Yes, a projectile that can move independently and interact with the environment. I was thinking that it could be a temporary BP_Unit spawned with a unique projectile AI given its own turn. Though I wonder if it wouldn’t get too expensive for my idea of a bullet hell like attack where dozens of projectiles could be on screen at once.
By hitscan damage, I was referring to simply doing damage to a selected target on ability activation. I want my attacks to have a physical presence in the world so they can be affected in numerous ways. Like a laser that can bounce off certain surfaces or be reflected by units themselves to hit out of the way targets. Or a bomb that can be kicked into small holes or moved around by environmental effects like wind or slopes. These can be done relatively easily in real-time, but I’m having difficulty fitting them into ATBTT. Of course, there’s a difference between an instantaneous attack like a laser, and a persistent actor like a bomb so I imagine they’ll have completely separate implementations.
Also a couple more questions:
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Is it possible to do something like Shining Force 3 where you can freely move your character until the edge of their movement range, and on starting an action, automatically slide the character to the middle of the closest tile? I’m considering combining this with the free path idea, where a unit subtracts from its move variable with each step and the blue movement tiles shrink in response to limit the edge movement. Like a stamina system in grid form.
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Body parts and unit height. Possibly representing a unit with a cube volume instead of a 2d tile so that their head, body, arms, and legs can be hit separately according to the height and direction of an attack. This would include crouching and laying down to decrease a unit’s height at the expense of movement. I’m considering separate actor components for various body types like humanoid, four-legged, or vehicle, and height should be as simple as adding a variable to BP_Unit that can be modified based on stance and level height, that compares to a height value for each attack ability. Ideally you should be able to crouch underneath an attack, or turn to take damage to another body part that has enough health to survive.
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Hybrid real-time, turn-based. I’ve been playing around with the experimental hybrid map, and it’s pretty much perfect for something like Underrail that I’ve had in mind. Real-time movement out-of-battle and in stealth, while still being able to use attack abilities to initiate combat. As well as a seamless transition back to real-time when enemies are no longer aware of where you are. Would you recommend building on top of the hybrid example, or should I hold off until it’s out of experimental? It seems easy enough to begin and end turn based mode, though I’m not clear on how you’re anchoring the units to the center of a tile on begin turn based mode. That is, how would real-time patrolling enemies move to their appropriate tile when turn-based mode begins?
Sorry if I’ve rambled on, it’s just that ATBTT is such an amazing base to work with, that I just can’t stop thinking about what to add and expand. I’m sure many people are thankful that you’ve continued to work on it for so long while still being so active with the community. I certainly am.
Thanks for your time~