I’m starting to research just to see if an idea that I’ve got can be made into a game. The first thing I want to approach is the actual gameplay. I love turn based RPG, But I know that a lot of people don’t have much time so action RPGS would make more sense for them.
Now, my question is, would it be possible to ask the player before starting the game if they wanna play the turn based version or the action RPG version? I know I should develop the mechanics for the two of them, but animations would be the same, skills would be the same… Probably the action RPG version will see faster animations but that’s all.
Would that be possible? And if so, would it be resource consuming?
You can probably get it away with modeling the whole game via semi-turn based gameplay. What I mean is that each turn has a time limit and when it expires, we pick an action for the player. To simulate a turn based gameplay we simply allow for a HUGE time limit while real time = very short time limit.
I think you have similar project as mine, because mine is also action RPGs (not turn based though). I think you can program both. Personally, it can be slightly tricky (yet fun) and need caution for implementing both. I think it is possible. but if you ask me how? well…
I think (and I am doing that) you can use pop up window by UMG at the first and asking which types of gameplay do you want. GamePlay… as I said… I cannot help you much, since I am newbie. DemonSXDemon got the answer for you already.
If you don’t need to use real time, I think you can use Delta time from Tick. Not sure it is wise choice. but I can set 2 float variables -> current Action, Max Action. Current Action Start from 0, and it increases with delta time when the character is in waiting mode. if current Action reaches more than or same to Max Action (in my game, 20), Current Action Stop to increases and being set same as Max Action Number. With this you can use pop up window (I think i will go with UMG) with available command such as Attack and Items.
Arcanum, one of my favorite games of all time did this, though it is not my favorite because of the combat system. The implementation was quite wonky, and one of the issues was that the speed of animations in real time and the number of action points required for an action in turn-based mode did not correspond well, meaning that weapons that were fast in real time could be slow in turn-based mode etc. Even if this was not a problem, real time was a confusing mess in this game. This is not saying it cannot be done well, but be aware that you might have to spend a lot of time if you want both modes to be balanced equally against the various challenges in your game. You might consider using real time with pause instead, like the old Infinity Engine games did (or more recently Pillars of Eternity), or maybe just scrapping one of the options to make sure the one you choose is as polished and fun as possible.