[Jihgfed Pumpkinhead]

Just an idea for a combat system, in case anyone needs one.

It's basically normal RPG combat, except that there's a timer. You fight an enemy, the timer goes down while you do so. You lose if the timer runs out. You lose if you die. You win if you kill your enemy.

Yeah, this has been done before for certain dramatic battles, but it would be nice to see an entire combat system done like this, rather than just having it be tacked on. You can then work in many more strategic elements.

It would be particularly nice if you can actively guide character progression: imagine at each level, you can raise your Strength by 1, or your Stamina by 2. It's a question of maintaining that perfect balance, so you're tough enough to survive but powerful enough to kill your enemy before time runs out.

Best thing about it is that it's simple to program, and very intuitive for the user. Presents a lot of toughness vs. time tradeoff strategies.

It's not revolutionary, by any means, but "Fight, Defend, Run, Item" can get a little old. This is just a way to spice things up.

[korndog]

I imagine that something would need to be worked into the storyline to explain why every battle can only last for so long. Or maybe a "mental stress" factor that determines how long a character can last in battle before "losing it". Otherwise it might end up like those old platform games where you must complete a level within a time limit or your character dies, no explanation given.

[Jihgfed Pumpkinhead]

[Rainer Deyke]

I never liked the "die-when-the-countdown-reaches-zero" mechanism. It's too abrupt, too absolute, too restrictive, too illogical. However, there are a number of ways to keep the time pressure in more subtle and logical ways. For example:

• Enemy reinforcements arrive after n turns/seconds.
  
• Take damage from the environment each turn/second.
  
• Winner of combat is declared after n turns/seconds. The side that dealt more damage wins.
  

[akOOma]

I wouldn't use a realtime-timer, but something like that:

-attack #1: 4 SECs
-attack #2: 10 SECs
-attack #3: 3 SECs

....so everytime you use an attack, your timer decreased by one of those numbers....

more strategy will appear in RPGs again....


what do you think???
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Keep on codin'
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Just another post to increase my rank...

[Sirocco]

Hmm... having a time limit for every battle would get old pretty quickly, especially since it has the potential to turn any battle into a game-threatening confrontation if the player isn't fast enough.

Having a sanity gauge, while certainly not a new concept, would be pretty groovy for a horror-RPG.

.

[js71]

You should be able to upgrade the time on the clock at each level.

[Ironshanks]

I wouldn't just KILL the player after a certain time, that would not only be too abrupt, but more frustrating than enjoyable for me.

I like what Rainer is saying, in fact, my suggestion would be that after a certain time limit there are negative effects put on the player. Like with the insanity thing, attacks would become erratic and less accurate, and maybe spells couldn't be cast, but the player could keep fighting anyway.
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That's not a broken link, it's a PICTURE of a broken link. It's really very conceptual.