Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Doesn't seem like my explanation helps, but let's go deeper. If our hypothetical enemy uses a total of 100 actions,
we can roughly expect the following number of uses of each skill:
•
Attack: 50/100 uses
•
Skill A: 50*2/100*3 = 100/300. When we simplify that, so it becomes 33.3(repeating)/100.
Let's call that 33/100.
•
Skill B: 17/100 (to add up to 100 actions)
If we go back to the previous set of bullets, we realize that the math checks out. Attack is used most frequently,
followed by Skill A, and, last, by Skill B.
Okay, what happens if the rating difference is more than two points?
Skills that have a rating more than two points
lower than the highest usable skill will never be used. Never, ever.
How about those conditions? Do they affect rating?
They most certainly do. The game checks for
usable
skills.
So, if you have a skill with rating 10 and a condition to only be used on every third turn, then it doesn't matter what
rating any other skills have on the other, non-third, turns. Let's take our initial example and add a Skill C that relies on
such a conditional.
•
Skill C—Rating 10: 100% chance to use on every third turn; 0% chance on every non-third turn
•
Attack—Rating 5: 50% chance to use on every non-third turn;.no chance to use on every third
turn
•
Skill A—Rating 4: 33% chance to use on every non-third turn; no chance to use when Skill C's
turn rolls around
•
Skill B—Rating 3: 17% chance to use when Skill C is unavailable; nil on those chances when
Skill C is usable
Feel free to test the rating system for yourself, by giving Slimes extra skills and using Battle Test to see how often
Slimes use each ability.
■
for that one skill to be used on every third turn, you would place a 3 in the second number box for the turn no.
conditional. You can determine the first time an enemy uses a skill, based on what turn number you put in the first box.
Hint
By skillful use of conditionals, you can create enemies that have predetermined patterns of attack. For example,
here's a boss pattern I came up with when working on my own game. The pattern in Figure
3-11
is for a Sand Scorpion.
It attacks on the first turn, then skips a turn, and then uses a power attack (Poison Tail). That sequence is repeated
until the player or the boss is defeated. The turn skip is a skill that has no effects save for displaying a message
(in that particular case: “is about to unleash a powerful attack!”).
