Hex's Battle System (using Blizzard's ABS)Alright, this IS a discussion and not a project, largely because I've solely been focusing on an effective and semi-unique battle system. It's not complete but it is coming along nicely. My hope is that by summer I'll have this system up and running with an actual project well underway.
Features-Blizz ABS
-Magical/Professional Skills
-Variable Damage
-Instance Battles
-Skill Levels
-Magic Efficiency Levels
-Battle Ranking System
-Loot System
-Customized Battle Results Window
-Customized Menus
Blizz ABSIf you aren't familiar with BABS, you must not be familiar with Chaos-Project's forums. It's a Advanced Real Time Battle System developed by Blizzard, if you want more info on it...
and here's a couple screen shots of it in action.
Magical/Professional SkillsSkills will be broken up into 3 categories. Magical skills (i.e. Elemental spells), Professional Skills (i.e. a swordsman's attack skills), and Hybrid skills (i.e. Elemental spells merged with Professional Skills). The third category of skills will be late game, but will harness some of the most powerful effects in the game.
Here is a glimpse of professions, since I won't be going into much detail in this thread. Professions will range from soldier (
a hardened warrior capable of withstanding attacks, and dishing out powerful physical attacks) to engineer (
a creative inventor, capable of creating machines and devices to aid him in battle) to priest (
a devout holyman, capable of calling upon divine power to smite his foes and protect himself) and everything in between.
Variable DamageIn order to expand the limitations of skills in this system, I implemented variable damage, in which I can fully customize the damage of each skill. Also, a sidenote, skills will be diverse in their nature, ranging from projectiles, to skills that move the player and his enemies around the map, along with skills that alter environments, and skills that hit multiple times.
Instance BattlesMy system will feature Instance Battles. Adventure maps will have enemies on them, however, battles will not take place here. Instead, once you come into contact with an enemy on an adventure map, you will be sent to a Battle Map. The player's level as well as random chance will determine which map you are sent to. Each map will be customized to where the player is on the adventure map (i.e. if the player is in a wooded area, the battle map will be an enclosed wooded area). The battle maps will vary in size and difficulty. Where a field battle map might have very little in between enemies and the player, a cave might have narrow passage ways and choke points where the player could easily become surrounded by enemies. Once in the map, again, based on hero level and chance, a varying number of enemies will spawn.
The battle lasts as long as the player takes to kill everything on the map, once every enemy is dead, the battle is over, and the player is transported back to the adventure map. Some adventure maps (such as fields or forests connecting towns) will have enemies that respawn, while other adventure maps (such as an elite castle where really good loot can be found) will have enemies that don't respawn. There will also be bosses that don't respawn, as well as pseudo-bosses that spawn randomly.
Skill LevelsEach skill in the game will have 7 levels to it. The more the player uses the skill, the better the skill will eventually become. Take the skill "Fireblast" for example.
Level 1: 13-17 dmg, 1.0 AoE, 5 Range
Level 2: 19-24 dmg, 1.2 AoE, 5.5 Range
Level 3: 26-32 dmg, 1.4 AoE, 6 Range
Level 4: 34-41 dmg, 1.6 AoE, 6.5 Range
Level 5: 43-51 dmg, 1.8 AoE, 7 Range
Level 6: 53-62 dmg, 2.0 AoE, 7.5 Range
Level 7: 64-74 dmg, 2.2 AoE, 8 Range
Each skill will increase parameters in its own way, making each skill unique with it's own pros and cons.
Magic Efficiency LevelsRight now I have the 4 basic elements... Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. In my system, the player will be able to advance in each element based on how often the player uses skills of that element. The more a player uses fire skills, the quicker he/she will advance to the next efficiency level, and in doing so, he/she will learn new advanced skills, as well as eventually be able to merge elemental skills with professional skills.
I'll go ahead and hint at my future project and list the various levels of magic efficiency.
Fire:
Flamewielder, Water:
Waterbreather, Air:
Windwalker, Earth:
Earthshaker(1) Initiate Flamewielder
(2) Novice Flamewielder
(3) Flamewielder
(4) Lightseeker Flamewielder
(5) Lightfinder Flamewielder
(6) Lightbringer Flamewielder
(7) Lightmaker Flamewielder
Battle Ranking SystemDuring the battle, several variables are observing the performance of the player and ranking him accordingly. Some aspects that are being observed and calculated into the rank of a battle are as follows
-Time
-Skills used
-Damage taken
-
Open to suggestionsThe ranking structure is going to be similar to the elemental efficiencies, in that, the lowest battle rank is "Seeker", followed by "Finder, then "Bringer" and a top rank of "Maker".
Loot SystemIn this system, each individual enemy doesn't drop a specific item. Instead a "Loot Score" is calculated based on a variety of aspects.
-Battle Rank
-Enemies Killed
-Types of Enemy
-Player's Luck
-Environment
-Day/Night
-Weather
I plan on having a very wide variety of items in the game, as well as alchemy and engineering creation options. Some items might only drop, for instance, from a snake in a certain woods, at night, while it's raining, and even then, only when the player gets a battle rank of "Maker". It will be designed so the player has to put some work and research into getting some of the coolest gear in the game.
Customized Battle Result WindowI've got a working Battle Result Window right now, but I'll probably end up tweaking it a few more times before it's final version. Nevertheless, it's the first script I actually created myself, so I'm happy to of been able to make it. This window pops up at the end of a battle, once all enemies are destroyed. It calculates the experience gained during the battle, as well as gold gained during the battle in a "ticker" like format, each experience point moving the experience bar a little further along in an animated nature, likewise the gold gained tickers down, while the inventory gold tickers up. Here are some screens to better clarify.
Customized MenusI haven't begun work on the Customized Menus of my battle system yet. I will, however, begin work soon, once I finish working out some aesthetics of the Battle Results Window and actual gameplay.
OutroWell folks, hope you enjoyed looking into my system. It still has a ways to go, but I have put a lot work into it so far. If you have any feedback/comments/critiques, I'd be glad to hear them, seeing how I am still working on this system.