Multiplayer Interactive-Fiction Game-Design Blog

06 Combat

Most MUDs and virtual worlds have a turn-based combat system

where each combatatant gets one attack evern 2-5 seconds.

Because there aren't any choices for a player (or NPC) to make,

players can press an "auto-attack" button and bash on their

opponent until either the opponent dies, or the player decides

to run away.

Circumreality's combat is entirely different...

• An attack only occurs when the player presses the attack button or

  types in "attack ENEMY".
  
  





• A player can attack once every second if they wish, except that

  their attacks become ineffective when done that rapidly.

  This is handled by the pWeaponAttackTime parameter.

  Attacking too quickly will significantly decrease the chance of hitting and

  reduce the attacker's damage. Attacking longer will slightly

  increase the hit chance and damage, but at the expense of attacks.

  The ActionEffectiveness() call is made to determine

  how effective the attack it.
  
  





• Each attack also fatigues the attacker in

  a significant way, so a player wants to make their attacks count.

  A call to ActionFatigue() takes care of this.

  Note that it fatigues characters holding a lot of weight more

  than those lightly encumbered.

  
  
  




• However, if an attacker does not attack quickly enough, the

  defender will get in a counterattack. This will cause

  the attacker to parry or dodge causing

  a distraction, that then distrupts the attacker's attack.

  The function to disrupt a character

  is ActionDistraction().
  
  





• Since parrying and dodging both use fatigue, and end up

  distracting the attacker, a character can

  control how much parrying and dodging their character does.

  If they have both on full, they aren't likely to get hit,

  but they won't be able to effectively attack, and they'll

  tire quickly. Conversely, a character in a full suit of armor

  can turn both off and just attack without worrying about

  the enemy's attacks getting through his armor.
  
  





• The attacker can also decide where to aim:

  high, middle, or low, and left, center, or right. If the

  attacker hits an undefended spot their chance of hitting

  increases.
  
  





• Aiming also (obviously) influences what body

  part is hit, allowing the attacker to use different strategies,

  like taking out the defender's legs, etc.

  
  
  




• Likewise, the defender can defend a location

  of their body.
  
  




• 
  
  Different weapons do different types of damage: Swords

  causes bleeding, maces cause tissue and bone damage, etc.

  
  
  




• Some weapons have several attack types, such as

  swords being able to slash and stab, each producing a different

  type of damage.

  
  
  




• Some armor provides better protection against some types

  of attack. For example: Chainmail is great against slashing

  damage, but lousy against clubs or impaling.

  
  
  




• Characters can sustain several types of damage, including

  broken bones, severed limbs, tissue damage, and bleeding.

  Bleeding is very different from a traditional game because

  a wound will continue bleeding after it has been created, so

  a character hit by major sword wound won't fall unconscious right

  away, but may take 30 seconds before bloodloss overcomes him.
  
  

When an attack is made, the following method calls are made:

1. Attacker.CombatAttack() to initiate the attack.

   
   
   




2. Attacker.CombatWeaponPrefGet() and

   Attacker.CombatWeaponPrefSet() to get and set the

   weapon that the attacker uses for combat.

   
   
   




3. Defender.DamageParry() to allow the defender to

   parry the attack.
   
   





4. Defender.DamageDodge() so the defender can dodge

   the attack.
   
   





5. Defender.DamageArmor() is then called, letting

   the defender's armor absorb some of the damage.
   
   





6. Defender.DamageNoArmor() is finally called with

   the damage that reaches the defender's flesh.
   
   





7. cBodyPart.BodyPartDamage() receives the call

   with the damage that's specific to the body part.
   
   





8. In turn, it calls BodyPartBloodLoss(),

   BodyPartBoneBreak(), BodyPartParalysis(), BodyPartSevered(),

   and BodyPartTissueDamage().

   
   
   




9. These may make calls back into the cCharacter,

   including DamageBloodLoss(), DamageDazed(),

   DamageDeath(), DamageDisease(), DamageDodge(),

   DamageDropHeld(), DamageFatigue(), DamageKnockDown(),

   DamageMagicEffect(), DamageMana(), DamageUnconscious(),

   and DamageVenom().