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Grid Battle System for RPGMaker

Plugin that allows you to add "grid" battle mechanics to your RPG Maker MV project · By HimeWorks

Plans for initial public release

A topic by HimeWorks created Aug 18, 2020 Views: 335 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 2
Developer

Hey everyone,

It's been almost 3 weeks since I started building grid battle system which I think is sitting around too long. I'm planning to release the basic system which we'll start with

1. Grid positioning (HIME_GridBattle.js)
2. Area of Effect targeting (HIME_GridTargetArea.js)

The positioning system will allow you to set up your battler positions on the grid. You can choose to turn off grid-display positioning, so that the battlers won't be positioned on the grid as you've seen in the tests so far. How the sprites are displayed doesn't affect the grid logic: two actors that are neighbors can be on opposite sides of the screen, but on the grid they're still neighbors and will still be affected by AoE.

I believe the AoE targeting system is the first plugin that will provide immediate tangible improvements to your battle system. Grid position is required for AoE checking.

The initial release won't include the grid-based selection plugin, because grid selection requires additional scope logic for empty tiles, which at this point isn't something that's ready yet.

I'll start with these two and then see how it's received and determine what will be released afterwards. I will continue to develop additional features and mechanics for the grid battle system, and will be conducting exclusive patron tests as usual before they are released to the public, so if you want to try new features, make sure to sign up for early access! 

If you want to see if it'll be compatible with your project, grab the files from the second public test.  https://www.patreon.com/posts/40206494 and install GridCore, GridBattle, and GridTargetArea

The initial release will have a bit more things for the AoE and better set up, but the basic code will be the same.

Will Enemy AI have to be improved at all, to deal with the changes?

Developer

For the default battle system, it's basically the same battle system except you get positioning and AoE skill.

I don't think AI needs to be improved at this point. Maybe they might be smart and target characters that will result in the most damage, but that's not something I'm focusing on at this point.

Some AI changes will be needed for games with skill ranges and grid movement though, so that enemies can actually approach you to attack you.

Thats what I was referring to. Any sufficiently diverse Skill List, with melee vs. ranged Skills, will leave default AI largely helpless with any tactics.

Even with Plugins like Yanfly's Enemy AI, you'd need to add range conditions, and possibly direction determination? But woes be to anyone attempting to have Enemy Skills synergize at all. Considering each Enemy could be on totally opposite sides of the grid.

Developer (1 edit)

Most  tactics games I've played, enemies don't really have synergy either. It's either 

1. They wait if you're too far, or
2. They just start moving towards you if you're out of range
3. They just start attacking you if you're in range

Nothing too special. Enemies aren't re-grouping for better heals, or re-positioning themselves to pick off actors.

So I think for AI plugins, it'd probably be ok to just start with a simple one that let's you add conditions to each action, and if it's not met, see if the next one is available.

Pretty much all of your conditions will probably be "is any target in range" so that might be provided as a "global" action condition so you don't need to write it again and again. Then you might have a condition that prioritizes weak targets, or "highest number of targets" in the case of AOE.

And then maybe we'll figure out how to create rules that will allow enemies to synergize better. Run back if they stray too far from allies, etc.