Multiplayer Turned Based Battles?

[thephantom]

Hi guys,
As you may or may not know, I am working on an online mutliplayer RPG known as RpgLegend and I have yet to tackle the battle system. I am about to start planning and designing said system and I was hoping to get some input. For clarification I was planning on the battles to be side-view and time based.

What JRPG games with turned based battles from the 16-bit era (SNES) did you enjoy the combat system for?
And what games battles would you think would make interesting multiplayer battles?

What features would you like to see in an mulitplayer turned based battle?

Thanks guys for any input you may have!

[DerVVulfman]

DerVVulfman Would your turn based battlesystem be tactical?
thephantomx tactical, like position and grid based?
DerVVulfman Yeah
thephantomx no, i want to go for more like side-view turned based
DerVVulfman Ah.

It's gonna have to be one-on-one I guess, given the nature. Be hard to accomplish 2-on-1 or allow players to join combat.

BUT it would be interesting to see if you could make it so others could watch the fight as spectators. :D

[thephantom]

What challenges do you foresee that would make that hard? I am curious as what you were thinking there.

[DerVVulfman]

From how I see things, traveling on a map is fairly freeform. No rigorous structure. But a turn based battlesystem kinda evokes the idea that it is a separate routine or engine where one guy takes a turn, then the other, then back to the one guy. So I kinda see it like two players who decide to fight as them entering the arena... a system separate from the map (in essence, a battlesystem).

Kinda like seeing a separation between Scene_Map and Scene_Battle for RPGMaker users.

On the other hand, I'm not familiar with the language you're using or the setup. You might be able to pull off a system where the map and combat system are intertwined. Something that lets you walk and see two guys in the middle of a turn-based contest (which would be wicked), or even enter the fight *DRDEATH JOINS FIGHT* while another tries to leave.

Or did you already get that going? I'd like to see someone place bets on who the winner is.

And what do you get if you do kill a fellow player? In Diablo, PKers got an ear for a trophy. EEP! Thinking Hack/Sign and Sword Art Online.

[thephantom]

I was planning on it being on its own screen (Scene) like Rpg Maker does, yes.

My idea to support multiple players joining the same battle would involve sucking the near by players in your party into combat with you. Say for example all the allied players within 3 tiles from you. And even for those who were further away, when they approach you, they will be sucked into your battle, even mid-fight.

Bosses would not allow people to join mid-fight, for balance and abuse reasons. And before a boss fight we could even have some kind of warning that will allow players time to prepare.

As for PvP I was planning to have party VS party, and require all players to agree to battle, and thus enter at the same time.