Incline Turn-based blobber combat

[DraQ]

But what would the point of that be?

Being easier on the fucking eyes.
I am all for making it optional because snappy, instant movement and rotations are a valid preference if the underlying mechanics doesn't care either way, but it's hardly better for everyone.
Of course it's a moot point unless the game uses 3D engine and doesn't use it to fake 2D art style.

No, I mean, I understand the preference for continuous movement, even though personally I don't share it. What I don't get is why would you want a grid for combat in a continuous-movement blobber?

*I* wouldn't want grid for combat at all, but I do understand why someone might want to make a grid based blobber - grid making for simpler and therefore more tractable mechanics and AI - and if playing a grid based blobber I wouldn't mind being able to look freely and move around quasi-freely, if only because it makes it easier and faster for me to map out the environment mentally.

 

[CryptRat]

I am not sure what you mean, very few turn-based blobbers make use of the movement grid during combat, no?

Gates of Skeldal does and I can't remember exactly how so maybe it does not apply to what I'll say at all, but in my opinion the aim would be a fully turn-based game where you're never outside combat or inside combat with you and groups of enemies having one action each turn like in a classic roguelike, in which case non-grid-based movement would not really work. In practice in Gates of Skeldal the system kind of works although' all things considered I think I still prefer a separate layer for combat.

 

[DraQ]

I am not sure what you mean, very few turn-based blobbers make use of the movement grid during combat, no?

With very few exceptions, if the combat location doesn't correspond to the world location it occurs at then I won't be wasting my time with it.
A blobber should also have blob combat to be called blobber and mobility during combat can add a lot of tactical options even if you move as blob.

 

[V_K]

• Multi-turn casting. Character (PC or NPC) starts casting identifiable (might require skill) spell, but will take more than one turn and can be interrupted. Allows for much more powerful magic and at the same time makes it harder to instanuke or be instanuked.

• Less focus on raw damage output. More focus on state and special qualities of weapons and actions. A weapon, even a dagger, is designed to effectively kill a fellow humanoid or similarly sized living (and non-plant or jelly) target. Uninterrupted attack with such weapon should have a good chance to simply kill or severely wound/incapacitate.

• Defence rolls rather than attack rolls for basic melee attacks. Opposed rolls seem like a good idea.

• Friendly fire.

• Formation management, flanking.

• Environment dependent mechanics.

• Weird races introducing highly specific mechanics.

• Party-on-party combat.

• Individualized enemies.

• Party splitting.

• Movement in combat.

Btw, not a blobbler, but Voidspire series (Voidspire Tactics, Alvora Tactics and Horizon's Gate) seems to have all of those.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Options are good (and don't forget having options for melee attackers), but your example seems nonsensical and confusing. A thrown fire potion is effectively a magical molotov. Would you pour molotov over yourself to protect you from fire?

It can be turned into something that can be digested in a much easier fashion. Anachronox (although not a blobber, but who fucking cares) used the same spell, for example, to damage enemies and heal allies, and explained that the spell effects depended on how characters perceived the target. Something like this could work here too, which can cut down on the number of spells (and time required to find the right spell in the spellbook) without losing much, at least on the surface level.

Same can be done with items as long as they follow the same rules and provide an excuse for that, which shouldn't be too hard.

 

[V_K]

It can be turned into something that can be digested in a much easier fashion. Anachronox (although not a blobber, but who fucking cares) used the same spell, for example, to damage enemies and heal allies, and explained that the spell effects depended on how characters perceived the target. Something like this could work here too, which can cut down on the number of spells (and time required to find the right spell in the spellbook) without losing much, at least on the surface level.

Aleshar: World of Ice, while not a blobber, did exactly that: each spell had a different (sometimes opposite, but not necessarily) effect depending on whether you cast it on yourself or on enemies.

 

[Ysaye]

Options are good (and don't forget having options for melee attackers), but your example seems nonsensical and confusing. A thrown fire potion is effectively a magical molotov. Would you pour molotov over yourself to protect you from fire?

It can be turned into something that can be digested in a much easier fashion. Anachronox (although not a blobber, but who fucking cares) used the same spell, for example, to damage enemies and heal allies, and explained that the spell effects depended on how characters perceived the target. Something like this could work here too, which can cut down on the number of spells (and time required to find the right spell in the spellbook) without losing much, at least on the surface level.

Same can be done with items as long as they follow the same rules and provide an excuse for that, which shouldn't be too hard.

I have wondered as a further extension to this kind of thinking of combining stuff, if you got rid of Mana/Spell Casts and just went a single HP but where casting magic deducts from that, whether you could have a simplified but potentially even more interesting system?