Zanzoken
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2014
- Messages
- 3,585
Imagine a standard TB combat system, where the player chooses actions for their character and the character attempts to execute those actions. The outcome is determined by the character's stats, the enemy's stats, and RNG.
With traditional TB the characters alternate turns. I attack, you defend. You attack, I defend. And so on.
However one twist you can put on the system is to resolve actions simultaneously using a phase-based approach. Each phase has two parts -- in part one we both give our characters orders, and in part two they compete to execute those orders while also defending against each other. This is a less common approach, but has been done before.
So imagine a simple boxing match between two fighters, call them Ali and Frazier. The fighters have several stats, e.g. punching power, speed, stamina, and ability to resist damage. They also have a few types of actions they can take, e.g. punches like jab, cross, hook, and uppercut.
A round in a boxing match lasts 3 minutes, so if you break each round into say 30 second increments, that gives you 6 phases of combat per round. Now let's say the player can assign 3 actions per phase, and also set some overarching general strategies, such as how much distance the fighter should try to keep from the opponent.
Therefore an example phase of combat might be like this:
Ali, being the longer and faster fighter, does best when using straight punches and keeping to the outside. His player instructs him to Jab, Jab, Cross and sets his distance to "outside".
Frazier, on the other hand, is more suited to fighting up close and throwing for power. His player instructs him to Jab, Hook, Uppercut and sets his distance to "inside".
Make sense so far? Now my questions are, given all this:
- How does the combat system resolve which fighter is able to control the distance?
- How does the combat system resolve which punches hit?
- How do we handle major changes to the game state that occur partway through a phase?
For instance let's say Frazier's second punch (Hook) stuns Ali badly and nearly knocks him down -- a major event that would prompt a change in strategy for both fighters. Ali now wants to focus on defending himself and avoiding further damage, while Frazier wants to throw caution to the wind and unleash as much offense as he can. So in a case like this does it make sense to interrupt the phase and allow for new inputs from the players?
I can visualize how all this would work in traditional TB but I'm just not clear on how different it would / should be with a phase-based implementation.
With traditional TB the characters alternate turns. I attack, you defend. You attack, I defend. And so on.
However one twist you can put on the system is to resolve actions simultaneously using a phase-based approach. Each phase has two parts -- in part one we both give our characters orders, and in part two they compete to execute those orders while also defending against each other. This is a less common approach, but has been done before.
So imagine a simple boxing match between two fighters, call them Ali and Frazier. The fighters have several stats, e.g. punching power, speed, stamina, and ability to resist damage. They also have a few types of actions they can take, e.g. punches like jab, cross, hook, and uppercut.
A round in a boxing match lasts 3 minutes, so if you break each round into say 30 second increments, that gives you 6 phases of combat per round. Now let's say the player can assign 3 actions per phase, and also set some overarching general strategies, such as how much distance the fighter should try to keep from the opponent.
Therefore an example phase of combat might be like this:
Ali, being the longer and faster fighter, does best when using straight punches and keeping to the outside. His player instructs him to Jab, Jab, Cross and sets his distance to "outside".
Frazier, on the other hand, is more suited to fighting up close and throwing for power. His player instructs him to Jab, Hook, Uppercut and sets his distance to "inside".
Make sense so far? Now my questions are, given all this:
- How does the combat system resolve which fighter is able to control the distance?
- How does the combat system resolve which punches hit?
- How do we handle major changes to the game state that occur partway through a phase?
For instance let's say Frazier's second punch (Hook) stuns Ali badly and nearly knocks him down -- a major event that would prompt a change in strategy for both fighters. Ali now wants to focus on defending himself and avoiding further damage, while Frazier wants to throw caution to the wind and unleash as much offense as he can. So in a case like this does it make sense to interrupt the phase and allow for new inputs from the players?
I can visualize how all this would work in traditional TB but I'm just not clear on how different it would / should be with a phase-based implementation.
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