Rob
Member
Hello everybody!
I've started to work on one of my passion projects and I know one of the most important parts of the game will be the combat system.
Just to give you an idea about the game itself: the working title is "Fantasy Ludus" and you'll be buying/hiring contenders from fantasy races to take part in gladiatorial combat.
The combat itself will be 1v1 and weapon length, distance from each other, which body part is being struck, amount of armour on each part will all play a part in the combat. The player will have little to no control after the combat starts.
I don't want to just have a pool of HP that goes down with each blow. There'll be limb loss, broken bones and all sorts of shenanigans.
On the topic title itself - I'd like some advice on creating a combat system that isn't too reliant on RNG but isn't completely predictable. A skilled contender should have the upper hand most of the time against a weaker opponent but lucky/unlucky blows can/do happen and that can be the start of a promising gladiator career.
I'd like it to feel fulfilling to the player and not feel like a load of die rolls.
My usual formula for working out combat starts out like this:
In a previous game I had all kinds of resistances and other raisable stats that made it easier or harder to hit/be hit but at the end of the day, the 1-100 roll was still there.
I know in games like XCOM there is RNG, and that it can also create tension (and save scumming). Bethesda moved away from those kind of rolls and you can see the difference between Morrowind melee and Skyrim Melee. You can take a high elf with a 2h blade in Morrowind and swing a dozen times before you actually land a hit due to your low skill but in Skyrim, you'll hit every time because your "skill" isn't affecting your hit rate.
I loved Morrowind a lot and spent hundreds of hours playing it but I definitely prefer Skyrim's combat.
I guess the question is "How do I want gladiator skill to affect the combat" and the answer is that I want those with higher skill to be better at blocking/attacking but for those with lower skill to still have some sort of fighting chance so I think I'll definitely need some kind of RNG there.
I don't really like any idea I have so far and it really makes me wish I'd learned game design in school because game mechanics are the hardest thing for me to get right.
Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated! Do you like RNG in combat?
I've started to work on one of my passion projects and I know one of the most important parts of the game will be the combat system.
Just to give you an idea about the game itself: the working title is "Fantasy Ludus" and you'll be buying/hiring contenders from fantasy races to take part in gladiatorial combat.
The combat itself will be 1v1 and weapon length, distance from each other, which body part is being struck, amount of armour on each part will all play a part in the combat. The player will have little to no control after the combat starts.
I don't want to just have a pool of HP that goes down with each blow. There'll be limb loss, broken bones and all sorts of shenanigans.
On the topic title itself - I'd like some advice on creating a combat system that isn't too reliant on RNG but isn't completely predictable. A skilled contender should have the upper hand most of the time against a weaker opponent but lucky/unlucky blows can/do happen and that can be the start of a promising gladiator career.
I'd like it to feel fulfilling to the player and not feel like a load of die rolls.
My usual formula for working out combat starts out like this:
Code:
roll = irandom(100);
roll2 = irandom(100);
//Example 1
(attSkill/roll) / (defSkill/roll2)
//Example 2
(attSkill/roll) - (defSkill/roll2).
//Example 3
attSkill/defSkill vs roll
I know in games like XCOM there is RNG, and that it can also create tension (and save scumming). Bethesda moved away from those kind of rolls and you can see the difference between Morrowind melee and Skyrim Melee. You can take a high elf with a 2h blade in Morrowind and swing a dozen times before you actually land a hit due to your low skill but in Skyrim, you'll hit every time because your "skill" isn't affecting your hit rate.
I loved Morrowind a lot and spent hundreds of hours playing it but I definitely prefer Skyrim's combat.
I guess the question is "How do I want gladiator skill to affect the combat" and the answer is that I want those with higher skill to be better at blocking/attacking but for those with lower skill to still have some sort of fighting chance so I think I'll definitely need some kind of RNG there.
I don't really like any idea I have so far and it really makes me wish I'd learned game design in school because game mechanics are the hardest thing for me to get right.
Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated! Do you like RNG in combat?
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