Just a quick warning before you read this: I''m really tired right now. It''s past midnight, and I should''ve been asleep an hour ago. However, I want to get this posted tonight so I can get some replies by tomorrow evening. This will be fairly quick and to-the-point. My RPG incorporates turn-based combat. All the action is viewed from the side, ala Final Fantasy. Combatants can change their range from an opponent. There are four ranges: short, medium, long, and projectile. Range determines what type of attacks you can use against your target. For example, palm-strikes originating at the elbow can only be used at short range. Kicks and shoulder punches can be used at medium range. Spears can stab from long range. And so forth. In addition to range, there are three strategies that can be used in battle: offense, defense, and trap. (If you don''t know what these are, ask me to explain them in another post.) Each strategy rates differently against each other strategy. Combatants must change strategy during battle to accommodate their opponent''s strategy. Movement: each character may take a "step" once per round. Step can be used to move closer to or farther from an opponent. The basic step allows you to move one range category. Higher levels of skill allow for longer steps. Now for my problem. To simulate a real battle, combat should be a constant trade-off of moves. As you are attacked, you should be presented with a list of counter attacks. This exchange should continue until somebody (1) moves out of range, (2) falls down, or (3) chooses not to counter attack. I used the term "round" when referring to the frequency of steps. This was just a generalization. I think steps should be based on a speedbar. When your speedbar is full, you may either take a step or perform an action: change strategy, initiate attack, etc. Almost forgot about stances. Stance has an enormous impact on your combat ability depending on several factors: strategy, balance, location of enemy, and so on. I would like to incorporate stance as an integral part of the combat system. Ideas on doing this are appreciated. Any input on what I''ve written so far will be considered very seriously. Thanks for your time.

Sounds cool to me.

I''m always thinking of different ways to do combat. I''m a really big fan of turn-based RPG, but it is so hard to come up with original ways to do it. I personnally have been thinking for a while about an attack/counter turn-based system using martial arts. I think your idea is good, but make sure it doesn''t get too complicated. A training area for learning the system would be a good idea: your sensei''s dojo, where he tells you what to do.

Other things to consider:
Is it a 2D or 3D game?
How you implement this combat will change depending.
What kind of controls will you use?
Maybe a menu, or certain buttons.
How long will it take to learn?
Will the player get frustrated?

Martial arts in an RPG? Man, I''m all over it!

What options you give the player and how this plays out all depends on how granular you want to get with this. For instance, if you take one step per turn, does that mean that you can be in the middle of a move when your enemy attacks? This sounds cool, and looks like it could lead to trapping.

How about this? Let''s say you''ve got a couple of resources: Speed, maybe power / strength, and maybe even balance. Certain moves have certain costs to all of the above, modified by your skill in a particular move. I''d tend to make the more effective moves cost more in resources as a nice tradeoff.

Since you''re turned based, you''re going to need a mechanism to prevent combat from becoming extremely dull and slow. If you get too many choices then I think this will be the case. How about being able to "script" moves; IOW, you stack a bunch of moves together and this becomes your combo, which takes several turns to execute.

Question: Can you fight multiple enemies at once? This could make for a very interesting tradeoff, as you may have to throw a stun move on one guy, try for a critical on another, then whirl around and hit the recovering guy behind you. How is success determined, by the way? Skill rating, or selecting the right moves?

Random thought: When you get hit, it should take away from your speed and strength resources. That way damage has a real effect on fighting.

BTW, last question: How is turn sequencing determined? Initiative? Speed?

This is a cool idea!

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Just waiting for the mothership...

I''m glad you guys like this idea. Your input is extremely useful. I''ll try to answer questions in order.

The game is essentially 2D. It will have your typical 3D appearance, but it takes place in two-dimensions. I''m talking about an overhead planar perspective, of course, so you can circle your adversaries.

The entire combat system will be menu-based. When the option for counter attack arises, you are presented with a simple menu listing all viable moves that will counter that action (even those moves that might not be considered the best choice).

To make things more exciting, I''ll most likely incur a five-second limit on choosing a counter attack. Failure to choose within this time means you were too slow to react. Particularly agile characters may have this limit extended to simulate their faster reflexes.

Will the system frustrate players? I should certainly hope not. If any of my play-testers get frustrated while learning the combat system, then it''s time for a rewrite. So, you can bet I''ll work out all the ugly aspects before I''m finished.

How long will it take to learn? Since everything is menu-based, probably not very long at all. Then again, learning how to use the system, and mastering all of its idiosyncracies are two completely different creatures. You can learn Taekwondo without being very good at it.

Wavinator had a question about stepping. Yes, you will be able to counter an opponent''s step in mid-stride. How effectively you can do this will depend on several factors: position, stance, and reflex time to name the most important. Of course, there should also be counter-counter attacks to this.

Now, I have a quick question before I continue: how should new techniques be learned? Should they be purchased individually with experience? Should they come automatically when a martial arts skill is raised? I need some feedback on this.

Can you fight multiple enemies at once? Yes, this will most definitely be an important part of the combat system. I can''t get over cheesy karate movies and the fifty-on-one aspect of them. After all, this is a video game, so it deserves some cheesy bullshit.

How is success determined? Need to work on that. For the most part, it''s based on stance, strategy, and your character''s fighting ability.

As for your random thought, I can explain my damage system to you. Characters have three vital attributes: vitality (life), endurance (stamina), and psi (used for the psionics system). There are two types of damage: body and lethal. Body damage mostly reduces endurance and very little vitality, while lethal damage (which is intended to kill) works the other way.

How is sequence determined? I guess I could say it''s identical to FFTactics. That is, it''s based on a speedbar. The speed at which a character''s speedbar fills is based on attributes, such as agility.

Wavinator, I like your idea for a "balance" attribute, so I''ll include that if you don''t mind.

Keep that input coming!

Just one correction: I said combat is viewed from the side like Final Fantasy. This is how the viewport works, but in reality characters can move about the battlefield in multiple directions. (Think Betrayal at Krondor, but without the grid.) Tell me what you think of this, and how it can be improved.

I talked with a friend of mine last week. We''re co-developing our separate projects, sharing a lot of ideas and such. Anyway, we''ve established the basic framework for this martial arts system, and I''ll present it here so you can give me opinions on it.

There are three vital attributes that apply to combat. These are: Physique, Vitality, and Endurance. (In layman''s terms, they can be thought of as health, consciousness, and fatigue.)

Lethal attacks inflict a considerable amount of damage to Physique and Vitality. Body attacks damage Vitality and have very little influence on Physique unless the attack is specifically targeted to kill.

As you perform physical attacks, your Endurance rating drops temporarily. If it hits zero, you fall unconscious. If your vitality hits zero, you fall unconscious. If your Physique hits zero, you fall over dead.

The current rating of Physique, Vitality, and Endurance are applied directly to the effect of your actions. This means your abilities weaken as your vital attributes drop. The modifier applied to your abilities is the average of all three vital attributes.

Note: Psi rating is also considered a vital attribute, but there are no ill effects for running out of Psi energy. Therefore, it is not considered in this discussion.

All actions are governed by a speed gauge. This gauge fills periodically during combat like the action gauge in Final Fantasy Tactics. The higher a character''s agility, the faster his/her speed gauge will recover. When a character''s gauge is full, s/he may execute an action.

The type of action a character can perform depends on his/her current strategy (which can be changed when his/her turn comes up.) Offensive fighters may move and attack. Defensive fighters may move, block, and counterattack. Trap fighters may move, feint, and counterattack.

When an offensive action is issued, the victim is given an opportunity to defend. A menu of blocks will pop up, and the player has five seconds to select an action. (If you fail to select an action within this time, it is assumed that your character did not react quickly enough.)

At this point, combatants trade actions back and forth. This is where the system gets rather confusing, because it is possible for other characters to receive actions while you are duking it out with someone else. Basically, speed gauges continue to mount as you are selecting reactions.

The goal to remember will be this: be ready to react off your turn, and when your turn comes up, you''ll have plenty of time to select an appropriate action.

So, how many reactions does a character get? Each reaction chews up some of his/her speed gauge. This means it will take longer to reach your next turn if you are constantly blocking, dodging, or counterattacking. This is why it sucks to battle multiple opponents at once.

Of course, subsequent actions also take bites out of your speed gauge. Since an offensive fighter can make several attacks in a single round, his/her speed gauge will decrease the entire time. Since attacks and steps take far longer to execute than a reaction, your next turn will always come sooner than your opponent''s.

Questions and comments are welcome.