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Baby steps

  • Marrend
  • 06/11/2015 07:54 PM
  • 2175 views
Progress on this game is inherently slow, but, I'm forging ahead with getting some kind of combat package together, even if I'm going to go on the cheap, and use the default engine.

So, my first problem was that each weapon basically has it's own set of attacks because each one consumes a different amount of energy to fire. I figure I cannot use the default "Attack" skill, like, ever. One solution is to seal the default "Attack" skill, but, I wanted to experiment a bit, and take it a step further. I wanted to remove the command from the list entirely. Maybe remove the item command from the battle menu while I was at it. That actually didn't prove too difficult!

Then there was TP, which will represent missile/torpedo launcher ammunition for this game. While that might mean additional costs for repairs later on, I was more along the thought-process that Max TP is hard-coded to be 100, and that is waaaaaay too much ammo to have! Changing the Max TP in the Game_BattlerBase class didn't actually appear to do anything at first. In fact, I was totally able to obtain more TP than what I coded! Though, that could be because I was doing battle-tests in the database, and I started to notice that scripts aren't necessarily updated until after running the game proper.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I messed a little bit with the combat menus, and how much TP players can have at maximum. I even took a screenshot that I lnked to earlierin the "What are you thinking about? (game development edition)" thread. Given this blog, it's only fair to show it here as well:



It's only a test-battle! You're not actually gonna be blasting slimes! Probably!



So, with this framework in place, the fun next part is figuring out how encounters happen in the first place. I have no idea if "steps" are even a thing, given Glasses' script, so that might be an experiment onto itself. On the other hand, Player Touch and/or Event Touch triggers could be exceptionally tricky. I recall the initial demo Glasses made for his movement script having an actionable event, but activating it was really difficult! The script has been updated since then, so, maybe I have less to worry about than I think.

I suppose the question that might come to mind at this point is when a final product will come out. After the experiments with combat are done, I figure that the only things left to do would be to polish the story, and the inevitable RTP placeholder graphics would have to be replaced. I'm mostly confident about the former, but the latter? I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do about that right now!

Posts

Pages: 1
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Darigaaz, I totally forgot about animations!

Actually, pulling off laser-fire with the RTP might be doable! Missiles, though? Well, if it's temporary, it shouldn't matter, but, we'll see what kind of magic craptastrophe I can pull off.


*Edit: Okay, they are very probably bad, but, I have animations! Also, I've decided to actually fight out a battle to the bitter end using the default stats/equipment on both ends of the table. Outside of neither party using missiles, it was something of a slog. Though, I never set the AI to use missiles, and the "Preserve TP" flag causes Lintis to ignore the init_tp function of Game_Battler. So, I guess there is that.

Aside: Why isn't there a "party's MP < 25%" condition for AIs? I feel like that's the best condition for missiles, as remaining MP counts towards shields, and therefore, defense.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Something I might want to look into: a script that displays enemy HP and MP. If I'm going to allow enemies to detect the player's MP every turn to determine whither or not to fire a missile (or a volley of missiles), it seems only fair to let players in on HP/MP information. Also, such a display could be easily explained as a scanner function.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
I follow this, just don't comment on it.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781


Maybe not the most elegant thing in the universe in regards to showing gauges for enemies, but, it works for me!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Today, I will teach poodles how to fly attempt to insert battles into the game, proper. No "by step" method will work: flying from the starting position in Nav 1 to landing on Foona (Nav 3) netted me 0 steps.

The way I envision the combat-based missions working, they would perform a check for encounters after a system-jump. To keep things simple for me, such a check is how encounters will be generated in a general sense.

It would also behoove me to think about game-balance. In general, I want the enemies to approximate the equipment players have access to, up to a certain point. For example, pirates will have the same set of equipment that Lintis Kalt has until Choluf (Nav 11) is open. At which point, they start having the next set of equipment. As a further example, pirates that can be encountered on missions would be able to have upgraded equipment, and the breaking points could be after unlocking Sizzi (Nav 10) and Dorib (Nav 12).

That's just pirates, though. Missions specify that players can fight mercenaries and rebels. I'm tending towards mercs having bigger guns and shields while rebels have better armor and missiles, but, am open to alternative suggestions.

*Edit: I'm now gearing up for some playtests! One play test will be to complete missions as quickly as possible while forgoing equipment upgrading to see how screwed players can get if they go this route. Another play test will be a more calculating approach where missions would not be done until one set of equipment upgrades are applied. Another test play might attempt a more balanced approach, to see how that goes.
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