Skills

Overview

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Skills are the core progression system in Crabby Idle. Players perform actions within skills to gain experience, level up, and unlock new content. Each skill belongs to a category that defines its purpose and gameplay loop.

Skill Categories

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1. Gathering Skills

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Gathering skills are used to collect raw resources from the game world.

Characteristics:

• Primary source of raw materials
• Typically have multiple nodes/resources to gather from
• Resources gathered may be used in other skills

Examples:

• Digging - Gather ores and rocks from digging in the sand and ocean floor
• Scavaging - Look for discarded junk in the ocean / beach
• Hunting - Catch various fish and birds
• Kelp Farming - Grow sea plants and coral

2. Refining Skills

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Refining skills transform raw resources into processed materials or components.

Characteristics:

• Input: Raw resources (often from gathering skills)
• Output: Refined materials, components, or intermediate products

Examples:

• Smelting - Turn ores into bars
• Cooking - Prepare food from raw ingredients
• Crafting - Create items from components
• Weaving - Weave resources like kelp into finer materials
• Juicing - Create juiceboxes that provide temporary buffs
• Tinkering - WIP

3. Buffing Skills

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Buffing skills create items or structures that provide permanent or temporary bonuses to actions.

Characteristics:

• Input: Resources from gathering/refining skills
• Output: Buffs, auras, equipment, or structures
• Provides progression incentives beyond unlocking new actions

Examples:

• Enchanting - Buff your other items and equipment, big item and gold sink
• Alchemy - Item sink for transmuting into rare items, some magic spells can also cause special effects
• Sandcastle building - Build structures that provide permanent buffs

4. Unlock Skills

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Characteristics:

• Take actions to unlock new features and areas

Examples:

• Exploring - Explore new zones which contain special unlocks, items, and buffs

5. Combat Skills

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Combat skills enable players to fight enemies and bosses.

Characteristics:

• Can use refined equipment (weapons, armor)
• Enemies drop unique loot and resources

Examples:

• Melee Combat - Fight with claws, and handheld weapons / shields
  • Effective against land creatures, ineffective against air creatures
• Ranged Combat - Fight with bows, crossbows, throwables, guns
  • Effective against air creatures, ineffective against underwater creatures
• Magic Combat - Fight with spells and staves
  • Effective against underwater creatures, ineffective against land creatures