Motefall

An action roguelite that compresses an ARPG run into a single session.

The goal

I wanted to build a game with the approachability and simplicity of a Vampire Survivors-style game and some of the complex build progression of ARPGs like Path of Exile. My hypothesis is that what keeps players out of large, complex games like PoE isn't the complexity of the choices, it's the abstraction of those decisions. A new player isn't going to intuitively understand or really feel +5 Intelligence or 10% Attack Damage, but they can see an extra fireball.

This prototype attempts to distill a Path of Exile and Vampire Survivors run in one sitting. By the 10 minute mark, players should be clearing enemies like they are nothing, very similar to the end of a Vampire Survivors run or a well-designed Path of Exile build after 100 hours of play.

Three pillars

  • Visual Spectacle. Power is readable. +1 projectile, not +7 damage.
  • Limitless Combinations. Every power should interact with each other. The combinations don't always have to be good, but they should do mostly what you expect.
  • Manage Randomness. Drafting your build is a key part of the game. Players must create a build out of the motes they find, rather than targeting best in slot every run.

The filter

  1. A new upgrade should be visual on the screen. This looks like +1 projectile, an additional swing of a sword, or a larger circle. Players should get visual feedback when they upgrade their builds.
  2. Class identity lives in the combination of Kit and Resource. Motes are universal from class to class: air motes create tornadoes whether you're playing the monk or a future barbarian. What makes a class unique is how its kit and resource deliver those motes.
  3. Mechanics must be multi-use. Because the nature of the game is hordes of enemies running at you, creating a build that's purely long range would stop feeling good when the hordes of enemies inevitably get in your face.
  4. Watch for scope creep. New ideas or additions need to be scrutinized. Am I adding this because it is adding to the game, or is this a distraction?
  5. Watch for Recursion. In many ARPGs, the late game reaches a point where effects trigger other effects, the build plays itself, and players stop caring about the execution check. In Motefall, a fireball can burst when it kills an enemy, but a burst can never trigger another burst. Players should feel strong, but they must still interact with the core rotation of their class.

What's built

  • A ten-minute survival run that ends with the Boss at the centre of the arena
  • The monk's four moves and Focus, two pips you fill by alternating moves to empower the next one
  • Gems and heal drops from kills, and a level-up screen that pauses the run for a build choice
  • Four elements in one primary and two secondary slots per attack, with the primary making one more form every level, along Chi Blast's aim or on the enemies Spinning Kick hit
  • Six enemy types that telegraph their attacks; the only thing that hurts on touch is a spearman's levelled spear
  • A tutorial room where you practise each move before walking into the run

Where that leaves it: the bones of a play session are mostly in place. Leveling up, collecting things and upgrading your abilities all feel good. It needs more abilities, more classes and a meta-progression layer, but in-session play is at a decent point.

Iteration

Monk iteration

The monk went through three iterations before finding the right balance.

My first attempt had three different attacks: a punch, a kick, and a 360 slam. Pressing different abilities gave you focus, and at 3 focus your 4th attack was empowered. Which buttons you pushed changed your empowered ability, so an empowered ability with the combo Punch, Kick, Punch was different from Punch, Kick, Slam. This ended up being way too complicated and didn't get past the paperkit phase.

The second attempt was a little more traditional: chaining punches and kicks filled a bar that unlocked an ultimate ability. This one got built, but I found I felt compelled to spam one button over another and play for the ult, which didn't feel very "monk". There were also still a lot of things to track.

The third attempt pared things down again and brought back the part of the first design that actually worked: focus. Instead of 9 different abilities and an attack sequence to memorize, the monk got two basic abilities, Punch and Kick, and an empowered version of each. Punch does a line attack, and Kick does a cone attack. Weaving punches and kicks grants focus, and at 2 focus the next attack is empowered. An empowered punch is a piercing line that gives the monk some range, while the empowered kick turns the cone into a full AOE. This really sold the feeling of being a monk and using your whole body as a weapon, while staying simple enough that players don't have to memorize much. It was also a lot more forgiving, since you only needed to alternate punches and kicks to get an empowered attack.

A hit that didn't land

This one comes from the warhammer build in August. Playtesters wanted the basic swings to hit harder, so I gave them 40% more damage and shipped it. The next report said they still read as "mainly to apply the debuff". A buff you can feel that doesn't change what the move is for is worth stopping on.

The cause was somewhere else. A hit was landing 15% of its authored impulse, because two multipliers were compounding, which moved an enemy six pixels. Its body radius is twelve. Nothing visibly reacted when you connected, so the swing felt like a delivery mechanism for a status effect instead of a hit.

Both changes shipped in the end. The damage made it hit harder and the impulse made it land. What I took from it is that "do more damage" and "feel like it connected" are separate dials, and the report only named one of them.

Credits

Built in Godot 4.6 with GDScript. The implementation was paired with Claude Code. The design, the systems, the rulings and the tuning are mine. Every non-obvious decision is written down with its reason.

Play it on the portfolio homepage.

Systems in depth →

Every element, the primary and secondary slots, and what each enemy is built to ask of you.

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