Iteration 1.2 Notes

*I am pleased to present the latest iteration note 1.2 to our game: The Legend of the Seven Swords. This update introduces two new heroes to the playable roster: Violea, the Lightning Crane - a highly mobile DPS with the ability to hijack enemy's position; and Luces, the Soul Squirrel - an enigmatic support with the ability to share damage and healing between heroes. Additional balance was also made to the existing hero to even the playing field. The update also introduces a rework to the current flag generating system.*

## Playtest

This update was developed based on feedbacks from:

* In-class Playtest #1.

This update was featured during:

* Internal Playtest #2.
* In-class Playtest #2.

## New Hero

### Violea, the Lightning Crane

* Initiative: 7
* Movement: 7
* Health: 8
* Basic Skill: Fading Flash

**Move up to 5 tiles toward a chosen enemy hero, deal 5 damage to it, then swap your position.**

*The Lightning Crane is what we consider to be the speedster hero. It is highly mobile with 7 movements, and have great reach as well on its basic skill. Its ability to further swap its position when attacking enemies can help displace enemies and capture flag points when they least expect it.*

### Luces, the Soul Squirrel

* Initiative: 6
* Movement: 5
* Health: 12
* Basic Skill: De Anima

**Within the Heaven that you are occupying, you can connect the fate of any two chosen heroes, putting a Soulbind token on each of them. Any damage or healing done to one target will also affect the other.**

*Luces is what we consider to be the strategic hero. Its signature ability when we playtest with global range is disgustingly broken as it is capable of almost always guarantee a double kill with the right teammate. By itself the ability deals no damage, but its potential when combo'ed with other champion should not be underestimated.*

## Hero Balancing

### Haru, the Water Dog

* ~~Initiative: 8~~ --> 6
* ~~Health: 10~~ --> 8

*Haru performed extremely well on our Monday playtest: everyone had a dog and everyone had some crazy use for it that almost made their respective team immortal. It was commented that unless you can one-round the dog, it will always be able to heal itself. We decided to nerf its HP down to 8 to be within killable range. Its initiative was also nerfed to avoid giving players who picked it First-turn advantage.*

### Fia, the Snow Bunny

* Basic Skill:

~~Hop and Freeze. She is able to JUMP 2 tiles. Where she lands, deal 4 damage to all adjacent enemies of that tile and create a snowstorm field that immobilize all afflicted enemies.~~

>> **Hop and Cast.** She is able to JUMP 2 tiles and **cast a Snowstorm Field within a 2-range radius.** The Snowstorm Field will deal 4 damage and bind all enemies to their occupied tile when entering.

*Fia didn't perform really well on the Monday playtest. It was commented that her ability is kind of like a suicide attack since it puts her in the center of her enemies. To fix this, Fia will now be able to cast this ability from range in addition to performing the hopping movement.*

### Howie, the Fire Fox

* Basic Skill:

~~Move up to 4 tiles toward a chosen enemy hero and deal 7 damage to it.~~

>> Move up to 4 tiles toward a chosen enemy hero and deal 7 damage to it. **On scoring a kill, unit will also self-heal for 2 HP.**

*The Firefox is in a good place as a DPS unit. To further nail down the fantasy of a solo-duelist. We gave it a form of self-sustain on takedowns.*

## Flag System Rework

*We received feedback on Monday regarding player's difficulty in tracking round order and when to put new flag tokens down. We brought this to the table for discussion and threw some ideas around on how to make it more intuitive for players. While we had valid options for future iterations (namely flag zones), we will stick with our current system plus a few key changes:*

### Revision

The following flag mechanics were revised based on feedbacks from In-class Playtest #1.

* ~~One minor and one major flag will spawn every even rounds.~~

>> **There will be as many flags as there are players.** This means for three players, it will spawn three flags in total: two minors and one major. For 4P, it will be three minor and one major. For 5P, it will be four minor and one major.

* ~~The game lasts for 10 sets of flags (20 rounds)~~

>> **The game lasts for 4 sets of flags (7 rounds)**: Start, Round 2, Round 4, Round 6, End.

* ~~There are a total of 180 possible Tile ID for lottery.~~

>> **There are now only 60 possible spots for lottery**. Each sector has 10 possible spots, for a total of 60 (6 sectors)

### Addition

The following flag mechanics and or relevant features were added:

* Only one flag spawns on the last round and it is the **Ultimate Flag** in the middle of the arena, worth 10 points.

* There will be a dedicated **round tracker** that players can make use of.

* The flag will not be consumed at the end of the round if a player occupies it. It will **remain until the next set** comes and replaces it.

## Respawn System Rework

*A problem we identified in today's playtest is that when players respawn and move their characters instantly, they can quickly reach the flag zone again or retaliate against the player who spent their last turn to kill them. To fix this we are changing the respawn system to limit player actions when respawning:*

### Revision

The following respawn mechanics were revised based on feedbacks from In-class Playtest #1.

* ~~When one of hero drops to 0 or below HP, take that hero off the board. On the next round, you can put them back on spawn point and take a movement or action immediately.~~

>> When one of hero drops to 0 or below HP, take that hero off the board. On the next round, **you spend your action that turn for that hero by putting them on the board and cannot do anything else.**

## New Playable Components

*To address new changes, we have added new playable tokens and sheets to the game:*

* New Character Sheets for Violea, the Lightning Crane and Luces, the Soul Squirrel.
* New Hero Board Piece for Violea, the Lightning Crane and Luces, the Soul Squirrel.
* New Hero Board Piece color for more players to accomodate up to 5 players.
* Soulbind Token: to indicate the two targets being affected by Luces's Domino ability.
* Scoring on Kill Token: to indicate the amount of points a player has collected by incapacitating players' heroes.
* The Ultimate Flag: A shining 10pt token in the middle of the board that is triggered at the end of the 6th round. By having a hero occupying it at the end of the round, you will score 10 points.
* Turn Tracker: A small sheet that players can make use of to track round and what flags to draw from the lottery. (kinda like the Here, Kitty Kitty season tracker).