The programming genius behind the ultimate battle system

What was your inspiration for the battle system?

Unlike a lot of players, I absolutely loved Quest for Glory IV's battle system. What drew me in were the unique fighting style of each enemy and their own arsenal of moves. They weren't just the same enemy with different stats using different sprites. I appreciated the fact that each had its own look, theme and combat style. What I also liked was the fact the fact that the monsters and the hero had melee and distance attacks. The only thing I liked less was that melee combat was usually just about blindly slashing away once you had an opponent cornered. The earlier Quest for Glory games did do that better. I wanted to create a battle system that combined the variety of Quest for Glory IV with the focus on melee combat of the older games.

What was the very first version of the battle system like?

The first battle scene I made was between the fighter and the earth elemental. (whom we always referred to as "Rocky") Using a beta version of SCI Studio a loyal fan provided us with, I took Rocky's and the fighters EGA combat sprites, put them in an artificially widened alleyway background and started adding in the basic attack and dodge moves. Most of the elements and moves from that battle scene and the combat system in general were already present from the start. The main difference was the absence of "rows". Combat was still completely melee. Pressing backwards made the fighter jump out of reach, then back into position. Really lame dodging ability since by the time you jumped back into position, the enemy was already winding up for another knock to the noggin.

In version 2, I simply split that move into 'jumping back" and "jumping forward" and presto ... the multi-row battle system was born. enemies had slightly different behavior patterns from the start, but at that point they still adjusted their behavior to the hero. If he was aggressive, they'd tum aggressive too to force you on the defense. If he was defensive, the enemy would start using tactics to get around your block. Seemed nice until I tried it out and found out a smart player could alternate attack and defense to manipulate the enemy into staying in his easiest pattern. After that, I simply kept the enemy behavior a bit random, which made the battle much more interesting.

How did you go about creating a new battle?

Anonymous Game Developer 2 always gave me the reworked frames from the EGA game to start with and I usually ended up implementing those first They were the basic attacks, the recoiling animation after being hit, the dying animation and sometimes defensive moves. After implementing those and testing them to see if they worked well, I'd brainstorm about the fighting style I imagined the enemy to have and what kind of moves would fit into it I wanted the move-sets to match the opponents, so scorpions would not be firing lightning bolts from their tail and the EOF fighter would not be casting support spells. I also made a mental note of how I expected an opponent to behave. for example, Rakeesh is a paladin who generally fights only to defend himself, so in a training session, he'd be calm, collected and defensive. Uhura's tribe trains warriors to be fast on their feet and accurate with a spear, so her combat style reflects that.