We're participating in the Turn Based Thursday Festival! What better than to talk a little bit about the combat of Nova Hearts? You were many to give your feedback on it and we took notes, so thank you! Let's dive into it and reply to some questions we've seen online.
Why mixing combat and visual novel/dating sim?
Our idea with Nova Hearts was to revisit the genres of visual novels and dating simulations. These games don't often have a combat system implemented. They are mostly based on narration, we wanted to spice it up and add some action into the mix! One great example is Boyfriend Dungeon. We were inspired by the well-balanced relationship between its story, dating, and combat. There are not a ton of games to mix genres like this, so we wanted to do our own and make a game we really want to play: FIGHT and FLIRT!
The theme of our game also helps a lot. In Magical Girls the "magical" is regularly associated with defending someone or something. The heroes have superpowers to fight the great evil! Here our trio Luce, Will, and CJ are defending the city from an emerging threat. Combat was definitely necessary in our scenario, and that's also the best place for Sailor Moon-esk transformations!
How does the combat work?
At the start of the combat, you will see a timeline at the bottom of the screen. This timeline is separated into equal parts that represent a turn.
When it is your time to play, there is a white bar you can move, representing the casting time of an attack. The more you move the bar to the right, the later your attack will be cast according to the order represented by the faces of the characters. If the white bar doesn't appear, it means this action is instantaneous and doesn't need casting time like Luce's second attack to heal all the allies.
How to progress?
During a playthrough, you will unlock new powers per character and will be able to up them. The Power App on the phone is the main place to manage your powers. After each combat, you gain XP points filling a jauge. When you have cumulated enough points, you can improve your attacks. The advantages are often an increase in the damages, in the buff/debuff bonuses, etc.
Why did we choose this system?
Turn-based games and the timeline are dear to our hearts. Our previous game, Othercide has the timeline too in its combat. We wanted to use this system appreciated by the players and adapt it to Nova Hearts. Our current timeline is not final and will evolve based on your feedback. So if you want to share your experience with the combat of Nova Hearts, we're all ears!
Othercide's timeline
We can't wait to listen to your feedback so if you didn't get the chance yet, play Nove Hearts: The Sparke for free on our Steam page!
