Mana Points.
Truthfully I was indecisive what to call the energy source. It could be "Energy", but shortened it would be "EP" (energy points) or just "E".. that is confusing for a player, so basically I settled with MP because at least it is a familiar term in the mmorpg world.
I have not yet started to work on the combat system, however, in the end, every
ability will cost
x amount of MP and have a unique cooldown. There is no global cooldown, but instead there will be animation locks. Some abilities can overwrite another ability to escape from a lock, but at the same time deplete MP (or energy) faster. Your toon will regenerate
x amount of MP every sec depending on class, and you will have to use
normal attacks that cost nothing, except for animation locks, that regenerate MP. It would not be impossible to add a stat on for example weapon, that further increase MP regeneration from every hit.
Basically what I am trying to say is that in order to fight an enemy, you must balance between your attacks and dodges so that you are less likely to deplete your energy source (MP).. without energy, you can not use ability and without abilities you can only run. If you can only run, eventually you will die.. You must fight in order to survive, and that is why the first line in my source code is:
// if you can not fight, you can not live so that I will not forget my original goal. I want to make it very difficult to play, so that should you survive - you will think to yourself "that was an awesome experience" regardless of how graphics may look.
With that said, I should probably mention that I am not looking forward to the 3d animation part of development since it is the bit that either makes or breaks this game
Maybe I went a little off topic here, but I felt that it was important to explain exactly what MP stand for and what it means to have MP - since it is slightly different than how mmorpg's treat it. And it is still quite a bit into the future before MP actually becomes an important detail.
Edit:
Just to avoid any confusion since I was talking and comparing to mmorpg games. Note that this game will only be offline and single player game.
IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.