Basically I want a way for the player to be able to look at a combatants info (hp/mp/status effects) without it being that combatants turn.
As it stands you either only see their info at the bottom left of the screen during their turn or you see it in list form when targeting.
Several problems here...
The type of list based targeting the "2d grid battle" tutorial sets up isn't the right kind of targeting system for a grid based tactical battle. The tutorial sets up the classic final fantasy targeting system that is meant for non-gridbased battles on consoles. But nowadays it's common for targeting to be done by clicking directly on the character you want to target on grid battles.
To quick fix the targeting issue, I tweaked it on my game so that all player attacks and abilities use the aoe style targeting where you target the cell directly, and I reworked the "Range 0" range to target only one cell which basically makes it into a single target ability that can be used by seemingly clicking directly on the combatant you want to target... (Duct tape on a bridge... My specialty.)
But Now I only, for example, see enemy info when it's their turn. I don't necessarily need the player to see the enemy info while targeting them, but I do need the player to be able to check enemy or ally info at will though. So they can use strategy and tactics properly.
So I tried to repurpose the "study" ability so it just opens the Targeting list with both nearby allies and enemies listed at the same time. This nearly just worked exactly right but when you click on a combatant in the list, the target menu closes.
What I want it to do is simply put the highlight bracket on the combatant I selected in the target menu without closing the menu. This would work as a solution showing the player the combatants info and showing which combatant on the field, and give the player the situational awareness I want them to have.
(Side note. often you'll have multiple enemies of the same type with the same name. The original targeting set-up from the tutorial would fire off the ability as soon as you click on the combatant on the list without letting you confirm if the name on the list was actually the combatant you were looking at on the field... There should be a "click once to select, then click again to cast ability type of thing there... Just fyi)
I saw the option to leave the target menu open after selecting (to allow for selecting multiple targets or whatever), but it doesn't seem to work like it says it should. The menu still closes when you select the first target.
So.
1. Is there a way to set it up so if the player clicks directly on a combatant while it's not that combatants turn, they will get a pop-up or menu showing that combatants info?
2. Is there a way to keep the targeting menu open after you click on a combatant in the list? (As I said, the option that sets it to do that, doesn't seem to work)
3. Is there a way to display hp/mp/status effects icons above each of the combatants' heads permanently?
4. Is there a way to set up the status effects icons to show a short description of what it is when you click directly on it? (Similar to how it's done on Divinity or darkest dungeon)(showing how much damage a DoT tick will do like on darkest dungeon is desired as well)
Hi, not the expert just taking a shot at some ideas for ya :)
1. Battles --> Battle Grid settings --> Examine Grid --> Combatant information --> Add combatant information box might be the easiest way. You can put tags in the message box for like name and level and check "Add HUD" to put in status values/value bars.
There are a couple of places to set up examine boxes. There are different things going on with "info dialogues" and stuff.
3. I used this to make an enemy HP HUD and used range from camera to fade them out.
Or taking the current HUD that you have showing the icon as an example, it is grabbing tags for duration and < name > probably already. You could have a HUD setup that has a description and bonus tag and stuff in the text. Displaying them could happen in different ways like conditions or click action on the HUD buttons.
Or there are menu parts called "description" that are intended to do that sort of a thing where it's putting information in it's own UI Box.
Grid Examine is useful because it also displays the combatant movement ranges as grid cell highlights. I'm using it as a hotkey at the moment.
In most of the console "tactics" games I've played, your turn begins with an open battle menu which you can cancel out of, which then puts you into Grid Examine mode (and cancel again to re-open Battle Menu). I haven't managed to replicate that behavior, but I'd like to eventually.
1. Battles --> Battle Grid settings --> Examine Grid --> Combatant information --> Add combatant information box might be the easiest way. You can put tags in the message box for like name and level and check "Add HUD" to put in status values/value bars.
There are a couple of places to set up examine boxes. There are different things going on with "info dialogues" and stuff.
3. I used this to make an enemy HP HUD and used range from camera to fade them out.
https://orkframework.com/guide/tutorials/gameplay-bits/world-space-hud/
4. Could use a Tooltip.
https://orkframework.com/guide/tutorials/ui-setups/unity-ui-tooltip-hud/
Or taking the current HUD that you have showing the icon as an example, it is grabbing tags for duration and < name > probably already.
You could have a HUD setup that has a description and bonus tag and stuff in the text. Displaying them could happen in different ways like conditions or click action on the HUD buttons.
Or there are menu parts called "description" that are intended to do that sort of a thing where it's putting information in it's own UI Box.
In most of the console "tactics" games I've played, your turn begins with an open battle menu which you can cancel out of, which then puts you into Grid Examine mode (and cancel again to re-open Battle Menu). I haven't managed to replicate that behavior, but I'd like to eventually.
At this point It would be easier for me to figure out how to keep the targeting menu open after the player selects a combatant.