Games worth discovering

Developer Diary #3 - Chimera Vanquisher

30K View2022-05-30

A new diary entry awaits, Hunters!

Based on the feedback and suggestions received, we'll be sharing more on our creative journey of designing the beasts. This entry will focus on a brand-new addition—the Chimera Vanquisher.

Let's get it started!

-----

1.「About the Chimera Vanquisher」

A subspecies of the Chimera Destroyer, the Chimera Vanquisher resembles a killing machine designed for full-scale war. This complex beast is a marriage between organic life and machinery. It's nothing like an Ekors native, but it's evident that this Vanquisher has some ties to the Chimera Destroyer.

The Chimera Vanquisher is massive and has powerful limbs, but its heavy body makes its movements clumsy. What it lacks in elegance it makes up for with its muscular limbs and agile leaps.

This beast dislikes the heat and is often found in moist environments. As a carnivorous predator, it uses its lightning attack to paralyze its enemies. With its muscular limbs, it easily leaps in pursuit of its prey. If the Chimera Vanquisher comes face to face with a mighty opponent, it will release energy to create an Ion Shield in self-defense.

A Tank's Solid Build

The Chimera Vanquisher has a beetle-like head and massive organs where electric currents are stored. When under attack, these currents are released as electric bolts. Its powerful and muscular limbs act as a steady anchor to absorb the impact of each blow received. Also, the Vanquisher's short, thick tail can generate enough force to snap a towering tree in half.

Royal Rage

As a subspecies of the Chimera Destroyer, the Chimera Vanquisher is more destructive and quicker to anger than its predecessor. An enraged Vanquisher has blue sparks flashing from its eyes, and the electricity rippling across its body threatens to explode at any moment. The roar of thunder announces its unrivaled presence.

Weaknesses

The Chimera Vanquisher is covered with thick, scale-like armor that absorbs the majority of physical damage dealt to it and is sufficient against most attacks. The Vanquisher's armor may be as strong as rocks, but it will eventually weaken under sustained attacks. The Chimera Vanquisher's head, back, and tail are where it's most vulnerable.

-----

2.「The Chimera Vanquisher's Skills」

Area Control: Lightning Web

The Chimera Vanquisher controls electric currents within a fixed perimeter of its frame and can shape the electricity into a cage to incarcerate prey. Once prey is caught within the Lightning Web, the Vanquisher will unleash its Ion Beam on its prey.

Defense: Ion Shield

The Chimera Vanquisher's slower movement speed makes it a prime target for attackers. Therefore, it creates an Ion Shield for protection (the Vanquisher has 4 Shields that cover its right, left, front, and whole body). The Ion Shield will attempt to electrocute enemies who try to approach, and it can deflect a majority of ranged attacks.

Special: Guided Bolt

The Chimera Vanquisher's ultimate skill causes significant damage, but after unleashing this skill, the beast will be exhausted and immobile for a fixed period of time. During this state, it will go all out and threaten targets in front with small AoE attacks with electricity before releasing the Guided Bolt on a random target behind itself, destroying them.

-----

3.「Design」

Motivation and Inspiration

We wanted to introduce an immersive hunting experience for our players and present a world where beasts of different shapes and sizes roam the land. In this world, players hunt various beasts. As hunters, they face not only these ferocious creatures in a fight, but also who they once were.

When facing off with the Chimera Vanquisher, players are embroiled in a battle that grows more intense with every passing minute. The Vanquisher might move slowly, but even with its last breath, it's perfectly capable of unleashing various deadly attacks to strike down its foe. We've equipped the Vanquisher with some new mechanics to shake things up while creating a dynamic battle experience. This is a powerful beast suited for deployment later in battle. Hence, the Vanquisher has a "bounce" mechanism, which will impact battle strategy and even weapon traits. Players need to think on their feet and switch weapons based on actual battle conditions.

Design Elements

"Machine + Organism" is an interesting fusion that grounds our design strategy. We've experimented with "half-humanoids", parasites, and other profiles, so we're thrilled to introduce the "mechanical organism" into our environment.

We first brought the Mechon Golem in—a 100% mechanical beast, but it lacked the liveliness of an organic being. In light of that, we focused on organic life when designing the Chimera Vanquisher, and we incorporated some mechanical elements inside.

Bearing in mind that the Vanquisher is a beast, we made sure some of its skills—like the Lightning Web to ensnare its prey—reflected its inherent bestial nature.

Special Features

The Chimera Vanquisher is the only beast currently with the bounce mechanism, which works in tandem with players' attacks.

When players attack the Vanquisher up close, there's a chance for damage dealt to be reflected on their allies. Players must ask: Should we attack? When should we launch an attack? What do we use to attack?

These questions become crucial, especially when players are stuck between a rock and a hard place in battle. Who should players rescue first? Should players continue fighting or start healing? There's a lot of room for strategy and real-time decisions with this new mechanism.

-----

4. 「A Word From the Developers」

We worked hard to ensure the complex gameplay designs and new aspects of the Chimera Vanquisher would be seamless. Our goal was to create a better gaming experience for everyone with this new addition.

While working out the bounce mechanism of the Ion Shield, we had to tackle a thorny issue about data. When the Ion Shield is activated, bullets fired by players will bounce off it and be reflected back to its source (the player who fired the shot). To do this, we needed to calculate the coordinates of the bullet being fired and the location of the new target of the reflected bullet. At the same time, we had to ensure this set of data was uploaded to our server on time.

There could be any number of players in solo or multi-player mode firing bullets at any one time. This means we have mountains of data to process and upload, which occupies a chunk of our team's energy and time. We faced this challenge head-on because we know resolving this technical hurdle will enormously benefit our subsequent work, even if it's not perfect the first time around.

We believe the Chimera Vanquisher adds an exciting spin to the battle experience. Working on its design and development has given us greater technical experience, and our team has gained valuable knowledge in the process. We'll strive to incorporate more unique elements while we create fascinating and challenging beasts for future updates.

-----

That's all we have for this Developer Diary. We hope you've enjoyed today's entry! If you have any ideas or suggestions about the Chimera Vanquisher, please tell us about them in the comment area below! Let us know what other features you'd like to see! Who knows, you could see your idea come to life in our next update!

Mentioned games