VXAce - A Boss Gauntlet Game

Background:
It started a few days ago when I "complained" on my status update as how boring is to make weak mobs / low level enemies. Eventually I started to think, why not make all of them interesting? The problem is, well I can't, I mean it won't suit in my current game. But, how about a new game where you fight a boss all time? basically a boss game.

I'm putting here as my personal note as well. When I'm gonna start this one, I don't know.

Story:
It might be the least part I'm gonna think as I don't want to hinder myself because I can't think of narrative. Or maybe no narrative at all. I'm not sure if it's going to turn some people off.

Gameplay:
Section 1: Battle System
The main gameplay would be focusing on battle. And the battle system is not going to use default turn system.
I'm still undecided whether If I want to use Free Turn Battle, Two Rows Battle System, Timeline Order, or Grid Battle System.

Free Turn Battle:
When you're in your turn, you're free to pick any actor and it will instantly action until you run out of char to move.

Pros: It's easier to balance in my opinion
Cons: Agility stat doesn't matter (means you can't really present an agile character).

Two Rows Battle System:
It's a same with FTB, but with row system. When your character on the front/back, it will have different skill. Character on back can be support, while in front switch into offensive mode. So far I'm really satisfied with this approach on my game.

Same pros and cons with FTB I think.

Timeline Order (or ATB if you prefer):
This system is adopted from Child of Light. It has idle phase where you're waiting, and casting phase before you deal damage. During casting phase, if you're being attacked, you gonna get interrupted and back to previous timeline.


Pros: Allow more strategic battle that requires you to pay attention to the surrounding whether you want to attack or defend.
Cons: You can only have two battle members because adding a new actor will make it hectic. Plus, I never have experience on making boss in this kind of system.

Grid Battle System:
Player and enemies are separated in grid. You can make a position as tactical advantage.
Pros: Looks cool, can present most of characters type.
Cons: Making it actually balanced and strategic will be quite challenging.

Additionally, an action battle system:
This wasn't my choice as action battle system in RM is kinda wonky. The engine doesn't really support a real time action without slight lag / frameskip from intense processing. Unless if RGD is already perfected, or... I'm going to do this in MV?

Section 2: Player VS Enemy

Party picking:
I started to think this idea with characters selection as party. I've made a lot of original character in the past that went unnoticed because my game concept which featuring those character never been released for many reasons. Basically in this kind of game, where you select few from the character roster, and you gonna try to survive from wave of bosses with those characters.

The pros of doing this is maybe you can submit a cameo from your game to insert as a playable party member here.
The cons is you can't really customize the character since well it's character based.

Boss Waves
Once you have picked the party members, you will be facing a lot of bosses. The idea of this is so that I don't have to worry about having a boss idea that doesn't really fit with my game, ended up wasted. You can also submit your own boss idea.

Every time before boss you are given a certain amount of currency to spend the currency into buying item or something for preparation. You gain some after defeating the boss, so you can choose to save it or use it all together. I'm also planning of "no grinding" in this game (which is ironic as I actually like grinding), all you need to focus is to solve the "puzzle" given by the boss.

Of course I'm also already seeing of "meta characters" will be happening. Basically, use combination of character XYZ is the best. But it's not the point of the game. The point is if you're going to be able to use other combination and still beat the game.

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At least that's it for now. Leave a comment if you have something in mind.

Maybe you can represent agility in FTB with a chance of a second attack or you could also make it harder for them to lose char? Just a few suggestions. I personally prefer timeline order because it's more realistic without being boring/hard.

Or maybe I don't need to present agility at all? I know a game that has zero presentation on agile type of character, except just about absolute dodge for one turn.

Timeline Order might be a good pick, but I need some experiment to make it actually looks good. Thank you for the reply :)

I actually thought about doing a game like this where your goal is to be the best fighter in the world, and to do that, you had to defeat everyone at the battle arena. I was going to break it down into low level cups, mid level, and so on, and once you win the weaker cups you can move up. But essentially every battle was going to be a boss battle, just that you can save and prepare before taking on the next round.

A battle area sounds interesting to be honest. But this is not a "everyone" because boss waves will also include monster and otherworldly being for a sake of fitting boss concept (something like I don't want the setting hinders me from making a various type of bosses). Although I might still be using battle arena since it's the most reasonable 'place' for this kind of concept.

Some suggestions. The plot could be a random character is exploring some ruins and gets teleported into an interdimensional battle arena where he and other people trapped there have to fight other beings for their world and many others. The winner gets to make one wish, and his or her comrades are able to return to their own world. This could also serve as a good way to introduce different endings based on which character is in the lead when you defeat the final boss.

I think an CTB (charge turn battle) system would be good for this type of game as it is easy to balance as well as allow you to have deeper strategy than a ATB, (action time battle) ABS (action battle system) or DTB (default turn based) battle system. Agility is very important in a CTB system but keep in mind that slower characters must be significantly more damaging (bulkiness not as important) as they will not be able to attack nearly as much as faster, less damaging characters.

Also can you add my four OCs to the game? First is Koros, who is a Dragoon. (from the Final Fantasy games) He has blue spiky hair and wears a golden headband and blue and gold lightweight armor. He has an outgoing and cheerful personality and has emerald eyes, light skin, and wields spears. He can also transform into a dragon. Then there's Zeak, who is a Paladin. He has light brown hair, emerald eyes, light skin, has a serious, blunt but kind personality and wears bulky white and gold armor. He wields greatswords, and can protect allies from harm and cast basic light magic. Then there's Sero, who is a Dark Knight. She has red eyes, long silver hair, pale skin a lightweight black and silver sleeveless jacket, medium sized breasts, black pants, and wields Longswords. She can control darkness and her favorite attack is Shadow Fire. She has a strong but silent personality, and rarely shows her emotions but when she does, she really lets loose the feels train. Then there is Ryuuta, who is a spellblade. He dual wields short swords, has spiky red hair, has golden eyes, wears a sleeveless black and gold jacket, a red cloak, and black and gold shorts, and cast advanced fire magic. He can also transform into a dragon. He has an energetic and hot headed personality.

I hope you consider these tips and tricks. Bye!

CTB would be a quite tricky to work, but I could try to pull it off. Coding a custom turn system is kinda a nightmare though. I will consider the story, it sounds good enough for an excuse.

As for OC, of course you can. This kind of game concept is mean to be a crossover game from many games (hopefully) without restriction. However, since it's not in production yet, I think you'd better be holding those OC off at the moment. I might be starting this in next year if nothing happens.

Thank you for your suggestion.

I kinda like the simple uncomplicated concept of this game though having no story at all would be missed (by me anyway lol).

Idk, everytime I insert a story into a game, the time to develop the game stretched longer than I expected bcz I never satisfied with the one I write :guffaw:

@TheoAllen lol yeah that does happen, doesn't it :unsure::guffaw:
Still I (personal opinion here) need a reason to play/fight in this case, beyond that's the type of game it is.
It doesn't need to be a grand tale with tons of lore but a small premise with a conclusion would be nice. You can always bounce around ideas with
others to speed up the process but that's entirerly up to you :p

Of course a simple story excuse must exist. But I mean, I do wish you can still enjoy the game even if you ignore / skip the story and hit right to the gameplay. Because that's what I did for most of gauntlet type games. What was the story? idk, but I enjoyed the game nonetheless.

@TheoAllen agreed, any game must be playable and (hopefully) enjoyable with the bare minimum of story explanation. That's why I love lore on item descriptions so much lol