RPG Idea

[thebetter1]

Discussion has been moved to the Falcon thread. Please discontinue discussion here.



I have an idea for a completely new type of RPG (that is, if you haven't played some very obscure RPGs...).

The combat will be somewhat real-time. Everyone will have a delay bar that goes down over time, and when it empties completely, it is that player's turn. If more people have it empty when the first guy is still deciding his action, they are put on a queue. Also, if you don't play fast enough, you lose your turn.

As for the actual fighting, it will be kind of like D&D. You will be able to fight conventionally or cast spells. Magic will be very powerful but also very expensive. Each character will have willpower points, or WP, which is the character's energy level, in addition to HP. WP falls when the character is hit with non-lethal attacks (punches), doesn't eat enough, casts spells, etc.

You will choose which attack to use by first picking a target with the Y= - Graph Buttons and then pressing a number from 1-9. The numbers would be assigned attacks before battle, and they could be changed during battle at the cost of your turn. You could also do nothing by pressing 0, giving you a very short delay bar for your next turn. Also, using attacks that would be faster realistically would give you a shorter delay bar than using a gilded two-handed sword.

I want the actual world to be walkable with good graphics and not use any libs (except Resource). I could accomplish this by using text sprites.

The level-up system will also not be conventional. You will get experience points for fighting, or using your noncombat skills. The points can then be applied to your stat points or skills. Skills include ability to use certain weapons, spells, or noncombat abilities such as cooking. The average of your skills and stats would determine your total level, which would be from 0 to 10, or theoretically a little higher.

I still haven't decided on the party system. I'm not sure if you should just go alone, bring a party of NPCs that you have to pay, or bring a party of characters under your full control. I would like to eventually put in a co-op system.

What do you guys think a good name for this would be?

[simplethinker]

Sounds like a great game :biggrin:
I think you would probably need at least a rough idea of the setting/story for a name though.

[Bronco]

Agreed. Unless you have just some generic name you can temporarily slap on there for a project title.

[thebetter1]

What are your thoughts on the party system though? Just you, optional NPCs, or a fully-controlled party?

[Bronco]

Ultimately, it's what you the developer wants. I would do either solo or fully party, but again, it's what you want. It all depends on what you want to do with the game.

[GloryMXE7]

realtimecombatRPGw/delaybarproject
just a suggestion

[thebetter1]

Well, I've resumed work on this project. I haven't written any real code yet, except for my text map utility. I have decided that the six stats will be strength, stamina, agility, comprehension, awareness, and intelligence. I have also decided on at least 12 skills and 10 spells.

[Galandros]

[thebetter1]

I'm referring to Baten Kaitos Origins, by the way.

[thebetter1]

Progress:
-completed as much of the boot code as possible at this point. It will check which programs are installed and stop immediately if certain ones are missing
-working on character builder, mainly the user-friendly name entry

I want to call this game Falcon. Is there anything else that's already called that?

[IAmACalculator]

Sounds like a cross between Gunbound and Eternal Sonata.

As to the name, Falcon is cool, but sounds a little generic to me. Just my 2¢. I too would advise waiting until you actually have a story planned.

[thebetter1]

I meant I would call it Falcon as a temporary name and come up with a real name later.

One of the biggest problems I'm having so far is that it takes over a minute to draw one screen on the 83+. I've been considering scrapping the For loop in the routine and actually writing out all the Text commands. This would make that one routine much larger, but it might make the program significantly faster. What do you guys think?

[Galandros]

[thebetter1]

Guess what? It worked! The program can now draw a text sprite screen in 17 seconds by using less than 2kb of code. Remember, this is on a regular 83+. It would have taken almost 14kb, but I used one for loop with a larger scope.

Now, I am working on a utility that is not directly connected to the game but will help me to make tile maps. It will allow the user to draw 6x6 text sprites and put them into a tile bank, then place those pre-drawn tiles onto the screen to form a tile map.

My friend is currently helping me with the storyline. Somehow, it seems like everything he writes came straight out of Tales of Symphonia...

[thebetter1]

The utility is done. You guys should try it.

[darkstone knight]

i get a syntax error because Lmap01 does not exist?


also..

if g=>2 and g=<3 or g=>6 and b=<7..

can be

max(g={2,6,10,14,18...} and g={3,7,11,15,19...

and..
if a=24 or a=25 or a=26 or a=34

can be..

if a=35 or 2<abs(a-25

possibly more

[thebetter1]

I just realized that I forgot to delete one line of code that references the obsolete list MAP01. The original file has been updated. I also know that the program isn't fully optimized; I may work more on that in the future.