Colosseum

[reccanti]

Hello everyone,


I've been working on this project on-and-off for about a month now, and I think I finally have a basic version of what I'm going for. I'd appreciate any questions, feedback, or concerns, especially since I'm pretty new to RPG Maker. Without further ado, let me introduce Colosseum!


Synopsis


The Colosseum is a place where people from all over the world come to test their strength and compete for fame and glory. Your goal is to assemble a team strong enough to defeat all challengers, and become champions!


Features

• turn-based combat
  
• team-building mechanic where you hire warriors to fight for you in battle
  
• strategic boss fights
  

Screenshots

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Project Roadmap


With this project, I am going to focus more on mechanics than story. Right now it's pretty bare-bones with just one character and one enemy. My goal is to introduce more features, characters, and enemies over the course of development with a steady stream of releases. 


Phase 1


This phase involves getting the basic gameplay mechanics set up. This would involve adding more characters, more enemies, and an in-game economy


Characters - The only character available is the Fighter, but I'd like to add 4-5 more characters by the end of this. I would start with basic classes like healers and black mages, and then maybe add more specific and interesting classes later


Enemies - Right now there is a single enemy character, the Old Captain. I'd like to have at least 10 enemies by the end of this phase, each of which is difficult, but with flaws that can be exploited if you build your team right


In-Game Economy - I want to start players off with a specific amount of money at the start of the game. They can use this money to invest in building a strong team, or maybe in single-use items. Players should be able to choose a strategy that works for them


Phase 2


As a more long-term goal, I'd like to build a better website around this, incorporating some social components


The game would appear on the left. On the right would be a sidebar, displaying an updating record of other players battling in the Colosseum. Each entry would display the name of the player, the team they are using, the enemy they fought, and whether they won or lost. This information would only be publicly available if the Player signed in and allowed this information to be publicly available.

 

[GoodSelf]

This game looks very interesting. I do have a couple of questions though:


How will porgression work in this game? What happens if I lose a battle, do I start from the beginning of the game?


How much replay value is here? If the enemys don't change, and the battlers are all avavilable, then would there be a reason to play it more than once or twice?


What kind of items will be available to the player? How many different dynamics can I create in a singe playthrough?


What do you anticipate the overall length of the game to be?


A couple more things I want to note:


I'm assuming you wont be using much tile graphics and battle graphics for this game, since there really is only 1 location: The Colliseum


Since thats the case, I believe it to be extreamly important to make the most beautiful map you can make (Since there is only 1, you can really dedicate your time to it).


You could even perhaps have someone design you an exclusive battle back for your Colliseum.


I think this idea is simple and brilliant at the same time - I'm excited to see how far you take this. Best of luck on your game, and PM me if you ever need a playtester!

 

[reccanti]

Hi GoodSelf,


Thanks for the feedback! I'll see if I can clear some things up.


replayability - I have a few ideas for how to keep people engaged with the game

1. new content - This is what I think I'll be focusing on early on. With this strategy, the goal would be to release new characters, items, or enemies at regular intervals (maybe 2-3 weeks). Players would be encouraged to experiment with new teams and dynamics when this happens.
   
2. tournament mode - This is a mode designed to be played in short bursts. Players would be given a large sum of money to build a team, stock up on items, then go through a gauntlet of random enemy encounters. This would make it so that there's a different experience each time you play
   
3. campaign mode - This a more long-term mode. Players would be given a smaller amount of money. More difficult fights would be impossible at this stage, but as you win fights, you gain more money to invest.
   

Currently, fights are just one-offs. Whether you win or lose a battle, you'll go back to the front of the Colosseum with full HP.


progression - Progression is pretty much limited to the Player and not any of the characters. The characters always have the same level and stats as when you hire them. If you're playing in campaign mode, progression would come from gaining more money and building stronger teams. Once the social component with profiles is implemented, progression would come from how much enemies you've been able to defeat and how you were able to defeat them (maybe having achievements for beating certain enemies or beating them quickly)


items - I'm worried about implementing too many different systems at once, so I would like to start with consumable items. This would be HP items like potions and status effect items, then spellcasting items. In the future, I might implement equipment, but I would like to have characters and consumables firmly established first.

 

[eadgear]

Put some ranking system so that the player can see their progress. Something like if I won selected battles, a new battle will unlock that will give me chance to raise my rank if I won.


Ranks (Just an idea of the names, it looks like a battle of fangs)


1. Platinum Fang


2. Golden Fang


3. Silver Fang


4. Bronze Fang


5. Black Fang


6. Crimson Fang


7. Rust Fang


8. Yellow Fang


9. White Fang


10. No Fang


This will serve also a item prerequisite like a white fang cannot buy this sword and cannot build this establishment.


PM me if you need help with ideas.

 

[reccanti]

Updates on Colosseum! You can play it here and you can view the code on GitHub


New Characters





The biggest update is the addition of the Healer. She has 2 spells: a basic healing spell, and a Revive spell, which will revive a KO'd party member. 





The initial release also included a Fighter character, but used a default sprite. This updates him to have his own.


Balancing


Because of this new character, the stats of the Old Captain have been updated to pose more of a challenge. 


Other updates


Battles are now in side view!


What's Next?


In the next update, I'd like to focus more on enemies. I'd like to add an enemy that's kind of like the Ymir from Final Fantasy VI, which enters a state where it will counter a player if they try to attack.


I'd also like to add more advanced logic to the Old Captain. Right now, his fight is pretty repetitive. I'd like to add some logic where he'll occasionally use a more powerful move when his HP dips below 50%. I tried to add that during this update, but I couldn't figure out how to apply 2 conditions to the Action Pattern (only try to use it every other turn and only use when HP is below 50%). Does anyone know of a good way to do that?


--


On another note, does anyone know of a way to get more control over the Battle Test? It's nice to be able to simulate a full battle, but I've been finding that sometimes I'd like more control. I'd like to be able to do things like control enemy attacks and get raw damage values by eliminating variance. I'm thinking about making a plugin to do this if one doesn't already exist. 

 

[Joronjo]

Yanfly has an enemy AI plugin that would fit like a glove for this as well as a state manager that could help with the Ymir battle

 

[GoodSelf]

So The Old Captain one-shot my healer, then rested, then one-shot me.
As far as I can tell, there are no potions, or skills to choose from, and the warrior can only attack.