Castle Paradox

[Newbie_Power]

This thread is about the new chaining options implemented in the 9/22/09 nightly and in anticipation of the "instead of" option that will open many doors.

First off, stat checks for the attacker (not target). This will be good for moves with certain requirements, obviously. Applications include special effects at low enough HP, or stat checks for needing high enough in a stat to use an ability or chained effect.

Tag checks. Now this has potential due to the fact attacks themselves can set tags.

This may actually make Twincast or combination attacks possible, now that tags are now relevant in checking to see what moves are possible.

Now I'm gonna foolishly hype the upcoming "instead of" because it sounds so awesome. Normally chains end when they fail and we can't make something different happen instead, so it's just a linear progression with no way to branch into possibilities.

But with a possible "Instead of", if we are designing an attack, then we would be able to branch out onto a different chain if a certain portion of the attack fails.

"Instead of" and "on fail" in the Plan for Improved Attack Chains sound potentially awesome too. Instead of will make ridiculously complex strings much easier to accomplish, with the addition of being able to add spice to a single attack to result in different effects, great for if you are making an attack where randomized effects happen or if you're making a dancing/barding character and you want them not to follow the same pattern every time. It'll be good for enemy AI as well. On fail will be good for having incredibly risky attacks.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

[FnrrfYgmSchnish]

Whoa, these are being added to the nightly versions already!?

I saw the wiki page for the new attack-chaining plans, but I had no idea they were already being implemented so soon. Maybe I'll be able to use them in Okédoké after all?

About "Instead" chains--I kinda had the impression that they would work like the "Use this box instead" option in textboxes: Attack Y's chaining would basically say "if (Tag X = on), then use Attack Z instead of Attack Y." Might've just been wording problems, but it kinda sounded like you were talking as if "instead" and "chain on failure" were going to be the same thing.

[Bob the Hamster]

I think I have named the different proposed chain types confusingly

Else-Chain - This happens if the regular chain fails (I was previously calling this Fail-Chain, but I thought that sounded like it implied it would happen when the attack misses, which was not my intention)

Instead-Chain - This causes the attack to be completely replaced. This is similar to the "Instead" conditional for text-boxes. So if NormalStrike successfully instead-chains to CriticalStrike, then ONLY CriticalStrike will actially happen. Maybe I should rename Instead-Chain to something else, because I can really understand why the name would be confused with Else-Chain

Also I was wondering. Should I make "Chain Rate %" a common attribute to all chain modes (tag check, stat check) so that you could make a single chain that happens 50% of the time when HP is > 90%? Because right now if you wanted a chain to happen 50% of the time when HP > 90%, that would require three chained parts.

I was thinking about target stat checks too, but I don't know how to handle those for multiple targets. Causing the attack to chain for some targets and not for others is not something that I can practically do right now... I suppose I could make target stat checks that simply do absolutely nothing if there is more than one target.... Thoughts?

[Moogle1]

Do it all! Mwahaha.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Newbie_Power]

[Blue Pixel]

Im probably just being lazy here by not experementing myself and finding out, but is there a way yet to chain an attack randomly to another attack, but the precentage is based on a skill?

[Bob the Hamster]

I am changing it to support chain rate and other chain conditions simultaneously, but beware! If you have already started using this feature you are going to need to fix any new attacks that you set to use extended chaining... what do you expect for a WIP feature only two days old ;)

[Blue Pixel]

Oh, and another thing, Backspace deletes sprites now in editor mode instead of fliping them? Is this a bug?

[msw188]

Ideally, target-stat checks should run on an individual target-by-target basis, so it would be possible for a single chained attack to fail on some targets and work on others. I have a bad feeling that this might be difficult, since it seems that game only ever registers one 'attack' at a time. But it would be the ultimate in awesome for chain dependancy.

If this proves impossible, I don't think we should make stat checks work in some cases and not in others. I think the best compromise would be to give the stat-check a three-option bitset of sorts where the user can decide whether it checks the highest such stat of the targetted group, the lowest, or the sum.

In answer to the_dude, I'm pretty sure Backspace only flips thins when you're on the screen where you can edit the pixels themselves, whereas it deletes things when you're on the screen picking what to edit. I am not certain of this, however.
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My first completed OHR game, Tales of the New World:
http://castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=161

This website link is for my funk/rock band, Euphonic Brew:
www.euphonicbrew.com

[Bob the Hamster]

[Moogle1]

[Blue Pixel]

[Bob the Hamster]