Iterating
Previously on Sands of Chaos
(The title for this section always plays in my head in the Avatar: The Last Airbender narrator’s voice.)
There was the question of turn-based tactics vs. turn-based RPG. I already knew I wanted the time jump mechanic in the game, and when we prototyped the tactics version it seemed like it would end up being too busy. Positioning characters on the grid was not really meant to be a main part of this game. Combine that with the fact that the art would essentially 8x, we decided to move towards the turn-based RPG prototype.
Now What?
Prototyping the turn-based battle with placeholders
The turn-based combat system was easy enough to get up and running. The main things to focus on, were going to be:
Time hopping and it’s impact on gameplay
Introducing the concept of secondary objectives in a turn-based RPG battle format
Time Hopping
I still don’t know exactly how this will work in the final version of the game, but I’m going to lay out the general plan and then keep iterating on it as we implement and test and repeat the cycle.
Azrae, our main character can move back and forth through time. For example, You’re in a battle, it’s your 4th turn. You can choose Azrae’s time hop skill and go back to the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd turns. You can even take back enemies with you!
This is what I think will be fun and unique about the game. What knobs and levers will we use to do that? I don’t know for sure, but I have some ideas. Primarily through unique monster designs that will interact uniquely with the celestial/weather system in the game, which keeps changing as we move through turns.
Secondary Objectives during Turn-based Battles
We’ve seen this in tactics games, save X civilians, save the power plant, and so on. Final Fantasy Tactics, Into the Breach, etc. they’ve all done this and done this well.
On the real-time strategy side, one game that always stood out for me was Warlords Battlecry. Sidenote, if you’re an RTS/RPG fan and haven’t played the games, you can and should get it from GOG. The series had, what I thought, was a fantastic questing system which allowed players to recruit powerful allies that would persist through the campaign. I wanted that. In turn-based battles, with no player movement, just a fixed background.
I thought of a few different things. We’re currently trying out one where the background scenery will change over the course of the battle and provide the player different environment interaction options. I hope to share more on this soon!
Join us on the journey…
If you’re a turn-based strategy/RPG player, I’d love to hear from you! What would you like to see in a new turn-based game? What do you think about the ideas presented in this blog? Is there something else you think would be cool to explore? What games do you miss and feel nostalgic about?
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