View source for Community:Game Mechanics

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= Everything is Crab — Game mechanics =

Summary of core mechanics from patch notes and Discord discussions.

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== Stats ==

Stats appear in the pause menu (ESC). Hover over each name to see the tooltip.

{| class="wikitable"
! Stat !! Brief description
|-
| **Physical Damage (PD)** || Damage of physical (contact) attacks. Base 10 (or 5 with the half-damage genetic).
|-
| **Ability Damage (AD)** || Damage of ability attacks. Used by Spit, Beak, Stinger, etc.
|-
| **Cooldown** || Time between attacks. Values in %; **lower = better**. Starts at 100%.
|-
| **Attack Penalty** || How much attacking reduces your movement speed. Lower = better.
|-
| **Senses** || Affects detection range for POIs, Alphas and bosses. At night, affects **visibility** (how much you can see).
|-
| **Social** || Number of enemies you can **Charm** (fight for you). Also affects how soon enemies give up chasing you.
|-
| **Size** || Character size. Affects attack area and area you can be hit. 100% = default.
|-
| **Area Effect** || Area of effect of abilities. 100% = default.
|-
| **Health Regen** || Health regeneration.
|-
| **Dodge** || Chance to dodge. Has a **cap**.
|-
| **Plating** || Armour that absorbs damage. Some evolutions pierce plating (and "farts" do too).
|-
| **Heat/Cold Resistance** || Damage reduction on sand (heat) and snow (cold).
|}

'''Note:''' Sand deals less damage at night; snow deals more at night. Temperature can stack in levels (each level deals more damage); when leaving the terrain it dissipates over time (faster if you switch to the opposite terrain type).

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== Affinity system ==

There are '''5 affinities''', tied to playstyles:

- '''Predator'''  
- '''Prey'''  
- '''Trickster'''  
- '''Imposing'''  
- '''Gregarious'''

Each evolution can be tied to 0, 1 or 2 affinities. Your '''affinity points''' (shown on the pause star and top-left when evolving) '''increase the weight''' of that affinity's evolutions in the roll. E.g. +20% Prey → Prey evolutions have 20% higher chance to appear.

Rarity (common/rare/legendary) and whether it's an "upgrade" or "new evolution" also affect chances. Level itself doesn't directly change each evo's chance; '''banning''' or '''unlocking''' evolutions (by taking others) changes what can appear.

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== Attack system ==

- '''Primary''' and '''secondary''' attack share a cooldown system: when you use one attack, '''all''' go on cooldown for a short time (global) and the one you used has a longer local cooldown.
- '''Ultimate''' has a different icon and colour on the HUD and cooldown bar; it can't be equipped in primary/secondary slots (and vice versa).
- Indicator below the character shows remaining cooldown for attack and dash.
- '''Bullseye (Genetic):''' all attacks use the '''higher''' of PD and AD.

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== Genetics ==

These are "starting characters" with modifiers. You choose '''1''' genetic per run (or '''2''' in special conditions, including "splice").

Examples from patch notes / community:

{| class="wikitable"
! Genetic !! Brief effect
|-
| **Standard** || Base.
|-
| **Simple** || Restricts options (e.g. fewer evolution choices in some situations). Unlock requirements changed in patches.
|-
| **Pioneer** || Movement/exploration (e.g. Nomadic).
|-
| **Pacifist** || Less damage, EXP/progress bonus. Unlocked by opening Steam and/or Discord.
|-
| **Bullseye** || Attacks use the higher of PD and AD.
|-
| **Challenger** || More Alphas, more damage vs Alphas.
|-
| **Lycanthrope** || Team favourite; removed from list in newer versions (something special planned).
|-
| **Patient** || Can show only 2 options instead of 3 for evolutions; affects "minimum rarity" when skipping boss evolution choice.
|-
| **Spawn of Chaos** || Random starting stats (better and worse). No longer affects feeding speed/distance in recent versions.
|-
| **Independent** || Added in a recent patch (0.10.1).
|}

Unlocks are done by meeting conditions (e.g. win at a certain difficulty, defeat certain enemies X times). The game shows the highest difficulty beaten with each genetic.

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== POIs (Points of Interest) ==

- Special map points you can '''interact''' with for bonuses (evolutions, mutations, etc.).
- '''Senses''' increases the range at which POIs (and Alphas/bosses) appear on radar/detection.
- Map content is '''persistent''' when you return to the same area (trees, POIs don't disappear when you leave and come back).
- There is a '''Pity timer''' for POIs and for HP food.

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== Charm ==

- '''Social''' sets the '''cap''' on how many enemies can be '''Charmed''' at once.
- Evolutions like '''Courting''' (Ultimate) and '''Toe Beans''' enable Charm.
- '''Tail Wag''' periodically tries to charm enemies in your area of effect.
- Charmed enemies fight for you; in some cases you can '''command''' the attack target (Courting).
- Blobfish and Snowhare, when charmed, '''follow''' you instead of attacking.

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== Night and day ==

- '''Night''' reduces your '''visibility''' based on the '''Senses''' stat (more Senses = see more in the dark).
- Enemies can behave differently at night (e.g. HatBirbs don't wander as far from their hole).
- Sand deals no damage at night; snow deals more at night.

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== Bosses ==

- Boss health bar appears on the HUD when the boss is active.
- '''Bramble:''' walls that close the arena; '''time does not advance''' while the bramble is up (in current versions).
- If the '''boss timer''' runs out, the walls drop and the boss '''loses aggro''' — you can win by just surviving (useful for Pacifist runs).
- '''Boss fruit''' (special boss drop): drops on kill or timeout; unlocks special evolutions; has an on-screen tracker; is not removed from the map; in recent versions '''heals''' when eaten.
- Beating the '''final boss''': in current versions, '''surviving 2 minutes''' against the final boss also counts as a win (not just killing it).

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== Progression between runs ==

- The game '''saves''' data between runs (e.g. highest difficulty unlocked). Saves may be reset during development.
- '''Steam Cloud''' is supported.
- End-of-run screen shows '''statistics''' (damage dealt/taken, top contributor, etc.) and '''Capture GIF''' of your creature and stats screen.
- '''Codex''' (planned/in progress) will show records, stats and bestiary.

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== Additional controls (QoL) ==

- '''Gamepad:''' aim cursor; '''X''' shortcut to Continue on evolution picker; '''B''' to close Settings. DualShock (PS4/PS5) is not fully supported in some versions.
- '''Left-handed support:''' numpad (1,2,3,5 + NumPad Enter for Dash) in recent versions.
- '''VSync''' available in settings (off by default). FPS capped at 120 in-game and menus in some versions.

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''Based on patch notes and Discord discussions. Details may change with updates.''

[[Category:Community]]
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