Combat Screens

I've been thinking a lot about how I want to approach combat in this game.  There are a couple of different options.  The one I wanted to pursue was to do the combat in a manner similar to the old Gold-Box style games (Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, etc).  But, the amount of work involved might be more than I want to undertake at this point, since the project is already so large.

There's a term called "scope creep" that's appropriate here.  You start off with a project that is simple, but you continue to add new things to it and it gets larger and larger and takes longer to finish.  Eventually, you add so many new things that you just lose track of what you're doing and the whole thing sinks.

Let's take a look at the original way that combat was presented in the old version of the game:

Fairly simple

Some of the feedback I got was that this kind of combat wouldn't be as "tactical" as other combat options.  I took this to heart, but I'm starting to think that those people don't understand my vision for this game.  I wanted it to have combat similar to the SSI game "Phantasie," and that's exactly what I accomplished.

So, even though I haven't made up my mind 100% yet, I'm starting to work out how the same combat system would work in Unity.  So far, this is what I have come up with (this is a staged combat between a party of female adventurers and several goblins and giants in the forest):

Same simplicity

This is an early version screenshot that I created just for layout purposes.  It isn't a working system at this point (but that will come soon enough).

Perhaps, instead of trying to replicate what has already been done, I should just stick with the combat engine I already created and update it.  It's different from what you usually see in western style CRPGs.  And even though it is similar to combat systems you sometimes see in eastern JRPGs, it's not quite the same.

It's still a toss-up at this point.  I originally pursued the type of combat I did because it was better than the "text-only" style of combat that appeared in games like "The Bard's Tale," but still simple enough for someone to pick up pretty easily.  I think that combat like this can still be "tactical," even if you don't involve yourself in a lot of moving around.  You still have to know when to cast precious spells or hold on to them, when to heal members of your party, and which opponents to strike to do the most damage and bring them down before they can hurt you.

It's a tough call.