Constellations

## Overview

In L'etoile, players are presented with a linear series of levels(termed Constellations) with the goal of clearing all the Constellations. Constellations represent an extra-diegetic grouping of *Nodes*, players are unable to traverse freely between Constellations. This grouping exists to provide grounding to players and for development. Transitioning from one Constellation to the next presents the player will a progression in theme/dynamics/difficulty.

*Constellations* are defined by a Start and End Node, with the Start Node indicating the first level of a Constellation and the End Node indicating the final level of a Constellation. The goal for the player is to clear the End Node. A *Constellation* may only ever have 1 Start and 1 End Node. Players may reach the End Node by first clearing a series of intervening Nodes.

There will be a total of 4 Constellations: Alpharius, Constellation B(Temp Name), Constellation C(Temp Name) and Constellation D(Temp Name).

The player must clear each Constellation in the order of presentation before proceeding to the next Constellation. The intended goal is for the player to clear all of the Constellations to beat the game. In the event of a Game Over, players will start again from the beginning of the Alpharius Constellation. Players can save and leave the game but will forfeit all progress up to the start of their current Constellation.

The Constellation may branch into different paths but will always converge back onto the End Node. Nodes may form branches, offering an alternate path to the player with different content. During the game, players will be able to view preliminary information about upcoming Nodes(type of node/intensity), which will be indicated on a Constellation Map presented at the start and end of an encounter. However, Nodes that are more than 3 branches ahead of the player will have this information hidden from the player. Additionally, the player may not head backwards through a Constellation, they may only proceed forwards towards the End Node.

### Making Constellations

The overall structure of a Constellation will be generated manually, following these guidelines.

1. First, Start Nodes will always be a light combat section.
2. Second, End Nodes are always heavy combat sections and must contain a boss fight.
3. Third, the ratio of combat to non-combat Nodes must never exceed 70:30.
4. Fourth, all branches in a Constellation must have the same length.
5. Fifth, a single Node may not branch more than 3 times.

From start to end, Constellations will have the following number of Nodes

* Alpharius: 13
* Constellation B: 8
* Constellation C: 10
* Constellation D: 7

### List of Constellations

#### Alpharius

This Constellation is intended as the main filter and will provide most of the teaching moments in the game. The heavy number of encounters here will provide ample opportunities to test players on their mechanics, while also encouraging players to try different builds.

#### Constellation B

The number of Nodes is reduced to lower the overall intensity and allow the players to progress further in strength. The peak intensity of encounters here may increase slightly in comparison to encounters in Alpharius. Accordingly, the minimum intensity of encounters here may also fall below those of encounters in Alpharius.

#### Constellation C

The peak intensity of encounters here will increase in comparison to Alpharius and Constellation B. The total number of Nodes is also increased to give players a final power boost and allow tweaking of their builds before the end.

#### Constellation D

Here the intensity of encounters will increase with each Node, culminating in an ultimate boss battle where players will be able to truly test their builds and skills to the limit.