RMMZ Frontview battle screen with ATB gauge

[murilloc]

Greetings everyone!!
This is the most recent battle screen update for my game, and I would greatly appreciate your feedback on the new mechanic.



I have incorporated the ATB (Active Time Battle) mechanic, in which skills and items have their own unique speed or charge rates, labeled as Slow, Fast, or Charge.

Skills and items categorized as Slow or Fast are automatically utilized and reset the gauge to the beginning of their respective section. Charge skills and items, on the other hand, require you to gradually progress through the Charge bar, only activating the skill or item once the end is reached.

The strategy is straightforward: use a combination of slow and fast attacks to outmaneuver your enemies while simultaneously attempting to interrupt their Charge skills with special Interrupt abilities.

This dynamic and enjoyable battle system is what I'm aiming for, but I need your feedback regarding the following:

1. Is this mechanic entertaining and effective?
2. Is the UI/UX design satisfactory, or does it require some polishing?
3. What changes should I make to improve or modify the mechanic, or is there something that needs to be removed?

I'm also uncertain about where to place the ATB gauge in the interface - whether on the right, top, or bottom.

I welcome any comments, as I strive to create the best battle system possible.

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

 

[DrBuni]

It is hard to give feedback on a battle system without a demo. At least to me the design of enemies is a lot more important than the battle system itself, hence why old Dragon Quest games are still fun to me. Enemies have interesting designs and functions, and when grouped together, the whole dynamic of the fight change.

With that being said, I like when developers give ATB a chance and put some thought into making it interesting. It has been ages since I played Final Fantasy 1 to 9, but I am not sure there were skills with different speeds in those games? Either way, it is a fun idea that can help balancing powerful skills by putting them into the slow or charge categories.

Regarding the UI, that depends on the themes of the game to me. The brown and orange tones as well as the design of who I assume is the main character are giving me vibes of a mystery-focused, fairly grounded experience. Am I correct? The green in the ATB gauge doesn't go well with the orange and brown tones, maybe a different shade of green would be better, but I am no specialist in color theory.

That said, the visuals are overall quite pleasing to my eyes.

Speaking of ATB gauge, I am left confused about how it works by looking at the picture. Why are there icons for the two actors and the enemy? I am more familiar with each actor having their own ATB bars. Sorry if that is a dumb question. Also, how many characters can you have in combat at once? The UI seems to indicate there is space for four of them, is that right?

 

[murilloc]

It is hard to give feedback on a battle system without a demo. At least to me the design of enemies is a lot more important than the battle system itself, hence why old Dragon Quest games are still fun to me. Enemies have interesting designs and functions, and when grouped together, the whole dynamic of the fight change.

With that being said, I like when developers give ATB a chance and put some thought into making it interesting. It has been ages since I played Final Fantasy 1 to 9, but I am not sure there were skills with different speeds in those games? Either way, it is a fun idea that can help balancing powerful skills by putting them into the slow or charge categories.

Regarding the UI, that depends on the themes of the game to me. The brown and orange tones as well as the design of who I assume is the main character are giving me vibes of a mystery-focused, fairly grounded experience. Am I correct? The green in the ATB gauge doesn't go well with the orange and brown tones, maybe a different shade of green would be better, but I am no specialist in color theory.

That said, the visuals are overall quite pleasing to my eyes.

Speaking of ATB gauge, I am left confused about how it works by looking at the picture. Why are there icons for the two actors and the enemy? I am more familiar with each actor having their own ATB bars. Sorry if that is a dumb question. Also, how many characters can you have in combat at once? The UI seems to indicate there is space for four of them, is that right?

Thank you for this feedback.
You are correct, the game is pretty mystery-focused with a western rpg setting.
The ATB works like this:
Every character (enemy and actors) have their own Icon, which is placed in the ATB bar in the beginning of the battle. Every Icon progresses into the ATB bar automatically between turns, which the individual SPEED parameter dictates how often the turn of every actor begins. More speed = more turns. And finally, skills can give you an advantage by using a Fast skill, moving your Icon ahead of the enemy who used a Slow skill.
And yes, the party is composed by 4 actors.
I polished the UI a bit since this post, here it is now:



I'm still finishing the demo. The project if getting bigger than I thought, so a lot of work ahead still.

 

[atoms]

It looks good to me, the mechanic can definitely work.

The skillsets will depend on how entertaining and effective it is, so if it does ever need tweaking that's the area to customise a bit, but it can work and it looks like it's working for you.

My only other thought was that I wouldn't immediately understand the Slow, Fast, Charge mechanic and fully realise it's an ATB system from the screenshot alone. I think it's fine though, as I'm sure you make this clear to the player at the start of the game, or when needed. But since that's my only other thought, I'll let you know.