quote: Original post by Nazrix

Spazboy,
I kind of like the chart idea. It's pretty interesting. The player could pick where he wants to swing instead of hitting a button. Thanks for the suggestion.

I also like the chart idea, however as Spazboy gives it it sounds more given to turn-based play. If one were to do it this way you could have FF style "turn-bars" that charge between turns.
An idea I had was for a real-time battle, with or without a chart-like device to target from: have the battle move in slower motion. That way it would be much easier to aim/target and hit or block, something you probably couldn't do well with just a mouse and keyboard. It might even look cool, like a John Woo action sequence with swords. You would have to try the idea out beforehand to even consider using it though.

Nothing is difficult, only the mind makes it so.

Edited by - CrankDude on October 24, 2000 11:06:10 PM

In Asherons Call there is a turn based system (kind of) in combat, where (this applies only to melee) you select how much power you want to swing with and whether you want to swing (or bash, or thrust) low/middle/high.

The power meter was constantly filling up, and when it reached the top (the top was farther away for the higher powered attacks, so weak ones are faster) you would attack, then repeat.

To make your head an "even" target with the rest of your body you could get much better armor for it. The best heaumes in the game are 305 (or a little higher) AL (armor level). While the best torso/leg/arm/hand/feet/girth armors are around 250 (that would be very high! The best quest armor is (or was) 210). Since the game has loot comparable to the area you were fighting in you would get items that you could use at the level you''re supposed to fight whatever creature at.

In other words, it kept the system balanced .

Null and Void
At least I don't know COBOL...

I really don''t think *any* 2D system would be realistic enough for a realistic sword-fight. I mean, a real-life sword fight takes (or took) place in a 3D enviroment, where people dodged left and right, swung, bashed, jumped, kicked, rolled, turned, .... I mean, Bushido Blade was 3D, right? If it could be 2D, why didn''t they make it so? And, of course, a 3D game has the graphical advantages over a 2D one. I think you should implement a Die By The Sword system for the fightings *only*. IMHO, the DBTS sword-controlling ayatem is one of the most cool, if not realistic.

And then again, I might be wrong!

Yeah 2D definitely has limitations. No doubt.

I realize that I was misleading in this post. I meant to talk more about simulating (as opposed to making it realistic) a swordfight so that the results (it being very dangerous and even fatal) be realistic.


""You see... I'm not crazy... you see?!? Nazrix believes me!" --Wavinator

"All you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be." -Pink Floyd

Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

The way I saw it in my head when you first posted the idea was a sword fight in which you did not just press the back button to block. You had to press the high block to block a swing at your head and if you were too slow you would get hit, maybe not as much as if you had just stood there but you would still get hit.

Also the battles would move retelativly quickly and be rather intresting and enjoyable. And the battles would last longer if it was two good players playing because they would go back and forth attacking and blocking and doging... The battles would not be all slow, it would be like a real fight. I swing you see it coming just like you would in real life and block it. Plus if the controls were good it would not be all that hard to aim your shots with the keyboard or a gamepad/joystick.

Who needs the mouse? That would just complicate things, and people would be like "man my cruddy mouse won''t move fast enough and it takes me too long to block this game sucks"

Just my thoughts...

Matthew
WebMaster
www.Matt-Land.com

Well, actually I was planning on making it so that there wouldn''t be different levels of blocking. There would be just one block button, and you''d have to block in time. The attack buttons would be high/mid/low, but not block just because of the obvious problem that it would be hard to see where the block is coming from.


""You see... I'm not crazy... you see?!? Nazrix believes me!" --Wavinator

"Though the course may change someimes the rivers always reach the sea" --Led Zeppelin

Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

I think that you would need different levels of blocking so that the attacker may feint with a swing at your legs and when you move to block it they jab you through the torso... Much more fun. And the more times you practice a combination, the quicker you will be able to execute it in the game world. It would be cool to have combos.

Hmmm... If you had combos then you would probably need only a single block key where the computer randomises the guess to where it blocks....

Anyway... some interesting ideas

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche
          

ok time for some more ideas...

1. if you don''t use a "chart" you could use something like this:

SLASHES
-------
left click enemy to do body shot
right click to do head shot
both click to do a low shot

for stabs you hold down ALT, and for overhead swings you hold
down CTRL, using SHIFT to block

2. Keep percentages on which shot the player favours - this
gives more skillful NPCs a better chance of blocking you

3. Lots of sword combat styles are based on set patterns. code
in some different attack combos and have your NPCs use them,
this way the player can learn to spot the patterns and come up
with good defense / counter attacks.

I would really like to see a game that had good attack patterns
that I could learn (and use on other opponents).

Guys guys guys - Naz is NOT talking about complicating the interface - he''s talking about improving the way a fight is handled. These kinds of 24-button interfaces have NO place in an RPG, they should be in a sword-fighting game.

People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~

So which way would you have it done MKV? Randomize the attack area with the usual click''n''kill method? Shame!. I think everybody realised what Naz was talking about, we then moved on to simulating it. I would prefer a simple interface to anything that required anything more than 4 buttons. A couple of buttons on the keypad oughto do the trick, though it doesn''t really matter which. At least we now get the gist

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche