Project REBIRTH #5: Style Ranking

This video was recorded on 29/08/2023.

Like Aerial combos, style ranking is a very prevalent mechanic in the Character Action genre. In a game with a varied moveset it makes sense to incentivise the player to make full use of every move at their disposal. Games like Devil May Cry popularised the idea of ranking the player based on how well they played and the feats they accomplished during gameplay.

Currently my game does this with a an alphabetical ranking system similiar to DMC where the player can go from rank D->C->B->A->S->SS->SSS. To further incentivise stylish play I've also implemented "feats" such as defeating a number of enemies without taking damage or hitting the same enemy a great many times without them regainign their footing. These can be seen appearing under the letter ranking when thier conditions are met.

As expected the ranking also deminishes if the player is hit. In the future I'm planning to add a time-based decay to encourage more aggressive play, as well as scaling how many points you get depending on whether you're repeatedly using the same moves.

Currently finishing a battle with a high style ranking has no impact mechanically. But to go with the game's hybrid Roguelike / Hack and Slash nature I'm intending it to impact the rarity of combat rewards. That way the player is rewarded for excelling at combat encounters and encouraged to be stylish where possible.