I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of a real time grid-battling game. Something like the Mega Man Battle Network (MMBN) series. It’s strategic, it’s fun, and it’s such a solid battle framework. So I thought I’d use it as a reference point.
Patch is a boss battle rush that plays out on a 4×4 grid, similar to MMBN’s 3×3 grid. MMBN uses a chip system that allows players to pick from abilities and execute them in a selected order. This system is pretty flawless. But I want the game to feel more arcade like with lesser flow breaks. So Patch will use a different system without any added elements chip selection windows or the like.
In our game, Patch absorbs his enemy’s powers which turn into cassette-resembling “drives.” These drives allows Patch to change forms and execute abilities appropriate to those drives. (A guard drive would most likely be defensive, right?)
At a time, players can assign up to three drives for Patch to equip, allowing them to modulate their playstyle based on the enemy they’re up against. Rather than having lots and lots of available drives, it’d be better to have a small pool of drives that all synergize with one another in some way.
While I have somehow cracked the grid system and combat, the drive system is still a very early concept and I’ll need to further playtest it before I can finalize it.
In any case, I’m planning on making these builds (like the one in the gif above) available for download. So if you think you’d want to try them as they come out, let me know.
Leave a Reply