Paprik: I don't have any other way to re-word it, so instead, I will show what I mean by the F.T.S. system as I just finished animating the simulation of what the gameplay would look like, a bit rough, but it shows a lot of the intuitive mechanics of the game's design, it is my belief that a lot of playstyles that are disadvantaged in rpg and action games will be viable in this game:

The part near the end is called "Dynamic Power Clashing" or D.P.C. in the system. Basically, when you use a technique, it comes with a "fuel" stat, when two techniques clash, the one with more power x fuel will win out. The beauty of the F.T.S. system is that if you used a weaker move and are in jeapordy of losing a clash, you can use F.T.S. to kick in another technique wether it be offensive, defensive, support, or any that would work in that moment. In the video, the player used a defense technique called "Reflector", which redirected the still potent attack of their opponent away when they were about to lose the power clash. In a different example I showed a few years ago, the player used a support technique to boost the power of their technique, increasing the potency of their techniques fuel stat, allowing them to either nullify or win out the clash of power.

As for the other mislabeling attributes, I guess you have a point with renaming Vitality as HP in order to familiarize players.

You almost got the description right, except instead of a cooldown, it acts more like the MP bar in an active form. Both turn based and cool-down mechanics are limited int hat they don't let you take action again until their up. With an active bar, if you have even the smallest attack that takes just a portion of energy, then you should be able to make an attack in that moment instead of waiting for a timer. As you will see in the video, techniques are picked via a menu, which makes it RPG like. Only some techniques can be mapped to a button for movement. I had consoles and hand-held devices in mind when I designed this system, as well as touch screen devices.

There is no way for players to ignore the reaction stat as the reaction stat activates automatically when an attack enters your character's personal range and is headed for their hitbox. The range is a radius around the character, varying in size based on the accuracy, reaction, and abilities of a character.

As for micro stuttering, about 2 years ago, that was my fear with the system itself and I was thinking of just leaving it 1vs1 to 3vs3 at most. However, a solution to this is that there would be a 5 second timer in competitive matches{ranked multiplayer, live tournaments}, where a player has to pick their technique within that time. Experienced, skilled players who know their characters in and out will know what technique to pick in those crucial 5 seconds. I got the idea from speed chess. For player who are just learning, storymode and single player have the option of no timers, so a player can take their time thinking of their move and practicing with their character.

Another thing, is that although in last years design, the Krono Meter appeared as a clock, but I felt that took to much space in the GUI, so I went back to an older version of the meter, which made better use of space. Here are some old sketches showing the previous meter design as well as some notes on power clashing and technique selection.

The sprites I made myself for this animation:

I designed the G.U.I. in illustrator, I'm hoping to make it look more visually appealing by the time the game project starts:

Adam Moore: Well, not 10 straight years, but something like say during my free time's free time's free time every now and then in the last 10 years I would write down notes related to the game and save them up and improve on ideas over time. Only on occasion during some summers will I write a lot about the game's design. I've been doing just art-related projects most of the time. As for when I'm gonna start developing it? Like yesterday, as the design is already ready. I'm just looking for like-minded people to work with to make this game real.

Just before my final semester, I created a 45 page comic for an international competition, although I really do struggle with story telling elements, while my game design is sitting there in my brain laughing at me for how complete it is and asking why I haven't brough it out yet, metaphorically speaking.

Use the arrow keys to read the comic:

http://imgur.com/a/RJskR#0

I think I'm good for making concept art as well as doubling as the game designer.

I misunderstood the reaction system before. I thought you meant it would influence the time you have to react - with 100 react stat, you'd have 2 seconds to react, if you had 200, you'd have 3 sec etc.

I can imagine the stuttering would be pretty annoying, since you're waiting for someone who you probably can't even see. Also it might be better to make the timer let's say 4 seconds, but always 4 seconds even if he picks sooner. This is because you'd at least know when it unpauses.

What I didn't see in the video is how you pick your attacks (not just counter attacks). Does the game freeze when your turn is up?

I think this system could be fun, but you really need to play into your advantages. Possibly the biggest difference over real time games is that you have more time to make decisions so you can browse the menus instead of having like 4-10 remembered hotkeys. This means your attacks and counter attacks have to be like super varied and fun.

If you haven't already, you should post in the Help Wanted section: http://www.gamedev.net/classifieds

Sadly, I'm in the last year of my studies so I don't really have enough time to help.

Yeah, people PM'ing for the programmer role on another forum were confused on how the system worked. Now that the animation is done, I'm hoping it will help out with explaining the system now.

Yeah, that is true about the stuttering. I was thinking that if a person tries to pick their move at the very last second 3 consecutive times, there timer would drop by a second every time until it gets to a minimum of 3 seconds as a penalty, since it really shouldn't take more than a second or two to make a choice, and only rarely should a person really need all 5 seconds, although 4 as you suggested would be a good number.

Picking attacks works the same as when counter attacking. The screen turns grey and the game freezes and you get a few seconds to pick your attack. In the video, when ever the opponent attacks, the screen turns grey and you wait, but what I wanted to add is an icon that pops up for the opponent making the attack with a timer to show that it's them who caused the freeze framing. In the 2D version, if they are off-screen, and icon will appear on your screen with the characters portrait and a timer showing it is them who freeze framed. In the 3D version, when freeze framing occurs, you can move/rotate your camera around you or your opponent. {The game also has a sort of "fog of war" visually, in that if somebody is behind you, and your characters senses don't cover that area, you will see the background behind you, but active characters will not appear visible, to prevent the foiling of ambushes by merely rotating the camera during freeze framing.

Yeah, I believe this game will be very fun, as well as having a lot of depth. I hope it will become popular in the competitive scene. Yeah, there are lots of attacks in this game, as well as the ability to create your own attacks, so I think there will be many things to keep the player's interest while studying the game's system.

Ah, yeah, as soon as I get the real website ready, I'll be making my way to the classifieds section.

I see, good luck with your studies, I just finished mines last week and finally got my degree in Graphic Design Technology to go along with my degree in Commercial Art. So it's a good time to start this game up.