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Better visual feedback for action/movement point limits in turn-based game?

Discussion in 'Game Design' started by c-Row, Dec 13, 2021.

  1. c-Row

    c-Row

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2009
    Posts:
    853
    Recently I have added an action point system to my turn-based strategy game. Rather than units being able to simply move a set number of tiles they can now spend action points on either moving or triggering an ability - think Civ 5 vs. X-COM. Advantages over a shared pool are that the game can better communicate whether or not a player can trigger a unit's ability, and abilities will either cost 1 or 2 AP to trigger rather than some arbitrary amount taken from the unit's overall pool.

    Now this of course introduces a new problem: showing the movement ranges and indicating which tiles will deplete a unit's full AP pool. X-COM has colour-coded its ranges - blue is 1 AP, orange is 2 AP, and since every unit can only spend a maximum of 2 AP this covers about every possible situation. However, I would like to keep the option that a unit might have more than 2 AP thanks to buffs or other mechanics, so it needs to be a bit clearer than that.

    This is what my development build looks right now.

    upload_2021-12-14_0-22-48.png

    The unit in the upper left has 2 AP, and for each AP it could either trigger an ability or move up to two tiles. Right now the tiles show the number of APs by number and colour-coded borders (the darker it gets, the more expensive it is). On top of that the exclamation icons indicate tiles where all AP will be used up after moving.

    Do you feel this is clear enough? Or do you have a suggestion on how to improve visual feedback to the player?