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Welcome to Damned, a heart-pounding horror experience meticulously crafted using Unreal Engine 4.27. This nightmarish journey began during a local 24-hour game jam, where the theme "Night is Coming" inspired the game's eerie foundation. Since then, I have continued to evolve and expand the project, turning it into a fully realized, immersive horror adventure.
In Damned, players face a relentless roguelike challenge set within a mysterious forest clearing. The objective is simple but terrifying: survive the encroaching darkness by gathering essential items each night. With each passing day, the difficulty escalates, increasing the tension and stakes. Should the player fail to collect the necessary resources, a relentless monster emerges to hunt them down, leading to a chilling and permanent end to their run.
The XP and leveling system in Damned is designed to provide a balanced and rewarding progression experience. It scales alongside the game's increasing difficulty to ensure a fair yet challenging curve for players.
XP Gain
Experience is awarded at the end of each night based on a formula that scales with the game's difficulty:
- Base XP per Night: 100 XP
- Scaling Multiplier: Each night's XP is increased by 10% of the previous night's XP, rounded to the nearest integer.
This dynamic system means that as the game grows harder, players are rewarded with greater XP, reflecting their endurance and skill in surviving the escalating dangers.
Leveling System
The leveling system works in harmony with the XP gain, ensuring steady progression while maintaining a rising challenge.
- Base XP for Level 1: 500 XP
- Level Requirement Formula: Each subsequent level requires the previous level's XP multiplied by 1.1, plus a flat increase of 200 XP.
This combination of multiplicative and additive growth ensures a smooth early progression with increasing difficulty over time.
On average, players typically survive nights 3-5 during their first attempt. Each upgrade extends their survival time by approximately 2-3 nights, offering a tangible sense of growth. The game also introduces a degree of randomness, occasionally clustering essential items together to provide moments of relief and enhance the overall gameplay variety.
The upgrade system in Damned is designed to be simple yet impactful, empowering players to improve their resource-gathering efficiency over time.
Upgrade Costs
- Level 1 Cost: 1 Upgrade Token
- Subsequent Levels: Each additional level costs one more token than the previous level.
For example, upgrading the wood resource from Level 1 to Level 2 increases the wood yield from 1 per tree to 2 per tree and costs 1 upgrade token. Each subsequent level follows this pattern, allowing players to boost their efficiency progressively.
Upgrade UI
The game's user interface is crafted for intuitive navigation and ease of use. Players can interact with the upgrade menu through a simple click-and-hold mechanism:
- Click-and-Hold: Advances the upgrade level if the player has sufficient upgrade tokens.
- Upgrade Display: Clearly shows the player's current upgrade level and the next available upgrade.
Additionally, the UI displays real-time information on the player's current level, their progress toward the next level, and the number of available upgrade tokens. This transparent design ensures players are always informed and in control of their growth.
Damned is a constantly evolving horror experience that blends intense survival mechanics with a rewarding progression system. Through carefully balanced XP calculations, a fair leveling curve, and an intuitive upgrade system, players are immersed in a terrifying world where every decision counts.
As development continues, I am excited to further expand the game's mechanics and narrative, delivering an even more compelling and chilling journey for players brave enough to face the darkness.