keithburgun from dinofarmgames was wondering if they could do away with the skip turn button, as the most common usage for it was to simply get the first strike in on the monster.
He correctly points out a few problems with the 'skip turn to let the monster come closer' feature. Suggesting to just remove the skip turn function.
I was wondering how to do better, dislike removing basic options. Any skills that allows waiting for a turn should now be checked or penalized so they cannot be wait abused. Leading to developer complications, and player frustration. "Why can't I wait a turn?"
Perhaps, have some sort of bonus for moving into the dangerous zone next to the monster. Some sort of charge attack, or defense bonus. Or make the mobs smarter, and also wait a turn, perhaps using ranged low level weaponry where appropriate (tossing those junk items it picked up earlier, or body parts, or parts of the scenery, there sure is something interesting to be done with this).
Giving a defense/dodge bonus if the mob moved last turn would be interesting. And solve some of the problems with waiting. This bonus only applies if the mob moved last turn, if a turn is spend using any other skill/ability the bonus is lost. With the skill system I want to implement (more on that later, I made it needlessly complicated). Could have certain situations give more or less defense. A mob with the expert tumbler skill getting a higher bonus.
A charge bonus sounds even better. Or have certain combat skills that work automatically. A skilled fighter gets a attack/damage bonus if he makes an attack in the direction he attacked last turn. Using these powers would be automatic, so the player needs to learn no new keyboard combinations. It will need to give feedback to the player. So they know that a special attack was performed. And to make it easier for players to see requirements for special attacks, any special attacks triggered should be added to a game wide help system.
So, now I'm thinking that I should implement a monster that shouts when it moves next to the player, giving any nearby monsters (and itself) a temporary attack bonus. This should prevent players from waiting to long to attack.
