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the wide spectrum of [Turn Based Tactics]. Currently taking your suggestions!
TIFunkalicious
Kicking back inNebraskaRegistered User regular
Kicking back inNebraskaRegistered User regular
Me and my friends are making a turned based tactical RPG! Currently it's an on-paper pencils and dice project but we want to design the rules as a videogame in mind.
We're starting out by perusing the heavy hitters of the genre throughout the years and I am starting this thread to get some of your guys suggestions. Heres some guidelines to help you choose what to promote.
)Not ALL suggestions have to RPG based. I'm sure there's something to be learned from Steel Panthers as there is from Final Fantasy Tactics
)Not ALL suggestions have to be tactical for much the same reason. A system of statistics needs to be created and traditional RPGs are a great place for us to look
)Think of something you love about the design. Does it make battles less of a drawn out slog somehow? Did it do something special to make it easy to understand?
)Does it have an interesting and/or effective set of rules for a specific function or attribute of the game? For example, terrain and its advantages is something we want to consider
We're starting out by perusing the heavy hitters of the genre throughout the years and I am starting this thread to get some of your guys suggestions. Heres some guidelines to help you choose what to promote.
)Not ALL suggestions have to RPG based. I'm sure there's something to be learned from Steel Panthers as there is from Final Fantasy Tactics
)Not ALL suggestions have to be tactical for much the same reason. A system of statistics needs to be created and traditional RPGs are a great place for us to look
)Think of something you love about the design. Does it make battles less of a drawn out slog somehow? Did it do something special to make it easy to understand?
)Does it have an interesting and/or effective set of rules for a specific function or attribute of the game? For example, terrain and its advantages is something we want to consider
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One of the all time greats. Brutal, clever, atmospheric.
And nasty. Even total badasses can die in one shot.
Why I fear the ocean.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Gladius (Lucasarts for the Gamecube and old Xbox) ain't too shabby either if you can find a copy nowadays. Terrain management is key until the very end and then it becomes a little ridiculously hard because a lot of the large enemies get insta-kill weapons, and that just ain't right.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
edit: Nuts, they updated the engine!!! Must... stick... to .... winter... sales!!!
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
X-COM itself is absolutely great too.
Also, I pre-ordered "Xenonauts" (www.xenonauts.com) which is basically X-COM reimagined.
It's still in a very very early Alpha, but the gameplay is there and I think it'll be great once it's fully released.
I never really enjoyed Disgaea for much the same reason, because the 'best' way to play it is by taking forever each turn. (Moving your dudes in, do a single attack, cancel previous moves, do it again).
It was fast, easy to learn, everybody could play it, and fun. Game speed is huge, so many games take forever to complete turns.
Turn order system: I prefer it more like Final Fantasy Tactics (everyone takes turns based on their speed, faster characters may eventually get more turns than others) than Fire Emblem (everyone on one side moves, then everyone on the other side moves). Not only do I feel like it's more realistic that some characters are likely to move faster than others, but I don't like the ganging up that is possible with Fire Emblem's style. You can really get screwed quickly if you don't pay close enough attention to where you're moving.
Permadeath: Please don't do it unless revival is also possible; i.e., FFT has permadeath but you have a chance to revive them within 3 turns. With permadeath the temptation is just too great to save and load until nobody dies. If you have your heart set on permadeath, making it meaningful and not a joke, you'll really need to program it the way Fire Emblem does it, saving before every action that happens and having a deterministic result.
Area targeting: I really enjoy games that let me hit a + sign shaped area or larger - Shining Force, FFT, etc. Nothing more fun than killing 5 guys at once who were dumb enough to stand close to each other.
Number of units: This is one area where FFT falls short, I think. I feel like I just have more fun with 10 party members on the field rather than 5. However, FFT is designed such that each unit has greater versatility so you don't need more members; everyone could be a healer and warrior, mage and thief, etc. If you allow for more characters, they should each have more specific uses. And for god's sake give dedicated healers a decent amount of XP!
Honestly I like Fire Emblem but a lot of what it does is just less fun than other SRPGs, in my opinion.
I like systems where terrain is important. FFT and similar games obviously have a height advantage, but games like X-COM or Jagged Alliance also have a cover advantage. Your dude can be behind a low wall and be half as likely to take a hit. Alternatively, your players can kneel or lay prone and thus be less exposed.
Destructable buildings/objects is cool. Again, X-COM or Silent Storm do the destructable buildings, and Tactics Ogre has objects like barrels that can hinder ranged shots.
I also like X-COM/JA 2's line-of-sight mechanic, but I don't think that's applicable to what you are doing.
'how do we determine success and failure'
'how much does the players actions depend on dice rolls'
'should/how do characters upgrade over time?'
etc.
Also try any of the Disgaea games. That series always seems to make the most use out of map layouts and functions. In the same vein, Phantom Brave tried working with temporary units during battles.
Wild Arms XF tried to do some things with unit classes being more of a puzzle element and encouraged swapping classes often. It also did somethings with mission objectives beyond "Defeat all enemies" and "Protect this dude".
This makes the battles feel a bit more epic. It's not as cumbersome as it might seem; while it's true that you might have, say, 50 units to control, troops that aren't specifically ordered to move somewhere will automatically follow their commanders. So you can control each individual troop when you need to, but when you just want to move from point A to point B, you don't have to worry about it.
The series also uses the standard Fire Emblem-y leveling/promotion system, though the promotion trees are a bit more involved than in FE. (You can see the promotion trees for Langrisser 2 here; the way they work is that at each promotion, the character moves one column right on the tree, but can't move more than one row up or down.)