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ACTIVE TIME BATTLE SYSTEM

  • Enker
  • 06/02/2011 11:52 AM
  • 1853 views
Combat in Stellar Evolution runs on an ATB system. Enemies run on a timer and possess their own Shield (HP) and Attack (Attack - duh!) values. Squads are treated as one huge entity which must be whittled away at in order to reduce their numbers to one and then destroy. Obviously when their timer is full they attack, damaging your own shields and drawing you ever closer to that killing blow.

You as the player pilot a 'Kite' class fighter which has its own Shields rating, as well as a visable 'Recharge' timer. When the timer is full you can do one of three default actions:

Attack - which fires standard Lasers directly damaging the enemy unit.

Scan - which will give you the Name, Shield total and Damage total for each time it attacks.

Escape - which has a 50/50 chance of either successfully fleeing a battle or wasting this rounds action.


Outside of battle you can level your fighter in-dock on the H.M.S Iago, which will increase both the speed of your recharge meter and the total damage dealt when you attack. Your shields do not increase in total, making purchasing items an essential part of prepping for larger battles, but otherwise regen fully between fights or if you flee.

There are three items that you can purchase with your Credits (this game's currency won from battles or after completing missions and sub-missions) whilst in dock. These items are seperate from the timer in battle and appear as three small icons on the bottom left of the screen to be used at any time. Missiles (M) count as an extra attack and deal a single point of damage, Ion Charges (I) shoot a single shot that scatters an energy dampening wave across the battlesite, a single-hit kill on some enemy types but useless on others. Finally the Reboot (R) resets your shields to full. Each of these items can only be used once but you can stock up in up to 10 of each at a time.

DEVELOPMENT NOTE:
At this time I have a working model of the complete battle system made and animated, as well as the levelling and items system in place - but no Shop/Outfitter's in which to purchase or level the fighter.

Posts

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Out of curiosity, what made you decide to go with designing the game with Game Maker instead of RPG Maker?

I'm not very proficient with either, so I can't see why right off the bat. >.<

The game looks great though!
author=what made you decide to go with designing the game with Game Maker instead of RPG Maker?


I am only really proficient with RPG Maker 2000 and I wanted to create some high quality graphics from scratch that didn't have to be pixel-based. I'm actually using the 'Games Factory Pro' by Klick Team, but Game Maker is the closest reference the site has to it. I also plan to involve several modes of play outside of the RPG norm, with elements of old-fashioned point-click Adventure gaming when you're out of the fighter on a planet, as well as shooting gallery segments of the same.
I am only really proficient with RPG Maker 2000 and I wanted to create some high quality graphics from scratch that didn't have to be pixel-based. I'm actually using the 'Games Factory Pro' by Klick Team, but Game Maker is the closest reference the site has to it. I also plan to involve several modes of play outside of the RPG norm, with elements of old-fashioned point-click Adventure gaming when you're out of the fighter on a planet, as well as shooting gallery segments of the same.

How cool! I do like the more flash animated looking style- very refreshing. Differing play modes are sure to mix up the gameplay.

I might have to look into this 'games factory' thingamajig =D

Can't wait to see some screens of the other gameplay modes.
Mmh- I really don't like the sound of this... So basically all you can do is attack, right?

The ability to scan enemies should be automatic upon targeting them, because I don't really see myself wasting a turn to scan an enemy more than once with each type of enemy. You can keep tabs of such a small amount of information in your head, so why bother? ...The ability to scape from battles also sounds kinda boring if it's not influenced by anything else besides probability.

If I understand correctly, this games is based on a board game, right? And I don't know how much you may be willing to change things, but if you can it would be a nice idea to spice up this battle system some more.
I'm breaking up things a little with the battle items - which work off timer - and hope to add more features as I progress through the game. I'm having the create all the variables and events through TGF's 'cause and effect' system so combat can't have a massive scope right off the bat.

The plan is that you will later have several additional options pre-battle to customise your combat - including the option to hire and bring support craft into battle who add actions other than the basics to your pool. Flying a solo basic-level fighter at the outset, I wanted to give the initial grounding before fleshing too much out as it needs to be dropped in one element at a time. Kind of similar to 'Zone of the Enders 2' where you play in a very low-spec machine for the first five minutes to make you appreciate how much cooler it is to have the giant mech later. Or like having a 'Warrior' character before he meets 'Mages' etc.
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