Toribash Game

[dauer]

Someone told me about this yesterday and I've been playing with it a lot since then. Basically, it's a turn-based rag doll fighting game. At each turn you're able to tweak the joints with options like relax, extend, contract, hold, rotate, bend. This allows you a lot of freedom in movement and the creation of unique attacks. There are a lot of mods for it that come with the game. There is a learning curve though and because of the attention to detail it's probably not something for everyone.

Here's the link:
Toribash - Violence Perfected

I'm still playing around in single player to get a good handle on the mechanics before I jump into multiplayer but even there it's a lot of fun. I like how there aren't any set moves. It's all based on experimentation and physics. Yay physics!

[gp1628]

Pretty cool. Nice little time-killer.
Thanks.

If you ever run across someone that should consider distribution (somewhere past independent
but not up to major known company shelf-ware) let me know. Especially in a war-game of any type.

[dauer]

Yeah I haven't gotten into the multiplayer yet and it's still awesome. xD I wanted to get a good grasp of the way the physics operate first. Some of the replays that people have saved are simply incredible. I've been working on the notion of circular motion. I'll start with a movement in my character and then, even if it seems counter-intuitive to do so, I'll support that movement in other parts of my character. I was able to do something pretty crazy but I couldn't repeat it. I grabbed the dummy, swung around, latched onto its back upside down, then kicked its head off.


I know one program that I would love to see go that direction, unfortunately the devs are a bit hesitant to develop it independent of its current platform and there's no possibility for distribution before that happens. Right now it's attached to Second Life and in that environment it's been financially good for them. There's no online game I've come across that's like it. It's a balanced melee combat system. The basic mechanics are akin to rock paper scissors but it's much more complicated than that. To become good at it, it requires reflexes but more importantly it requires the ability to recognize your opponent's patterns on the fly while projecting false patterns. On top of that, its rooted in the samurai/ninja mythos without marrying itself to any sort of roleplay.

[dauer]

I've played a bit more and the thing I enjoy most is the physics. I realized that a few key points are using core strength, staying aware of center of gravity, circular motion and channeling energy from one part of the body to another. I noticed that sometimes it is better to stiffen a part of the body that motion is going into in order to channel that motion into another part of the body. At the same time, sometimes it is better to move with the part of the body that motion has been directly channeled into by relaxing other parts of the body or adding a complementary motion. One thing that seemed counterintuitive but which I understand now is that sometimes, adding what appears to be complementary motion will stop movement. I realized this is because all of the energy is channelled into that movement and has nowhere to go, so it goes through there and dissipates. Yay physics.