The Daily Click

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Project Started:	16th November, 2008	Last Update:	18th July, 2010
Project Owner:	Muz	Project Members:
Project Type:	Turn-based RPG	Project Progress:

Project Overview

What is Combatant? It's a game that goes a little further than than most games in simulating combat. It's meant to make combat as detailed as in fantasy books and movies. The system follows several martial arts systems, but the end result is a cinematic version of combat.

No longer will it be the boring typical "You hit for 6 damages. You miss. You miss."

Features
Realistic fighting
Guess what? A single hit to the head will still kill you or knock you out, no matter what level you're at. What makes a professional better than a recruit? Equipment and experience.

A professional will be able to afford better equipment, keeping him/her alive. But what really makes the difference is the skills. A pro will move more quickly to parry attacks better and will see the opponent's attacks before he makes them. A newbie could try the same thing, but will likely misjudge an attack. The instinct feature simulates the grit of an experienced warrior's instinct against that of an unexperienced militiaman.

Innovative turn based combat
Combat isn't just a simple turn-thing like in Fallout, nor is it a complex one like in Titans of Steel. There will be thousands of turns in a single battle, but the game takes care to filter out every turn where your action won't have much of an effect.

What this means is that you'll get advanced Toribash-style attacks, along with multihitting and advanced blocking, without getting a lot of boring turns. Every single turn will have some action!

Advanced equipment
A great deal of detail has been put into equipment. All equipment has their own advantages and disadvantages. A sword will be slower than a dagger, but it's able to hit further and with more damage.

A mace or flail will be very slow and unwieldy, but the damage system means it'll do much more damage to chain mail. Some weapons will also have multiple forms of attack, like the Chinese Ge and Ji would allow you to do so, but require much more expertise to handle properly.

Armor types also make a strong difference - Some are good at deflecting damage, other soften the blow, while most (like kevlar and chain mail) simply prevent the armor from being pierced. Also, coverage matters. Your helmet can keep a sword from crushing your temple, but it may not protect your neck against a simple punch.

Project progress

Current item:
Basic room coding (picking up, dropping equipment)
Database tweaking

Design 2/5%
15 items (5 complete)

Database 3/5%
6 items (6 complete)
-1%: Database unbalanced
-1%: Database contains gaps

Combat Mode 0/30%
32 items

Rooms 0/30%
17 items

Combat-Room interactions 0/15%
15 items

Interface 0/5%
6 items

Overall "world map" and movement 0/10%
7 items

Early February plan list:
http://smuzani.googlepages.com/combplans.rar

Project Forums	Topics	Posts	Last Post
Public Forum Public forum for open project discussion	2	16	Ambitious! By: MBK On: 2nd Mar 09, 07:37:39
Private Forum Private forum for project members only	0	0	No Access

Branching it off...

Posted 18th Jul 10, by Muz

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Phase 2 will be dealing with having characters interact with the environment. I'll probably brush over it quickly, mostly to make it easier to equip characters and move around the rooms.

But before that, I need a long break. The game's foundation's been laid down.. now I just have to build on it. I could start coding whatever part I need now, the tough design bit's past. But right now, my brain's gotten numb for this game. College is starting, so I'll put this project aside to rest for 3 months.

I'll probably work on someone else's game in the meanwhile.. a rather similar project, but much simpler, so you guys could enjoy tactical combat without waiting for all the details in Combatant

I'm also going to use the opportunity to gain valuable experience, but mess up someone else's game, not mine

Anyway.. some notes of what's happened with this project before it goes to sleep for a while..

Design philosophy updates
Game Design
What annoys me the most about the game is the design. Basically, design is an idea.. I spend literally months on it, and some guy who knows nothing at all about how it works could come in and steal every idea I've worked hard to come up with. The blocking system, the fighting, positioning, etc, everything took weeks to plan, but can be ripped off in 5 minutes. It's immensely annoying, and most of the 'break time' will be getting over that.

Fantasy vs Reality
The more I work on this.. the more I realize that they don't mix. Fantasy is more fun when you exaggerate it and put shiny things in it. Combining both means that I need a long history and background behind every fantasy element. So, chances are that the fantasy bits will come very late into the project.

More simulation, less physics
I messed up a lot in earlier versions of Combatant, by trying to apply real life laws to the game. It just doesn't work that way. Too much realism only has a minor difference in gameplay.. and it takes a huge formula to do something perfectly realistically, but some random factor would make it not matter at all. So, from now on, everything in the game will be more towards getting it feeling realistic, but not actually be perfect. Trust me, it's more accurate that way.

Coding updates
Armor
Been working on the armor the past few weeks and it's got an interesting system. Basically, the armor absorbs only a certain amount of damage, before it pierces through. So, you could have, say, a spear hitting a silk vest. As long as the spear doesn't pierce the vest, it can do a lot of bruising, even internal damage if done right, but once you pierce through the vest, it can be fatal. Skin will also use the same concept as armor - so hitting someone with a blunt wooden sword may not kill him. Armor (and skin) will also degrade with use, so, something that's been beaten on a few times will slowly be easier to tear, but not by much.

Positioning
Ah, here's one of the biggest things in this game. With full 3D, you could simulate positioning perfectly, but that's not the case here. It's a RPG and you roll some dice to see whether or not the attack hits. Well.. in Combatant, hitting your enemy is easy. It's just that he's often fast enough to block your weapon, or not be in the spot you attacked at all. I've dumbed down collision detection a little because I'm lazy, but it'll probably be fixed in the future.

Reach
From positioning came reach. All weapons have a certain reach, so you'll have trouble hitting someone who's holding a pike. But if you ever get past the pike head, it's much easier - he could only hit you with the pike's shaft.

Similarly, a guy with a dagger will never reach someone who's holding a two-handed sword. That swordsman can just back off, swinging the sword, and the guy will just have to rush in and try to hit him (greatly lowering his accuracy and defense). Or he could try to tire out the swordsman and keep him unbalanced. Whatever it is, the swordsman will have a major advantage because of reach.

As I open up Phase 2...

Posted 3rd Mar 09, by Muz

1 Comment

Phase 1 was the database phase. For a few years back, I tried to have a somewhat complete database. E.g. the weapon database was supposed to have spears, swords, maces - everything basic upon completion.

The original plan was to close 'phase one', then work on 'phase two' and so on, like proper software engineering suggests. But in my game-making experience, that's likely to mess up in the future.

But no.. the database changes too often, and even now, I'm adding a lot of stuff to it. Choosing to code the database in Lua was the right decision: MMF2 is horribly inept with on-the-spot changes to data, while Lua let me recently add on weird stuff like scaling, energy use, and how blows are deflected.

Had I coded it in MMF2, I'd have to put several versions before it was done. I would have to wrap up the database as a complete "phase", only to stick in several new additions and versions whenever I want to add a change. Lua let me change things on the spot.

What would be a problem is if I decided to change many different things on the spot - if I made a sword, a club, and an axe, instead of going along the entire code with only a single coded club, it means that I'd have to make three times as many changes every time I have to change something.

That said, "phase 1" is practically done, but it's only going to be properly closed once I get to around phase 4 or so without any trouble. I planned it out so as not to experience any trouble once I get past it, but I know from experience that I will and I don't want to redo it all over again just because of a small change.

Synopsis
In plain English, don't complete a plan just for the sake of completing it. Very important advice to the more ambitious game makers amongst you guys

Racism

Posted 20th Feb 09, by Muz