Combat Decisions

Choosing a structure for combat is important because it builds the general feel of the game. For this game, I have opted for something that resembles the popular phone game zenonia. I would say that this is a mix between traditional RPGs and diablo.

I wanted fast-paced combat with a lot of visual cover-ups, because this is an online game and there are several different character avatars and I do not want to create sprites unique to every avatar performing every combat move. So there has to be a lot of explosions and visuals that will cover up the characters underneath. This probably means taking arcade style aim is out (because we want our characters to be difficult to see), which is good anyways because having to aim at enemies doesn't work well with online rpgs because of latency issues. Latency issues means we will need a targetting system like those seen in most RPGs. But the game will still feel like an arcade game because of the fast pacing, auto-targetting and over the top (character covering) visuals. I prefer my games to have an arcade, retro feel. I also like them to not require a mouse because two hands on the keyboard is more conducive to typing, and encourages chat.

Auto-Targetting
Our player tar

a red circle appears under the closest
enemy- the one you have selected.

gets NPCs and objects of interests using a simple check to see what object is cloest to our player. I quickly noticed that this causes problems because our target often ends up being behind the player while intuitively we would hope to be targetting an enemy that is standing in front of the player. So I added a modifier to my function that checks distances between things so that it considers a point 50 pixels in front of the player (depending on the direction the player faces). Also, dead NPCs are given less priority (their 'distance' is multiplied by 5).

Adding Depth
Classic games that are built on twitch (player skill at aiming) arguably do not need as much depth because the player can enjoy their improvement over time in their aim, etc. But since my game will feature targetting instead of manual aiming, it will need to capture depth that RPGs tend to have. Even more so, because unlike many RPGs this game will primarily use an auto-targetting system, so we will not have that added strategy in choosing targets that many RPGs have. In the future I may wish to add this functionality, but right now I am seeing it as an unnecessary complication.

RPG's Are Complicated For a Reason
That reason is that learning is fun. Players want to feel like they have achieved something and that they are doing so more efficiently than the normal player (or at least more efficiently than they did last time they played). Although an RPG is not twitch based, it is important that players still feel that they are improving at the game. Watching their characters improve is simply not enough, because then the game feels like a timesink that anyone could do. Which makes you feel better? Knowing that you spent X amount of time more in a game than a friend, or that you are X amount better at a game than a friend?

This translates to complex combat systems that play off of realistic/intuitive ideas such as: Killing enemy healers and nukers before tanks, conditions such as poison that drain life over time if not cured, positioning your player strategically, switching poses/stances to match the fight, complex skill trees, attributes, resists, etc.

Why Aren't there More Indie RPG Games?Well, I already answered my own question: RPG's are really complex! Anybody can program a hunting game where you have to quickly shoot ducks that pop out behind bushes, etc. And those games are easy to program and can be very rewarding to play. They work off of the players own progression of improvement of their hand/eye coordination to make the game fun. RPG's need a lot of depth to make up for this areas where it lacks.

So when you take on a RPG project you have to realize what you are getting in to. How can one add depth and complexity to an RPG's gameplay while minimizing the complexity of it's code? Well, I am not entirely sure yet myself. But I have 3 strategies that I am thinking of using right now:

1. Replace traditional life/mana bars with a new system that is easy to program but will add complexity to the game. (my HAMS system) 
2. Dumb down attributes, classes, skill trees, etc into a system that is both functional and easy to code. (my skillpoints system) 
3. Lower the games expected audience age. A game like this will never reach the same realistic complexity that someone would expect from current MMORPGs or Dungeons & Dragons, and setting realistic goals is important. 

I will be going into more detail about points 1 and 2 when appropriate, but for now we need to think about programming those first few skills!