Hero Overview Design
Young girl with a nature-druid theme. The vibe is a forest caretaker with high-tech gear grown from nature itself — organic materials fused with futuristic elements. Think bark textures alongside glowing circuit patterns, leaf motifs mixed with tech panels. Green and earthy brown palette. A-rank complexity — moderate detail, distinctive silhouette. See the Midjourney reference for overall tone, but bring your own ideas to make her feel alive.
Sprout is a summoner who launches seed pods to spawn plant creatures. She carries her ammo with her. The back element should reflect this — something that says 'nature supply kit' or 'seed storage.' A satchel overflowing with seed pods is one idea, but feel free to explore other directions that fit her summoner identity. The key requirement is a distinct back silhouette that reads clearly from behind.
Sprout needs a ranged launcher weapon that fires seed pod projectiles. Our suggestion is a slingshot — the pull-and-release motion fits her playful character and works well for the animations below. But if you see a better option that still reads as 'launching seed pods at range,' go for it. Functionally, auto-attacks are quick lobs at long range; Bloom Burst is a bigger, more exaggerated launch with an arc trajectory.
Design Intent
Design Intent
Sprout is the roster's only summoner — a hero that shifts the player's focus from "shoot enemies" to "manage a small army." Seedlings are placed on the battlefield as physical obstacles that attack nearby enemies and absorb hits from enemies who encounter them in their path. The death-and-respawn cycle creates a unique gameplay rhythm: spawn, sacrifice, heal, respawn. Deploy Sprout when you want battlefield presence that rewards smart positioning.
Core Behaviour
- Sprout is stationary on the ship and attacks with ranged seed-pod projectiles from her slingshot between Bloom Burst casts.
- On active skill cast, launches a seed pod to the target area, spawning allied Seedling units.
- Seedlings are independent entities with HP based on a percentage of Ship Max HP. They auto-attack all enemies within their attack radius.
- When a Seedling dies, Root Network triggers — a healing pulse restores Ship HP and buffs surviving Seedlings.
- Core loop: spawn Seedlings → Seedlings attack enemies and absorb hits → Seedlings die and trigger Root Network healing → respawn replacements.
Expedition Notes
A-rank = solid Expedition deployer. Seedling AI would need to function in idle mode (auto-spawn on cooldown, auto-taunt nearest enemies). Passive healing from Root Network provides indirect Ship sustain during idle play. Fertile Ground scales with Grass team depth, rewarding mono-Grass Expedition deployments.
Skills & Mechanics Dev
Active: BLOOM BURST
Spawns allied Seedling units at a target location. Full battle zone cast range.
| Level | Mana | CD | Spawns | Seedling HP (% Ship Max HP) |
Seedling ATK (% Hero ATK) |
ATK SPD | ATK Range | Max Active | Spawn Buff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | 25 | 10s | 1 | 5% | 15% | 1.0s | ~180px | 3 | — |
| L2 | 30 | 9s | 2 | 7% | 20% | 0.9s | ~180px | 4 | — |
| L3 | 35 | 8s | 2 | 9% | 25% | 0.8s | ~180px | 5 | +20% ATK 4s |
Implementation Notes:
• Spawning beyond max cap removes oldest Seedling (no death trigger — silent removal, Root Network does NOT proc).
• Attack radius = 180px (~3 unit lengths at 1080-wide scale). Seedlings auto-attack all enemies within this radius.
• Seedlings are targetable. They do not block projectiles. Enemies attack the Seedling only if it is directly in their path (standard straight-down pathing).
• Seedling thorn-shot projectiles are standard ranged attacks. No special projectile behaviour.
• Seed pod has a lobbed-arc travel time before spawning. Travel time: [BALANCE TBD] — suggest ~0.5s.
Seedling Combat Behaviour
Attack type: Short-ranged "thorn spit" projectile. NOT melee.
Attack range: ~180px radius. Seedlings auto-attack all enemies within this circle — it is their effective combat zone.
Aggro model (path-based):
- No forced taunt. Enemies do NOT re-target or change direction to attack Seedlings. There is no aggro override mechanic.
- Path collision: Enemies advancing straight down toward the Ship will detect and engage a Seedling only if it is directly in their path. This means player placement strategy matters — position Seedlings in high-traffic lanes to maximize interceptions.
- Ranged enemies: A ranged enemy may stop and shoot a Seedling from outside its attack range. The Seedling is still doing its job — every shot aimed at the Seedling is a shot NOT hitting the Ship.
Intended "dies without retaliating" scenario: Long-range enemies may kill a Seedling from outside its attack range. This is acceptable and intended — the Seedling still absorbed damage meant for the Ship, and its death procs Root Network. This is the cost of aggressive forward placement and creates meaningful player decisions around Seedling positioning.
Passive 1: ROOT NETWORK
Triggers on Seedling death — heals Ship and buffs surviving Seedlings.
| Level | Ship HP Heal (% Max Ship HP) |
Seedling ATK SPD Buff | Buff Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | 2% | +20% | 3s |
| L2 | 3% | +25% | 4s |
| L3 | 4% | +35% | 5s |
Implementation Notes:
• Triggers on Seedling death (enemy kill only). Does NOT trigger on silent cap overflow removal.
• Heal applied instantly to Ship HP.
• ATK SPD buff applies to ALL surviving Seedlings. Multiple deaths within buff window refresh duration but do NOT stack magnitude.
• Heal stacks from simultaneous deaths (2 die same frame → 2× heal, but ATK SPD buff refreshes only).
Passive 2: FERTILE GROUND
Team synergy passive — Seedlings get tankier with more Grass heroes on the ship.
| Level | Seedling Max HP Bonus per Grass Hero |
|---|---|
| L1 | +8% |
| L2 | +12% |
| L3 | +16% |
Implementation Notes:
• Applies additively to Seedling base HP (% of Ship Max HP). Calculated at spawn time.
• Example: L3 + 3 Grass heroes = +48% Seedling max HP. With L3 Bloom Burst (9% base) → 9% × 1.48 = ~13.3% Ship HP per Seedling.
• Grass hero count includes Sprout herself.
Interactive Skill Visualizer Interactive
Interactive skill range and area visualization. All distances in game pixels (1080×1920 screen).
Balance Tables Balance
Values marked [TBD] require a tuning pass before final implementation. All others are suggested starting points.
| Value | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mana cost (25) | Suggested | Low enough for frequent casting to maintain Seedling count |
| Cooldown (10s → 8s) | Suggested | Tuned so Seedlings die and need replacing between casts |
| Seedling HP (5–9% Ship Max HP) | Suggested | Starting at 5% Ship HP — needs testing. Too tanky = trivializes waves, too fragile = die before contributing |
| Attack range (~180px) | Finalized | 180px at 1080-wide screen scale (~3 unit lengths). Seedlings attack all enemies within this radius |
| Seed pod travel time (~0.5s) | [TBD] | Affects responsiveness of spawning |
| Root Network heal (2–4%) | Suggested | Should be supplemental, not replace dedicated healing |
| Fertile Ground scaling (+8–16%) | Suggested | Rewarding but not mandatory to run full Grass |
Animation & VFX Requirements Art
Sprout (Hero Entity)
- Standard idle animation (standing on ship, holding slingshot).
- Slingshot pull-back-and-release attack animation for ranged seed pod projectile (auto-attack between skill casts). Animator's call on timing.
Seedling (Summoned Entity)
Seedlings are independent entities — each needs its own animation set, themed around plant/nature:
- Idle — gentle sway or breathing loop.
- Walk (if repositioning) — shuffling root movement.
- Attack (thorn shot) — short-ranged projectile spit. Attack interval scales from 1.0s → 0.8s per level.
- Death — wilt/crumble with green particle burst (transitions into Root Network VFX).
Bloom Burst (Cast VFX)
- Cast animation: Exaggerated slingshot pull-back, larger seed pod launch with lobbed arc trajectory. Animator's call.
- Seed pod projectile: Lobbed arc from ship to target location. Travel time ~0.5s [TBD].
- Spawn burst: Green pop/sprout effect at landing location when Seedlings emerge.
Root Network (Death Pulse VFX)
- Healing pulse: Green/nature burst radiating outward from Seedling death location. Should visually communicate 'HP restored.'
- Pulse travels to Ship to indicate healing applied there.
- ATK SPD buff indicator: Brief green glow/aura on surviving Seedlings when they receive the buff.
Spawn Damage Buff (L3 Only)
- Brief glow on newly spawned Seedlings to indicate +20% ATK buff for 4s on arrival.
- Should be visually distinct from Root Network buff — different color or shape. Animator's call.
Team Synergies Design
Team Synergies
Natural Grass core partner. Key pairings:
- Grim (Ship HP buff + Vine Barrier) — covers the Ship while Seedlings cover the field.
- Flora (mana engine) — enables frequent Bloom Burst casts for Seedling uptime.
- Verdant (Hunter Mark) — focuses boss damage while Seedlings handle adds.
- Triton zone controller — place Seedlings inside damage zones to attack enemies passing through and absorb hits. (cross-element)
- Arsenika zone controller synergy — Seedlings force enemies into zones. (cross-element)