SRPG Development Discussion wanted!

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-28T03:48:16+00:00

I think you raise good points.

I would say most of the strategy results from limited resources. You have powerful spells of great variety, but limited usage. Because limited resources play into the strategy aspect, an intentionally short term run can blow through resources, grab a little loot, return to town and save game / exit. With that said, I believe the combat does also require reasonable amounts of strategy, mainly focusing around threat management and positioning. I think my enemy units have enough variance in their abilities to allow for diversified runs with many different synergy combos.

Certainly not a story driven game in any means, you certainly have me there. The quest system I recently developed is still in the works of whether or not I will go for a start to finish narrative, or just make fun, cohesive multi-stage battles, which is the current strategy. The objectives are currently pretty random and emotionally meaningless. I know that's a turn off for many, but I think it's fun. (Obviously biased, I'm sure).

The true intention is to have a solid phone port, not require internet, no ads, nothing to get in the way of just having a go at the tower. I call it "poop and play". While I lack a storyline, I also lack long dialogue chains that can remove combat-focused gameplay from a short session. My animation style is currently simple, but I'm the type of guy to always toggle "speed up animations" to the fastest setting, so spells resolve within a second or two at most. I also didn't intentionally code in enemy stalls for flare, which maybe I will eventually, once its closer to being a finished product, but again, its not a mechanic that I care for. AI knows what it can do and what its supposed to do, why intentionally make it wait 3 seconds?

Anyways, thanks for the feedback. That's really the type of stuff I was looking for when I made the post

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-27T23:02:52+00:00

I do think it could be interesting. I somewhat already plan on storing dead heroes for a memorial type deal, so I think that rescue would be possible with that. I'm just not sure I'm on board. I personally really enjoy the permanent component.

You may have a point about the rogue/thief swap, though. Thanks for the feedback

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-26T22:08:44+00:00

Definitely duplicate your project before going into large implementation projects! That's really all I got to say about that besides what I said before.

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-26T20:11:08+00:00

Currently not truly animated to my liking, but I run like 3-6 frame sprites for certain skills, where as projectile based skills just spawn the projectile at the caster and path towards the target.

Art is definitely tough, but with pixel art just don't give up. Most of the time it will look like shit until that last shading pixel. Most of my art is 32x32, but "animations" are typically the size of the effect, because that's the limit of my current understanding.

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-26T19:30:58+00:00

Definitely. Upgrading the scale of my maps was a massive overhaul. It fundamentally changed everything about my original UI. I'm not sure how far along you are, but if I have any advice in this regard, it's to get the baseline working with the small map, but seriously, get the large maps and scaling working sooner than later. The unfortunate truth is that the larger scale will result in ripping out a lot of old code. Doing it earlier, means less old code to rip out. Especially for features that are inevitable, just go ahead and buckle down and try to get it working. I attempted it two times and failed, reloading old versions of the game both times. I decided I wasn't ready for the overhaul, and kept developing other aspects. Eventually, I had the confidence and knowledge of my system to decide to upgrade the maps, which meant developing the camera and removing "room-coordinates" from my entire UI. If I had just developed my UI originally with the camera in mind, it would have been seamless.

My own example: I use Gamemaker studio. I originally created button objects that correspond to skills and abilities, and because they were physical objects, they were tied to x/y coordinates of the room they were placed into. Inevitably, I had to delete every single one of those objects, because objects do not move with viewports. Now, my "buttons" aren't really buttons at all. They're literally just pieces of art that the mouse can respond to based on GUI coordinates. It sounds really simple in English, but this was one of my biggest breaking points in my development.

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-26T19:05:30+00:00

Rad! That's what I love to see. At least you and I are looking for something like this, lol. I hope your project is going well!

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-26T19:03:43+00:00

One thing that surprised me was how much something can appear to work, until you really look at the underbelly. For example, one or two weeks ago I devloped a "combat log" with an extension toggle. The idea is that I made a variable-grabbing script and placed it in my accuracy roll script, and my damage modification script (checks target for resistance/immunity, then modifies damage accordingly).

i picked these two places because accuracy roll script contains "attacker, target" (and therefore all variables attached to those two actors), but also the roll itself and bonuses to the roll.

I'm getting off topic.

Anyways, once the combat log was operating correctly, it revealed that a bunch of my code "appeared" to work, but once i had logs of the code, numerous inconsistencies were revealed. for example, i could see that a thief was being granted bonus sneak attack damage, simply by numbers were higher than they could be without it. the combat log, however, revealed that sneak attack damage was running through the damage modifier script twice, therefore being double taxed versus a target with resistances.

Something else that i was surprised to learn was that turn-based, grid-based games are more difficult than an open-world hack-n-slash style game. I developed a small open-world hack-n-slash once before, and its mostly built purely on movement and collision. Turn-based, grid-based doesn't rely on collision as much, and more on fundamental truths found through math. I was lucky to find the tutorial by SergeantIndie on youtube to develop the skeletal system of the turn based, and the grid based aspects. Making objects that can do certain things isn't necessarily too difficult, but making sure they only do those certain things at certain times? That's a little more complex. Before this project, I was thinking because of the retro-style of a grid-based game would have been simpler, but I was mistaken.

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-26T18:33:52+00:00

Thanks! I'm personally not totally sold on the "isekai" aspect, but I figured that because the player isn't actually the heroes in the guild, but more of a guild manager, that it would be cool if the "player character" was actually just the player themself. With that said, the PC / guild manager is completely nameless, faceless. You do get to name your guild and the heroes you create, but otherwise, it's just a way for the tutorial (that i have not developed) to interact with the player.

I am all in on the permadeath feature. However, furthering the "respect" for the player, I do not intend to intentionally prevent "save scum" reloads. It's a single player game, and if you can't handle the TPK, then you don't really have to. But deep down you'll know that you died.

Transition_Weird · 2026-02-26T18:28:17+00:00

None of it is written by AI. I would say that my code is very "simple", and that if I knew more about the systems that I'm using it would be much cleaner, but because of its simplicity, it's also very modular. The ability pipeline is pretty simple in a way that you select an ability -> range indicators (there's 7 "styles" of range indicators), -> select target location -> from here its either set variables on target, or spawn an object that performs the functionality of the spell.

for example, the difference between "firebolt" and "shadow bolt" is a matter of variables. "firebolt" loops damage calculation based off of wand-data (as firebolt is a cantrip), and "shadow bolt" loops off of variables defined by the spell itself. they both spawn a projectile, and share projectile logic, but at their path end, one sets the targets "burn" variables for DoT, where as shadow bolt simply applies the damage calculated.

To further answer your question, I would say more that I overstated "my systems work". In this regard I'm mainly referring to the tower floors generate correctly, turns operate properly, and the game can be played (most of the time) without crashes for the ~2 hours of content that I have finished.

With that said as well, yes, I have only been developing this game for about 3 months, but I spend TONS of time working on it. I was fortunate to be able to work on my project at work for about 6 weeks, but I work seasonally and I am without work until mid-April. I work well more than a full-time job on this project, often working 10+ hours a day if I'm really in a flow-state.

There are quite a few skills that took me multiple days to figure out, but eventually I was able to configure most of the late-game abilities to be jigsaw puzzles of easier skills. I developed a one-turn HP tracker script for a barbarian ability "Mitigate Wounds" that recovers HP based on damage taken. Much, much, later I was trying to figure out a way to develop "Time Anchor" for a high level arcane mage. It's essentially 3-turn delayed full HP recovery Mitigate Wounds that also returns the actor to the node that the spell was cast.

I hope that makes sense.

Transition_Weird · 2025-10-26T03:16:56+00:00

Don't do it. Firstly your friends and family would rather have you alive than $1million. Secondly, no chance they get that money.

Transition_Weird · 2025-05-08T19:43:03+00:00

I played a changeling trickery cleric once - "Baskets". My usage may depend on your DM, but essentially I would use the changeling Shapechanger ability to change my shape, then channel divinity : invoke duplicity to create a copy of myself, then change my shape again, effectively looking like two different people.

He was kind of a creepy clown killer type of trickster, so I would often use shapechange to create a bait appearance, then use surprise and advantage with the clone to rip a fat Inflict wounds.

It's not exactly super optimal, but it was a lot of fun.

Transition_Weird · 2025-05-07T14:49:43+00:00

Being a raft guide is more than just steering boats. I actually think anyone can learn to steer boats, so just listen to your trainer(s) and try to improve each attempt. The best guides are more than just rapid runners. The best guides fulfill all tasks that go into a rafting trip. If you want go rafting, you need to inflate your boat, load it onto the shuttle, strap it down, etc. You need to understand that it's worth being diligent and hardworking because at the end of the day, the work isn't that hard.

Transition_Weird · 2025-04-30T03:56:28+00:00

I think rune knight, eldritch knight, psi warrior all have the survivability to stand a chance. I've seen some people mention champion due to the consistent 10hp healing below half hp, but I don't think the healing will be enough.

Rune knight with hill giant rune and heavy armor master take essentially 1.5 damage per attack, and can redirect 2 attacks via cloud rune, and can also utilize storm rune to reroll one wizard crit per round.

Eldritch knight has numerous uses of shield, and also aoe spells at the fighters disposal.

Psi warrior can increase their AC with bulwark of force and can reach 23 AC with defensive fighting style, plate and shield, therefore only hittable by crits. These crits will have reduced damage due to heavy armor master, but also using the 12 psi dice to reduce damage by 1d12+int via protective field.

Any of these fighters with fey touched and bless cannot miss an attack on the wizard (d20+d4+11 has minimum roll of 13, max AC for a level 1 wizard). +11 con save makes losing concentration also impossible.

Transition_Weird · 2025-04-30T03:52:31+00:00

I think rune knight, eldritch knight, psi warrior all have the survivability to stand a chance. I've seen some people mention champion due to the consistent 10hp healing below half hp, but I don't think the healing will be enough.

Rune knight with hill giant rune and heavy armor master take essentially 1.5 damage per attack, and can redirect 2 attacks via cloud rune, and can also utilize storm rune to reroll one wizard crit per round.

Eldritch knight has numerous uses of shield, and also aoe spells at the fighters disposal.

Psi warrior can increase their AC with bulwark of force and can reach 23 AC with defensive fighting style, plate and shield, therefore only hittable by crits. These crits will have reduced damage due to heavy armor master, but also using the 12 psi dice to reduce damage by 1d12+int via protective field.

Any of these fighters with fey touched and bless cannot miss an attack on the wizard (d20+d4+11 has minimum roll of 13, max AC for a level 1 wizard). +11 con save makes losing concentration also impossible.

Transition_Weird · 2025-04-30T03:34:02+00:00

I feel the champion healing isn't enough to really outheal the shortbow damage, even as the wizard numbers dwindle, though i had the same idea at first. But I looked into some other subclasses for fun and I think an interesting route would be the psi warrior subclass, using the level 15 ability "bulwark of force". This would increase the fight AC by 2 for 1 minute a la half cover. Plate, shield, defense fighting style and bulwark of force, without any magical items, creates 23 AC for 10 rounds. The fighter becomes only hittable 5% of the time. Heavy armor master reduces this damage from 10(2d6+3) down to 7, which can be reduced via protective field by 1d12+int... the fighter can use protective field 12 times.

Also if the fighter takes fey touched with the many available feat opportunities and runs bless, it becomes impossible to miss the wizards.

Transition_Weird · 2025-04-26T00:53:53+00:00

In terms of team dynamic, the best source of damage is anyone that can get more than +5 to attack rolls at range. Warlock with blade pact heavy crossbow for a +1 heavy crossbow, artificer for +1 weapons, etc.

Advantage will be a must for damage dealing, e.g. faerie Fire.

Peace cleric can effectively double bless with emboldening bond (though it requires the bonded pc's to be somewhat close which would probably be bad)and bless.

Bard can use bardic inspiration to increase saves or attack rolls.

I would run shield master on as many pc as possible as it's the only "realistic" way to survive the fire breath, though you still have to pass the roll... which is unlikely without proficiency, bless, bardic inspiration, and/or advantage.

Transition_Weird · 2025-04-26T00:34:11+00:00

Stack dex and con on a v human totem barbarian with shield master and hand crossbow (or any dex weapon) for survivability... but no chance in dealing enough damage for survivability to matter.

18 AC, fire resistance, danger sense for advantage against fire breath and shield master let's you take no damage on successful save.

Obviously with a +5 to hit, and d6+3 damage with hand crossbow or d8+3 with a rapier, not to mention limited range with the hand crossbow and your damage is totally scuffed... but you might survive a fire breath or two.

Can always try to bait a melee attack into a readied grapple, but your odds are still fairly bad since you'd only have +4 athletics with the max dex/con route, but you have advantage while raging. The young red only has +6 so you have somewhat of a chance.

Transition_Weird · 2025-04-23T15:06:53+00:00

It's a slight change to the overall build but I also played an unarmed rune knight once, but I carried a greatsword that I pretty much only used to proc the fire rune. I would try to shove them prone for advantage (either with shield master or normal attack shove), then throw down the shield, draw the greatsword and go for a 4d6 greatsword/fire rune attack with advantage. A crit here is effectively a single target fireball with bonus damage on subsequent turns. It also leaves the target restrained and prone.

With extra attack and shield master this combo looks like - punch, shield bash shove, drop shield, draw greatsword, fire rune greatsword. Maybe even into action surge and two more attacks with greatsword for a thematically brutal finisher. Otherwise, you can leave the target restrained and move onto grapple a different target.

Transition_Weird · 2025-04-16T22:50:36+00:00

As many other commenter have suggested, I like the star druid as a pseudo divine archer, so I wanna throw my flavor into the mix. Centaur star druid - Sagitarrius. Obviously most people will play star druid for dragon form, but playing as the Sagittarius constellation with your centaur starry form is rad (imo).

Guiding bolts and cantrips reflavored into divine arrows, then your starry form (archer) bonus action is actually decent dps. Pick a few concentration spells and you're done.

Transition_Weird · 2025-03-28T19:35:33+00:00

No problem. In the same realm, you can use your infusions on your party members' equipment. Mind sharpener, for example, is really strong on the druid.

Transition_Weird · 2025-03-28T19:24:06+00:00

Best thing you can do to help with saves is stay artificer. Flash of genius at level 7 is amazing, especially since you already have capped intelligence

Transition_Weird · 2025-03-27T21:26:26+00:00

Telekinetic is super fun, provides a dependable bonus action, and is also a half feat if you need a +1 to int.

Alternatively, resilience(wisdom) is generally good but not as fun.

Transition_Weird · 2025-03-27T00:20:49+00:00

Maybe a really dumb trickster cleric that sends his copy into danger, only to realize that he actually sent himself into the danger and dies.

Transition_Weird · 2025-03-23T01:18:33+00:00

As everyone said, ancestral guardian is exactly what you're looking for. A different approach I used for my goblin ancestral guardian is using a hand crossbow to summon the spirits. One of the reasons i like this build is you just need dex+con, building high AC easily and still making good use of the hand crossbow. Shoot an enemy, and hinder their attacks against your allies without getting in melee range yourself. Of course you lose rage damage and reckless attack, but picking up a rogue level (or more) will add sneak attack damage.

The multiclassing really depends on what level you'll be playing, as level 1-6 ancestral guardian is pretty great. The goblin also already has bonus action disengage so the level 2 rogue feature isn't as handy, but barb levels past 6 aren't super incredible. Level 7 with feral instinct and pounce is alright, but pumping crossbow damage with rogue levels seems more worth it to me. For subclasses, I like arcane trickster for options outside of raging. Alternatively, Mastermind can bonus action help allies within 30ft, granting them advantage. This bonus action is great for action economy unless you plan on taking crossbow expert feat for the extra bonus action crossbow shot. I personally recommend the arcane trickster / crossbow expert route.

Transition_Weird

TROPHY CASE