Assuming we have turn-based combat (oh please let us have turn based combat), does the engine allow for the player to choose what direction they are facing?

I ask because my game is a little unusual in nature. The story has you taking command of a badly damaged starship in the middle of a epic war in the 22nd century. All of the role-playing is done by interacting with the crew, earning their trust and respect etc. For combat I want to go to a tactical map where you control the ship's systems and explore various solar systems. The ship will have turreted guns and missles, but i was also hoping to have front mounted laser canons (extremely powerful), and thus the direction that the player is facing in combat becomes a substantial issue.

Thanks!

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Of all the things I've
lost, I miss my mind
the most.

Sad to say this, but it doesn't have turn-based battle, which pisses me off, but what can I do? I really wanted TB battle, along with many others, and andrew pissed us all off by telling us there will never be turn-based battle.

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BzWmG2. I won't tell you what it means.

I felt the same way at first, but now rejoice in the idea of real-time. My battles will be second to none (if I can get the special effects and animations down pat). Now how about party support ;)?

As for your game, you MAY be able to create this in Coldstone, however it sounds to me it might be more easily achieved using Ambrosia's own Escape Velocity (Override) engine.

Saphfire

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(This message has been edited by saphfire (edited 04-10-2001).)

doh doh doh doh doh!

I had about 5 different game ideas, and I was going to wait until I had the coldstone engine until I decided which would be the best to work on. However without turn based combat, none of them would really work, so i guess its back to tinkering with Real Basic again :frown:

The turn-based combat was essential to my original concept for this particular game, as it allowed you to target particular ship's systems, sustain damage to your own systems, organise damage repair teams etc.

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Of all the things I've
lost, I miss my mind
the most.

Actually, that idea sounds like it would make a very nice transition into real-time, making the game more frantic and action-packed. Players would have to think on their heels. Each function could have a hot key for easy access, and event scripting could help. Don't lose faith just yet.

Saphfire

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Just as a little word from someone who has experienced it, I've found that faster is actually better -- even though I was opposed to the speed of Warcraft BNET in the beginning.

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"Bond, GlueBubble Bond"
::walks down the mountain::

I'm still skeptical, I was designing this game to be 'role-play strategy' in the league of Fallout (though with a very different setting of course), but real-time combat leans more towards 'role-play action' like Diablo (one of the worst games I've ever played). I didn't want this to be an action game, I prefer to give the player time to consider their action. It may be slightly less realistic, but at least it actually makes them engage their BRAIN!

But I haven't given up yet. I'll take a look at the engine when its released and see if I can make a few comprimises, or even slow down the action enough to give enough time for critical decision making. (ie: make the battles more akin to 'Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan' than 'Star Wars').

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Of all the things I've
lost, I miss my mind
the most.

Quote

Originally posted by David Simon:
**I'm still skeptical, I was designing this game to be 'role-play strategy' in the league of Fallout (though with a very different setting of course), but real-time combat leans more towards 'role-play action' like Diablo (one of the worst games I've ever played). I didn't want this to be an action game, I prefer to give the player time to consider their action. It may be slightly less realistic, but at least it actually makes them engage their BRAIN!

But I haven't given up yet. I'll take a look at the engine when its released and see if I can make a few comprimises, or even slow down the action enough to give enough time for critical decision making. (ie: make the battles more akin to 'Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan' than 'Star Wars').

**

You should be able to make the battle system event scripted, such as making default moves do nothing. The enemy AI would wait for an event triggered by the player, and react in the proper way. I don't know if this is possible, but it sounds plausible. Best of luck!

Saphfire

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Don't cry if there won't be any turn based system.
I 'm sure you can do it with good tricks and hacks.But many people like to have a real time battle system, which is much harder to program from scratch, and that's why it's a good thing. All the way, if you ever play games like secret of mana series of snes or the whole Zelda series, you should know that real time battle system is the road to the nirvana...assuming you have a good story.And there are already a lot of softwares that can do turn based RpG creating tool. But none can do yet real time, and that's why Coldstone is gonna be the best!

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Does PC Stands for
prehistoric Computer ?
Mac 'll live forever

Death to random battles!

Diablo's gameplay was okay, but what really sucked was the storyline. Secret of Mana was great! Secret of Mana 2 was wonderful :)(aka Seiken Denisetsu 3 for Super Famicom) If they ever put in party capabilities, I'd make my battles similar to the ones in SD3. Heh, even if they don't and I have to do some SERIOUS event scripting, I'd still make them that way.