Hello all, I''m looking for some sources on the design and implementation of combat simulation engines (CSE) that are used in RPGs, particular D&D-style games. Books, magazines, Internet sites, etc. In particular, I''m wondering if it''s possible to design (and perhaps implement) a CSE that can be used in real-time and turn-based games. Without any other sources to draw on, this is the initial design I''ve come up with. The three main classes in the design are Creature, Combatant, and Encounter. The Creature class is the abstract base class for different types of creatures and provides basic combat statistics and operations. These objects are used to create Combatants. The Combatant class manages the actions that Creatures perform in an Encounter: default action, a queue of specific actions, and the current action. The Encounter class is the main class that represents a distinct and seperate instance of combat. An Encounter object controls the order of combatants in battle and performs actions for these combatants. The way I see it, the client (i.e., the game) should determine if combat should be real-time or turn-based. If it is turn-based, then the client will block, waiting for each combatant to select a specific action. If this action is the same as the default action, no action need be added to the queue of specific actions. If combat is real-time however, the default action plays an important part. If the queue of specific actions is empty, the default action is performed automatically. Otherwise, the next spectic action is taken from the queue and performed. No assumptions are made about when specific actions are added to the queue for a combatant. This way, a client could enter a non-blocking loop, performing actions until the encounter ends, adding specific actions only when a player specifies one, and performing the specific action the next time the combatants turn is taken. Anyways, I was hoping other, more experienced game designers could comment on my INITIAL design and hopefully post a few sources where someone like myself could learn more about the design (and implementation) of RPG-style combat-oriented games. Thanks, Eric.

Is this all?

It looks all right to me, except that I don''t see why you make a distinction between Creatures and Combatants. Do like the core D&D rules do: save yourself time and apply the same rules to all living creatures, combatants or no.

Is there anything in particular that you wanted advice on?

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"Ph''nglui mglw''nafh Cthulhu R''lyeh wgah''nagl fhtagn!" - mad cultist, in passing

quote:Original post by DuranStrife
Is this all?

It looks all right to me, except that I don''t see why you make a distinction between Creatures and Combatants. Do like the core D&D rules do: save yourself time and apply the same rules to all living creatures, combatants or no.

I''m trying to modularize the combat simulation and keep it separate from the rest of the design.

quote:Is there anything in particular that you wanted advice on?

In particular, I''m wondering if it''s possible to design (and perhaps implement) a CSE that can be used in real-time and turn-based games.

Of course it is! Just make sure that your "turns" are fairly short, otherwise the action battles will stink.