So, I have been trying to come up with a good battle system for the turn-based RPG game that I am making. My conclusion is that I want the world you explore to be a “feed or be fed” world. I wanted this, because I want the game to appeal to people who like being fattened and other people who may like the idea of fattening other people. Or even people who like both! I have spent many weeks trying to come up with a way to make this idea practical in the context of an RPG. I have decided that the main battle mechanic will be feeding the enemies you encounter. The feed button in battle will sort of act as an attack button. It will do damage to the enemy, but instead of their health bar going down, it will go up. I will call the meter your “fullness.” The player will also have a fullness meter, and if an enemy successfully hurts you, you fatten up to a certain point. When your fullness limit increases, you will be able to get fatter before you die. For example, if your maximum fullness is 20 and you are currently at 15, you will appear chubby. But, as you level up throughout the game, your capacity is increased. So, if your maximum is, say 60, and you’re at 55, you will be extremely fat. And, you can use certain items to keep your weight down. Okay, now that you know this, I have two options for the actual visual layout of battles. I could:
Do an Undertale-esque first person view. That way, the enemy’s sprite during battle is able to be a lot more detailed as they fatten up. However, as the player’s fullness meter goes up, you will not be able to see the effects in battle, but they will be visible in the overworld.
Do a traditional third-person view. The player unit will be at the left, while the enemy(s) will be at the right. This would allow you to see the player get fatter during battle, but the enemy sprites will be less detailed than if I were to do the first-person view.
As you can see, there are pros and cons for both. I’m interested to hear about what you would like to see more.
tl;dr: In my game, hp is inversely proportional to your weight. As you lose hp, you get fatter, and it’s the same for enemies. I could make battle first-person, allowing you to see the enemy being fattened up in a lot of detail. Or, I could do a traditional third-person view, so you can see the player getting fatter during battle. However, the enemy’s sprite will be a lot less detailed.
What doing something like Deltarune, as that has enemies on both sides while also allowing characters in battle to grow (with you dealing attacks while giving you an option to avoid it). Maybe a bit tougher to do but it sort of combines both worlds into one.
So, to be clear: will this be made in RPGM? Or will you use Unity or Unreal to make this game? Because if you use the latter, you can use more detailed sprites for everyone. Alternatively, you can use the UT-like PoV to show off enemy sprites, but when you have selected a certain ally, you can see their sprite.
I would go with the Third person view because this game is about Feed or be fed so it will be more fun if you can see both you and enemy as they are being fatten up.
I’d go with the undertale styled one, however if you still want to show the player character, you have a few options:
A view swap button, which shows you your player at the moment. You could include flavor and the like as well to spice it up, or even have it display status effects, debuffs and whatnot.
Have a small window in the corner with a simpler, smaller view of your character always visible.
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but doesn’t RPG Maker use the same enemy sprites regardless of whether the player’s party is visible or not? If so, then it should allow the same amount of enemy fidelity regardless of whether the battle screen is in first person or third person.
In either case, I would personally prefer the third-person view. Not only would I get to see my own party members’ weight change in real time, the alternative of keeping their weight hidden until after battle could easily result in their weight changing by multiple stages off-screen.