Unsung Story - May Update

The May update for Undung Story gives a progress update, including the new Harmony skill system.

Our lead designer made significant progress on one of the last remaining systems to be designed --- providing bonuses for coordinating units together properly. We've spent a lot of time iterating on ideas for this system trying to determine the best way to showcase hybridization and experimentation with Unsung's sound-based magic and abilities.

The Harmony Skill System helps to remove some pressure of putting support roles on just one or two characters, and it allows the player to make meaningful choices with the tools at their disposal. 

Here’s a brief rundown of how it will work:

The game will have a new Harmony UI with 6 empty slots. Brandon's initial idea is to stylize it as measures in sheet music using 3/4 time. For those who aren't familiar with the difference between 3/4 and 4/4 time, in 3/4 time there are 3 beats per measure and in 4/4 time there are 4. Beats are typically quarter notes.

Every skill in the game will slot into three different categories; Offense, Defense, Support.

For now, we're using colors to show this.

• Red = Offense
• Blue = Defense
• Green = Support

When you use an ability, its color gets slotted as an eighth note in the current measure of the battle you're playing. After filling in 6 notes, (I.e. using 6 abilities) the player will trigger a team wide bonus for X amounts of turns. This team wide bonus is dependent on what colors are in the measure.

The last skill color a character used will be shown in the character portraits as well, to help make it clear which type of role they current playing and what notes they are adding based on the skill.

Here are some potential examples for how the colors would work.

• Scenario #1: The bar has an even distribution of all colors: RED, RED, GREEN, GREEN, BLUE, BLUE. Everyone on the team gets light buffs for Attack Damage, Focus Regen, and Defense increase.
• Scenario #2: The bar has an even distribution of two colors: RED, RED, RED, GREEN, GREEN, GREEN. Everyone on the team gets medium buffs for Attack Damage and Focus Regen.
• Scenario #3: The bar has all one color: RED, RED, RED, RED, RED, RED. The team receives a high bonus to their Attack Damage.
• Scenario #4: The measure is random, but has a majority color: BLUE, GREEN, GREEN, RED, BLUE, GREEN. The team would receive a medium bonus to Focus Regen.
• Scenario #5: The player figures out a specific sequence we create and hint at during the game, and the bonus ends up very powerful and unique.

Integration with other systems:

• Leveling a skill can increase its contribution to the bonus. For example, having a maxed out RED skill can increase the Attack Damage buff by X%. Stack a bunch of maxed out RED skills and get a very powerful Attack Damage buff.
• Using a Crescendo while the buff is active increases the buff by X for the party for X turns.

 Class Experimentation: 

• Build a group of Berserker types that execute BLUE skills to get a monster defense buff.
• Make a defensive, shield class with all RED abilities that can contribute to and get that attack increase.

The important part is that even if the player chooses to never engage with this system, they will still receive periodic buffs that complement their playstyle.