Wolf

All about durability, harvesting, crafting, and poison.

The Pink Moon Hack describes a broken, postapocalyptic kind of world. The war with the gods spread wastelands but also led to the loss of usable metals on the planet.

Because weapons are made of bone, of wood, of chitin, of stone, they have a tendency to break and fracture. Because of that, you need to replace or repair your weapons and armor. You can do this by harvesting the equipment from the dead, by buying new equipment, or by crafting your own.

In order to craft a sword out of bone, for example, you need bones. Where do you get bones?

Well, the dead are just lying there. May as well get some use out of the bodies.

Money is tight. Resources are tight. Equipment and tools break apart or fall apart in your hands. This is all tied into the meat and bones of the game. If you don’t harvest and reap from the dead, you’ll soon be unarmed and without recourse in this dangerous, deadly world.

Along with the level-less nature of the game, your characters rarely get stronger. Rather, they will improve through their equipment. I suppose you could think of it in a Legend of Zelda kind of way. Link doesn’t get more powerful, in general, but he does find more powerful weapons and armor so that the enemies become increasingly easy to defeat as your equipment improves.

Too, many games include status effects but I always get the sense that they’re a bit of an afterthought. More of an annoyance than something that requires thinking and planning and innovating upon.

Well, since the Pink Moon Hack is level-less, poisoning your enemies or impairing them in various ways becomes much more important and powerful. You may not be strong enough to fight that titan lumbering about the labyrinth, but you may be able to poison it or put it to sleep or make it fall over drunk to the point that killing it becomes much less of a risk.

How do you get poisons?

Well, you can buy them. Or you can make them. And where do you get the ingredients?

Once again, these dead bodies lying around are full of stuff. Things that can be turned into potions or poisons, either to help or hurt you. Poisons may even give you certain advantages in specific contexts, though you’re more likely to use various kinds of potions to supplement your capabilities.

Think of Geralt in the Witcher. He uses a variety of alchemical concoctions and potions to temporarily supplement his strength or enhance his senses or reaction times.

These are all elements I’m working into the game.

I don’t want you to just wander through a dungeon, punch a few goblins, and call it a day. Combat is unfair. It’s challenging. And, perhaps, the best way to succeed is to avoid combat or to play unfairly, to cheat and steal and lie your way to victory.