If you read my previous article, you know a little bit about the challenges I faced in writing the battle system for my current project, a (presently unnamed) turn-based RPG. It's been a very programmer-heavy task so far, but I enjoy that sort of thing, so I'm currently a happy boy. The battle system is complete now... except for one more feature I absolutely want to add (more about that later). In this article, I'll just go over the battle system as it exists right now and talk about some of my favorite features.
When it's your turn in battle, you may attack the enemy if you wish. You select an enemy to attack and then (try to) deal some damage to that enemy. For now, the amount of damage you deal is dependent on two different variables: your attack power and your target's defense level. The amount of damage you deal is equal to the differenct between these two values (as long as it's a positive number).
In the future, I'd like to add two more variables into the equation:
Things ain't always smooth sailing in a battle! Sometimes, your player may receive status effects, which may aid or impair your ability to fight properly. My favorite example I've developed thus far is the "horrified" status effect. When you become horrified, there's a high probability you will be too horrified to do anything when it's your turn to fight. The status effect lasts for a few turns.
In the future, I'd like to implement some sort of icon system for the player portrait (on the far left side of the screen) to indicate current status effects. Additionally, there's one status effect I'd really like to implement later on. Narratively, I want this game to be primarily focused on addiction. I want you and your fellow party members to be struggling drug addicts, and withdrawals will end up being the most inconvenient of status effects to be faced with. Long term, I want the withdrawal status effect to affect nearly all of your interactions with the game (both in and out of battle), but I'm taking things one step at a time.
Sometimes, you just can't cut the mustard. In those sorts of situations, fleeing might be your safest option. If you try to flee from battle, your attack power is compared to the "intimidation" stat of every member of the enemy party. The difference between these values provides you with a probability value. If you pass the dice roll, you safely flee from battle. Otherwise, the enemy will keep you from leaving.
When a player wins a battle, they should be rewarded for doing such a great job. The reward for winning a battle will be experience points. Gain enough experience points, and your stats will increase permanently. I haven't implemented this system yet, but I definitely will before I release the demo at the end of the month.
Other than the experience points system, most of the updates I have planned for the rest of the month are content updates. That is, I intend on adding more enemy types (maybe even another member for the player's party), replacing those question marks with actual images of players and enemies, more items, more status effects, and more battles. I think the demo at the end of the month will simply be a sequence of battles so players can get a basic idea of how the combat system will feel. I'm very excited to continue!
Well, that's all for now, folks! Stay tuned for next week's article where I'll hopefully have some more awesome content to show you. Maybe I'll even have a title for this game by that point.
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