Factions

Factions define group allegiances and relationships between characters. They control who is friendly, neutral, or hostile to whom, and determine ability targeting, NPC behavior, and combat engagement.

Creating a Faction

Open the Spark Editor, go to Combat > Factions and click Create New.

Each faction entry has:

Field	Description
Display Name	Faction name (e.g., "Alliance", "Bandits", "Wildlife").
Description	Faction description.
Icon	Sprite for UI display.
Default Relationship	The default relationship with any faction not explicitly defined (defaults to Neutral).
Relationships	List of explicit relationships with other factions.

Faction Relationships

Each relationship entry defines how this faction views another:

Field	Description
Target Faction	The other faction.
Relationship	Ally, Neutral, or Hostile.

Relationships are directional — faction A being hostile to faction B does not automatically mean faction B is hostile to faction A. You must define both directions separately if you want symmetry.

Relationship Types

Type	Description
Self	Automatically assigned when checking an entity against itself.
Ally	Entities in the same faction, or factions explicitly set as allies. Targets for friendly abilities (heals, buffs).
Neutral	Default relationship. Entities do not attack on sight but can be targeted.
Hostile	Enemies. NPCs will engage in combat, abilities can target them as enemies.

Relationship types support bitwise combinations, meaning ability effects can specify which relationship types they affect (e.g., "this heal targets Self and Ally").

Relationship Lookup

When checking the relationship between two entities:

1. If they are the same entity, return Self.

2. If they are in the same faction, return Ally.

3. Check the explicit relationships list for the target's faction.

4. If no explicit relationship is found, use the Default Relationship.

Faction Settings

Global faction settings are configured in Combat > Factions > Settings:

Field	Description
Ally Color	UI color for allied entities (default: green).
Neutral Color	UI color for neutral entities (default: yellow).
Hostile Color	UI color for hostile entities (default: red).
Out Of Combat Timer	Seconds after the last hostile action before an entity automatically exits combat state (default: 5, range 0–60).

How Factions Affect Combat

Factions integrate with the combat system in several ways:

• Ability targeting: Effects filter valid targets by relationship type. A hostile damage ability only hits enemies; a friendly heal only hits allies.

• Combat state: When a hostile or neutral effect hits an entity, both the caster and target are set to "IN_COMBAT" state.

• NPC behavior: Hostile NPCs engage players on sight. Neutral NPCs only fight back when attacked.

• UI: Nameplates, health bars, and other UI elements use faction colors to indicate friend or foe.