RedBaron5

I'm currently working on a fighting game and this is how I have my AI set up.

For enemy defense:

Enemy has a "chance to block number" that gets checked every time the player attacks.  If the check passes the enemy blocks.  I modify this number for certain situations.  For example, immediately after the player parries an attack, the chance to block for the enemy becomes zero, this allows a "free" counter attack.  Another example is setting the chance to block to 100 after the player performs 2 identical attacks to prevent attack spamming.  The next attack that is performed will be blocked.  For more complexity, you could have a chance to block number for each type of player attack and vary those for different situations.

For enemy offense:

This is still a work in progress for me.  I wanted the enemies to be reactive to player commands but I also wanted them to not sit and wait for the player to do something.  I gave each enemy an aggressiveness number that I vary based on certain situations (health remaining, consecutive hits by player).  I use this number to determine the length of time before an enemy attacks.  Other than that, I have the enemy react to player attacks.  If they block an attack they have a chance to immediately counter attack, if an attack connects they have a chance to perform the same attack again.

For enemy "special" attacks, I have a few situations where they are performed.  The first is simply a random timer (with a minimum time) that resets after they use a special.  The next is player/enemy health thresholds.  And the third is consecutive hits by the player.

My system isn't at all perfect and I literally did no research on it at all, its just what I came up with.  Hopefully, it gives you some ideas.

Trello.

I think many people are too quick to pigeon hole themselves into a specific area when it comes to design.  "I'm a programmer so my game will always look crappy."

I completely disagree with this.  While people will always be quicker to learn in some areas than others, human beings have a remarkable ability to learn ANYTHING.  (This includes ART, for all of you programmers.)  All talent does is allow you to learn something faster than others.  A non-talented artist can become just as good though time and dedication.

Perseverance always trumps talent.  Turns out if you just don't give up, you will eventually create something good.  All of us are really good at knowing when something looks wrong.  I used to suck at animating.  The good thing is that it is obvious that my animations sucked.  So I worked on them.  Then worked on them again.  Then scrapped them and started over.  Then tweaked them.  Then fixed them again...you get the idea.  Eventually, my animations looked pretty good and I became a lot better animator.

As long as you don't expect to create a game in a few months (a few years is more likely) than NO project is impossible for a solo developer, they just take more TIME.

I like card games.  They have a clearly defined set of rules and a very rudimentary intro to graphics.  Trying to program AI to play the correct card in each situation is a good intro to a lot of logic.

The best way to come up with ideas for games is to play games.  While playing a game, think about what YOU would have done to make it better or a feature that you think you could improve on.

Another popular thing these days are reboots of older games.  What was your favorite game as a kid?  I liked a game called Fantasy Empires that had a lot of original ideas in it.  There hasn't really been a game like it since it came out in 1993.  I think a modernized version would be awesome.

I also have ideas for games based on books, movies, or tv shows.  Want to create an RPG?  Read some fantasy novels.  A zombie game?  Read World War Z.

You can't really search for inspiration, it just sort of happens when you are least expecting it.