Alright, I have checked my ego and now realize that no one wants to steal my ideas. Lol. I am in the process of making my ideas understandable to a brain that isn't mine.
So I thought I would start with something simple. I'm gonna reply to this on because I don't know if I am supposed to make a new thread if someone has already started one about a similar topic.
My idea for the way we count and limit our abilities will be a system containing Health, Stamina, and Chakra.
My goal has always been to bring the game as close to the anime\manga as possible. So I really payed attention to what happened to the characters over time as they had battles.
Chakra
What I noticed first would be Chakra. I imagined this being a diagram of the human body somewhere visible but non obstructive. It would probably have to have a bar or number to give an exact representation of how much Chakra you have left to use.
*side note: I prefer minimal HUD, but I often work against that goal.*
But the reason for the diagram is to show your actual flow of chakra. So if you are fighting a gentle fist user, they should be able to time and place their attack to cut off your flow somewhere in your body. {(Needed Reference: The way I think jutsu should be done involves every jutsu affecting your body in some way and that be reflected in your gameplay experience. Jutsu would also
Example. If you are using Deidaras clay jutsu, chakra would need to flow to wherever you choose to place the mouth. And if you have it attached to your foot and someone cuts off chakra flow there or cuts your foot off, then that jutsu is unavailable until the fight is over or you restore your foot through another jutsu.)}
Thus cutting off your access to certain jutsu. It would be blue with a tint to whatever chakra style you have by default and glow with a small aura. And as you use jutsu that transform or buff you, it would change aesthetically to match. (Ex. 9tails mode would turn the bar orange.)
Chakra would be expended anytime a ninjutsu or genjutsu is cast. Your chakra levels can be increased through the form of experience and levels, transformations/buffs, and slightly affected by how much stamina and health you have. I based this idea around the principles of an anime that I watched, which I cannot remember. But it was either mana, chakra, or ki that was generated by the combination of physical fitness, mental fortitude, and spiritual strength. Which I think is represented by stamina, health, and chakra respectively.
Therefore Chakra may regen faster if you have full health and stamina or something of that nature.
Once you’re out of chakra you wont have access to ninjutsu or genjutsu and you will have to use either taijutsu or ninja tools until you can regen your chakra. I also imagine a mechanic in which you can meditate to regain your chakra. However you would need to be still, similar to the Ninja Storm games, and since your opponent isn’t going to just wait for you to charge up, you will need to delay them somehow.
I believe this forces the user to manage their chakra wisely and fight with some sort of strategy. And I also believe that it mirrors what the actual naruto characters must do in their fights as well.
Stamina
Next is stamina. I imagine stamina as a green horizontal bar in the bottom somewhere that has a lower numerical value but a different regen rate than something like chakra or health which both require focus. Stamina will govern any movement that the character makes. Running, throwing a kuni, jumping, taijutsu, etc. Not all of these will consume much stamina. Something like running will only result in a noticeable drop when you are going full speed. I think this will be an anchor for taijutsu users to work around and ninja tool users, rather than relying on something like chakra. It would also act to balance someone who wants to evade the entire fight resulting in prolonged battles for no real reason.
Some jutsu will require a bit of stamina. Your stamina bar will drop with your actions and have a gate to which if you continue to stay below it without allowing time for regen, your character will become fatigued and may move slower, or fumble over handsigns for jutsu, or miss a taijutsu combo, etc.
I imagine someone being able to build a character around taijutsu like Rock Lee and wanting to focus on raising their stamina rather than their chakra level in order to have longer taijutsu combos and movement.
Depending on the ninja and their jutsu, they could quite increase their stamina or buff it using their chakra and jutsu. For example, I’ve never seen Naruto get tired in Ninetails cloak mode, since he has lost his mind at that point. Then I feel it wouldn’t be realistic for the character with that ability to get tired in game. So for the duration of the transformation, their stamina wouldn’t fall below the fatigue gate.
Health
The way I imagine health isn’t the conventional form of HP. In the ninja world they do not fight to just wear their opponent out enough to make them quit. They fight to kill. And even if a ninja is in perfect condition, if he is stabbed in the heart by a shuriken, then he loses that fight. (This could be overpowered and sound better in theory.) But I think fights could be based on a slippery slope or overcome basis. Meaning that someone doesn’t need to deplete your hitpoints to win, if they time their attacks right and place them well enough that they strike a vital area then you could lose the battle. I would like to escape a conventional Hitpoints style of combat.
And health would also include your ability to control your body. (shadow possesion, gentle fist, genjutsu)
This segment needs more development and revision.
That is my basic idea for this topic. There may be some holes due to other mechanics not being included in this topic. Some of these ideas will sound better with the other mechanics in mind. Feel free to give feedback. Be honest and dissect it. Tell me what you think? Debate it all.
Also, I am not 100% sure "how to forum" so if I am doing it wrong, please tell me how to do it properly. And yes, I am aware that some of these ideas cannot be implemented do to the limitations of code and resources. They are just the results of brainstorms.
Follow @SLO_MMORPG