Rebirth's Battle System

Hello! October is a huge health check month for me, and I was hoping it wouldn't affect my work, but here we are nearly 30 days between updates.... Gah, what is time? Where does it go?... Anyway, today I want to discuss Project Rebirth's battle system! I thought about this for a long time. While I don't like making action rpgs like Y's and Zelda, I wanted a party battle system that can at least hold some essence of those games, but also gave a choice to the player whether to use it to that feel, or move the battle to a more controlled tempo. 

VisuStella's ATB battle system plug in seems to be a good way to give simple control to the player who has a hard time using the Active Battle System. Yes, that includes me, so yeah making the final call on a battle system I'm not fond of (Hi, FFX-2) was kinda hard. In a lot of games, *cough* FFX-2, ATB's "wait" system is a giant pain. Even in one of my favorite Final Fantasy's, IX, it seemed to have some rules on what menu stopped the gauges. I could be remembering wrong, it's been what 20 years since my playthroughs, but all I can think about during ATB is : "I want off this ride."  The wait system in VisuStella's plug in stops the gauges on what looks like every menu if you have it set to "Wait". You can even adjust the speed of the gauges, as a whole in the options menu. So, it fits right into my vision of using timing in battle and having a fast pace, but only if the player wants it. I can playtest my own game, yay! There won't be a timer to get tasks done in the game, but I wanted some urgency somewhere. The world is ending, our party is not on some museum tour...

I don't want this to be a long game, so I will start the tower with unlocking an elevator that will take the party most of the way. This will be a part where enemies will keep showing up as the elevator goes up, not just a fade out/in thing. Then, I'll have about 5 to 6 floors and the roof for the players to climb, and explore.

Due to using an unfamiliar battle system (for developing), I plan to keep leveling up and skills rather linear. Each character brings something a bit different, and I hope it is still going to be interesting without the Skillcraft system. The player will have to learn each character's abilities and choose what can interrupt, slow the foe, or speed the party up, and other timing mechanics to defeat the bosses and enemy fodder before the enemy wipes the party. My main Emerald World games will have Skillcrafting and more ways to use a favorite character. My main games are where I am going to focus on spells and have a choice for how the player wants to use "Magick". These side stories are perfect for experimenting with different gameplay systems and options, while using a simple group of four members. 

I am hoping to have the game completable by level 10 and easy by 15. After 15,  all the party will get is stat boosts, there will no longer be new skills after 15. This is probably going to be slow to test, but I want to try not to rush too much like a jam. This and Dawn are the first games I am making outside of a jam, so I want them to look a bit more thought out and less rushed. I also, really want to give more attention to gameplay with Rebirth, especially because Dawn is 90% story, 0% battle, and 10% exploration. So far, this has been a very fun project, and I will do my best to finish it this year (Rebirth, Dawn will have to be Jan 2026 the earliest).

While I did a lot of gameplay progress with Rebirth, I haven't really worked with Dawn too much. I am seeing some help on structuring my tasks, so I can get more done side by side, but right now Dawn has to take a back seat.  The holidays can get a bit crazy, but I'm going to keep doing my best. As always, thank you so much for joining me on this incredible journey!