In addition, at any time during the heroes’ turn, the player can display the statistics (ex.        strength, or base damage) of a hero or a monster. This will not consume the turn. Monsters have a base dodge chance, allowing them to occasionally avoid taking damage from an         attack or a spell. If an attack or a spell lowers a monster’s HP to 0, that monster is defeated and removed from the battle.

After the heroes have made their moves, the monsters’ turn begins. The monsters will only attack the heroes, as they do not have items or spells to use. Heroes also have a dodge        chance that will allow them to occasionally avoid taking damage from a monster’s attack. If a monster’s attack lowers a hero’s HP to 0, that hero will faint. Fainted heroes cannot take  actions for the remainder of the battle.

During the round, clearly show to the player who took what action and that action’s result. For example: “Karl the Barbarian attacked the Red Dragon for 504 damage!”, “Merlin used a health potion and recovered 300 HP!”, or “The Giant Bug attacked Wallace the Lame for 120 damage! Wallace the Lame fainted!”

At the end of each round (after the monsters’ turn), heroes that have not fainted regain some of their HP and mana.

The heroes win the battle if they defeat all of the monsters. If the heroes win, they gain         experience and money, and all fainted heroes are revived. The experience gained should be  scaled to the level of the monsters defeated. For example, a level 1 monster may grant 1       experience point, while a level 10 monster may grant 10 experience points. The money          gained should also be scaled to the level of the monsters defeated. For example, a level 1      monster may grant 100 gold, while a level 10 monster may grant 1000 gold. A fainted hero is revived with half of their HP and mana, but they will not gain any gold or experience.

The battle has several ways that it can be fought. The simplest version would be a series of 1-on-1 fights between an individual monster and an individual hero. A more complex            version would be a full-team fight between the party and the monster group, where each    combatant chooses their target when attacking. There are many variations of these two       ideas, as well as completely different ways to conduct the battle. The version you choose to implement needs only to allow for all of the behavior specified above, namely that it is         possible for all of the heroes to faint and for all of the monsters to be defeated.

III.The Heroes and Monsters

The heroes of the world have banded together into a party to fight monsters. At the start of the game, allow the player to choose how many heroes to play with. There should be a limit to how many heroes there are in the party.

A hero has several attributes:

•    A name

•    A level with an amount of experience points

•    HP (hit points, the hero’s in battle)

•    MP (mana or magic points, for casting spells)

•    A strength value

•    A dexterity value

•    An agility value

•    An amount of gold

•    An inventory of items

The example rules section at the end of this document contains several formulae you can use for determining HP, MP, and the calculations involving strength, dexterity, and agility.

Level and experience points. A hero has a level, representing how strong (or not) that hero  is. Experience points determine the hero’s level. A hero levels up after accumulating enough experience points. A hero’s skills increase when the hero levels up. A hero never loses           experience. It accumulates over the course of the game.

HP. HP is the hero’s current health. For simplicity, the hero’s HP does not have to be capped (have a maximum amount). For example, in other games a hero has a maximum of 100 HP    and cannot go over this limit (it is said to be capped). So, if the hero currently has 90 hp and  uses a potion that increases HP by 50, then the hero’s HP would now become 100. In              Monsters and Heroes you can assume that the hero’s HP will become 140 in the same            scenario. The initial HP value is determined by hero’s level. When a hero levels up, they have their HP set according to the same formula.

MP. MP (or mana) is used to cast spells. For simplicity, the hero’s MP does not have to be  capped (like HP). The initial MP value is determined by the hero’s level. When a hero levels up, they have their MP set according to the same formula.

Strength. A hero’s strength increases the amount of damage they deal when using a weapon.

Dexterity. A hero’s dexterity increases the amount of damage they deal when casting a spell.

Agility. A hero’s agility increases their chance to dodge a monster’s attack. Gold. Gold represents the hero’s money for use in the market.

Inventory. A hero has a collection of items that they have bought during the game. At the start of the game, the inventory is empty. For simplicity, there does not need to be a         maximum inventory size.

There are three types of heroes, each with their own balance of skills:

•    Warriors are favored on strength and agility.

•    Sorcerers are favored on dexterity and agility.

•    Paladins are favored on strength and dexterity.

A “favored” skill will be increased more than normal at the start of the game and on each level up.

A monster has several attributes:

•    A name

•    A level

•    HP

•    A base damage value

•    A defense value

•    A dodge ability

The example rules section contains formulae for the monster’s attributes that you can use in your game.

Base damage. For simplicity, a monster’s attack damage is calculated using this value. A   more complex alternative would be to give the monster a strength value like a hero and a default “monster weapon” to deal damage with.

Defense. Monsters don’t wear armor, relying on their natural hides and carapaces to             protect them from the heroes’ attacks. This value reduces the amount of damage a monster takes from a hero’s attack or spell.

Dodge ability. This represents how well a monster can avoid a hero’s attack. It functions in a similar way to the hero’s agility.

There are three kinds of monsters, each with a favored attribute:

•    Dragons have increased base damage.

•    Exoskeletons have increased defense.

•    Spirits have increased dodge ability.

IV.The Market

The heroes can buy and sell items at any market. Each market in the world is unique, and  should have different items for sale. The market is a special menu where the player will be able to see all the items for sale with their details (ex. price and level).

Heroes enter the market individually. Each hero has a private wallet (their gold amount) and does not share money with the other heroes. Likewise, each hero has their own inventory of items that they do not share with their fellow heroes. A hero should be able to sell an item   in their inventory to the market, but only for less than the price for which it was bought (ex. for half the purchase price). A successful purchase will reduce the amount of gold the hero   has, and transfer the item from the market to the hero’s inventory. A successful sale will       increase the amount of gold the hero has and add that item to the market’s item list. This     will allow other heroes to buy it, or for the selling hero to repurchase it later.

All items have a name, a price, and a level. A hero cannot buy: (1) an item that costs more than the money they have, or (2) an item that is a higher level than they are. The types of items in Monsters and Heroes are:

•    Weapons

•    Armor

•    Potions

•    Spells

Weapons. A weapon is used by a hero to attack a monster. A weapon has a name, a price, a level, a damage value, and the number of hands required to use it. A weapon must be            equipped by the hero before it can be used. The damage value is used to calculate the           damage dealt during an attack move in a battle. A weapon may require one or two hands to be used (i.e. a bow requires two hands). For simplicity you can assume that a hero can equip at most one weapon at a time. A more complex version would allow weapons to be                equipped according to their hand values, up to the number of hands the hero has.

Armor. Armor reduces the incoming damage from a monster’s attack. A piece of armor has a name, a price, a level, and a damage reduction value. When equipped, armor will reduce  the damage taken by the hero by its damage reduction value. For simplicity you can assume that a hero can equip at most one piece of armor at a time. A more complex version would  have multiple armor slots and armor types for each slot.

Potions. Potions can be used by a hero in order to increase one of their statistics by some    amount. Potions are single-use items: once they are used, potions cannot be reused.            Potions have a name, a price, a level, and an effect amount. Using the potion should              increase the given statistic by the effect amount. There should be potions for increasing HP, MP, strength, dexterity, and agility. More complex potions could include defense potions,    revival potions, or even a fire potion (the possibilities are endless!). A more complex              extension could include multi-use potions.

Spells. A spell represents a magic attack performed by a hero. A spell has a name, a price, a level, a damage value, a mana cost, and a spell type. A hero will require at least the mana   cost amount of MP to cast the spell. Therefore, if a hero has no MP, that hero cannot cast   any spells. The damage value is used along with the hero’s dexterity value to calculate the  damage dealt during a spell cast move in a battle. After casting a spell, the mana cost is       deducted from the hero’s MP. Spells also have an additional effect besides their damage.    The types of spell and their effects are:

•    Ice spell: reduces the damage of the target

•    Fire spell: reduces the defense of the target

•    Lightning spell: reduces the dodge chance of the target

Spells are consumable items: like potions, spells can only be used a certain number of       times. For simplicity, you can make spells single-use items. A more complex version would make spells multi-use items.

V. Controls

Example controls for Monsters and Heroes include:

•    W/w: move up

•    A/a: move left

•    S/s: move down

•    D/d: move right

•    Q/q: quit game

•    I/i: show information

•    M/m: enter market

WASD/wasd. These keys can be used to move the party around the world. This only applies outside of a battle.

Q/q. The player should be able to quit the game at any time by pressing this key.

I/i. Outside of battle this should show information about the heroes (their level, their hp, their mana, their current experience points, their money, and their skill levels).

During a battle this should show information about the heroes (their level, their hp, their mana and their currently equipped weapons and armors) and information about the        monsters (their level, their hp, their damage, their defense, and their dodge chance).       Thus, the player should be able at any moment to display the heroes’ information.

M/m. The heroes should only be able to enter a market if the party is located on a market space. This should open the market menu.

Additionally, when the heroes are outside of a market or a battle, they should be able to      check their inventories to change their weapons or armor. They should also be able to           consume a potion. The player should be able at any moment to display the map (the world). There should also be a way to visually represent all of the tiles and their properties. This        includes the presence of the heroes’ party in a tile, whether a tile is accessible, and if it          contains a market. The player should be able at any moment to quit the game.

Finally, please include in your game the instructions for how to play. While you and I now     know the keys used to play the game, keep in mind while coding that you might want to give this to your little brother who does not know any of this…

VI.Example Rules

The following rules are intended to be used in conjunction with the monsters, heroes, and items detailed in the provided Legends_Monsters_Heroes.zip file available on Blackboard. There is no guarantee that the resulting game will be balanced or particularly fun to play   when using these formulae. There is no requirement to use these exact numbers or            formulae. The example formulae:

•    Hero’s spell damage = spell_base_damage + () × spell_base_damage

•    HP of monsters and heroes = level × 100

When a hero levels up, this formula is used to reset their HP.

•    MP of the heroes when they level up = current_mana × 1. 1

•    Hero’s attack damage (with weapon) = (strengtℎ + weapon_damage) × 0.05

•    Hero’s dodge chance = agility × 0.002

•    Monster’s dodge chance = dodge_cℎance × .01

•    Experience points to level up = ℎero_current_level × 10

•    When a hero levels up all of their skills increase by 5% and their favored skills increase by an extra 5%.

•    At the end of each round of a battle the heroes regain 10% of their HP and 10% of their MP. That is, HP = HP × 1. 1 and MP = MP × 1. 1

•    Hero gold gain = monster_level × 100 for heroes who did not faint

•    Hero experience gain = number_monsters × 2

•    Monster’s skill loss caused by spell effect = affectedskill  × 0. 1

•    Monster’s level = level of highest-level hero in the party

•    Items sell for half of their purchase price.

•   The party size is between 1 and 3 heroes.