Lemma Soft Forums

Well, if you get to choose who will attack next, you could show everyone. But when they do their moves and stuff, you might want to focus on the ones involved.

Well I have the modified battle engine up.

The computer AI is of the ultimate level of attacking random enemies even if they are already KO'ed.

Yay! Playable a little. Attack and reload are implemented. Magic isn't quite yet.

Awesome, thanks! Will give this a spin, hoping for the best inspiration while making CGs for this thing.

Yay, won't be long till we have at least a working Quick Battle system until the 'epic stories' are up and running.

EDIT: Okay, initial thoughts...

(Nanoha cameo...lol)

Hero, Sidekick, Villain, Grunt... great classification system!

It will be nice to have 2+ Hero types, 2+ Sidekick types, 2+ Villain types, 2+ Grunt types (extensible to however many). Reason being that neither Hardcastle nor Cromwell is the Sidekick...I made a point to have the same amount of character development in their writing to qualify them both as main characters. If ever there would be characters that remain as Sidekicks it will be Alexandra and Elspeth, and they don't participate in every battle.

Thus the way the Hero / Sidekick stats would be used will be

initial battles: They all start as Sidekicks vs all Grunts
early midlevel battles: One of them graduated to Hero, vs Grunts
midlevel battles: The other graduated to Hero, vs Grunts and a Villain
late midlevel battles: Heroes vs Villain(s) and fewer Grunt types
late / boss battles: Heroes vs purely Villains

---------------

It was a little bit confusing who's turn it is. Although I think it is mostly a flaw in my design specs. But it would be nice if the action window where the Player selects the choices be a different window from the battle playback windows. Nothing fancy is needed, just a toggle indicator setting like the DSE or MagBou action screen with a "Battle" button. This will help a long way in conveying the message that though this is a turn-based battle, it's not entirely random. Plus, the Player will see what action choice is selected for every character with one glance. And it will be a clear separation between the interactive and non-interactive portion of the round.

I really like your work so far. It's much appreciated.

Okay, I think my mind is ready...time to dig into the code...

DaFool wrote:(Nanoha cameo...lol)

She rocks!

Hero, Sidekick, Villain, Grunt... great classification system!

It will be nice to have 2+ Hero types, 2+ Sidekick types, 2+ Villain types, 2+ Grunt types (extensible to however many). Reason being that neither Hardcastle nor Cromwell is the Sidekick...I made a point to have the same amount of character development in their writing to qualify them both as main characters. If ever there would be characters that remain as Sidekicks it will be Alexandra and Elspeth, and they don't participate in every battle.

Thus the way the Hero / Sidekick stats would be used will be

initial battles: They all start as Sidekicks vs all Grunts
early midlevel battles: One of them graduated to Hero, vs Grunts
midlevel battles: The other graduated to Hero, vs Grunts and a Villain
late midlevel battles: Heroes vs Villain(s) and fewer Grunt types
late / boss battles: Heroes vs purely Villains

Actually, those are just names I just called the battle characters. They aren't really classifications.

It was a little bit confusing who's turn it is. Although I think it is mostly a flaw in my design specs. But it would be nice if the action window where the Player selects the choices be a different window from the battle playback windows. Nothing fancy is needed, just a toggle indicator setting like the DSE or MagBou action screen with a "Battle" button. This will help a long way in conveying the message that though this is a turn-based battle, it's not entirely random. Plus, the Player will see what action choice is selected for every character with one glance. And it will be a clear separation between the interactive and non-interactive portion of the round.

Toggle indicator? Might get annoying with like four characters. Want that fancy-pants slide in menu again?

Counter Arts wrote: Toggle indicator? Might get annoying with like four characters. Want that fancy-pants slide in menu again?

Hmmm...is the following doable (see attachment). Emphasis on functionality rather than fancy. Although being able to later customize the text and textboxes would be nice.

In the example, you are on round 4 of the battle. Ignore the stats as this is just a mockup. Also, the text should be all the same font, since this is just a hack shop to illustrate certain things.

Notice the following:

- All four playable characters are alive and kicking. We know all their health, elementals, and number of rounds left in a single glance.
- The Player is currently selecting the action for Hero1
- Hero2 ran out of mana
- Sidekick 1 ran out of bullets
- Sidekick 2 action has been set to swap

When all the actions have been set (the left-pointing toggle arrow defaults to Shoot), then the Player hits Battle!

The enemies select their actions behind the scenes and everyone plays back their moves like before.

Let me know what you think, thank you. I also would appreciate other peoples suggestions as well. I would like this to be a really well-built system, even without the fancy animations.

By the way, forgot to include toggle settings for targeted enemy / ally, particular magic spell chosen, next element to swap to, etc. Assume its a popup window.

Hmmm, this really depends on how the AI is programmed...

1.) Are the actions for the enemies determined already before the round?
OR
2.) Are the actions generated on-the-fly when the enemy's turn comes?

The action screen sample I gave fits with scenario one...the Player plans the actions of his squadron, and the AI plans the actions of the enemies, and they duke it out.

But if the scenario is two, then the current style is fine...I think that it defeats the purpose to give the illusion that you can really plans things well in advance, if the enemies don't do the same.

I was also thinking of separating the stats boxes from the action boxes, that way you can always see your teams HP and your enemies HP in one glance. But I must cut back. This is where opinions of every programmer who's ever attempted to program an RPG are needed.

But I will tailor things to the final scheme Counter Arts comes up with.

Many thanks once again.

Maybe use bars for HP/MP too ? It's more visual than having to read numbers

Hmm... it's possible to do what you say but there still the need for see your enemies I feel while you are choosing.

The reason why it was confusing was because I did a barebones interface. Ui is where like 80% of the coding actually is in applications (at least according to first year com sci).

How about this ui?

That's great. There should also be a bar for how much ammo left as well as a little color widget to display the current element.

Then I just need to make face / bust pictures that fit into square bordered sprites, and you can load them up when assembling the battling party.

I just need to keep hitting myself on the head to keep things easy. So, no more tactical shot of the battlefield, it'll be a positioning nightmare.

I'll start listing the sprites now that I have a clear picture.

For each character (ally / enemy), will need the following:

1.) Square Neutral face pose to use in the U.I. above.
2.) Two Battle Reaction conversational faces to use during battle dialogues:
- I am dominating (jeering)
- I am being dominated (frustrated)
3.) An action sequence for each of the following actions:
- Shoot
- Magic
- Reload
- Change (I think we can do away with this option for Enemies)
4.) A K.O. sequence when the character is knocked out
5.) A triumphant pose for each character (Basically, after the battle, the camera cycles through the winning party members)

The hard part will be the Magic...there are so many spells, and multiple characters who can use those spells. I'll need to think about those some more. The worst case scenario would be having to illustrate each unique instance of spell usage, but I hope to make it just be character underlay + spell effects overlay.

I'm trying to get my grubby hands on this:
http://www1.odn.ne.jp/musume/ (not worksafe)

Description here:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=42908

Anyone able to play this? I'm having trouble using the dl links, if indeed the game is in one of those.

It looks like a 2D shooter touhou type (I still don't know what a traditional touhou game consists of).

Anyway, YAY FIRST DOUJIN NANOHA GAME!

This game on the other hand will be turn-based squad warfare.

Man... that game is so not touhou quality.

DaFool wrote:It looks like a 2D shooter touhou type (I still don't know what a traditional touhou game consists of).

Basically, a 'traditional' (?!) Touhou game consists of exactly that. Only... far more brutal. You die if you get hit a single time, and the bullet patterns are far more dense and complex, but on the other hand you can move a lot faster. That plays very much like... I don't know, Touhou: Kids' Ver. - forgiving and not overwhelming. But man, excellent production values.

[EDIT: Actually, taking a second look, the screenshots suggest that there's harder stuff in there, so it might be a more fun game for curtain-shooter fans later on.]

As it goes, here's a working download link:

http://cgi.www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~aoi_pg/ ... ken_v2.lzh

Ah, thanks Jake.

Now to distract--um--test for educational purposes, yes...

I've only gotten into playing Comiket doujin games within the past year. So far I barely know anyone in the English-speaking world who make gameplay based anime-themed games...

well there's Lemma Soft of course (with Shoujo Attack), and theres Momo Pax:
http://heiseidemocracy.com/2006/08/06/c ... -momo-pax/

Anyone know of any communities which gather specifically anime-themed gameplay-centric amateur gamemakers? The type that would make an appearance at Comiket if they were only Japanese. I'm pretty certain there are quite some made with rpgmaker, but I think I've already seen them in passing.

DaFool wrote:Anyone know of any communities which gather specifically anime-themed gameplay-centric amateur gamemakers? The type that would make an appearance at Comiket if they were only Japanese.

Haha... for where I lived in the winter of last year... not really. Make your own! I'm going to try at least.

DaFool wrote:Anyone know of any communities which gather specifically anime-themed gameplay-centric amateur gamemakers? The type that would make an appearance at Comiket if they were only Japanese. I'm pretty certain there are quite some made with rpgmaker, but I think I've already seen them in passing.

There are several RPGMaker groups, but best is to go to some RPGMaker hub for those. Apart from that, off the top of my head, Zeiva Inc has done two more games which don't fit the RAA, but are the anime-themed games focused on gameplay, Genetic Glow http://www.showhotel.com/comfort/169830 ... index.html

If it's English bishoujo-themed gameplay-centric amateur games(gamemakers), it's among others the the scope of this list (with Shoujo Attack or Ronin) and for the in-progress versions there's this one, includes Soft Landing (Momo Pax's game), Project Destiny and the unknown Lemmasoft's RPG.