RULES

:: Weapon and shell upgrade system.

In Battle Rage Shells’ parameters can be upgraded. The player can setup the robot to suit his/her own playing style. It can be done both in the single player and the multiplayer.

Setting the robot’s parameters looks like in the RPG game. The player sees current statistics of the robot and the possibility of upgrade. Definite amount of points can be spent for upgrading the stats. Those points can be earned for winning battles in the arcade mode or they are just allowed in the multiplayer robot setup menu. The amount of points in the multiplayer is constant, the player doesn’t get more points for winning the battles. Thanks to this disturbance of game mechanic’s balance is avoided. This still gives powerful setup possibilities for the player (every robot can be tuned singly and the settings for multiplayer can be altered).

If the robot’s parameters modification looks like upgrading the character’s stats in the RPG game, then modifying weapon’s stats is done like upgrading the character’s abilities. Weapons are divided on melee and ranged. Both types have it’s own statistics and traits. Every trait has 5 levels of power (1 – minimum, 5 – maximum). Levels of every trait are upgraded using another pool of points, which are acquired the same way as those for the stats’ modifying.

In the melee weapons the player can set the level of special abilities. There are two types of abilities, common (the same for all robots), and rare (every robot has it’s own rare ability). The common abilities are stun (immobilizes struck opponent for a period of time) and push (the strike pushes the opponent – this can be used to throw the enemies out of the arena). Rare abilities can be for example: armor pierce, slow down, blind, armor break, short circuit, etc. The rare ability is unlocked when common abilities reach definite level.

Ranged weapons’ traits are mainly relative to aiming and shooting. The player can for example upgrade weapon’s firepower, magazine capacity or lower the feedback. There is also a special bullet mode for every weapon that is unlocked after reaching designed level of the firepower trait. Activating the special bullet mode gives powerful abilities to every bullet fired by this weapon. For example this can be explosion, electricity or flame.

:: The power triangle.

The power triangle plays crucial role in the game’s mechanics and is one of the reasons that differ Battle Rage from ordinary shooters. The power triangle is used to balance three Shell's statistics: the movement speed, the shooting power and the shield power. By default those statistics are set to half of their capacity. The player can adjust those values in real-time in a simple way - Increasing one of the statistic causes other two to lower, so the sum of them is always the same.

What gives the power triangle to the player? It depends on the tactics that he prefers. For defensive players increasing the shield power to the maximum value might be a good idea. For those, who prefer close combat, setting the speed value to the max will allow quick approach to the opponent. Also quick change of parameters can save the player's life in the heat of combat. Your health is low and the health pack is on the other side of map? No problem, set the speed to the maximum and go ther avoiding enemies' attacks. Your opponent is low on health? Set the firepower to the max and finish him off. Those are just examples - there are much more possibilities, and how the player will use it, depends only on his creativity.

:: Rage meter.

Another feature that approach Battle Rage to the beat'em up genre is the Rage meter. It's a strip which indicates the heat level of the Shell. When the level reaches maximum, the Shell enters the "Rage mode" and gains great strike power in melee combat that allows to perform one very powerful blow. The opponent struck by the Shell in the "Rage mode" most likely will die instantly. Rage mode allows to make one strike (it doesn't matter whether the strike reached the opponent or it didn't), then Rage meter is reset