Tonight I decided to get some ideas out of my head and into physical words. These ideas pertained to my game’s battle system and I am happy to say that from what I’ve seen they all seem doable.
Basically the battles will play out FPS style. Since the weaponry in the game is (almost) entirely long-range (guns, grenades) I didn’t feel like making the typical text-based battle system where you just stand there watching as round after round of battle spam is spit out, with the occasional skill-input entered by the player. Instead there will be several different battle areas built around the theme of the area the player is currently in.
These battlefields will allow the player to move about freely which I am hoping gives more excitement than what is found in the typical battles found in current text games described above. There will be objects the player can use as cover – in a city-themed battlefield, perhaps a dumpster could serve as cover, or even a tree. These objects will make it much more difficult to hit the target, but they won’t last forever. As they take damage, the target becomes easier and easier to hit, until the cover is completely destroyed leaving the target out in the open.
One other type of cover will be buildings. Upon entering a building you are under the cover of the walls of that building. Like the cover described above, these walls will take damage and eventually leave you out in the open. Though if you happen to be upstairs and are left without protection and you haven’t battled from downstairs yet, you can take cover down there if you wish. Be careful, though – if the building as a whole takes too much damage it will eventually crumble and if you’re still inside when it happens, you are going to be hurt very badly.
These tactics are going to be usable by the enemy as well, so don’t expect a one-sided fight. They will seek cover much the same as you and will use tricky tactics to defeat you just the same as you will attempt upon them (protip: lay some mines around a building and shoot one when an enemy seeks refuge within…).
So… if a building falls on you during battle, do you make a noise? I surely hope so, and it’s my goal to make sure the noise that is made is you having a great time.
