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RPG in a Box

Bring your stories and ideas to life! · By Justin Arnold

StarCrawler Example (Grimrock like)

A topic by Daza created May 23, 2017 Views: 289 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 3
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I just wanted to share a video about a game that is similar to Grimrock but in the Sci-fi genre. It has the same control system as in RPGinAbox and i guess GR (which i haven't played).  I quite like how the combat system is done here so I thought i point it as one way combat could be done in RPGinAbox as a suggestion or one concept to consider since its dunegon crawler that fits with RPGinAbox. 

However the only thing i dont like is the combat screen background is always the same for a map. I think it would be interesting if like you could take a screenshot of players current area and sort of do a skybox like background of it with the center being the same tile floor as you are on where the combat takes place, would that be something that could be possibly done/added to RPGinAbox. I think it would make the combat feel less repitive even though you might have frequent types or mixes of enemies in a battle.


Another video of it with the exploration side of it for some inspiration..

Hi Daza! I had not heard of this game, it looks like fun!

You will be happy to know that I have plans for a similar style of combat in RPG in a Box. :) This style where you see the enemies standing in front of you reminds me older games I used to enjoy like Shining in the Darkness and Might and Magic (of course, StarCrawlers appears to be more in-depth than those). I haven't worked out the details yet, but yeah, I definitely would like to include something along these lines as one of the options for combat types.

Thanks for posting about this!

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Good to hear you have something similar in mind. I think depth in combat could be something like active armor and cool-down for some special attacks, maybe weapons that deteriorate over time with use (eg. melee weapons) that sort of thing would give a game depth where the player has to think carefully about what weapons to equip and when to use them. Also ammo depletion could be a think too, so if in your game level you have ammo cache hidden away but dont have a whole alot of ammo the player might conserve their more powerful weapons for harder enemies. 

Also i think it would be cool to include the ability for a game to have a card deck, (4 or 3 cards you can have at a time) the deck could be when you find a card you get the next one in the pile as it were) that is special abilities you learn could be a card with stats that can be enhanced or one time attack so a mash up of ccg and turn based combat like in those videos. These cards could be fanned out like you do when holding them in your hand but to the side and the player could click on one to activate one, perhaps cards on the left are active ones. This could for things like changing a stat of a weapon to crazy high for one combat turn or until fight is over etc. 

This would make loot interesting because although you could find an uber weapon or whatnot, cards can open up to more possibilities the ability for the whole group to exit a fight unhurt, make your squad invisible for two minutes (which normal enemy detection doesnt apply for 2 mins) etc. So keep that in mind too, it could be something that can co-exist with the combat system or maybe a user decides to make his game like a boardgame with card based attack and defense. However i know that might be more work, but i was more thinking of the examples i gave above for card use- either passive or a one time play. Maybe cards can have value which you can cash in duplicates. Anyone just a thought.

This sounds like a really interesting idea! I don't currently have plans to implement cards into the engine, but now that you mention it, it may be something that would be cool to look into in the future once I have all of the other necessary features implemented.

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I was thinking it oculd be another option for a combat system- similar to a boardgame and digital game on Steam Talisman, where you have Atk and Defense stats when you go up against an opponent you roll a die as a modifier to an attack- if the character has a piece of armor or a weapon this gets tallied into the equation as well and thats it. 

For other ideas for uses of cards- weapon and armor sets could be on a card with their stats, and cards could act as keys as well, like one card could be ("A drunken off-duty night guard once gave away a password to a good friend of mine."- Use this card at the lower gate of the Black Castle) or something like that. Another might be an invitation to talk to a blackmarket dealer the card vouches for the PC etc

Cards could denote skills- Your perception for traps has increased double. (Which means booby traps will be visible in the game- where as some might be considered hidden with just a trigger in the game that the player might set off other wise) and with this idea the player maybe can only carry or have active 5 cards- so some might boost stats or be a foot into the door in some place another might allow the PC to regenerate full health once etc. 

Card Artwork with RPGinABox:

The way we create an image for items for the inventory could be used on the card applying a basic image along with a background design either in templates form which we add onto or from scratch. Perhaps a editor for a card face could be a vector shapes editor with layers and we can give borders (thickness and style templates) and fill and a text box with perhaps two small boxes on each bottom corner for stats. They all could be universally the same template but the player can alter the design and import an image the same way for inventory items. This way games will look different from others in terms of card designs. They wont be flash as large budget card games- but would fit the game i think if you have basic colours and layers to stack shapes in a way to create a pattern or image (the racing game Forza is a great proof of concept for how basic shapes along with layers can create amazing art- but i am not suggesting having something as complex as that- but along those lines). Alternatively the user might have an option to load an image they created elsewhere and place it on a blank template and then move two stat boxes to where they please that is the top layer. This way those who are good at art can create something with their own tools if they want to. 

Here is some examples ive made as concept cards for a text adventure game i was making but never finished..i used Paint.net to create it. 

The borders and text boxes could be something the RPGinABOX could have some templates for to create shapes and layer them within the game editor or the user could important the image into a paint progam and make something like this. My card concepts below use a photo image in the background. These examples below could allow to have some gameplay events in a simple way- such as gun jam or being ambushed out of nowhere and not see the creature in the game at all- it could just be an event that twittles down your health or morale etc.. 

Some battles will involve enemies present and animating a menacing pose or something and we use the battle scene or room, and the cards doing the battling in the foreground- perhaps there is a slash, sparks, explosion effects built into the game that can be assign to card types when a battle concludes after two cards are revealed and a die roll to modify stats where you might get +3 attack and the enemy only gets +1 giving you the higher attack of both cards have the same attack strength.  

Also if the player has a small party- cards could reflect combat strength so it might be combat strength vs combat strength of opposing side.