Tactical battle animations

from Elemental Forums

I would suggest when units attack instead of this happening.


4 units attack a 4 unit group

attacking group sends in ONE unit and he attacks - everyone on other group dies and the attacking group looses 2 units .......



Instead this would be more interesting (4 unit vs 4 units)

4 offensive units move to closest border of defending tile and start attacking animations (depending on 3 factors - (superior/equal/weaker) 

4 defensive units move to closest border of defending tile and start defending animations (depending on 3 factors (superior/ equal/ weaker)

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the factors meaning if the attacking unit for instance has total 40 attack vs 20 defence they would have superior animations - and the defensive would use weaker

also the death animations should happen with alittle off intervals of each other instead of all instant (but still within a reasonable time)




5,757 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I think Fantasy Wars got this right. Really good TBS series, IMHO, for those that haven't tried it.

 

Anyways, in that series, when a unit attacks all the men in that unit run into the target square and fight it out for a couple seconds. Cavalry runs down infantry, spells throw guys about. It is a small thing, but it makes the battles feel more alive. Probably outside the current scope of Elemental, but it would be nice for the 2nd Expansion or a future sequel.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Redwind: That's pretty much how the group animations work in FE - even got the variance in deaths in!  Good calls ;) 

Goon: That was our original ORIGINAL design, where guys would fight out in realtime until you told them to fall back/pick another target. I think, in the current design, that would make battles drag on too long  :(  But like you said, something to consider for 2nd expansion...the better we can make battles look, the more impact they'll have on the experience.

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Good to hear from you boogie. How is that midwest zombi invasion going? That is the current theory on the lack of dev journals. Will it be possible to have magic effects use specific or unique animations on hit? It would be nice to entangle an enemy in actual vines. How exactly does animations fit into the development process?