Lets discusse rpg design

General
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so, I saw a post talking about the stuff that we don't want to see and we want to see in fps's, and since I work on rpg's, having something that specifically speaks about them will be cool to have, so, questions incoming

combat

so, combat, a very important subject when we talk rpg's, and honestly one, that had been bothering me for a while, I did rattle on a lot nowadays about how I'm working on an rpg yada yada yada and pretty sure anyone that knows me is likely sick of it lol so lets get straight to the point
so when I worked on it I had to consider a lot of points.

realtime vs turn based?

so most people will instantly scream real time, however as a developer this is not simple to do, because there are so many unanswered questions
as an example the biggest question of the day, how? Most people I asked will just tell me we prefer real time combat but when I asked for the how I mostly got an, Umm, I don't know? So it made it quite difficult to think of any
we do, have some examples, yes, but I found out that most are disliked within the forum, obviously, everyone knows the hate for anything that is played like a blind legend or apparently the vale, since it, according to them is boring and everything, and I do see that.
another choice is the mist world style where you afix skills to a shortcut key and use them by pressing the keys, however, I found out that it's also disliked, at least by the phew people I asked
so here's the question, how? Exactly? I know most are looking forward to a super complex system of combat that could be found in mainstream games, however while some of it is possible in a degree some of it could involve physics which might complicate things
another interesting question is, considering most rpg's are topdown, we need to put that into consideration too, for example, throwing someone into the air might no be possible considering there's no air in the first place :smirck:

turn based combat

to the boring choice according to most, and the most widespread, turn based combat
while most think this is easy it sort of, actually isn't, to be honest with you, while working on this a lot of times there was something in my brain that nagged at me that realtime combat will be so much easier to slot in compared to turn based combat, which is actually strange but I had a feeling.
regardless, as I saidit's not so easy either, there are a phew things to consider

  • turn structure, should it be always main character or based on a speed stat like manamon as an example?
  • should there be, a fuel for skills/spells? As an example, mana? AS an example, you have 10 mana, a spell costs 2 mana, you cast it and lose 2 so you have 8, or should it be usage point based like manamon? Or something else different?
  • if mana or whatever it might be called, exists, should there be regeneration? As an example, you regenerate a rate of mana every turn? Or should you rely on healing points? This is actually one of the things that left me in a delemma because on the one hand, regenerating might get out of control and make mana sort of useless because you regenerate very fast, or very slow, or the other point where you fightt something and don't have mana so you would just die out of that.

navigation awareness

So navigation, there are a lot of ways to go about this

  • Wall tones, looping door sounds, etc, like the VGStorm games
  • indicators, like a gap indicator, a door indicator, etc
    I likely forgot some, but those are that I could think of
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There was an SNES game that I played back in the day called Super Mario RPG. It featured turn-based combat but with a twist. There was a timing aspect where if you pressed A on your controller as your character was about to begin the downswing of their attack, you'd power up that attack, and it would do more damage. That could be one way to spice up turn based combat if that's the direction you wanted to go.

As to whether it should be stat based, absolutely. the player's character should not always go first, as sometimes, getting the first attack in can be a deciding factor as to how the battle will end. When you allow for diversity, you also heighten the player's emotional state. They thought they could waltz in and wipe the floor, but now they're going second, and the enemy just launched a powerful attack, so now they feel off-pace. Will this lead to them making a mistake? For example, using a move that's not advantageous under the circumstances, or will they not be too fussed about it?

As to how realtime combat should work, I'm confused? Shadowrine is a good example of an RPG with realtime combat and it works fine. Instead of a chance mechanic, where you might randomly have an enemy encounter, there are enemies on the map and they engage you when they spot you. Now, as to how to program enemy AI, that's above my pay grade! :grinning:

For realtime combat, I like a regen model that speeds up when you can remain out of combat for a time. This way, you're not simply canceling out damage with ubercharged regen. It gives you the incentive to end fights earlier, and if you cannot, then maybe it's best to flee. Killing enemies that give you hearts, for example, can keep you moving without having to stand around waiting. You could also have equipment that bears enchantments which enhance certain aspects of it; regeneration of various stats being among those.

Lastly, I think A Hero's Call has good navigational aids. Only informing you when your environment changes is a great thing in my book. You could also have a scanning mode which you can manually use when you hit an obstacle like a wall. It would trail the wall in both directions at once up to a limit, and the sound would change when it detects an opening.

1 Like
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cool ideas out there
what I mean by realtime combat specifically is how skills could work? I hadn't played shadow line much beyond the very beginning tbh so I only know that you swing a sword with control and got confused about where to go so I didn't continue lol, by how I man like, how do you fight the enemy? What key presses, etc? Is ityou press a key and skill activates, or something ultra complex that requires eions of physics is the only acceptable choice? LOL

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It's an RPG, it shouldn't rely on physics. Also, you don't necessarily need a bunch of skills like Mist World. You could get away with an attack and block button. It's also not a beat-em-up either, so you wouldn't likely have too technical a fighting system.

That said, you could have combos with one button, such as two taps and a press might do a three hit combo where the first two attacks are light and the third is heavy. If all three hit and the enemy survives, it could deal bonus damage plus a chance to knock them back.

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As to whether it should be stat based, absolutely. the player's character should not always go first, as sometimes, getting the first attack in can be a deciding factor as to how the battle will end.

Of course, this is why tabletop RPG's like D&D and Pathfinder include an initiative system; not just because it makes more sense for the tabletop format, but because it just makes sense. The same is true for the majority of popular western CRPG's, if memory serves.