Cool! I think this could be done in Basic+xLib.  How many sprites would there be on the screen at one time (min and max)?

Probably as many as 16-20 at a time? (rough approximation) I have to account for bullets, as well. The largest enemy formations might be eight or so, but I can't say how many bullets would be on the screen simultaneously.

The system is commonly known as CTB. (conditional turn-based) It's turn-based in the strictest since, but turn order is affected by both AGI and which particular command you use. (each command has its own priority) Think Final Fantasy X. There is a command queue that sorts the order of each action according to these rules, and then performs them in that order.

To be more elaborate: Each character registers a command before any combat begins. Those commands are sorted in the command queue according to character AGI, and the priority modifier of the command. (i.e., some commands occur as if the character had 30% more AGI) Then, the actual combat ensues, and each command is executed in the order that was earlier determined.

スペース・ファイター斬剣



(for those curious, "Zanken" roughly translates to "cutting sword")

I had this random idea earlier for a top-down shoot-'em-up. I doubt I would ever have the coding abilities to pull it off, but I enjoy coming up with random ideas, no less. I have a folder full of projects and assets that never get developed.

The game centers around Zanken: An advanced military spacecraft tasked with navigating through hoardes of hostile invasion forces and ultimately destroying the central core of the enemy operation.

Each level consists of an area of space swarming with enemy formations. Zanken must defeat each formation in order to progress to the next level.

Zanken is equipped with a wide arsenal of weapons -- each useful in a variety of situations. By defeating enemies and collecting power-ups, Zanken may switch between the various options available.

Space Fighter Shield - Each shield upgrade (S) covers Zanken from a single hit. Zanken's shield will increase or decrease in size to indicate the shield's strength.

Power Cells - When a power cell (P) is collected, Zanken switches between the weapons in its arsenal:

L-0: Twin-Shot (default) - Fires two shots directly ahead. The weapon can be fired successively without much cool-down between shots.

L-1: Pulse Emitter - Fires a pulse laser straight ahead. The laser penetrates multiple enemies, but has a longer cool-down period.

L-2: Wave Beam - Fires a wave beam that covers a radius of three tiles, but has a slight cool-down period.

L-3: Diffusion Missile - Fires a missile with a destructive yield. The missile appears in front of Zanken and flickers for a brief moment before launching itself ahead. When the missile explodes, it damages all targets within surrounding tiles. Has the longest cool-down period.









To the bottom of the play area are Zanken's score, and the number of players (lives) available. By accumulating points, Zanken can earn additional players.

To the right is the display for the current level, and Zanken's shield (S) and weapon (P) power meters. Each meter indicates the current / max number of upgrades.

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I was kind of curious how feasible such a project might be if written in BASIC. I can say a few things about it:

 - There wouldn't be any masking, because it's strictly monochromatic; and each sprite generally covers the entire tile, anyway.

 - I'm not sure if scrolling is feasible, but it's probably not necessary. One idea was that the graphics used in backgrounds could appear and disappear in patterns, giving the illusion of having a dynamic environment. (i.e., stars appearing and vanishing)

 - I'm not sure how the sprite routine would work yet. I think maybe movement would occur 8 px at a time. (so a sprite would "jump" from tile to tile, as it would in one of those old Tiger Electronics LCD games)

 - There aren't any graphics larger than 8x8 pixels. Bosses are sort of comprised of multiple, arranged tiles, but the actual target (such as the core, or a weapon) would only be 8x8 px.

Staves have fairly low attack power, but they substantially boost WIS. Ideally, any character who equips staves would be focused on spell-casting during battle. (and likely neglect to physically attack very often) There are a couple of staves with attack power comparable to that of swords, because they're more combat-oriented. Generally, you may only want to equip a staff for the substantial WIS boost you would get from it. It would greatly empower all your spells to be holding the weapon.

Bows are probably going to be the most neglected weapons. They mostly serve to boost AGI, and some of them have secondary WIS bonuses. (since I assume mages might opt to use bows every now and then) AGI is otherwise a bit difficult to raise, so bows can make that process a lot easier. Bows and axes also both have special damage bonuses versus certain enemy racial types. Bows have added effectivity against any creature that's airborn, and axes are effective against creatures with tentacles. I tried to make sure there was some incentive to use everything available.

As for axes, they have ridiculous attack power, but their accuracy is much lower than other weapons. (and they're two-handed) In fact, the highest attack power in the game comes from one of the axes. Swords are more balanced, but have nowhere near as much attack power. They're generally just a lot easier to hit with, and there is a wider variety of effects tied to them.

The only real consequence to having your stamina decreased is that your natural defense begins to fall, as well. (total defense is derived from both stamina and what you're wearing) What's probably more frightening is that undead creatures will rely on instant-death attacks a lot. The "Carrion Bird," for instance, not only has the ability to petrify your characters with its gaze, but death status is added directly to its physical attacks. They're fairly rare encounters, though.

There's "Mana Dew," which replenishes a few charges. You otherwise have to go pray at a goddess statue and make a GP donation to receive mana. Mana Dew is fairly rare and expensive, though. (since it is rather convenient to have)

The optional boss only has 3200 HP, but character statistics exist on a much smaller scale. I would compare it more to games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, where a character may have as much as 250 HP at their highest level.

Most RPGs tend to use base statistics that represent much higher values than they actually should. In Final Fantasy games, a single point of strength probably equals something like 33 points of damage. Combine that with an attack multiplier and the formula is a little complicated. Escheron uses very straightfoward statistics. What you see is what you get. You even have a damage indicator that gives you a very close approximation of what your actual damage to an enemy will be. (minus the enemy's own defense, of course)

Thanks. It is sort of difficult to balance statistics in an RPG -- at least, until you get into test-play. All the original stats are just estimations based on ideas of what a party's position would be at that point in the game. As strange as it may sound, this is one of my favorite parts of designing a game. I love creating all the inventories and skills, and balancing everything out.