Royale

Once again, the inventory system in the game continues to make horrendously slow progress. But for the sake of this blog post, I'm going to explain the basics of role that items serve in the game.

There are two different types of items (barring the possible key/plot advancing items) that exist: Active and Passive. The roles for each are obvious, as with the items associated with those categories (swords/axes/etc. = Active, rings/armour/etc. = Passive). Each character can have up to five of each equipped. The twist here is that the first active item slot is occupied by Inherent (i.e. unarmed status) and cannot be removed, and the first slot of passive is strictly reserved for the character's wardrobe (which assumes the role of traditional body armor).

Active items are capable of what I like to refer to as "actions". In battle, actions would take the place normally filled by the standard "command" system. Each active item can have up to eight potential actions. The actions themselves are split up into three categories:

Basic Actions: Covers basic stuff such as swinging a sword or shooting a bow. The main hook is that the stat formulas for these actions can be altered (i.e. a Swing action from a scimitar is vastly different from a Swing action done with a mace).

Magic Spells: Each of these will have a maximum level of power that can be accessed (1 to 4, as in Shining Force). Can only be used through spellbooks, staves, and other kind of magical item that can be used for spellcasting.

Special Moves: Few and far between compared to the other two. Somewhat powerful abilities that can only be used when certain conditions are met. Can only be used 3 times per battle.

In unrelated news, I just begun to do more research on isometric graphics (specifically from this project's main graphical inspiration). I might also have to do some more battlers for LockeZ's game again when he needs them.

I have no idea how many blog entries with that specific title there are going to be, but it'll probably be interesting anyway. Before that, I should explain that the inventory system is taking a lot of dev time (you should probably know why by now) and LockeZ's criticism/concerns towards RPG combat setups are kinda on my mind. That said, here it goes.

Let's just say it involves statistics, or specifically, the role in which statistics play in affecting whatever actions your characters/heroes/villains initiate. Pretty much a good chunk of RPG Maker games (on this site, among others) and mainstream RPG titles (to a lesser extent due to complex variations) use the following setup:

Strength/Attack/Might: Physical attack damage
Defense/Vigor: Damage resistance (usually physical)
Magic/Intellect/Spirit: Magic power (sometimes magical resistance)
Speed/Agility/Mobility: Initiative (aka the "when is it my turn?" stat)

In a nutshell, people on this site have probably used this in their projects mainly because it saves time and is easy to figure out so the player gets to focus on playing the game. However, for all the supposed convenience that the setup offers, it kinda feels flat and even unconventional player characters with crazy abilities end up more or less falling into a statistical specialization.

What I'm doing with character statistics is, IMO, a bit more dynamic. The four statistics are Strength, Willpower, Intuition, and Mobility. The big draw to them is that they are not hamstrung to a specific style of action. Everything from the base damage of the attack to the duration of a debuff all count on a certain mixture of the various stats. A basic bow and arrow attack, for example, relies on Intuition for damage and Strength for resistance and so on. It's probably going to require more research as I progress, but there you go.