Okay so far, I have created the whole battle system by hand for my CRAPPY little game.
So what I'm wondering is what would be the best way to allow players to choose their spells/skills that they want to use?
Best I have for now would be bringing up a second window and choose from a list of spells off of that, but I want to make it look better than that.
It is a ATB battle system currently just 1v1 fights and it will be set that monsters will get stronger for extra X amount of levels higher you are from their base level.
and best way I can think about storing the magic info right now is in .txt files.
VB.net battle engine
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Jackolantern
- Posts: 10891
- Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:00 pm
Re: VB.net battle engine
Don't call your game crappy! Just creating something is more than most people can or will do. It definitely will not be a waste!
As far as how to select spells, the best option is to keep with standards. While the standards of game UI design are not recorded or maintained by anyone, they definitely exist. For an RPG-like game, the standard is to open a skill/spell window with a listing of all your skills and spells. Then the player drags them to a hotkey bar or to a small model of the mouse if you assign them to mouse keys. Either that, or if your game is more old school, then the action menu should have a magic option that shows another dialog box with text representations of each spell the player selects.
While it is tempting to do something unique, keep your game unique but make the UI familiar since it lowers player frustration.
As far as how to store game data, you have a bit more flexibility there. You can use text files, .dat files, XML files, .json files, or, if you end up with a ton of data, you may want to consider a light-weight, client-side SQL database, such as SQLite or SQL Server CE.
As far as how to select spells, the best option is to keep with standards. While the standards of game UI design are not recorded or maintained by anyone, they definitely exist. For an RPG-like game, the standard is to open a skill/spell window with a listing of all your skills and spells. Then the player drags them to a hotkey bar or to a small model of the mouse if you assign them to mouse keys. Either that, or if your game is more old school, then the action menu should have a magic option that shows another dialog box with text representations of each spell the player selects.
While it is tempting to do something unique, keep your game unique but make the UI familiar since it lowers player frustration.
As far as how to store game data, you have a bit more flexibility there. You can use text files, .dat files, XML files, .json files, or, if you end up with a ton of data, you may want to consider a light-weight, client-side SQL database, such as SQLite or SQL Server CE.
The indelible lord of tl;dr
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greasontim
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:14 pm
Re: VB.net battle engine
For data, not having much issues with data storage right now. But I will look into a client side sql later on.
Mainly just trying to get my battle system to fully work.
All I got for my game so far, is.....
A cordinates map no tiles as of yet
1 town with a non-working inn
Random Encounter battle system that is ATB guage
and a game launcher which totaly auto-updates
Mainly just trying to get my battle system to fully work.
All I got for my game so far, is.....
A cordinates map no tiles as of yet
1 town with a non-working inn
Random Encounter battle system that is ATB guage
and a game launcher which totaly auto-updates
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Jackolantern
- Posts: 10891
- Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:00 pm
Re: VB.net battle engine
That sounds pretty good to me lol. RPGs are some of the hardest games to make, even if single-player. The fact that you got that far is quite impressive to me! 
The indelible lord of tl;dr