Hey everyone! This is my 8th dev blog. Today, I'll be going over the new feature I'm adding to my battle system. Let's get started!

So, as those of you who have read my previous dev blogs will know, I've been planning to add a mechanism to my turn-based battle system that allows the player to time their button presses in order to deal more damage. I don't want it to be too difficult, because in a turn-based RPG, the amount of damage you deal should depend on your Offense stat, not on how fast you can press buttons. I wanted this mechanism to keep the player interested in the battle, to help prevent boredom. I wanted it to be easy enough so that it didn't take away from the tactical part of the battle, but just tricky enough so that it was fun. Well, how do I make something like that?

I had several ideas. First, I thought of Undertale's mechanism. A bar moves horizontally across the screen, and you need to try to stop it in a specific place by pressing a button. It's a good idea, but I wanted something a little more flashy. My next idea was to have a ball drop, and it would slowly pick up speed. Then, you had to try and stop it by, once again, pressing a button. I discarded this idea pretty quickly, mostly because it was just the bar idea but vertical and with acceleration thrown into the mix. But then, I had a great idea.

I thought of, well, a speedometer. A needle would move back and forth, and you had to try and stop it in the middle. Here's a what it looks like:

The needle moves back and forth, and you need to try and stop it while it's in the center. The closer to the center you are, the more damage you deal. It's a pretty simple idea, but I still find it kind of cool.

Thanks for reading my dev blog! Feel free to post ideas or suggestions in the comments. Bye!!