skill ideas (was 'one skill, multiple abilities?')

[renke_]

As Jack made his refusal of further changes very clear not in the SOTW forum but here as an idea for future RPGs :)

Would it be possible to use one skill for multiple abilities? The most obvious example are (again..) the elemental druid skills, it is not far-fetched to combine the single target and row spells to a single "<element> magic" class, Air Magic would enable both Smoke Cloud and Stinging Swarm. The other player classes in Act 1 could also benefit from such a 1:n relation, the skill Combat Stances would give access to Finesse, Avoidance and Recover, or Trick Shot including Barrage and Bleeding Strike.

[jack1974]

Not sure I understand what you mean by access? In battle you click one skill and another sub-menu opens with sub-skills ? this is similar to the skilltree I used in Loren (a bit different).
For the next games I'll probably have the new RPG framework, but even with this one shouldn't be a problem. There is no limit to the amount of skills, a character could have 99 skills if I wanted (and was so crazy to code all 99!). Then I could simply group them based on function/type/etc.

[renke_]

Not sure I understand what you mean by access?

similar to bows and the two ranged abilities. an equipped missile weapon activates/unlocks two abilities (ranged attack and aimed shot) - now replace "an equipped missile weapon" with "one learnt skill" :)

There is no limit to the amount of skills, a character could have 99 skills if I wanted (and was so crazy to code all 99!). Then I could simply group them based on function/type/etc.

it's less quantity but more diversity. I don't think that more than 10-15 skills are needed (or even desirable) , but those should be more different than, say, the 4 thief attacks requiring a staggered target (a skill Improvised Missiles could enable Flaming Torch and Ice Flask; Sneaky Assaults could unlock Backstab and Choke)

[yayswords]

I'm all for the idea. I thought the problem with this was screen space.

[jack1974]

Yes, in PS2 we're displaying the skill/attack types icons on a bar at the bottom of the screen. I like the idea of clicking on the target and then all the possible attacks shows up around it, but if you start adding 10-12 types, unless you want to have very small icons (which is bad ) you need to come up with an alternative solution...!

[yayswords]

You do realize that when I've seen the act 2 characters and gotten tired of that act, I'm gonna write up an entire manifesto about class and combat design for Loren 2, based on what I find good/bad about SotW and on things I once didn't think were possible to do in Ren'Py. You're setting yourself up for further trouble by suggesting you can fix screen space problems

[jack1974]

Well for a game that I still have to start like Loren 2 I have no problems with suggestions. Even the crazy ones by you!
Jokes apart is fine, even if I can solve the screen space issue, when PS2 is out you can tell me what you think. Personally I still prefer the icons around the target, is more intuitive. On the other hand, you can't cram 150 icons there
Another solution would be to have a sort of quick/hotbar, and only the most used skills show around the target and all the others available in another frame/bar at the bottom ?

[yayswords]

I don't think it'd be difficult to solve if not for the multiple platforms I'm not sure what you can do with just finger touches. If swiping is allowed we could have several pages but I don't think I'd like that.

[jack1974]

Currently swiping is not supported but beside that is hard also for the icons size...

[renke_]

skills with both positive and negative effects could be interesting, like the combat stances but much more extreme. some ideas:
Blood Magic - triplicates magic, but causes bleeding (with high damage, I think of 10+ per turn) for the duration of the spell
Overdrive - defence and attack are set to 250 %, but the target of the buff dies at the end of the duration