Hey people, I'm just starting out here on Gamedev; I've been working on an RPG for about 2 weeks now and I've got the over head camera-centered movement down as well as collisions and animation of sprite movement. The issue I'm having now is that I don't know how I should code the combat scene, I want to build it like the fight scene in Final Fantacy when the camera changes to a sideline view of the characters and each takes their turns selecting their attacks or whatnot, but with this being the first game I've worked on in XNA I don't have any idea how I should proceed with animating that kind of transition. So really I'm looking for anyone who might have advice on how they would animate that, and how they might code the transition in and out of the fight scene.

First, Are you doing 2D or 3D ?

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, many game companies did the same thing you are wanting to do. Srategic Simulations Inc (SSI) developed a sireies of Advance Dundeon & Dragon (AD&D} 2D games. During the traveling phase in the country side, it would be an Overhead view, int the civalized areas it would be a first person walk through veiw, and in the battle phase it would be a 4-way side scroller view.

If you think about it a little, the simply had different rendering sections of code for each. By prsenting different backdrops in their rendering process, they were able to present different points of view. Of couse for animation, you would have to switch from overhead Animated Sprites to side view Animated Sprites.

In 3D, it would be a matter of rotating the Camera(s).

Are you doing 2D or 3D ?

2D; literally just like Final fantacy 3 for example. But I think you're right, it would be just like adding an additional menu screen in a way, or like going in and out of a building, which I already have working methods for. Tell you what, I'm gonna keep going till I reach the phase when I make a talking class allowing me to communicate with the NPC's then I'll try to implement that into a text based fighting system that puts you into another 'room' (or instance) and loads a different background and sprites like a menu screen might. I'm diving into the code, I'll report back with my findings.

In the meantime any additional comments or ideas are welcome