- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
- Messages
- 477
Unnamed Multiplayer Turn-Based Battler
Probably one of the most difficult things I've ever coded (worse than the physics system I made): MUI turn-based multiplayer battles, similar to what you could find in a Final Fantasy game or thereabouts.
Obviously, the gameplay will be changed to make sense in a multiplayer environment rather than an RPG one, namely with the use of more regular units than levellable heroes, a smaller and much less interchangeable magic system, etc. There will be no materia-equivalents in this map because such things would just make the map more bland, as the individual units would be far too customizable and blurred.
I have pretty much decided on most of the details of the magic types (as opposed to abilities, which will be unique for each unit). Each "element" or "class" has 3 levels of arbitrary power intervals and mana costs. In general, higher levels are more powerful, rarer, and more expensive, but the specifics vary widely between elements. Some don't do damage, other's hit 2, 3, or all 4 (yes, the party size will be 4) enemy targets.
Battles usually last for 3-6 minutes, possibly up to 10, depending on the players, items, and units involved. In most cases the deciding factor is the strategy used in selecting the units to battle with and the tactics involved in selecting actions. Action speed also plays a role. A spellcaster, for example, has many possibilities for each turn, including but not limited to: Attack, Use an item, Cast XYZ spell, Use XYZ ability, etc. Magic is generally more powerful than physical attacks, but is expensive to maintain ("ether" potions and such are among the few ways to regenerate MP).
Some spells erect "barriers" which block half damage from physical attacks, magic, or both at once. One rets up a reflect shield, which bounces any regular magic (positive or negative) back to the casting unit. Second and third level fire spells deal damage to multiple targets, while ice spells deal more damage overall, but hit 1 target and have a stun effect (stun in this game is adding 1 turn length to the wait bar for that unit - this does not affect a unit which is currently selected by the owning player for an action; paralysis stops actions altogether). "Ultima" is sort of a limit break where if the unit is at a really low percentage of HP, it can once per battle use a supercharged melee attack on a single target. Ultima ignores the usual sequencing system, so even if 7 other actions are queued before it, the Ultima will always happen first.
This map also uses MIDI music. To set up warcraft III to use MIDI files, you must download THIS, unzip it, stick the UI folder itself (along with whatever's inside the UI folder) into your main WarCraft III directory, and run the .reg file. The MIDI may be slightly finicky, and possibly won't play at first, but once it starts playing it will work from then after most of the time. The advantage of MIDI is that a lot of music can be added for a very low amount of map space. 10 hours of music would come out to 500kb after optimization...
In terms of completion, I have finished most of the system and worked out most of the bugs in the 2 weeks I've spent with it. The test map seems to be a success at the moment... Expect a proper demo in less than a week.
Feel free to ask questions and whatnot.
Probably one of the most difficult things I've ever coded (worse than the physics system I made): MUI turn-based multiplayer battles, similar to what you could find in a Final Fantasy game or thereabouts.
Obviously, the gameplay will be changed to make sense in a multiplayer environment rather than an RPG one, namely with the use of more regular units than levellable heroes, a smaller and much less interchangeable magic system, etc. There will be no materia-equivalents in this map because such things would just make the map more bland, as the individual units would be far too customizable and blurred.
I have pretty much decided on most of the details of the magic types (as opposed to abilities, which will be unique for each unit). Each "element" or "class" has 3 levels of arbitrary power intervals and mana costs. In general, higher levels are more powerful, rarer, and more expensive, but the specifics vary widely between elements. Some don't do damage, other's hit 2, 3, or all 4 (yes, the party size will be 4) enemy targets.
Battles usually last for 3-6 minutes, possibly up to 10, depending on the players, items, and units involved. In most cases the deciding factor is the strategy used in selecting the units to battle with and the tactics involved in selecting actions. Action speed also plays a role. A spellcaster, for example, has many possibilities for each turn, including but not limited to: Attack, Use an item, Cast XYZ spell, Use XYZ ability, etc. Magic is generally more powerful than physical attacks, but is expensive to maintain ("ether" potions and such are among the few ways to regenerate MP).
Some spells erect "barriers" which block half damage from physical attacks, magic, or both at once. One rets up a reflect shield, which bounces any regular magic (positive or negative) back to the casting unit. Second and third level fire spells deal damage to multiple targets, while ice spells deal more damage overall, but hit 1 target and have a stun effect (stun in this game is adding 1 turn length to the wait bar for that unit - this does not affect a unit which is currently selected by the owning player for an action; paralysis stops actions altogether). "Ultima" is sort of a limit break where if the unit is at a really low percentage of HP, it can once per battle use a supercharged melee attack on a single target. Ultima ignores the usual sequencing system, so even if 7 other actions are queued before it, the Ultima will always happen first.
This map also uses MIDI music. To set up warcraft III to use MIDI files, you must download THIS, unzip it, stick the UI folder itself (along with whatever's inside the UI folder) into your main WarCraft III directory, and run the .reg file. The MIDI may be slightly finicky, and possibly won't play at first, but once it starts playing it will work from then after most of the time. The advantage of MIDI is that a lot of music can be added for a very low amount of map space. 10 hours of music would come out to 500kb after optimization...
In terms of completion, I have finished most of the system and worked out most of the bugs in the 2 weeks I've spent with it. The test map seems to be a success at the moment... Expect a proper demo in less than a week.
Feel free to ask questions and whatnot.
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