Synzza Star - Automatic Battle Pause

I discussed in a previous post how I planned to work with Unity at a TimeScale of 0. Let's discuss how my implementation went.

When To Pause?

A key question when implementing this feature is: when should the game pause to let the player input? In my system, this is handled through events, and the events are dependent on a battler's "status state".

Status States

Battlers in Synzza Star have a component that tracks a status state. The values and meaning for these states are:

  • OK
    • The battler is not involved with executing a skill in any way and is not under duress.
  • SkillWindUp
    • The battler is preparing to perform a skill.
  • SkillEffect
    • The battler is performing a skill.
  • SkillWindDown
    • The battler is winding down from using a skill.
  • Staggered
    • The battler is in a stunned state, either from being hit with a skill or because a skill they used was blocked by their target.
  • Blocking
    • Self-explanitory.

A battler operating under normal conditions will have a skill it intends to use and another target battler on which it intends to use that skill. When a battler enters into "Staggered" or "SkillWindDown", that battler clears its target and waits for a new target to be given to it. For an NPC, this would be from an internal AI. For a player-controlled battler, this new target should obviously be provided by the player.

Pausing and Receiving Input

When a battler controlled by the player leaves any state and enters "OK", and if that battler does not have a target, the game will then pause and enter into a selection state. Here, TimeScale is set to 0, and the player can select between their available targets.

I mentioned earlier that events made this timing possible. Notice I mentioned that the pause happens when the battler enters into "OK" - this is because I want the player to select the skill when their battler has the capacity to perform it. This creates a natural flow to combat when the pauses happen after staggering or skill wind down.

There's more system design that contributed to this new feature - tune into future updates to read more about that if you're interested.

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