Action, Meet Strategy.

[Spoo]

I'm at a dead end here.  I'm trying to design a battle system that is fast-paced and unique.  The problem?  I don't want it to be all about button mashing, because that'd eventually become the equivalent of some "Ninja Gaiden XP" thing.  I'm wanting to incorporate strategy into this system, something that will force you to make decisions amongst the chaos of battle.  I can't seem to come up with a system that lets a player think without  getting ripped apart by the action, but doesn't take away from the speed.

I need design help before I can make a request.

Thanks ~

 

[Glitchfinder]

well, you can always fall back on some older ideas. For example, if you have various moves you can use, make it where some enemies are much weaker to certain moves, and stronger against others. You could also do move combos, but that's kinds difficult to pull off.

 

[Spoo]

The main part of the system is about the button mashing.  When you hone in on an enemy, a circle will form around him.  You can choose to either fight that one, choose a different target, or if he didn't see you yet, you can run.  It's kind of like Mr. Mo's ABS on crack.

 

[Neverplayd]

Well, if you add different skills and choices and such along with the choice to attack, it will naturally add strategy to it. You could look at Doctor's game, To Anywhere for some inspiration (if you haven't already). The game uses RTAB which allows the player to make choices like a turn based battle system, but the enemy can attack while making choices. It might end up "the player getting ripped apart by the action", but that usually only happened near the beginning of the game. It won't hurt to check it out either way.

(Btw, you might get more response if this was placed in RM Discussion.)

 

[Souloux]

It would be pretty cool if you could make a battle system similar to Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core. With that battle system the player had to chose there move before it's executed and while the character is performing the choice, the player is able to chose the next move. Therefore making a fast-pace, combo/decision making battle system.

 

[Crystalgate]

Glitchfinder's idea about making enemies strong and weak against different attacks is pretty much a must if you want to incorporate strategy. If the same moves that will kill a rabid wolf also kills the stone golem, then the player will use the same moves over and over. Basically, the player only needs to learn a strategy once, after that the same strategy can be used against (almost) all enemies.

You can take the different strengths and weaknesses idea a step further and make it apply to defense as well. A strong enemy with large weapons can punch trough even a strong armor, but may be evaded while a swift enemy is very hard to evade, but a strong defense is effective.

However, what works and what doesn't depends a lot on how the battle system is set up. Will you often fight multiple enemies or do you usually fight them one vs one? Also, what does fast paced mean? Are moves executed quickly and you can perform many of them in a small amount of time or do you mean that enemies are killed in only one or two hits?