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Massivemagic isn't really used much beyond healthboost and maybe sometimes using push spells to propel people high into the air. Not Ideal. I personally think theres kinda two things wrong:
TL;DR version: assign numbers to words, math operations with prefixes, and different numbers as spells. If you want to cast a spell you have to hit its number or set of numbers. The playerbase has to figure out the puzzle of what each word means and what the spell numbers are, with some help of the staff.
So, the first part of this is changing how spells are actually unlocked: they aren't. Each spell is assigned a number. This could just be random, but if spell-numbers are organized based on similar characteristics it makes it a little more fun. In any case, the numbers should not be consecutive, and spells shouldn't be unlocked. Certain spells would have a strength variable that would mean that it's number is actually a small range of numbers. All spells would be unlocked
Second, the words you know would be replaced with two things: made up words that have integer values associated with them, and prefixes that have operations associated with them. THESE words are ones you would need to find. Basically, you would string these words together with the prefixes. The game then reads them as an equation. The result of the equation is the number of the spell you cast. Heres the catch: Each word (maybe each non-prefix word) you use costs a random amount of manna. These manna amounts can be easily changed to balance the system. Anyways, this means that players need to use their smarty-smart smart math skills, basic intuition and experimentation, or special tomes of knowledge given as loot to figure out the values of spells, the values of words, how the prefixes work, etc.
Now here comes the great part: adding more content. This is completely based around complicated numbers, which sound like a terrible idea for practical things but is great for puzzles. Not only this, but complicated number stuff is probably the easiest thing for coding... not simulations of projectiles, reycasting, or any of that sort I know nothing about. In any case, if you don't have the manpower to add more spells you can easily add more words so that players can have brand new content to discover. Basically, this is centered around the player not knowing how things work: so just leaking a few secrets is like content. Any thing that sheds light on the values associated with the spells and words would be content... yea I think you get the point.
Also, ideally the purpur pillar (maybe to be replaced with a cauldron) would be able to be used as a kind of chemistry beaker or lab where you can experiment with words and prefixes and maybe get a few hints into what happens with different combinations.
Finally, I also suggest that players have a random number between 1 and 3 that offsets the numbers for spells. This encourages personal discovery without it being to hard to figure out and/or be taught how to cast spells without actual smarty-smart knowledge.
1) Everybody who has looked around PackIsle for a while has all the spells, or most. This means every player has the same abilities and knowledge of the system. The system is pretty simple and while some experimentation occurs, the ideal would be that semi-good spells become common knowledge, while (hopefully) how to use, find, and obtain more advanced spells require enough dedication to find and are good enough that only the player that finds them knows how to do it, along with maybe a small circle. (at least for a little while.) This plays int my second point:
2) The casting system leaves just a bit more to be desired. Don't get me wrong, its fairly good and easy to use. It just not very immersive with how it uses numbers and its just very simple. Theres not really that many new thing to try.
I suggest a change that... isn't simple. Its actually pretty simple, but makes the whole thing a bit more complicated. Basically, I want to see a second step added to the casting stage that would make the whole thing very immersive and very interesting to use.2) The casting system leaves just a bit more to be desired. Don't get me wrong, its fairly good and easy to use. It just not very immersive with how it uses numbers and its just very simple. Theres not really that many new thing to try.
TL;DR version: assign numbers to words, math operations with prefixes, and different numbers as spells. If you want to cast a spell you have to hit its number or set of numbers. The playerbase has to figure out the puzzle of what each word means and what the spell numbers are, with some help of the staff.
So, the first part of this is changing how spells are actually unlocked: they aren't. Each spell is assigned a number. This could just be random, but if spell-numbers are organized based on similar characteristics it makes it a little more fun. In any case, the numbers should not be consecutive, and spells shouldn't be unlocked. Certain spells would have a strength variable that would mean that it's number is actually a small range of numbers. All spells would be unlocked
Second, the words you know would be replaced with two things: made up words that have integer values associated with them, and prefixes that have operations associated with them. THESE words are ones you would need to find. Basically, you would string these words together with the prefixes. The game then reads them as an equation. The result of the equation is the number of the spell you cast. Heres the catch: Each word (maybe each non-prefix word) you use costs a random amount of manna. These manna amounts can be easily changed to balance the system. Anyways, this means that players need to use their smarty-smart smart math skills, basic intuition and experimentation, or special tomes of knowledge given as loot to figure out the values of spells, the values of words, how the prefixes work, etc.
Now here comes the great part: adding more content. This is completely based around complicated numbers, which sound like a terrible idea for practical things but is great for puzzles. Not only this, but complicated number stuff is probably the easiest thing for coding... not simulations of projectiles, reycasting, or any of that sort I know nothing about. In any case, if you don't have the manpower to add more spells you can easily add more words so that players can have brand new content to discover. Basically, this is centered around the player not knowing how things work: so just leaking a few secrets is like content. Any thing that sheds light on the values associated with the spells and words would be content... yea I think you get the point.
Also, ideally the purpur pillar (maybe to be replaced with a cauldron) would be able to be used as a kind of chemistry beaker or lab where you can experiment with words and prefixes and maybe get a few hints into what happens with different combinations.
Finally, I also suggest that players have a random number between 1 and 3 that offsets the numbers for spells. This encourages personal discovery without it being to hard to figure out and/or be taught how to cast spells without actual smarty-smart knowledge.
