Hi all, I have come to the point in my game where I really need to start thinking about combat engine and skill system. The game is an RPG, so the combat is swords and shields etc. I need to figure out a good solid combat engine with the right math to make it all look realistic. So, I have hit a brick wall, not sure where to go next, does anyone have any good sites with combat engines discussed, some examples of how other people did it? I tried looking around myself and came up with a few but they were way too simple and not really too effective. Thanks in advance, - DBridle

Have you looked at my sword-time desing?

seriously though, How many people do you plan on having in combat at any one time?

George D. Filiotis
Are you in support of the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide? You should be!

In theory, hundreds can, depends on the encounter )

what I meant to ask then, was how many people will the player be controlling?

George D. Filiotis
Are you in support of the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide? You should be!

ohhhh my bad, just 1 Person.

Have you got an underlying engine for your game or have you not even begun coding?

What I suggest you first do is lay out what sorts of things you want to see happen in combat, THEN construct a system. As in, what do you want players focusing their attention on, and what do you feel is fundamentally important to the gameplay.

Once you do that, a system should be really easy.

You say you want it to look realistic, but thats almost more of an art and programming thing than a game design thing, really. (mostly)

Tom


Edited by - Zileas on February 4, 2002 11:22:28 PM

Lets see, the game is an RPG and I have been working on the Class Heirachy for a while. All the stats are figured out, the game engine is written. The only 2 things left to do for the prototype are some graphics, sound and the combat engine.

Let me define what I mean by combat engine. Someone hits someone else with a certain damage sword. I have the factors that should come into play, but I cant seem to come up with a good system for calculating damage, misses, critical hits etc. I know I can randomize to a certain extent, but the underlying calculations still need to be there.

I have been messing around with some numbers but I''m nowhere close, I''m really just looking for some examples.

- DBridle

This is typically a game design problem (NOT a programming one).

First of all, take a sheet of paper, and write every parameters which are supposed to influence the fight.
Make your equations in order to have a good balance between random numbers and stats influence (for example if a player is never able to hit a monster then the design is bad).

Have you ever played role playing games with pens and papers ? Could be a good inspiration for writing a combat engine.



------
GameDev''er 4 ever.

I've wasted 2 weeks working on design docs ideas about battle engines which I'll not use in the future.
If you wish you can buy me the © of it. However it'll be complicated to program it.

The design has text, images and other stuff, it pretty much examplains every little detail about the battle system (2D).

Telmo Amaro

Edited by - Telmo_Amaro on February 6, 2002 5:49:00 PM