Cobblestone Grime: Arena of Might

Story 

Fight your way through 10 bouts in the Arena of Might. Each fight will pit you against a new type of foe. Between each fight you will be returned to the Locker Room where new weapons and armor will be available in the shop as you prove yourself. The harder the fights you win the better the weapons and armor will be available to you.  Before challenging tougher champions you should hone your skills and make some cash in exhibition fights against some monsters. Grab the gear you want, train the abilities you want, and then head through the portal to your next fight!

Your first fight is against some large rats found living in your Locker Room before they threw you into it. After that you will fight against monsters and mercenaries until you prove yourself against a fellow gladiators. The higher your level and the more champions you defeat the more exceptional your opponents will be.  The last fight is against the reigning champion, The Dark Knight.

Instructions

You start in your personal Locker Room where you are safe and can familiarize yourself with the controls.  Look around and you will see a long time members of the arena. If you have learned raw experience in the arena the bard can train you in hardened skill. Talk to the bard and ask to train.

You start with a set of attributes that make you deadly in a fight.

  • Agility increases your chance to dodge
  • Might increases your damage
  • Skill increases your chance to hit and damage

You can train in techniques to increase that deadliness.  

  • Attack increases you chance to hit
  • Defense increases you chance to dodge
  • Sword, Mace,  Axe, and Ranged increase your chance to hit and defend with that weapon type

Look around and you will see a wall with items. For your first fight there will be one weapon and two pieces of armor. Grabbing the item will equip it. Armor includes light, medium, and heavy. Each tier increases protection without any detriment.  After your first fight you can also talk to the merchant in the corner to purchase new weapons and armor.

Use your intuition when choosing a weapon and attack type. For example War Hammers have devastating bashing attacks, but have no stab or slash damage.

Use your intuition when choosing an attack on a creature. The Reaper is made of solid living wood, bashing won't be as effective as slashing and chopping. A Dark Knight in full plate will shrug off slashes.  

Weapons and enemies move at different speeds.  Rats can move quickly, allowing them to move twice for each of your movements.  Daggers and Clubs also move quickly, allowing you to attack twice for each enemy attack.  Some weapons like the Maul and Dane Axe move slower, attacking twice for every three enemy attacks.  Some weapons are longer and will give you a reach advantage, allowing you to attack before your enemies get close.  This reach advantage will even let you attack enemies that are not directly in-front of you (diagonal enemies).  Don't forget about ranged weapons.  The merchant can sell you a Pistol and a Rifle.  These crude black powder weapons take extra turns to reload after being fired but they can reach out and touch your enemies before they have a chance of getting close.  And if they do get too close you could always bash them with the heavy stock.

In the corner of the room is a training dummy. You can practice your attacks against the dummy. It has the "skills" to represent a mid level opponent in the arena.

In the far corner is the merchant.  You earn a bounty for each opponent defeated in the arena.  Spend your bounty with the merchant to improve your equipment and chance of survival in the arena.

VR Controls

Motion and actions in VR can be done with gestures.

Walking: Walking happens in the direction you are looking. Walk in place to advance forward to the next square. (a side to side rocking motion from shifting weight on your feet seems to work best) You can also use the left thumbstick to walk forward by pushing the thumbstick forward. Backward and Strafing Left and Right can also be controlled by the Left-Thumbstick.

Waiting: Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to add a wait gesture. Please use the controller button (B)

Attacking: Attacking happens in the direction you are looking.
Bash: Raise you right hand up and bring it down quickly in a straight line in front of you to bash.
Slash: Place you right hand to the left or right of your torso and swing to the opposite side while staying parallel to the ground to slash.
Stab: Rush your right hand forward while staying parallel to you head to stab. (make a stabbing motion in the direction you are looking
Grab: Put right hand forward while looking at the item to grab and make a pulling motion. (reverse stab)

If you are having trouble replicating the motions try practicing in the Locker Room on the Training Dummy.

If you would like to use button inputs those are supported as well:

Walking: Walking happens in the direction you are looking. You can use the Left-Thumbstick to walk forward by pushing the Left-Thumbstick Forward. Backward and Strafing Reft and Right can also be controlled by the Left-Thumbstick.

Turning: Snap turning can be enabled by pressing down on the Left-Thumbstick.  Pressing down on the Left-Thumbstick toggles between strafing and snap-turning when moving the Left-Thumbstick left or right.

Waiting: Press the secondary button (B) on the Right-Controller or Right-Thumbstick.

Attacking: Attacking happens in the direction you are looking against the enemy with the target reticle on it.
Bash: Push the Right-Thumbstick Backwards.
Slash: Push the Right-Thumbstick Left or Right.
Stab: Push the Right-Thumbstick Forwards.
Grab: Push the Primary Button (A) on the Right-Controller.

Keyboard Controls (Defaults)

W Walk forward 
S Walk Backward
Strafe Left
D Strafe Right
Q Turn Left
E Turn Right
X Wait turn
Grab / Pickup items and skills
Open / Close inventory screen
Open / Close character screen
J and L Slash attack
I Bash attack
M to shoot or reload when empty
K Stab attack  
Cursor Keys / ASDF move menus
Enter To finish trade deals with the merchant
Tab To cancel trade deals with the merchant
F To select items to trade with the merchant

Sources:

Music:

https://musopen.org/music/43764-allmayne/ main ready theme
https://musopen.org/music/43761-ponce-preludio-in-e-major/ alternate theme

Art:

https://www.oryxdesignlab.com/home Tiny Dungeon and Tiny Galaxy

Development log

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