#026 GAD BA1 P2: iPhone Game - Game Mechanics Explained - Pt 2

In my previous game mechanics post I explained the levels and progression of difficulty, in this post I will explain the experience point system as well as upgrades. To begin, you gain experience by killing your enemies and their settlements; there are different types of enemies as well as different types of structures.

Types of enemies and the experience reward for killing them are as follows(from weakest to strongest):
Vikingr Axe-Swinger: 5 Experience Points
Vikingr Brute: 8 Experience Points
Vikingr Warrior: 12 Experience Points
Vikingr War-Master: 16 Experience Points

Types of structures and the experience reward for destroying them are as follows(from weakest to strongest):
Vikingr Hut: 5 Experience Points
Vikingr Watchtower: 15 Experience Points
Vikingr Balista: 25 Experience Points
Vikingr Grapple: 35 Experience Points


To begin, the dragons default fireball does set amount of damage. As you upgrade it by earning experience it gets stronger, allowing you to kill enemies quicker, the power of the dragons fireball and its range/area are as follows:
Level 0: 100 Damage to a 3 foot wide area
Level 1: 120 Damage to a 4 foot wide area
Level 2: 140 Damage to a 5 foot wide area
Level 3: 160 Damage to a 6 foot wide area
Level 4: 180 Damage to a 7 foot wide area
Level 5: 200 Damage to a 8 foot wide area

Note: At level 5 the player unlocks a new move for their Dragon called "Fire Nova". Fire Nova requires the player to have full "ammunition" (this will be explained later) and carpet bombs 5 sections of the ground in a row, dealing 150 damage to each section.

As mentioned above, there are different types of Vikingr. Each of the Vikingr types has a different amount of health, the Vikingr Axe-Swinger having the lowest and the Vikingr War-Master having the highest. As you progress through the levels more of each kind will appear in each settlement, for example, Level 1 will consist of 20 Vikingr Axe-Swingers, however Level 2 will consist of 18 Vikingr Axe-Swingers and 2 Viking Brutes. The point in this is so that the player needs to carefully balance their upgrades, making sure they have just enough fire-power to destroy their enemies. Below is the health of each of the types of Vikingr:


Vikingr Axe-Swinger: 100 Health Points
Vikingr Brute: 130 health Points
Vikingr Warrior: 160 Health Points
Vikingr War-Master: 190 Health Points

The structures work in the same way as the Vikingr units, each has different health amounts and are generally much harder to destroy than the enemy units, the health is as follows:


Vikingr Hut: 200 Health Points
Vikingr Watchtower: 300 Health Points
Vikingr Balista: 400 Health Points
Vikingr Grapple: 500 Health Points

Note: See blog about structures for a further understanding of the abilities of the structures.




So what do these experience points do? Well, every 1,000 points you earn your dragon gains a level and a "upgrade point". The player can then spend the upgrade points in the "Your Dragon" menu, upgrading their dragons speed, agility, firepower and firepower cooldown. To completely "Max" a dragon you need 20 upgrade points, or 20,000 experience points (which is the equivalent of killing 4,000 Viking Axe-Swingers).

As shown before, this is the upgrade screen:

The user upgrades their dragon by using up their upgrade points, they do so by touching a star to add the points/upgrade the dragon. When they are done distributing their points, they press submit. Once they press submit the action has been finalised and cannot be u