New RPG Campaign Style

[teyatilleythekitsune]

I am really shy about this and was going to not post here until I gave making it myself and hashing it all out solo, but I feel like anything that is done with the input of others is ultimately going to be better so here is a basic idea I had. It is pretty simple actually, what I wanted to do is to create an RPG like campaign where you do individual versus individual battles instead of vast armies. This would be a combination of the two.

It would be one individual fighting another, but, at the moment of combat you would have a dialogue box in which you would choose your method of attack (magical, melee, or ranged) and when you chose that, instead of just using predefined weapon attacks, it faded into a tiny map where units which represent your form of attack (warriors for melee, archers for ranged, etc. different types depending on the style of melee or ranged) would be dealing battle witch a unit which would represent the opposing unit's defence to said attack. You would have a very short time to try to not only defeat the other unit's defence, but also to get your attack to what represents your opponent's health, having no moves or attacks (which would be represented by the same sprite that represents the enemy outside of the "attack world" or the "heat of battle").

The units that represented the attack, if defeated, would just represent a failed attack so no damage would be done to the enemy, but they would keep their experience and come back with their experience and level (as this is how you get your attacks stronger; the units that represent your attack level up). It is also possible, however, to have a unit representing the attacker's health behind a wall that would go down if all the attackers attack units were killed by the defender's defence units, enabling a counter-attack if the defence was deft enough.

As I mentioned with the attack units, the defence units could level up as well and you would level up relative to how many actual people (not attack or defence units) that you defeated, letting you choose more health, to unlock a new style of attack, or to train a style of attack or defense that you already had (which would give you an extra attack or defensive unit for that style.)

Within every swing of the sword would be a skirmish, and in every duel, a war unto itself. It is intended to capture the heat of the individual battle. I didn't feel like the animations of just one individual unit swinging a sword or firing a bow, or sending a spell at the other shows the true intensity of one on one combat. This was more an idea of a style, currently, than an idea for a campaign story.
So... What do you guys think?

[Pentarctagon]

well first off i would suggest separating your post into 2-3 chunks just so that its easier to read

other than that is sounds interesting, assuming a read it right.

[teyatilleythekitsune]

Yeah. I actually think that the campaign that I would make in this style would likely be something along the lines of "Saving the Damsel". The actual plot would be a princess named Tehya who is fighting off a couple of bandits that are going to try to kidnap you for a ransom. You are supposed to fight them off and just as you are about to finish the last one off (his health is almost completely gone), a knight comes along and kills the bandit. He introduces himself as Victor, Breaker of Horses, Slayer of Trolls, and adds "And now the Bandit Killer" and acts valiantly like he had done some great thing then says he is going to take you back to his kingdom because, under his kingdom's laws, if you save a damsel in distress then you are automatically married to her. Tehya doesn't like this idea and protests furiously. Victor then gets angry and threatens to tell his king and warns that it might insight a war. Tehya says that it is a "fool people" that would want to start a war because they did not get to force a woman's freedom away. At this Victor becomes enraged because of the insult to his people and attacks Tehya. I will brainstorm more about this later.

[bigkahuna]

The style of the RPG sounds cool, but how are you going to code this? The whole attack thing sounds difficult to implement, and I'm not sure if they would even work at all. Do you know any WML yet? WML isn't that hard to learn, and it should be the starting point for any campaign. Good luck with your idea!

[Neuromancer]

...units which represent your form of attack (warriors for melee, archers for ranged, etc. different types depending on the style of melee or ranged) would be dealing battle witch a unit which would represent the opposing unit's defence to said attack. You would have a very short time to try...

Very creative idea, I like it, but what about implementation? How big shall be this battle map? Something like 7x7 hexes? How many attacking/defending units will be on it? On the battle map, will be there randomly generated terrain and randomly positioned attacker's and defender's units? What will represent defending units? What do you mean by "very short time to try"? Would be not tiring to resolve each attack move with entire new mini-scenario?

btw, you started up another idea in my head: With every combat situation there will be combat dialog, but instead of listing of attacks on it, there will be listed different narrative options for your attack. You choose one and the game will tell you how succesful have you been. Example: Lisar is in Konrad's house, searching through his belonging for a clue to his infidelity. Konrad suddenly returns home and Lisar is forced to fight him. So player will attack Konrad, battle dialog appears and there will be 3 options: 1. Suddenly flapper him and try to escape 2. Try to kick him in groin 3. Wait for his reaction. Player chooses 2 and game will respond with something like: "You concetrate all you force to one big fling aiming at Konrads groin. You succesfuly strike home and hes now yawling in pain." Attack is resolved and Konrad now have only 16 hp left.
Of course, this system relies on scripting (every one encounter has to be scripted) and would be usable only in story-intensive campaigns with, say, one or two combat encounters per scenario.

[teyatilleythekitsune]

I do know that I need to start on WML. I haven't had much of a chance to look into it too much. I don't get too much free time at the moment because I am in college and finals are soon also I don't have internet at my house either so I have to drive to town to be able to look up how to do this sort of thing.
I know that I have a long way to go on this. The only reason I presented it is mainly because I did not know if I would ever get the time to do it, but I wanted the idea to be out there so that someone could take ideas from my idea, even if I never get the time to make it happen.

[bigkahuna]

So let me get this straight.

Unit A attacks Unit B.

Unit A uses a melee attack on Unit B, who also uses melee in return.

A mini-scenaro is initiated with a battle scene, A's side having fighters as well as B's side, stronger fighters on both depending on A or B's inherent strength. Whosever units win this battle, unit A or unit B gains a hit. Otherwise its a miss.

Do I have this right? I'm pretty sure I do.

I saw this implemented once in another Turn-Based Strategy called Armies of Gielinor. Whenever a unit attacked an enemy unit, another screen came up with a cutscene of them attacking. Each had five or less, according to their health (every time a fifth was lost, a unit would 'die'). It was more like a cutscene than a battle.

I think this is the only way it would work, but it would be interesting to do this, and I like the idea; it could give the illusion of battalions with individual units. However, I think the 'heat of single combat' idea doesn't match up to this intensity. That much work to get a single hit seems a bit too much.

[Kapoue_II]

I think this is the only way it would work, but it would be interesting to do this, and I like the idea; it could give the illusion of battalions with individual units. However, I think the 'heat of single combat' idea doesn't match up to this intensity. That much work to get a single hit seems a bit too much.

I think you can get away with it if its only 2 units (+leader) in each mini fight. This solves both length problem and intensity problem (or so I think). My problem would be getting it to work with an ai foe.

How are you going to code this? The whole attack thing sounds difficult to implement, and I'm not sure if they would even work at all.

Well, I know how I would code it (for 1.. I'm pretty sure it can be done but-

I do know that I need to start on WML. I haven't had much of a chance to look into it too much. I don't get too much free time at the moment because I am in college and finals are soon also I don't have internet at my house either so I have to drive to town to be able to look up how to do this sort of thing.

Thats your problem: You can't code yet. And this a monster of a campaign. I hate to say it, but I suggest putting this idea to bed until you have 3-4 scenarios of reasonable complexity under your belt.
However-what you could do is program it like a normal RPG, so its just 1 vs 1, finish the campaign, and then go back and write it like you dreamed it. Then you have the dialogue and plot line done, and can focus on the mini-battles.

[teyatilleythekitsune]

I realise that this is not going to be as easy as just jumping into it and it getting done. I am too new at this for things to be that simple. And I am sorry if it might have frustrated a few of you who do know how to do WML by posting an idea of such apparent complexity with no understanding of how difficult it would be to make. Still I felt that the idea was worth talking about and that I may eventually be able to make it happen once I get into, and then get deeply into WML.

[Kapoue_II]

I realise that this is not going to be as easy as just jumping into it and it getting done. I am too new at this for things to be that simple. And I am sorry if it might have frustrated a few of you who do know how to do WML by posting an idea of such apparent complexity with no understanding of how difficult it would be to make. Still I felt that the idea was worth talking about and that I may eventually be able to make it happen once I get into, and then get deeply into WML.

Oops. We may have been a bit too harsh .
Sorry to be like that, but I know that I, at least, tend to focus entirely on the impossibilities before the possibilities. So let me briefly say: it is doable. But it will require lots of work, and time. If you want to have a social life , I advise you start on a smaller scale. But- don't lose hope. Just 'cause it can't be done in a week, dosn't mean it can't be done.

[bvanevery]

I think this is the only way it would work, but it would be interesting to do this, and I like the idea; it could give the illusion of battalions with individual units.

This can be had now, and is had now, by sufficiently large maps with sufficiently large armies. If it sounds unmanageable, there's a reason for that.

However, I think the 'heat of single combat' idea doesn't match up to this intensity. That much work to get a single hit seems a bit too much.

"Mini-battles" in RPGs have a way of making the game take forever. Consider that if you're thinking in terms of any normal length Wesnoth campaign, based on info above, you've now multiplied the amount of combat work to get through it by a factor of 7.