The Composure Combat System is my current project and was born from a simple premise, "Is it possible to make a combat system without using the fundamentals of health or stamina as a resource"? Instead of approaching combat as a battle of physical strength, I decided to look at it as a clash of will and determination. The player and player characters mentality is what changes throughout the fight, from a calm state, to a panicked frenzied state as the fight progresses and as the player approaches death.

 

What makes this system unique is that the resources used in combat are dependant on one another. The two main resources the player has are "Fight" and "Mental". The player uses "Fight" to complete actions such as attack or block, while "Mental" determines what "Mental State" the character is in and how much "Fight" they have access to. If a player is damaged, they lose "Fight". If the damage taken is greater than the amount of "Fight" a player has, they lose that much "Mental" instead.

 

The player has 4 "Mental States"; "Calm", "Agitated", "On Edge" and "Cower". As the player moves down each state, their attacks and attack power changes, meaning the players move set is in a constant state of flux. This helps give the player the power fantasy of using all their strength as they approach seemingly more dire odds. Once the player is out of "Mental", they are put in the "Cower State", and getting damaged in that state causes death.

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Details of this system are still being worked on and changed constantly. A Design Document will be added soon.

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Please see the progress videos below:

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