's toes. I'm a huge fan and would like nothing more than to see this game succeed, so there may be some tough love situations here. A bit of background on myself before I get started (on what may end up a rant!): I'm a 23-year-old software developer (mostly simple AI work) and have been gaming since I was 3. Over time I have flocked to more difficult and skill based games. In high school I was really big into CounterStrike 1.6. My favorite game of all time is Dark Souls, and in the series I have completed numerous challenge runs. I was gifted FORCED by a friend who said it seemed up my alley, and the game really resonated with me. It's definitely one of my favorite games of all time.I'll start with the dailies, which I find the most compelling current reason to continue playing the game:Spelunky really paved the road for well implemented dailies. RNG should be minimized and standardized as much as possible across all players. A few key points I think would be excellent if implemented in FORCED 2's:Besides that, I think the addition of some more game modes could be interested, keeping the "Rush" theme in mind:So far, each mode in existence is essentially time attack singleplayer. While there are opponents in the sense that there are other times, currently I would call the game strictly singleplayer. I love singleplayer, but I feel that the main draw of FORCED was the awesome multiplayer it has. Most people I know who've played it end up only playing multiplayer. With that in mind, I feel that the game could most benefit from some PvP, but not directly like a MOBA. I'm thinking along the lines of a:I could go on and on with ideas for this mode, but you get the picture.Designing a game like this based on speed alone is very restrictive in character design. Many players that are turned off by speed modes can still be attracted with other modes. To this end, I would love some Endless modes:I'm not sure that daily survival challenges would be a good idea, because it might seem more like a chore to most people to play potentially extremely long sessions and compete on a bracket each day.I'm a big fan of the card mechanic, and I'm not sure what you guys have planned, but a few things I just want to make sure you are mulling around in your heads:I think I'll cut it off here as it's already way longer than I planned. This is basically unedited, so please forgive any typos, weird grammatical errors, or things left out. Cheers guys, and great job so far!