turned based fighting example

[shadow00dev]

Describe the example

this is a turned based fighting example game with 1 player and enemy with 2 ability(fireball and summon zombie) also i made the art myself

heres a link to play it: https://shadow001.itch.io/turned-based-fighting-example

Checklist

• [x] My game has all events unfolded.
• [x] My game has a proper name in the game properties.
• [x] I've added myself as the author in the game properties.
• [x] I've included a file called "README.md" with a description in proper English, explaining what this example is doing.
• [x] I confirm that this game and all of its resources can be integrated to this GitHub repository, distributed and MIT licensed.
• [x] My game package name behind with com.example..
• [x] I've cleaned unused resources.
• [x] Resources
• [x] Game properties
• [x] Objects
• [x] UI/scene layout
• [x] FSM
• [x] Unused events
• [x] Factorize events

(the project folder is in comments)

[D8H]

I added TODO comments in the project file. I didn't modify any event. If you didn't modify it since 2 hours, please use this file instead and remove a TODO only if the modification is done. It will be easier to follow if another reviewer check it. https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7d0ytmxro5k18k/TurnedBasedFightingTODO.zip?dl=1

[shadow00dev]

before i upload a file i will do all todos anyway so i could use my own file then right?

[shadow00dev]

the ones in red square makes no sense todo, cuz the the ennitiys one would be for both player and enemy states(so i would have to put them in a state for not gameover which would be variable state not game over right, and for the beginning of scene one thats like that to, cuz its for the group it in, it would make no sense to put it in scene group, right?

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

anyway ive done almost all of them(if i rember correctly just the move health stuff i didnt change(though that one makes no sense to me)

[D8H]

the ones in red square makes no sense todo, cuz the the ennitiys one would be for both player and enemy states(so i would have to put them in a state for not gameover which would be variable state not game over right.

You are right that reducing the number of events can be a good thing, but this is not the only thing that make good events. Clarity, bug proofness, performances are important too.

On the clarity part:

• It makes it clear that the transition is, for instance, from PlayerTurn to GameOver.
• The reader will see the event that make damages and then the one that checks the game over.
• The reader doesn't have to know what objects there is in the "Entity" group as "Player" and "Enemy" are used directly.

On the bug proofness part:

• When an event is inside a state, it's less likely to make strange effects during another state because it can't be executed.

On the performance part:

• The events are only executed during one state (it can even be done only when damages are taken, but we will come back to this later). So, it uses less CPU. In this particular case, it won't make much a difference but we need to set an example for bigger projects that will do need good optimizations.

For the beginning of scene one thats like that to, cuz its for the group it in, it would make no sense to put it in scene group, right?

When the event groups follow the stats there won't be any "Scene" or "Entry" groups. It should be something like this:

• Beginning
• Always
• Player Turn
• Enemy Turn
• Game Over

The health bar events are not in the right state. The player health changes during the the EnemyTurn state.

You didn't do the TODO in the middle of the screenshot.

I may not be reachable Saturday. So, I give you additional suggestions. The "PlayerTurn" and EnemeyTurn" can be split into 2 states:

• One to choose the attack
• One to applying the attack

The objects used to do the animation must be created and destroyed inside the PlayerAttack/EnemyAttack state (aiming for clarity once again).

[shadow00dev]

The health bar events are not in the right state. The player health changes during the the EnemyTurn state.

health bar event for player is in player state, it prob wont work if i put player in enemy, also duh player health changes during enemy cuz its happens at their state plus well i dont know how else i could do it for it kinda, also the health bar events should be all right there right?

[shadow00dev]

also moving the health id stuff were giving bugs so i decided i would put it back to where it was

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

fixed the health bar bug and the flip events are at the beginning of the scene

[D8H]

The health bar events are not in the right state. The player health changes during the the EnemyTurn state.

health bar event for player is in player state, it prob wont work if i put player in enemy, also duh player health changes during enemy cuz its happens at their state plus well i dont know how else i could do it for it kinda, also the health bar events should be all right there right?

also moving the health id stuff were giving bugs so i decided i would put it back to where it was

This is what I was telling you. You put the player health bar event inside the PlayerTurn state which can't work because the player health change during EnemyTurn state so it must be inside the EnemyTurn state. Do you understand?

[shadow00dev]

The health bar events are not in the right state. The player health changes during the the EnemyTurn state.

health bar event for player is in player state, it prob wont work if i put player in enemy, also duh player health changes during enemy cuz its happens at their state plus well i dont know how else i could do it for it kinda, also the health bar events should be all right there right? also moving the health id stuff were giving bugs so i decided i would put it back to where it was

This is what I was telling you. You put the player health bar event inside the PlayerTurn state which can't work because the player health change during EnemyTurn state so it must be inside the EnemyTurn state. Do you understand?

the bug was happening when the player healthbar was in enemyturn(i did a test for it)

[shadow00dev]

also it has the least bugs when the health bar was not in any states so i feel like that's the best

[shadow00dev]

https://youtu.be/EvKN9YRTLzM made a video explaining stuff

[D8H]

• The reader will see the event that make damages and then the one that checks the game over.

Thanks for the video. I think I understand the issue. The order of the events inside a state also mater. My sentence wasn't clear because I made it look like it was just to help the reader, but it's also important for the game.

For it to works, it should follow this order:

• Damages are done
• Health bar is updated
• Game over is checked

I'm sorry I forgot to say that after seeing your previous version.

The solution that you talked about in your video to put it as a sub event is a good solution. I was thinking of suggesting it when we do the polish because to do hit animation like a screen shake or something it will need to happen only when the health is changing. An event link can be used to avoid to copy past it 6 times.

About making health bars disappearing at the end, it sounds good.

[shadow00dev]

An event link can be used to avoid to copy past it 6 times.

event link?, i heard of link but thats for external events and stuff like that but a event link i i never heard of

[D8H]

An event link can be used to avoid to copy past it 6 times.

event link?, i heard of link but thats for external events and stuff like that but a event link i i never heard of

Yes, that's what I meant.

[shadow00dev]

An event link can be used to avoid to copy past it 6 times.

event link?, i heard of link but thats for external events and stuff like that but a event link i i never heard of

Yes, that's what I meant. but wont i then be repeating the link event?(cuz its only 1 sub event)

[D8H]

but wont i then be repeating the link event?(cuz its only 1 sub event)

Yes, that why I said I was keeping it for the polishing where they might be more actions.

It' s ok to keep it in an event below for now.

[shadow00dev]

oh okay

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

in this update i changed how healthbar gets updated

also im assuming in the polish stage there would need to be sounds right?, cuz im not good at making sounds(my music isnt good and well the best way ik how to make sounds is using bfxr and well would they fit the game, cuz i dont think they would)

[D8H]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

in this update i changed how healthbar gets updated

Ok

also im assuming in the polish stage there would need to be sounds right?, cuz im not good at making sounds(my music isnt good and well the best way ik how to make sounds is using bfxr and well would they fit the game, cuz i dont think they would)

I've never used sounds in GDevelop. I can't help, but that's probably not a must (none of my examples have sounds).

[shadow00dev]

I've never used sounds in GDevelop. I can't help, but that's probably not a must (none of my examples have sounds).

:) ive used sounds before so ik how it works in the events side just im not good at making them lol , anyway what else i need to fix/change?

[D8H]

what else i need to fix/change?

• The transition to the "GameOver" state need to be inside the states it happens.
• Use one event groups per state, for instance:
  • Beginning
  • Always
  • Player Turn
  • Enemy Turn
  • Game Over
• Try to spit PlayerTurn and EnemyTurn (see the drawing and explanation above)

[shadow00dev]

what else i need to fix/change?

• The transition to the "GameOver" state need to be inside the states it happens.

• Use one event groups per state, for instance:

  • Beginning
  • Always
  • Player Turn
  • Enemy Turn
  • Game Over
• Try to spit PlayerTurn and EnemyTurn (see the drawing and explanation above)

so like new states?

[D8H]

• Try to spit PlayerTurn and EnemyTurn (see the drawing and explanation above)

so like new states?

Yes, it's at the end of this message: https://github.com/GDevelopApp/GDevelop-examples/issues/121#issuecomment-949091777

[shadow00dev]

okay

[shadow00dev]

• Use one event groups per state, for instance:

  • Beginning
  • Always
  • Player Turn
  • Enemy Turn
  • Game Over

Beginning isnt a state its a on beggining of scene(right?) and always isnt a state to right?

[shadow00dev]

anyway ig ill do it tomorrow since its a bit late rn(but it still makes no sense for me to do dis in my opinion cuz it works and its has a order(like the comments and the groups gives it order))

[D8H]

• Use one event groups per state, for instance:

  • Beginning
  • Always
  • Player Turn
  • Enemy Turn
  • Game Over

Beginning isnt a state its a on beggining of scene(right?) and always isnt a state to right?

The beginning of scene is the initial state in some way, but yes. Yes, "Always" is like a factorization (instead of copy pasting it in each state). It's just to make it clear when the events can happen.

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

there are now attack states(well there's a fireball attack state and zombie attack state for player and enemy)

[D8H]

Good, it's starting to have a good structure. Can you sort the events inside a state by chronological order?

I agree with Bhou:

Flip variable, and Flip events are not all neccesary, you can remove it, this dosen't add value in this example. You need it once at begnning of the scene for flipping the animations of the Enemy, no more. For the Fireball and the Monster you have to keep one action in one direction, no need to handle -180 and 180 angle for Fireball and force -100 and 100 for Monster, This way there is no need to adds conditions for checking if an object is flipped. You have just Turn enemy = true, AbilityUse = Fireball, then create Fireball, and add a force toward Player position. (or -180 angle if you prefer)

It can be something intelligent to do on a complex project, but that's not what the example is about. Let's keep it simple for that part.

[shadow00dev]

Good, it's starting to have a good structure. Can you sort the events inside a state by chronological order?

i dont know how sorry

I agree with Bhou:

Flip variable, and Flip events are not all neccesary, you can remove it, this dosen't add value in this example. You need it once at begnning of the scene for flipping the animations of the Enemy, no more. For the Fireball and the Monster you have to keep one action in one direction, no need to handle -180 and 180 angle for Fireball and force -100 and 100 for Monster, This way there is no need to adds conditions for checking if an object is flipped. You have just Turn enemy = true, AbilityUse = Fireball, then create Fireball, and add a force toward Player position. (or -180 angle if you prefer)

It can be something intelligent to do on a complex project, but that's not what the example is about. Let's keep it simple for that part.

but what if somone wants to change if the enemy or player is flipped or not?, but okay

[D8H]

but what if somone wants to change if the enemy or player is flipped or not?, but okay

They do it them-self?

[shadow00dev]

but what if somone wants to change if the enemy or player is flipped or not?, but okay

They do it them-self?

i mean like in the scene editor(the flip event allows the developer to flip the stuff inside the group and has the flip var to flip stuff inside the scene editor which i feel like its useful), but if it isnt then ill remove it)

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

ive removed flip variable(but i didnt do the chronological order thing cuz idk what it is mainly google didnt help me with telling me what it is to as far as i understand)

[D8H]

ive removed flip variable(but i didnt do the chronological order thing cuz idk what it is mainly google didnt help me with telling me what it is to as far as i understand)

It means to sort thing by the order of happening. For instance, a trigger one alone is what happens 1st in a state so it should be the 1st sub-event of the state.

[shadow00dev]

will I have to do it for events and the action and conditions inside them?

[D8H]

will I have to do it for events and the action and conditions inside them?

Just the events.

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

maybe hard to see the change but it was almost like that so i just changed events around to make it more like that(by that i mean chronological order also im not 100% sure if im right either)

[shadow00dev]

also before its finished I need to add a visual way to tell who's turn it is to, because well the state text don't look the nicest, tell me if wrong

[D8H]

There is still a few things to change to have a good FSM.

• Move the tint of the buttons in the events that press them (it's easier to follow and it factorizes a bit).
• Use a variable for the chosen attack and makes the 2 attacks in one "PlayerAttack" state (all attacks have the same transition in and out, so only one state is needed. Unnecessary states make the states harder to understand).
• Use a boolean variable to know if damages where taken to factorize the damage handling, but keep them in there "PlayerAttack" and "EnemyAttack" states.
• Move the game over transitions in "PlayerAttack" and "EnemyAttack"

[shadow00dev]

There is still a few things to change to have a good FSM.

• Move the tint of the buttons in the events that press them (it's easier to follow and it factorizes a bit).

okay

• Use a variable for the chosen attack and makes the 2 attacks in one "PlayerAttack" state (all attacks have the same transition in and out, so only one state is needed. Unnecessary states make the states harder to understand).

i personally think putting under state var is easior to understand than adding a new variable(so if i still need to then i will)

• Use a boolean variable to know if damages where taken to factorize the damage handling, but keep them in there "PlayerAttack" and "EnemyAttack" states.

sorry i dont understand, why would i need a boolean to say if dmg dealt were taken or not?

• Move the game over transitions in "PlayerAttack" and "EnemyAttack"

that cant happen cuz im checking if health is 0 then do it so i would have move the entire system for that wouldnt i?, or i could jsut check if health <= 0 then do that i guess but them it would be a repeat of events which you normally tell me to combine

[D8H]

• Use a variable for the chosen attack and makes the 2 attacks in one "PlayerAttack" state (all attacks have the same transition in and out, so only one state is needed. Unnecessary states make the states harder to understand).

i personally think putting under state var is easior to understand than adding a new variable(so if i still need to then i will)

• Use a boolean variable to know if damages where taken to factorize the damage handling, but keep them in there "PlayerAttack" and "EnemyAttack" states.

sorry i dont understand, why would i need a boolean to say if dmg dealt were taken or not?

• Move the game over transitions in "PlayerAttack" and "EnemyAttack"

that cant happen cuz im checking if health is 0 then do it so i would have move the entire system for that wouldnt i?, or i could jsut check if health <= 0 then do that i guess but them it would be a repeat of events which you normally tell me to combine

At the end of "PlayerAttack" state, there will be something like this:

• condition: Damage is taken | action: Update the bar
  • condition health less or equal 0 | action: transition to GameOver

and same for "EnemyAttack" state

It does more events but it is a lot easier to understand and less bug prone. This is how FSM works.

[shadow00dev]

At the end of "PlayerAttack" state, there will be something like this:

• condition: Damage is taken | action: Update the bar
  • condition health less or equal 0 | action: transition to GameOver

and same for "EnemyAttack" state

It does more events but it is a lot easier to understand and less bug prone. This is how FSM works.

okay

but how do i check if dmg has been taken?, i guess i could get old health var and check if health is lower than it then update it every time but still, and yes i could just put it in the same event thing as when dmg is taken

[shadow00dev]

also could you pls say why making a new var for checking the attack instead of making it a state would be better(cuz i think making it a state would be better), well i guess the system you told me for the dmg is taken would mainly only work with 1 check if attack i guess unless i copied and paste the events for it but i still think it makes no sense for a second var for checking a attack when a attack is a state, right?

[D8H]

but how do i check if dmg has been taken?, i guess i could get old health var and check if health is lower than it then update it every time but still, and yes i could just put it in the same event thing as when dmg is taken

Yes, comparing the old health works too but it needs to initialize it at the beginning of the scene or in the instance editor which make it far from where it used. With a boolean, the variable is:

• set to false at the beginning of the "PlayerAttack" state
• set to true when doing damages
• read at the end of the "PlayerAttack" state So, it stays local to the state.

also could you pls say why making a new var for checking the attack instead of making it a state would be better(cuz i think making it a state would be better)

Doing a good code is like explaining something to a friend.

The states are useful when it helps to understand how transitions from one state to another are done. If I had to explain to some friends how a turn based game works, I would say: "The player choses an attack and the attack start with an animation. When the animation is done, it's to the enemy to chose an attack." Or in term of transition: "PlayerChoice" --> "PlayerAttack" --> "EnemyChoice"

If I had to explain this:

• "PlayerChoice" --> "PlayerFireBallAttack" --> "EnemyChoice"
• "PlayerChoice" --> "PlayerZombiesAttack" --> "EnemyChoice"

I will probably loose them under details and they won't understand it.

As you can see the there is the same transitions in (from PlayerChoice) and out (to EnemyChoice). So, it's not relevant to repeat ourselves.

[shadow00dev]

Doing a good code is like explaining something to a friend.

The states are useful when it helps to understand how transitions from one state to another are done. If I had to explain to some friends how a turn based game works, I would say: "The player choses an attack and the attack start with an animation. When the animation is done, it's to the enemy to chose an attack." Or in term of transition: "PlayerChoice" --> "PlayerAttack" --> "EnemyChoice"

If I had to explain this:

• "PlayerChoice" --> "PlayerFireBallAttack" --> "EnemyChoice"
• "PlayerChoice" --> "PlayerZombiesAttack" --> "EnemyChoice"

I will probably loose them under details and they won't understand it.

As you can see the there is the same transitions in (from PlayerChoice) and out (to EnemyChoice). So, it's not relevant to repeat ourselves.

okay(sorry for late aswer, ill get to trying to do it i guess)

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip heres what i think ive done:

the one in todo/doing is becuase im not 100% sure how i can make that work with the events right now so im gonna not do that until well idk, also i think it would be better to have it how it is since well it doesnt have any bugs and i think its easy to understand

[shadow00dev]

TurnedBasedFighting.zip

found a bug which wasnt really a bug but annoyed me so i fixed it(i didnt reset attack when game over and it annoyed me cuz well of the the stat text says the attack being in use)

[D8H]

• Moving the game over transitions in "PlayerAttack" can be done like this:

  • If you want to set BeenDamaged to false where you did that fine to me, but then remove the "Trigger Once" as the health changes twice with the zombie.
  • Don't forget to set BeenDamaged to true every time the health change (each time for zombie)

• Make an event group by state

• Factorize the set to "AbilityUse" animation at the start of the "PlayerAttack" state.

• Move the event that set the animation back to "Idle" in the "PlayerAttack" state (because the animation ends during this state).

• Remove "Trigger one" when the conditions will no longer be fulfill after the actions are executed

• Remove "PlayerUsedAbility" variable actions as it is never read.

[shadow00dev]

• Moving the game over transitions in "PlayerAttack" can be done like this:

okay

• If you want to set BeenDamaged to false where you did that fine to me, but then remove the "Trigger Once" as the health changes twice with the zombie.

huh wont that bug it?(im prob wrong?)

• Don't forget to set BeenDamaged to true every time the health change (each time for zombie)

okay i thought it wasnt needed(well it isnt for cuz it works but okay)

• Make an event group by state

for the attack states?

• Factorize the set to "AbilityUse" animation at the start of the "PlayerAttack" state.

may i ask what Factorize means?

• Move the event that set the animation back to "Idle" in the "PlayerAttack" state (because the animation ends during this state).

okay

• Remove "Trigger one" when the conditions will no longer be fulfill after the actions are executed

okay(if i can find them i will)

• Remove "PlayerUsedAbility" variable actions as it is never read.

ooh i thought i did lol