Caveman 3.0: implementing rock toss and similar mini-games:

I have a few mini-games planned that are similar to rock toss (throw rock at target for score).

I was thinking of using the combat engine, dialog options, and AI to implement it in-game, as opposed to a separate mini-game module.

example:

imagine if in skyrim you could challenge an NPC to an archery contest, and you would both shoot at a target and the game would keep score. and there would be color dialog like "nice shot", or "ha! top that one!". you might even get a dragon attack in the process, kill it, then resume the contest.

compare to the lockpick mini-game in skyrim where you go to a totally separate screen, almost like a separate stand alone game inside a game.

Could this work?

if so, how should it work?

Hey, don't they do that one in the movies? The contest is underway but interrupted by a dragon attack but one opponent though is determined to show off his superior skill and so ricochets a shot off the dragon into the target's bullseye. Not to be outdone, the hero runs up the back of the dragon's neck, flips off of its head releasing one shot that finds the bullseye and another that finds the small vulnerable spot of the dragon killing it but not before the dragon is able to let lose a roar of flames turning the archery target instantly to ash and vapor. Fortunately the hero was able to roll out of the way. The other contestant protests that the hero hasn't won because the target is destroyed.

Or, I don't know, I suppose you could just pick up where the contest left off. That works too. :D

Seems pretty straight forward otherwise. I would say that just about anything could be picked as the target, perhaps including wildlife or moving targets. A win could just be the one who throws the farthest, or gets closest to target, or is able to destroy the target, or hits the target the most of X times.

Closest thing I can think of for something similar was the occasional shooting contest encounter in Red Dead Redemption that was like shoot the most crows in 30 seconds or something. It was an amusing diversion but I didn't often engage in the contest, I think out of concern for conserving bullets or my power-up or something.

Would winning the game be a matter of the player's skill or the character's abilities?

Would winning the game be a matter of the player's skill or the character's abilities?

I guess that would depend on the target.

The combat engine uses real physics to get a missile to a target, then uses chance to hit with armor, stat, skill, and quality mods to determine if damage is done. Weapon type, quality, stats, and chance determine damage done.

For inanimate targets, some sort of collision check between the missile and target would be required. Missile velocity at time of impact and missile type (IE mass) would determine the force of the impact, which would determine if you knocked over a target in a stone toss game, for example.

Obviously, there would have to be some sort of flag in a band member struct (or perhaps a new action type) to indicate they were playing a game, and that game related collision checks, scoring, AI, and dialog should be performed.