Turn based attacks.

Monkey Archive Forums/Monkey Discussion/Turn based attacks.

Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2014) [#1]
Just sitting here kinda bored, in a bit of a development funk at the moment, which happens from time to time, and thinking about trying a game style I'v not done before, and a turn based combat system style thing has come to mind.

Not really clear on what the actual game would be, but I am thinking Dwarfs, and or Zombies, or Dwarf Zombies vs Humans or.. I dunno but it will be or will have a turn based combat system in it.

Any of you ever done a turn based attack system, and if so I would love to hear how you went about it, what sort of things or problems did you need to overcome, how did you handle the moves and timing of turns etc.


therevills(Posted 2014) [#2]
I haven't coded one, but love x-com :-) I we we would guess one of the hardest things to get right is the balancing.


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2014) [#3]
I remember when X-Com launched and I got my hands on it for the first time, brilliant game, loved the new one as well it felt like playing the original again they nailed it.

I honestly didn't even think about that style of turn based play I was thinking about Final Fantasy or Pokemon when I made the post, but I am glad that you brought up X-Com.

I think your right as well, getting the balance right will / must be hard, you never want to see that one trick pony spell or ability that people just spam to get the kills, but then again forcing people to alternate is not good either, I was thinking about some sort of skill system mashup like magica where during combat you have access to some basic spells but when you combine them they create something more.


Jesse(Posted 2014) [#4]
I love Chrono Trigger and Earthbound. I remember wasting countless hours playing them when they first came out. I still have those cartridges stashed in a storage bin.

Years back, I tried to make a game in that genre but gave up on it. I didn't have the dedication or the skills at that time. Now I have the skills(or at least I think I do) but not the time.
maybe sometime in the future I will give it another try.


mteo77(Posted 2014) [#5]
hello.
I did try quite a few turn based combat systems for RPG.
What i found was that a skill based system with diminishing returns always worked better for me, while a stats based system with fixed amount of spells based on effects is very easy to exploit.
I don't have many examples at the moment, but depending what you want to achieve, i would suggest you to start with a stat based system since it's easier to implement; then after you have mastered it with a few minibattles (included a boss one, to experiment with over boosted enemies) swap to the other system.
Obviously this is my experience, others might have a different approach.
ps:
What i found useful was to use databases (in your favourite program) to help me implement the system, then once everything made sense program it into my code.


mteo77(Posted 2014) [#6]
The diminishing returns could be anything from your enemy getting resistant to a spell the more it get hit with it, to the main char developing a sort of reject to electricity after casting lightning too many times...this prevent exploit and encourage experimentation and add a subtle level of sophistication (still got the dictionary stuck between my teeth..) to the system.
Hope it make sense.
I would gladly give you the old blitz2 code, but my amiga has hit the bucket a long time ago, and during that time i never thought of doing back ups!


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2014) [#7]
Yeah I came up with a basic idea of spells or abilities that deal a percentage of hp as damage, for example a fireball that does 10% of the targets current HP as damage, this would result in diminishing returns as the lower the health of the target the less damage gets dealt, once the player switches spells the damage would refresh to 10% of the targets total HP and work its way down again.

I then thought about critical hits, and thought that the more fireball hits on the target the lower its resistance to a critical hit, if for example you shot 2 fire balls and then the thrid was a crit , the crit would offload 3*spelldamage and reduce the next spells damage to reflect the 3 hits in one again to reduce the damage enough that the player will switch spells.

just a thought tho I'v not put it into a practical test yet.