Part 3 of 4 by Ethan Levy
At its heart, Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads is a tactical RPG. We employ a hex based combat system reminiscent of the classic Heroes of Might and Magic series, but instead of giant armies of units, you control up to three heroes with stat systems and talent trees taken directly from Dragon Age: Origins. Over time, these heroes gain experience, level up, learn new talents, get new loot … all the familiar RPG elements. This allows you to take on bigger and badder enemies from the Dragon Age world, such as darkspawn monsters Genlock Alphas and Ogres.
The hex based combat system took great inspiration from the classic Heroes of Might and Magic games
In each battle, units take turns moving across the field, using ranged and melee attacks, casting spells, drinking potions and using talents. The basics of the combat system have been set since early in the project, but we were feeling that our combat wasn’t deep enough and didn’t force you to work strategically. So, we took the time to iterate on this system and eventually hit the sweet spot where there’s a combat system that is both tactical and engaging.
It wasn’t any one major feature, but a number of small touches stacked on top of each other that resulted in the recipe for success:
• Monster Secondary Attacks: We added two special attacks to each type of enemy, so that they were no longer only using a basic ranged or melee attack.
Ogre Charge and Slam
• Movement Rules: We changed the rules of movement. Previously, on your character’s turn, they could move once and then attack, use a talent, drink a potion or end their turn. Players would frequently make a misstep and wish they were able to undo their move. Now, on a character’s turn, they can move freely anywhere within their walk radius before using talents or attacking.
• Talent Animations: We pushed the talent effects and the animations further, so there are more options and the results pay off in spectacular fashion.
Bard’s Song of Valor
• Obstacles and Line of Sight: Throwing randomly generated obstacles onto the battlefield, combined with line of sight rules for ranged attacks, forced players to move around the field strategically, instead of getting into a base line duel.
Game Changing Obstacles
• Back Stab and Flank: We added damage bonuses for performing backstabs and flanking maneuvers, further emphasizing the importance of strategic placement of characters.
All the little things added up to create a deep, tactical combat system
By combining all of theses features together, we ended up with a deep, strategic combat system that really delivers on the potential that Dragon Age Journeys has shown all along. We are confident that with this game, we are taking a huge step forward compared to previous flash-based RPGs.
Join us in “The Deep Roads”
Tags: blog, dragon age, Dragon Age Journeys
October 19, 2009 at 2:53 pm |
Arghh! Cant wait to try it out! Wheres it at?! =)
October 19, 2009 at 4:16 pm |
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October 19, 2009 at 5:12 pm |
that’s right! when will this be released?
October 19, 2009 at 6:56 pm |
hopefully we get to play it tomorrow
October 20, 2009 at 12:49 am |
I second that! Where and when will we be able to play this?
October 20, 2009 at 2:52 am |
Yeah I was thinking the same.
I thought it was coming out today..but since only 3 of 4 parts is out..I guess that won’t happen.
October 20, 2009 at 4:10 am |
I WANT! This sounds AWESOME!
October 20, 2009 at 4:15 am |
This game looks amazing, I’m echoing the above comment, Wheres it at!?
October 20, 2009 at 8:16 am |
I wanna play it
when is it going to be released? :>
October 20, 2009 at 11:08 am |
When will the game start?
Sound awesome
October 20, 2009 at 5:04 pm |
Awesome when is it going to be released ?
October 20, 2009 at 6:39 pm |
When is it coming out?
October 20, 2009 at 6:45 pm |
I Wanna play as a hold of on the real dragon age origins!
October 20, 2009 at 7:00 pm |
enough with the teasing when can we play it?
looks great just my kind of thing…
October 20, 2009 at 7:33 pm |
zzz
October 20, 2009 at 11:45 pm |
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to play it.
October 21, 2009 at 12:09 am |
Stuck in dorm with swine flu and relying on this to tide me over during these long, grossness-filled, dreary days! Then again,’ll hopefully be out of quarantine by the time this comes out…
October 21, 2009 at 5:36 am |
Ok i found the website.. now i second the above.. when will we be able to do more than watch the intro movie?
October 21, 2009 at 9:22 am |
This has to come out soon otherwise we’ll all be playing the actual game and won’t have time for this. Other than lunch breaks at work that is.
October 21, 2009 at 11:01 am |
hope its coming out this week – so we have the time to play it – the longer it takes the sooner Dragon Age Origins is released and we all won`t have time to play Journeys…..:)
October 22, 2009 at 5:11 am |
This is a cool tie in. You should release this on xbox arcade and iPhone;)
October 22, 2009 at 10:10 am |
I saw an article somewhere that said it would be released noon october 21st. That obviously didn’t happen. Any update on a release date would be awesome
October 22, 2009 at 6:20 pm |
Syndrome sits behind Molly Ringwald, voiced by Haley Joel Osment; he shouts out catchphrases that instantly update the movie for modern audiences for whom films without commercial sponsorship are difficult to focus on. ,
October 22, 2009 at 6:52 pm |
“Obstacles and Line of Sight: Throwing randomly generated obstacles onto the battlefield, combined with line of sight rules for ranged attacks, forced players to move around the field strategically, instead of getting into a base line duel.”
I’ve already e-mailed about this but there seems to be a problem with this rule… it affects the player characters but not the NPCs. Unless that is the way it’s supposed to work.
October 23, 2009 at 11:29 am |
Now that the game is up and running (well, running in the conceptual sense) where can we go help? I keep getting the unable to contact EA servers message, which is a shame since I was able to log in last night. I know it’s free and all, and you get what you pay for, but any help or forum would be appreciated.
October 26, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
This is a fun game. Simple but fun…
I’m “hung up” in the Smugglers Tunnels on the 3rd quest… I killed all the enemies and I’m at the campsite…
Everytime I target and travel to the quest objective, it does nothing… Usually I get “sucked into” the congratulations window and the story moves forward. WTF?
I’m ready for Origins…
PS: Thanks for the cool little acheivements in this game. I’m curious to see if they work on the “real” game…
October 29, 2009 at 3:52 am |
Okay, played ‘Deep Roads’, loved it. So where are the next bits? This is a three part game, right? And I thought they were all supposed to be out before Dragon Age Origins came out.
November 5, 2009 at 3:08 am |
“Now, on a character’s turn, they can move freely anywhere within their walk radius before using talents or attacking.”
Great idea! I plays really well and is intuitive. So far, I see only one small problem with it: Backstabbing will never be a problem for a rogue, even if you’re standing directly in front of your enemy because you can always move your max. movement range away from it, hide, then move all the way back behind him.
November 7, 2009 at 9:08 am |
I’ve got a problem. Everytime i wanna LOGIN the message ” Can’t connect to the EA-Servers” appears. What to do? Please Help!!
November 12, 2009 at 10:39 am |
The combat reminds me of the old SSI Gold Box games. It’s fantastic.