Posted: 4/23/2005 9:07 PM
Post subject: Randomness in a Turn-Based RPG
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AdmiralJonB
Joined: 6/20/2004
Posts: 292
Location: United Kingdom
I was thinking of doing a turn-based RPG run, I won't say what it is as I don't want to get people hyped about it as I probably won't finish it, as with all my other runs I started. I was wondering how you guys managed to figure out about all the random stuff for battles etc. Is it just with extensive random testing or do you have any other methods that I've missed?
Posted: 4/23/2005 9:55 PM
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Ferret_Warlord
Skilled player (1417)
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
Good old fashioned trial and error is the most used method. "Okay, if I do this at this time, this will happen. Let's see what happens if I do this. No, that's not as good..." There's another method that involves reading how variables change, but it requires familiarity with NES Assembler and the debugger.
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Posted: 4/23/2005 10:07 PM
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Bag_of_Magic_Food
He/Him
Player (206)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
But there can be other influences besides time, right?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Posted: 4/23/2005 10:11 PM
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Bisqwit
Editor, Active player (297)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Time, button presses, actions preceding the event...
Posted: 4/24/2005 3:39 AM
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quietkane
Player (66)
Joined: 3/29/2005
Posts: 229
Location: The boonies.
Trial and error is the simplest way to do it, but it's also the most time consuming because there's no way to predict the results of a given trial until you do it. Variable watching takes a lot of patience and a lot of time to figure stuff out, but once you've figured things out you can predict results with "deadly accuracy." Actions taken is the big determination factor. In some games the amount of steps taken will affect things, in others the game's clock will change stuff. Most turn-based games don't care about the actual time spent in a given menu, but they do care about how you traverse the menu. (I.e: which options you scroll through.) Since we're talking about an RPG, your characters' health is sometimes an issue. Test out what happens if you let the monsters hit a different person. (Do they get more critical hits? Do the monsters continue targetting them?) Can't really help any more without knowing which game (or even which system) you're thinking of.
If life were an RPG, I'd be an NPC.
Posted: 4/24/2005 7:57 AM
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AdmiralJonB
Joined: 6/20/2004
Posts: 292
Location: United Kingdom
Oops, I was meant to say it was for GBA, which probably cuts things down quite a bit to which game I'm wanting to do. I'm don't know too much with memory so can i ask, is there a certain section I should be keeping my eye on? Or will I have to go through every section of memory to figure stuff out? I suppose this should go in the gba emulator section...
Posted: 4/25/2005 9:12 PM
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quietkane
Player (66)
Joined: 3/29/2005
Posts: 229
Location: The boonies.
Please tell me you're thinking of Golden Sun. That game was awesome. Uhmmm.... can't think of any particular area of memory; data's usually just put where it fits. Use the cheat search function. It helps a lot.
If life were an RPG, I'd be an NPC.
Posted: 4/26/2005 12:41 PM
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Dada
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Bisqwit wrote:
Time, button presses, actions preceding the event...
This, but apparently sometimes also the time you hold a button down (Dragon Warrior IV).