Spell ranks

I'm making a game and I can't decide if I want spells to have ranks (like Fire/Fire2/Fire3 etc.) or to just combine the average damage and MP cost and just call it 'Fire.'

I'm making my own animations so it's easier to combine, however it kinda takes away character progression. I really don't know what I should do, any suggestions?

 

Hmmm...I have an idea. =o

Why not try to have a base "fire" spell, and give the player an option to upgrade? Or something like that. =o

EDIT: Like, purchasing a "fire" upgrade, which makes their fire stronger, but cost more (etc). So it's kind of a trade-off that's really up to the player. That will take some weight off your shoulders. xD Just have many "Fire" spells named "Fire (Lv.1)/Fire (Lv.2)...etc" and switch to them when the player buys an upgrade. Maybe?

Hmm that's a very good idea, I forgot that I could do that...  maybe a library in each town where after you read a book you get the upgrade type thing. Thank you.

Or I could just make them story based, after a certain event happens.

I was thinking more along the lines of a shop run by some magical master dude =p ~

Like, once you hit a certain level, the upgrades become available for purchase. xD Or something haha. What maker are you using? For Ace, you could always use Yanfly's event shop. But I think you could make that sort of system through events, either way. =o

But, yeah those seem to work, too! ^.^ Just go with what fits your game best/works for you~

haha I use rpg maker 2003.

that idea would work but I was also thinking about an island with portals for almost every character, if you complete the portal you can upgrade all your spells for that character. (default given to you is 2nd lvl, 3rd is upgrade). Roughly speaking.

the portal includes minor monsters and character development, how they overcame something difficult in their life- defeat the monsters and watch their victory etc.

Ohhh, I see. xD That's a pretty neat idea~ I like it!

I do want to offer a bit of design advice here, but I think your idea on how to develop skills could be interesting and add something to the game (assuming its not a severe hindrance to game flow).

The problem with RM2k3 is that damage from spells and skills were very hard to control due to the limits of the system you were given. Upgrades and tiered spells are by far the easiest to implement in this version of the program.

The difference between the two systems, however, is important to know and understand:

Upgrades: remove the previous version of the skill and learn the new, more powerful, version. This keeps the spell list tidy and to the minimum, but prevents players from choosing a weaker spell where the more powerful is a waste of MP in terms of the damage required to kill the target.

Tiered: all previous versions of the skill are retained, meaning all skills (including their lower strength counterparts) are available to use. Unlike the above, this leads to a larger spell list but gives the player control over which version to use.

If you intend to have a lot skills/spells, I'd suggest going with the direct upgrades method. A player does not want to wade through 50 skills to get to the one they want. If you only have a few key skills, however, a tiered system may be a good choice.

Above all, though, think about the player and what they may want and need to use and how your game works. If MP is of no real concern and you aren't needing to conserve MP all the time (it's not a rare commodity but is a common resource), then upgrades is perfectly fine. It doesn't matter if you spend 50MP to cast the 3rd upgrade of Fire, when you only needed the 2nd upgrade that cost 30MP. That 20MP difference is easily restored.

On the other hand, if your MP source is a limiting factor and you aren't going to be restoring it very easily, then tiers are better for your game play, even at the expense of a large spell list. Being able to decide whether or not to cast Fire 1, 2, or 3, is incredibly important, especially during the early to mid game where MP sources are at their scarcest. The last thing you want is your player running out of MP quickly when he is only half way through the dungeon/to the next restore point/inn.

It would be awesome (but most certainly require a script) to combine the two, so you select the spell "Fire" and another menu shows up, asking which tier you want to use. =o

If not, it's always a matter of weighing what works out best for your game and choosing the best method~ (as Logan stated above).

Can you call an event with a battle command in 2k3? It could work with a TON of eventing.

yea i'm not sure, I want MP to matter but also not be too bad of a nuisance.

As for amount of abilities, each character has about 14 skills total - from 2 different trees. Some have more, some have less etc. That's unique abilities, so if you add in tiers the list gets kind of messy and annoying.

Yeah I don't know it's a trade-off either way, I like the idea of selecting an ability then you select the version in another window. Maybe I'll try to make that work.