Crown Trick - nysgyf
Nightmare Runners!

The monsters in Nightmare Realm are dangerous and tricky, but worry not! In this post we will tell you the basic mechanics behind the battle system in the game ant try to give you some tips on how to fight your way through the dungeons more effectively.

Turn-based Combat:
Everything moves when Elle makes a move. That's the main principle behind the turn-based rule in the game. Although sometimes you wouldn't even notice it when running and exploring the dungeon, so don't rush into a new room recklessly otherwise you will find yourself in the middle of battle without properly analyzing the situation.


It's also important to skip a move in some situations and you can do that by simply pressing X on the keyboard. Sometimes the best move is not to move at all!


Blinking Ability
Blink is a very useful move to get Elle out of tricky situations, it also doesn't consume turns so you can blink several times within one turn. The number of blinks resets to 3 once you enter a new room and then it's up to you to recharge it by performing combos and breaking the enemy shield points. That is what we are going to talk about in the next paragraph.


Break Mechanic
As you already noticed, each monster has a shield icon at the top with a number of points on it. This is basically the number of points you need to reduce to 0 in order to "break" the enemy. This will stun a monster for a couple of turns and . Stronger enemies usually have more points so that it's harder to break them.


Hitting a monster with a normal attack will reduce 1 Break Point from it. But here is when things get more interesting. Elle can reduce another 1 extra Break Point in two cases:
1. When Elle is standing on one of the adjacent tiles to the monster and successfully lands an attack/spell;
2. When an enemy is charging an attack/spell and gets hit by Elle during this particular turn.

If you hit both of the conditions above at the same time, then you can reduce additional Break Points and hit 3 points in total.



Combo State:
Once you successfully "break" a monster, Elle will enter into a combo state that will start filling up that combo bar at the bottom of the screen. After breaking more monsters within a certain number of turns, Elle will have a damage boost and extra blinks!



Maintaining the combo state and continuously breaking monsters can significantly increase Elle's mobility and damage in a single battle room (up to +100% damage).



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010/Crown_Trick/

Crown Trick - Lauren_Team17
Patch notes:

1. Resolution issues fix.



If you encounter any issues while playing Crown Trick, please let us know in our Report A Problem forum here on Steam!

Crown Trick - Lauren_Team17
Patch notes:

1. Bug fixes that cause update failure.


If you encounter any issues while playing Crown Trick, please let us know in our Report A Problem forum here on Steam!

Crown Trick - nysgyf
Embrace elemental powers and take down enemies that move only when you move – Crown Trick is available now on Steam!



Embark on a perilous journey through the procedurally-generated dungeons of the Nightmare Realm as protagonist, Elle. Accompanied by your magical crown you’ll take on a variety of enemies in unique turn-based combat where foes and traps only move when Elle does. Strategic thinking is key to overcoming and escaping the dangerous labyrinthine dungeon of Crown Trick!



Engaging strategic gameplay:
Monsters and traps move only when you move; carefully thought out strategies are key to escaping the labyrinthine dungeon.



Fight how you want:
Create and develop a unique combat style with 40+ active skills, 60+ passive abilities, 30+ usable items, and 170+ special relics, all of which create different ways to cut through enemy encounters.



Learn from enemies:
Gather elite ‘Familiar’ skills by overcoming enemies ready to unleash on others deeper in the dungeon

Different dungeons every time:
The procedurally-generated maze ensures you will have unique experiences every time you enter the Nightmare Realm.



A clear strategy is key to successfully overcoming the Nightmare Realm, whether exploring its many rooms and corridors, or fighting some of the 100 monsters that you may encounter on your deadly run. Crown Trick’s synchronous gameplay means you’ll have the choice to stop and assess the situation at any time, setting the dungeon in motion only when you move.


Pricing & Discounts
Crown Trick is priced at £15.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 on Steam.

We’re excited to share a number of discounts available at launch:

20% off for owners of My Time at Portia – Two weeks
20% off for owners of Scroll of Taiwu – Two weeks
20% off for owners of Darkest Dungeon – Two weeks
20% off for owners of Warriors of the Nile – Two weeks
10% off launch discount for everyone – Two weeks

Dev Livestream
Fancy watching the developers play Crown Trick? We’ll be running a pre-recorded broadcast on the Steam store page throughout launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010/Crown_Trick/



Want to stay up to date with Crown Trick news?
Crown Trick on Twitter
Crown Trick Discord
Team17 Discord
Crown Trick - NExT Studios

The Beginning:
First, let’s talk about Roguelike genre. There are more and more great games with roguelike elements that have been made recently. They all provide a variety of interesting gaming experience and always have the roguelike mechanics at their core.

After playing many popular roguelike games, we decided to focus on the turn-based aspect of the genre. We wanted to make a turn-based roguelike game for modern players. And that’s when we came up with the idea of making Crown Trick.

Pioneers:
Our design team took inspiration from other games in the genre to incorporate some of the more modern game design elements into Crown Trick. For example: lower entry level, fast-paced combat, great graphics and turn-based strategic gameplay. We wanted to make a classic turn-based roguelike game with a modern twist that everyone could play.

The Prototype:
After much research, we came up with the first prototype for Crown Trick. At the beginning when we didn’t have any art direction yet, we used paper prototypes to determine some core game elements. At this stage, we wanted to be sure we could create interesting character builds and combinations in a turn-based game. For this reason we designed different Familiars and skills, then tested them on a paper prototype.

After many different design variations and trials, we decided that the player should should be able to assign two Familiars at a time, and by switching these familiars the player could come up with different skill combinations and tricks!

After completing the above experiments, we determined three core game mechanics:
1. Two Familiars with different skills that can be replaced during the game
2. A variety of weapons to change the ordinary attack methods
3. A variety of passive skills (also known as Relics later)
Interestingly, after confirming these core mechanics someone from the team asked, “What if the player comes up with a ridiculously overpowered character build and kills the boss in seconds?”
And our answer always was: “Then this player should feel very proud of themselves in this round!”





Original paper prototype

Main Character:
When we were entering the character design process, the question that bothered us all was that in a game where the character is all alone in a dark dungeon, what kind of character experience does the player want?

The feeling of loneliness is what we think players are most likely to have in a long dungeon adventure. But we also thought that it could be more interesting to have two characters go on an adventure together - because two is better than one, right?

We thought that it would be a good idea to have a companion for the main protagonist. So, we decided to add another character and make the player feel less alone with some interesting interactions between the two characters.

When coming up with the appearance of the second character, we wanted them to be a non-human being. Then we started to come up with the overall look for this mysterious companion. After a series of discussions and voting, we finally decided to put a talking hat on the main protagonist, but to make our protagonist look even better, we just changed the appearance of the talking hat to a golden crown.



Early variations of Elle

The Maze:
Our ultimate goal was to design a rich and interesting maze for players to explore, but first of all we asked ourselves, “What kind of design principles should we apply to the maze?”. This proposition itself made our team to fall into the maze of game design. We researched and designed a variety of different prototypes, but none of met our original expectations.

After a series of painful struggles, we finally determined the method of using a single room as an experience unit. Then we hand-crafted some contents for it and randomized the maze structure. We believed that by using this method we could control the rhythm of player experience in a randomly generated roguelike maze.


Early maze variations

Make it fun!
Once the core gameplay, main characters and maze design were sorted, it seemed that the game was perfectly ready to go into production. But the main problem was still yet to come…

In the early versions of the game we conducted a couple of small-scale playtest sessions and found out that the game had a most essential but deadly problem – it was not fun to play!

In the following days after the playtest session, our development team restructured some of the basic mechanics and reanalyzed the reasons for the lack of “fun” in the game. We found that the lack of emotional experience during the playtest was one of the biggest problems. Emotions such as surprise, panic, happiness, regret, expectation and fear were scarce in the game at that moment.

So, we made three major changes to adjust the game experience drastically.
1. Elemental Interaction
2. Blinking Ability
3. Break System

We have almost completely changed the game combat system through the implementation of these three features. Players can use different elements and terrain tiles to cleverly kill monsters, then use blink ability to control their positioning within the room and use the break system to continuously deal more damage, thus killing more monsters and getting better rewards. After the introduction of these three game design elements, the combat in the game suddenly became richer and more fun to play. And we finally were able to push forward with production.


Early concept of the elemental interactions

We may have completed development on Crown Trick, but we plan to share more information on this with you in the future.

We hope that you’ll enjoy this dungeon adventure together with our main characters and have an unforgettable and joyful experience!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to Wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010/Crown_Trick/

Keep up to date with the latest Crown Trick news:
Sign up to the Team17 newsletter
Follow Crown Trick on Twitter
Follow Team17 on Twitter
Like Team17 on Facebook
Join the Crown Trick Discord
Join the Team17 Discord
Oct 10, 2020
Crown Trick - NExT Studios
The Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition is now live!

Tune in to the Crown Trick Steam page today and watch our developers take on the procedurally-generated labyrinth in the Nightmare Realm!

PLUS, you can try the free demo too!

Don't forget to add Crown Trick to your wishlist ːsteamhappyː

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010
Oct 8, 2020
Crown Trick - Lauren_Team17
The Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition is now live!

Tune in to the Crown Trick Steam page today and watch our developers take on the procedurally-generated labyrinth in the Nightmare Realm!

PLUS, you can try the free demo too!

Don't forget to add Crown Trick to your wishlist ːsteamhappyː

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010
Crown Trick - nysgyf
Explore the procedurally generated dungeons of the Nightmare Realm in Crown Trick, coming to Steam on October 16th!



Crown Trick is a turn-based roguelike in which you play as Elle. Armed with only your magical talking crown to guide you, you’ll develop your own combat style; choosing between active and passive abilities and utilising relics to aid you along the way.



Mastering the elements will also be a key pillar to your survival, and upon vanquishing the high-level familiars found lurking in the labyrinth, you will be able to steal their skills and wield them as your own in your journey to escape the Nightmare Realm!

Key Features:
  • Engaging strategic gameplay: Monsters and traps move only when the player moves; carefully thought out strategies are key to escaping the labyrinthine dungeon
  • Fight how you want: Create and develop a unique combat style with dozens of active and passive skills and abilities, items, and relics help create different ways to cut through enemy encounters
  • Learn from enemies: Gather elite ‘Familiar’ skills by overcoming enemies ready to unleash on others deeper in the dungeon
  • Different dungeons every time: The procedurally generated maze ensures players have unique experiences every time they enter the Nightmare Realm



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010/Crown_Trick/

Add it to your Steam wishlist to keep up with the latest news or follow the channels below…

Keep up to date with the latest Crown Trick news:
Sign up to the Team17 newsletter
Follow Crown Trick on Twitter
Follow Team17 on Twitter
Like Team17 on Facebook
Join the Crown Trick Discord
Join the Team17 Discord



Crown Trick - Lauren_Team17
Tencent Games’ NExT Studios and Team17 are partnering up to bring adventure RPG roguelike Crown Trick to PC and Nintendo Switch in Q3 2020!



Crown Trick is set in the daunting Nightmare Realm, a labyrinthine, underground world filled with monsters and traps. You will have to master the elements and combine dozens of skills, while planning the best strategy, to overcome deadly enemies that stand still until their plan of attack is executed.



As the quest continues, you will have the opportunity to gain access to high-level skills – Familiars – secured from the elite monsters that roam the dungeon, increasing the chances of both success and survival.



Engaging strategic gameplay: Monsters and traps move only when the player moves; carefully thought out strategies are key to escaping the labyrinthine dungeon

Fight how you want: Create and develop a unique combat style with dozens of active and passive skills and abilities, items, and relics help create different ways to cut through enemy encounters

Learn from enemies: Gather elite ‘Familiar’ skills by overcoming enemies ready to unleash on others deeper in the dungeon

Different dungeons every time: The procedurally generated maze ensures players have unique experiences every time they enter the Nightmare Realm


Crown Trick comes to Nintendo Switch and PC in Q3 2020.

Add Crown Trick to your Steam wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010/Crown_Trick/
Crown Trick - NExT Studios
Crown Trick demo is available during The Steam Game Festival until June 22. Visit our steam page to download the demo!

As a part of the event, we are also going to have a Q&A session about the game development on our Discord server. So come in and ask us anything about the game or just chat with us on the server!
https://discord.gg/FbaXFNm


Also, we are going to have another streaming session on our steam broadcast page on June 19, 9:00 AM UTC. Go to our steam page to tune in for the live stream with devs.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000010/Crown_Trick/
...