Relict is an alternative take on “The Fool’s Journey” in a more action-packed format. You take on the role of The Fool, a naive and spontaneous Tarot Deity. Unaware of what is to come, the Fool sets out on their journey with their head held high ready to take on anything.

The Fool embodies a “blank slate,” and can grow by receiving “Graces” from the different deities along the way. This will allow the player to utilize their powers and the lessons accompanying them to overcome increasingly challenging obstacles.

Given our game being a rogue-lite, I had a lot on my plate as a Gameplay Programmer. We set out with quite a lofty goal, the player would have 6 separate types of slots that abilities could go in. Each ability for each slot would also have at least 1 ability from 7 different deities.

• A weapon slot that effected how the player dealt damage

• A movement slot that effected the players mobility 

• A special slot for attack abilities that are heavily themed with their respective deity

• A support slot for abilities that gives the player a boost or lessens incoming damage

• An ultimate slot for powerful abilities that dealt deadly damage over a large area

• A passive slot that alters the player's playstyle by granting certain effects

This meant a LOT of background systems to support this. I was the one who created the dynamic ability system that allowed for these different abilities to be granted to the player during gameplay. I also connected it to the player's systems to ensure no hard coded connections to each ability. Other programmers could easily create a new ability and plug it into the system!

Some of the weapon cards could also add status effects to enemies. For this functionality I created a status effect system where effects could be easily added to enemies. These status effects also sometimes interplayed with player passive abilities. When a player had the Radiant Revenge passive card equipped and took damage from an enemy that enemy had a chance to take damage and receive the Sunburned status effect. That is just one example of many!

As Accessibility Lead for Relict I was responsible in creating documentation involving accessibility for our game. I was also in charge of making sure that these requirements were met in all disciplines.