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Socoder -> Concept/Design -> Gameplay: RPG combat without magic |
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| Thu, 28 Apr 2011, 16:23 | |
HoboBen
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I'm planning out how the turn-based squad combat will work in my RPG. Each turn you have a number of action points which can be used to move and/or shoot. If you think of the combat in games like X-COM / UFO: Enemy Unkown or Avernum 3 you'll have an idea of what I mean. It works well in a sci-fi setting, because you have all sorts of interesting guns, some with area of effect, some which use all your action points meaning that you can't move and shoot, etc. A setting with magic spells also has interesting combinations of spell types and also healing spells and status effects that require different spells to heal. This makes gameplay interesting. I think magic has been overdone though; my medieval/pre-industrial fantasy RPG is having none of it. But this just leaves a boring "attack with sword" or "shoot with bow" choice. Hardly interesting! I've got a few ideas, like grenades. Nothing really good. Any ideas? Do I need magic to make the gameplay interesting, atmosphere be damned? Perhaps turn-based won't work, and I need realtime/reflex-based combat? -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Thu, 28 Apr 2011, 16:50 | |
JL235
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First there is nothing to stop you having multiple types of bows, just as you would multiple types of guns. In reality there are lots of different swords and bows which work/should be used in very different ways. Just as new types of guns need to be researched developed; new types of swords and bows needed to in the past. But both science fiction and magical fantasy realms have been overdone. In my opinion you should try to come up with a third. SWAT and other types of more realistic settings have been done, but you could try to mix some existing types. Like ancient Roman SWAT teams fighting mages in space. |
| Thu, 28 Apr 2011, 17:24 | |
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CodersRule |
You can always have non-magical items (perhaps ones with infinite uses) that spice up combat a bit. Perhaps a smoke bomb that disorients the enemy with a loud noise and blinds them. Steal ideas from Pokémon and adapt them.
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| Thu, 28 Apr 2011, 21:59 | |
Evil Roy Ferguso
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If you've got a grid-based battle system then you already have a lot of room to vary attacks up a bit - there's more than one way to attack with a sword, even if you only have one type of sword. You might have a knight that can run forward n squares, slashing enemy combatants in the squares next to the ones he traveled, or a spinning sword attack that hits all targets in adjacent squares. He might have a shield-bash attack that would shove the opponent back a square, which would put him in your archer's line of sight - especially nice if your archer goes next. Your archer might be able to fire multiple arrows at a target at once at the expense of more movement points, or use specialty arrows (flaming, poisoned, etc.) You might have enemies turn to face the target that attacked them -- and then make attacks from the back or side more effective. Your knight hits some enemy, then your rogue stabs him in the back. You can definitely keep things interesting without magic -- I think the trick is in developing a smallish move set that is still complex enough to allow players to set up efficient / interesting ways of dealing with enemies, beyond "I can hit him, so I did." |
| Thu, 28 Apr 2011, 22:14 | |
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HoboBen
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Thanks for the suggestions! Evil Roy especially; those are some excellent ideas. Thank you!
-=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
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