Conflict Resolution (prototype)
I was messing around with play-by-email game concepts and at the same time kinda thought back to an idea I tried yeeeears ago in a far more clumsy manner.
Conflict Resolution is based on those absolutely awesome stick-figure martial combat animations that often do the rounds on Youtube and the like. I wanted players to get the sense of creating an awesome, fast-paced fighter without the dexterity focus. So you finalise your character *before* the fight starts (choosing a moveset and tweaking parameters) then watch it duke out against another prefab AI.
Fights last 15 seconds each and the goal is to deal the most damage possible.
Interface / controls etc will cause you to grit your teeth a little (especially in the character creation screen), but for simplicity there's 4 ready-made characters supplied with this build:
- Default (a "dumb fire" bot that uses the basic moveset)
- Monk (a lightly-programmed bot which uses the Grapple and Meditate moves)
- Berserker (a lightly-programmed bot which uses the Charge and Summon Sword moves)
- NandrewBot (A decently-programmed bot which uses the basic moveset)
SPACEBAR to reset the combat / swap combatant positions
ENTER to leave combat and return to main menu
Here's the file, have fun messing around (if you can)! https://www.box.com/s/1gptsbr9xmj11zadyjr6
Comments
Unfortunately, there' no brilliant tutorial system for the character creator, but if you crack open the default character files you'll be able to see how this stuff works. :)
I've been thinking of a similar idea recently whereby you have a character with which you customise the moves, similar to Conflict Resolution. Except that it is more like a Chinese Kung Fu movie or epic Jedi lightsaber battle and the 2 players take turns to choose attack and defense moves (or change stance, initiate a jump, etc). It would be a turn based strategy sort with each player trying to pick a weakness in their opponent's techniques. With a side advantage of playing back the fight at normal speed and watching the Jedi-Knight/Kung Fu master flurry of perfectly executed attacks and blocks, like a hyper-speed chess game
(I hope this comes out right... it is supposed to be two stick figures fighting...)
To have a more "game" feel, I suppose one could also explore some single player options (room full of specifically tweaked bots vs one player).
Hilariously enough, just started *another* side project, so I dunno if this will go anywhere. But I'm trying to make a resolution of posting more of my work online.
I kinda realised that if I wanted this to be more engaging for multiple players, it probably would've been wise to work first on a broader variety of moves rather than better move programming, so that it's easier to see a more explicit player personality come in.
That said, pitching your bots against each other was, in particular, a very entertaining watch. :)
It wasn't always obvious to me who won though, without looking at the score.
I really dig the idea, it reminds me of ff12 where I built a self efficient army through programming the gambits, and that was glorious.