Can anyone think of a way to instantly damage an npc through use of events? I could use a global variable but its nice to get those "damage numbers" at the bottom of the npc.

I'm creating a turn based combat system and its going pretty well except for when i get to the point where a character deals damage. If anyone has an idea just keep in mind im trying to keep away from the default attacks and spells (unless thats the only way) because it gives me more freedom and control over the game.

My first idea was to have the char cast 0 mp spell that would damage an npc but there's no event that "force-casts" a spell for the character. (btw since I'm using other npcs as chars, I can't use a spellbook and have 0 mp spells as atacks or anything like that)

Any ideas?

(This message has been edited by Demiscus (edited 01-27-2002).)

......... on a completely unrelated topic can the attack, defend, and movement keys be changed from their default?

I also just realized that the spell wizard could directly cast a spell (my bad) but if anybody has any tips or ideas i'd still like to hear em.

------------------
The word politics is derived from the words poly, meaning many, and tics, referring to blood sucking parasytes.

(This message has been edited by Demiscus (edited 01-27-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by Demiscus:
**Can anyone think of a way to instantly damage an npc through use of events? I could use a global variable but its nice to get those "damage numbers" at the bottom of the npc.

I'm creating a turn based combat system and its going pretty well except for when i get to the point where a character deals damage. If anyone has an idea just keep in mind im trying to keep away from the default attacks and spells (unless thats the only way) because it gives me more freedom and control over the game.

My first idea was to have the char cast 0 mp spell that would damage an npc but there's no event that "force-casts" a spell for the character. (btw since I'm using other npcs as chars, I can't use a spellbook and have 0 mp spells as atacks or anything like that)

Any ideas?

(This message has been edited by Demiscus (edited 01-27-2002).)**

man since you put that restriction on spells and such
i was thinking uing the attribute wizard

or perhaps the use of a small dialog like in DragonWarrior(Enix Style)
'salamander hits hero for 23.
hero misses.'

i too thought of using the 0mp spell(with a twist wink, wait and see)

-------you might want to rig up an event that stops motion/input and limits it to button presses and sets up a battle field

with weapons--
just set the range to an insane level, that way you can strike standing still and do the old school battle.
or for a flourish of graphic sfx just add a special animation for attack (like FF) and a sfx for the particular weapon (like the claw weapons in FF)

------------------
Download my current game 'Tandum- (*)' on my site at (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ellrx/index.html")http://www.geocities...llrx/index.html(/url) go now

Yeah I just managed to get it all working real well except for one thing: you can't choose who the spell is going to hit when dialogue boxes are open. So the only way I got it to work was to end the event right after the spell was cast so the player could choose who to hit with it (spell being a 0 mp regular attack). Any ideas on how to start the events up again right after the player chooses who to hit with it?

Oh and btw to the last reply. Thanks and I already did take movement out and made it just button presses: its many many events in a loop with conditionals. I have access boxes around all the npcs and the main char and I put him in the center and turned him into a transparent block (I didn't want the person to be fooling around with the main char while stuff was going on.)

ok so this is 3 questions for you all:

1. Any ideas to make events and movement to continue while a dialogue box is open?
2. Any ideas to make enemies hp bar go away?
3. Any ideas on how to make a counter (like wait) except that it lets events and movement go on while its counting?

------------------
The word politics is derived from the words poly, meaning many, and tics, referring to blood sucking parasytes.

(This message has been edited by Demiscus (edited 01-27-2002).)

Quote

ok so this is 3 questions for you all:

1. Any ideas to make events and movement to continue while a dialogue box is open?
2. Any ideas to make enemies hp bar go away?
3. Any ideas on how to make a counter (like wait) except that it lets events and movement go on while its counting?

yeah the access blocks was one way to go...

1. i think its built into the routine that executes the dialog that it automatically freezes the motion. (imagine, you leave the dialog open to long and the dragon creeps in the window and starts kicking in your head while your still flirting with the princess) Pitfall of a realtime engine.

2. no not really i think this to is a built in feature of the engine (and would either require the open source ::laughs for a minute straight::, oor some sort of resedit hacking ,whch would likely prove unsucessful, especially since the games compile both on the osx and pc format).

3. :: ... ... ... ::

------------------
Download my current game 'Tandum- (*)' on my site at (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/ellrx/index.html")http://www.geocities...llrx/index.html(/url) go now

Lets see: the only thing I've managed to figure out since my last post was how to make a timer that didn't stop movement. I made an invisible npc that gets added to a place on the map, and is set to go to another place on the map. When he gets there, the npc is deleted and the character's battle dialogue pops up again.

As for my first question, now that I can have an extended period with movement, I don't really need to have movement while the dialogue boxes are open (the main purpose was that the attacks didnt get set off until the boxes were closed). And to my second question, I just wound up making the npc have 0 stamina and using global variables (which is actually tons easier for my game because I'm trying to make it a mouse-free rpg).

One more problem I encountered was making a global variable randomized. Maybe I just don't get the global variable change option "random" but it doesn't seem to do that. I did manage to work around that by making random actions so that not everything goes into damage and its not the exact same thing everytime.

Now that that's all fixed, I'm only left with one problem. After the enemy is dealt damage, I'm trying to have a little number pop up telling how much damage it did. As of right now, I just set it as a dialouge box stating the damage but it looks pretty dumb. I tried having a spell cast directly on the player doing damage so some numbers would pop up, but that kinda made everything else not work for some odd reason. (i really couldn't figure out why putting one spell in stopped the entire combat round.....)

If anybody's got some ideas, gimme a buzz. Thanks

------------------
The word politics is derived from the words poly, meaning many, and tics, referring to blood sucking parasytes.

Quote

Originally posted by Demiscus:
**Lets see: the only thing I've managed to figure out since my last post was how to make a timer that didn't stop movement. I made an invisible npc that gets added to a place on the map, and is set to go to another place on the map. When he gets there, the npc is deleted and the character's battle dialogue pops up again.

**

That was the first thing I could dream up for a timer, too. The second idea was to have an animation, perhaps an invisible one, with the event triggere as the ani ends. My thought on both of these, tho, was to make them cyclic so I could have an in-game clock...

------------------
everywhere else, it's --
"Nomuse"

hmmm... interesting. If I got that working it would probably simplify things a bit. Ok first off, I'm pretty sure I would need to add that event in every location where I wanted time to be counted, but thats not too hard. About what speed, how far away, and time in between movements would I give an npc to equal one second. (would making him and his destination 1 movement box away, with 1000 inbetween movements=1 second?)

A lot of cool things could be done with that.
Anybody got an idea for how to make the damage numbers? (at least so the look remotely good)
I was thinking of using one of the templates. I would remove everything but one numeric value that I don't use from it. First, I would make the template to appear as a bubble or something that looks like damage. I would put the variable inside the bubble. Right after I did my damage, I'd make the variable equal my damage global variable and then pop up a template. Then 1-2 seconds later I'd take out the template. Do events continue while a template is launched?

------------------
The word politics is derived from the words poly, meaning many, and tics, referring to blood sucking parasytes.

Any idea how high of a number can be stored into a global variable? If I did make an ingame counter I think I would set it to reset everytime you went into a new room and then add 1 to the global variable every second. Then to say, "wait 5 seconds,"

You would:

make a global variable
change globals so the new global equals the timer global + 5.
Everytime the timer clicks up, check to see if the new global equals then timer global. If it is, you can start the new event.

(You may be able to make an event with a conditional, and then just call itself again if its not true.)

------------------
The word politics is derived from the words poly, meaning many, and tics, referring to blood sucking parasytes.

Demiscus, you might consider making a tutorial to turn-based combat on Coldstone and posting it on the add-ons page

Hah, yeah maybe. How about once I get my own game going?....
Hmmmm.... 50 bucks and you've got yourself a deal ^_^

oh and btw: my own little announcement!
I managed to get some numbers up on the screen for damage. Unfortunately, the damage dealt and the number that shows up are different because theyre calculated differently and I can't find a way to make them equal each other. (but the user doesn't need to know that :p) Plus It'll make the monsters seem more random because theyre hp will seem different.

Just in case anyone cares, this is what I did:
if the user decides to attack the enemy to the left, first I would subtract the actual globular hp from them. (these are 0 stamina npcs put on the screen for show) Then I add this npc I made called tanker. He is a transparent graphic with 9999(9?) hp. I cast a spell that hits all enemies (nobody will ever have to use a mouse although disabling it isn't working right.....) and since all of the enemies are just npcs with 0 stamina, it just hits that one npc called tanker. It deals its damage and then I have tanker killed off. Anybody get that? good =^P

------------------
The word politics is derived from the words poly, meaning many, and tics, referring to blood sucking parasytes.

(This message has been edited by Demiscus (edited 01-29-2002).)

As of now, I have one enemy party. I am left with three options.

1)Use this as a template, I'd make a new map for each enemy party with slight modifications.

2)Make npc enemy, 1, 2, and 3. These npcs just change their graphic icon (is this possible?)

3)Add the enemies in once the battle is started. The only problem with this is I'd have to say "kill enemy in 4,3" or something to that extent which I don't believe is possible either.

If anybody knows how I could do 2 or 3 could you email me or post a reply? thanks

getting.... very.... frustrated.... Is there no way to set a spells min/max damage to a global variable?
I can change global variables with ease which is why I'm using them for everything. But the damage that pops up is just a random 15-25 type thing. IE: If part of my calculations for the damage is strength then It is always changing and It seems that I'd have to make a new spell for every single point of possible strength.

Somebody plz prove me wrong on that, it would save quite a bit of time

------------------
The word politics is derived from the words poly, meaning many, and tics, referring to blood sucking parasytes.

(This message has been edited by Demiscus (edited 01-30-2002).)