Inside uCool & TopGames Character Design: Heroes Charge "Hero" vs. Evony' General

Portraits in Heroes Charge from uCool & Evony TKR from Top Game Inc

When designing games based on virtual characters, game developers must be meticulous in the design of character mechanisms. Creating innovative character mechanics that seamlessly integrate with core gameplay is a primary goal for developers of such games. Among numerous MMO mobile games, RPGs and SLGs particularly emphasize character design, although their approaches often differ. This article will use uCool’s Heroes Charge and Top Games Inc.’s Evony: The King’s Return as case studies to analyze their character mechanics from the perspectives of hero/general classification and settings.

uCool: Hero Gameplay

Hero Classification in Heroes Charge

• By Ethnicity: Noble Elf, Son of the Forest, Plateau Tribe, Orc Legion, Northland Hermit, Cemetery Ghost, Chaos Demon, Curse Sect, Closed League, Machinery Association, Land of Gods, Phoenix, Deep Sea League, and Dragon Habitat.

• By Skill Attributes: Tank, Fighter, Assassin, Mage, Marksman, and Support.

• By Quality: Common (white), Elite (green), Rare (blue), Epic (purple), Legendary (orange), and Limited (red).

Hero Buffs and Enhancements

Each hero has unique skills and attribute panels, as well as corresponding Astrolabe, Gear, Skins, and Runes. Players can improve hero attributes through upgrading, evolving, promoting, awakening, etc. Heroes' skills can also be upgraded. The different qualities of heroes are distinguished by the color of their portrait borders.

• Astrolabe: Divided into Star Glaive, Star Diadem, and Star Orb. Different treasures provide different buffs, which players allocate according to hero attributes. Star Glaive tends to offer physical bonuses, Star Diadem favors defense and armor, and Star Orb mainly provides magic buffs.

• Runes: Each hero can wear 5 runes. Different types of heroes can wear different runes. Each rune has 30 levels, enhancing various attributes when worn and upgraded. For example, Halberd Master's rune enhances attack damage, HP, armor, magic resistance, and strength, while Ice Mage's rune enhances magic resistance, HP, magic power, armor, and intellect.

• Awakening: Heroes can awaken after evolving to 5 stars.

• Equipment: Different heroes can wear different equipment based on their attributes. Players don't need to choose equipment at each stage as the system automatically matches it. Equipment enhancement includes enchanting, leveling up, and promoting. Enchanting can use Primal Dust, Shimmer Dust, Void Dust, or other low-level equipment, while upgrading and promoting occur in the Zeus Temple, featuring exclusive hero weapons that don't occupy equipment slots.

Top Games Inc.’s Evony: The King’s Return

General Classification

• By Civilization: Europe, America, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Arabia, and Others.

• By Skill Attributes: Ground-Troop, Mounted-Troop, Ranged-Troop, Siege-Machine, Debuff, Duty, Main City Defense, Mixed Generals, and Subordinate City Mayor.

• By General Quality: Common (white), Uncommon (green), Excellent (blue), Legendary or Historic General (purple), and Epic or Epic Historic General (gold).

General Buffs and Enhancements

Each general has basic attributes, special skills, and specialties. Some generals' special skills can be ascended for more buffs, and some have covenant attributes. Generals can be enhanced, cultivated, and equipped to become more powerful.

• Cultivation: Improves the general's basic attributes in leadership, attack, defense, and politics, which is different from Heroes Charge.

• Enhancements: Includes star upgrades and awakening. Generals can be ascended to 5 golden stars, and upon reaching 5 red stars, they are awakened. Awakening enhances attributes and unlocks additional special skill buffs without changing appearance.

• Specialty: Runestones in Evony are used to upgrade general specialties, unlike the Runes in Heroes Charge. Different runestones are consumed for different specialty upgrades.

• Skill Books: Provide additional buffs by equipping generals with skill books, categorized into military, development, subordinate city, and special, chosen according to the general's attributes.

• Equipment: Categorized by quality, with each level having at least one set. Unlike Heroes Charge, generals don't have fixed equipment, requiring players to check properties to determine what to wear. Equipment upgrades are independent of general promotion. Equipment can be enhanced through upgrading, star upgrades, refining, and amplifying. Civilization Equipment, similar to the Artifact in Heroes Charge, is a powerful type of equipment that can be upgraded through Star Atlas activation and advanced refining, occupying equipment slots.

Conclusion

uCool’s Heroes Charge and Top Games Inc.’s Evony: The King’s Return exhibit significant differences in character mechanics design. While many character-based games may follow similar design logic, different game genres offer diverse gameplay experiences. We look forward to seeing more innovative character designs in the future.