Battle System discussion

[SwordPlay]

I figure it might be nice to have suggestions in their own threads.
I would like to cover enemies, attacks, animations etc., and don't mind if anyone else has suggestions or ideas and wants to post them here!

EDIT:
I think that enemy animations and self-tags would open up many avenues in the battle system. I think that most of the complicated stuff could be battle scripted eventually.

FLINCH ANIMATIONS
I'd like to see different flinch animations for battle, tied to both enemies and attacks.
If you like, I could have a go at creating a mock up of what certain animations would look like too.

You could have:

1) Little Flinch - moves a small distance
1.5) Medium Flinch - Moves a medium distance
2) Big Flinch - a large distance

3) Shake/Vibrate - shudders on the spot

4) Launch - moves vertically in the air, as if launched, say, by an uppercut. Would be nice if the enemy displays the 'hurt' frame or shudders throughout (probably applicable to others in this list: making the enemy shake or shudder gives the appearance of being damaged(

5) Slam - something like Sabin's 'suplex' where they fly up, flip vertically and slam down, possibly with a hero sprite attached as if wrestling

6) Pick up and drop - a hero sprite picks up an enemy, turns the enemy sprite upside down, and smashes it into the floor, either a completely vertical motion, or made to look like the target is being thrown a little ways

7) Flip - Flip the enemy sprite, as if the force of a blow has turned it away (would be nice to see variants where it turns on the spot, and where it flinches a distance as well)

8) Twirl - A hero sprite "picks up" an enemy, and spins around (horizontally) with it, before releasing it or slamming it

9) Launch + Air strikes - the enemy is launched into the air where it is struck. Perhaps when multiple animations are added for attacks?

10) Sink - An enemy sinks into the ground partially, as if smashed with a hammer, then pops out (could also be an earth attack, or possibly tied to a status infliction where a target is unable to move)

11) Overhead Suplex - Enemy is rotated 90 degrees, picked up by the attacker (or at least, placed on the head of the attacker), then rotated another 90 degrees (now upside down) and slammed into the ground behind the attacker, maybe skip the rotation, and just have it vertically flip at some point

12) Forward Stagger - An enemy flinches forwards. You might think this is useless, but some clever people probably could find a way to make it work, such as a yanking whip strike, or some funky magical effect

13) Jump on head - The attacker jumps on the head of a target. It could sink into the ground a little or flinch away

14) Rotate sprite/Fall over - An enemy sprite rotates 90 degrees to give the illusion of being knocked over, perhaps with a slight horizontal movement

15) Suck/Expel - Enemy sprites move towards the attacker, then are forced back, like one of those fancy magical moves that act like a vortex that explodes or something

16) Bounce - A target is made to look like they are being struck so that they are ricocheting off the ground. I see this as starting with the enemy moving slightly down and back, then up and back a lot

17) Enemy bounced off other enemies, doing damage

In general, I would like to see some death animations (partially) implemented as flinch animations

[SwordPlay]

Enemy A.I., Enemy Attacks, Behaviour etc.,


I would like to see attacks launched by enemies under conditions such as:

- self, ally or enemy suffering from status ailment

- whether or not an item has been stolen from them, and an attack that can use up (delete) that item

- delay, postpone or save an action/attack, for example, to heal an ally, or to strike a vulnerable target

- by turn number, using a formula, for when you want to dictate the flow of battle over long term. Such as "don't use X before turn 10" "use Y every 5 turns" "do Z throughout the battle, but with increasing/decreasing frequency"

- limited use, such as an instakill or powerful move that is only allowed to be used once in the battle, or a team-buff that you want an enemy to cast only once

- a recover period for the above, such that after x turns, that attack can be used again

EDIT: nvm, i see that most stuff can already be done through tags and chain conditionals

[The Wobbler]

This is a minor visual detail but I'd like to have attack damage colors that change when an enemy is weak to or strong to certain elements. Would be nice shorthand for players.

[SwordPlay]

For enemy A.I., one can simulate reasonably complicated behaviour by having a special attack whose sole function is to trigger other attacks via conditions, and setting tags.
It would be nice to see that built into enemies themselves somehow!
Perhaps there could be a special class of attacks which are responsible for handling attacks via conditions, and would act like A.I. modules?
If they could be more (indefinitely) extensible, that would be nice too.

The conditions for chaining attacks might also be useful if they could be used for tags.