MAYORANIME'S PROFILE

• Even though I will reference a few graphics in this list, they don't need to be provided. Just the functionality. I can provide the graphics myself.
• The term 'character' will refer to anything in the battle, ally or enemy.
• Character action is determined by their speed statistic, so characters with a high speed will take more turns.
• Battles are not fought in real-time, but are instead fought in turns, with the order and frequency of turns determined ahead of time by, as stated, the speed stat/
• There is no gap between turns. When one turn ends, another begins.
• A graphic stating the word 'Next' floats above, to the side, or underneath whatever character is next. An arrow should accompany this graphic. My thought is that the a battler could be used, therefore it can be animated, and the correct graphic, and therefore the correct direction of arrow, would be dependent on the position of the character going next.
• When it is that ally or enemy's turn, a short graphic would be displayed ad their feet. I call this the 'burst graphic'.
• When it is a character's turn, they enter 'Tactical Time', which can be from 0 to infinite. In Tactical Time, so long as they don't move or take an action, the character can determine what it wants to do. This is mainly for the players, not the AI-controlled monsters. The moment a character moves or acts, they go from 'Tactical Time' to 'Action Time'.
• Action Time is the time a character has to perform an action, which can be from 1 to infinite (although, to be honest, I can't see any good designer giving more than 6 seconds of Action Time). There needs to be a switch the designer can set, or allow the player to set, that will activate a 'beginner mode' and freeze Action Time if the character stops moving or acting.
• A character can move in 2 /12 space, in an area defined by the designer, on the battle map. Zooming and panning of the background image should be supportable to create larger than normal battle areas, if possible. Movement speed should be adjustable per character, so larger enemies can move slower, and characters can have items and accessories that increase speed.
• Other than moving, a character can attack, use a special attack, or use an item.
• When a character attacks, hitting the attack button repeatedly will put them into a combo. The speed of the combo should depending on the size and weight of the weapon. Obviously, someone with their fists or a small or light weapon will hit more times per second then someone with a very large and powerful weapon.
• To hit, a character's sprite much make contact with another character's sprite. This should not be any part of the sprite, as that obviously undermines the idea of 2 1/2 space. I suggest this be measured by the feet of the attacker and defender being with a certain pixel range of each other, in above or below.
• Support should be given for melee and ranged attacks. Characters with ranged attacks should also be able to attack with melee if close enough to a target.
• Range attacks should be weaker if they are too close or too far. A 'sweetspot' range should exist in which the attack does the most damage.
• Each successful hit gives about .1 to .2 of a second to Active Time.
• Special Attacks only cost time, with each attack costing a number of seconds to perform, rounded to the nearest tenth. Using a special attack should trigger an animation for that attack.
• Special attacks should include healing powers.
• The special attack needs to hit the target to do damage. This is the same feet of attacker and defender range as before. If the attack doesn't hit, nothing happens. Special attacks should be able to damage anything on the field that it hits, even if it's not the initial or intended target. The 'damage path' of a special attack should be definable either in the skill's animation.
• There should be up to four definable hotkeys for special attacks. The number of hotkeys should be changeable during the game by the designer, or by the player if the designer enables it such.
• With every normal hit landed by an all, the ally party gains an 'echo' (what it is called in the game is defined by the designer). The number of hits needed to gain an echo should be defined in the script, so that the designer can change it.
• All 'echoes' are used when any ally uses a special attack. The more Echoes, the more powerful that special attack. The designer should be able to switch on, or off, during gameplay, that special attacks build echoes.
• At the two highest level of echoes (in Eternal Sonata, it was 24 an 32), the camera zooms in on the ally and they give a short line before going into the attack. These two super special attacks should be even more powerful than normal.
• If the designer has 'Harmony Chains' turned on, during the height of a super special attack, the word Harmony Chain (word defined by designer or artist) will flash on the screen. If the player presses the hotkey for another special attack at that moment, then that special attack will go off (without the zooming in speech) at the strength of the number of echoes for the first special attack. The designer should eb able to chagne, during gameplay, if 2, 3, or 4 special attacks can be chained.
• When an attack is incoming on an ally, the ally has a 'Chance' to defend. The graphic 'Chance' will float above the ally's head for that short time. If the player presses the 'Defend' key within that short time period (defined by the enemy's attack), then the damage for him and anyone else caught in the enemy's attack's Area of Effect takes 1/10 damage.
• There should be a 25% chance for any attack on an ally that the word 'Z-Chance' will float instead, signaling that this attack can be be countered. The time period to react to a 'Z-Chance' should be 35% longer than a 'Chance'. A 'Z-Chance' can be responded to with the 'Defend' key. but if the player hits the 'Counter' key, the attack does 0 damage and the ally gets 2 seconds of Active Time to counterattack, which is strictly normal attacks. The designer should be able to modify that time in the script.
• The designer should be able change, during gampelay, whether or not special attacks can be used in counterattacks. Items cannot be used during counterattacks.
• An ally with their back to the attacking enemy cannot Defend or Counter. No Chance or Z-Chance will show up. They will take full damage.
• Items are placed into Item Set outside of combat. That item set is rotated via two hotkeys during any time in the battle, even when the enemy is attacking.
• On an ally's turn, an item can be used through the Item hot-key. It should take about 2 seconds to use an item.
• An ally can use a healing or support item on another ally by facing them and being close by. Likewise, an ally can use a harming item on an eney by facing them and being close by.
• If an ally is more hurt than the ally he is facing, he will use the healing item on himself.
• Enemies follow a similar convention in that their normal attacks can hit anyone whom is in range, and their special attacks can hit whomever the animation hits. Enemies cannot use Items, Defend, Counter, Echoes or Harmony Chains. They don't get the benefit of Tactical Time and their Active Time never pauses.

author=TooManyToasters link=topic=3648.msg73224#msg73224 date=1241312449
They say that when you murder someone...

author=Max McGee link=topic=3590.msg72984#msg72984 date=1241110791
Bizarrely, that is the second time that Det. Wilks who I thought of as a throwaway stock character has been mentioned as being memorable.

Once again, I am bewildered. Tom himself is MUCH more memorable and interesting.