Well, I'm a little bit lost. The game I'm working at, is a rpg which utilize a first person perspective. My first (and naive) approach was, to handle the game just like any other standard (MMO)RPG from a FPS view which means select a target, press autoattack and activate some spells. The problem is, that the player got the feeling of being disconnected which kills immersion. When you see an enemy, you want to hit the mouse button and swing your sword, everything else feels wrong.

So, for testing purpose I switched to a more action based combat system which feels much better. I would be happy with this solution, but there's still one issue: how to handle combat related spells. In most (MMO)rpgs you are more like a manager who watch and command his character from a third person view, whereas
in a fps based game you directly control it (tactic vs. action).

In most action based game you have the problem of not handling too much skills/spells. Action rpgs like diablo or the recent torchlight let you only choose two main actions. Shooter based rpgs like deus ex or fallout3 exchange weapons for spells. On the other hand, fps like TF2 or battlefield contains
rpg elements and an inventory (even if it is tiny compared to rpgs).

So, what are my options ?

Let's ignore all none combat related spells like buffs for the moment. One idea is combine to fps and rpg elements.
Take fps weapons as medium and modify them with rpg spells. Instead of using a "snare" or "fire touch" spell you cast a weapon buff which will apply the probabilty of inflicting special damage to the enemy (slowing him down or extra fire damage). Then there could be special weapons like a magical staff which shoots magical missile which could be altered by additional spells (fire blast, icicle ..). Maybe a combination of spells could be applied to the weapon. Casting the spells will cost a certain amount of mana, but every activation of the according effect will cost mana too.


Any thoughts ?

You might want to investigate Savage 2
http://www.savage2.com/en/main.php
or Global Agenda
http://www.globalagendagame.com/

Both of these are first person games with strong RPG elements.

While it would depend entirely on how magic works in your game how about a smart button or gesture system or perhaps combing the two.

The smart button would be used to active the relevant ability determined by the situation and focus. Maybe varied by whether you do click or hold the button. For example a click while focused on an attack would cast reflect, while a hold would summon a shield. Like wise an enemy standing in water click would cast freeze, and a click on a frozen enemy would cast rock fist to try and shatter them.

Gesture system on the other had would allow the player to assign gestures to each spell and cast them by performing that gesture.

Then again the cast button could bring up a radial menu and flick the mouse towards the appropriate spell.

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You might want to investigate Savage 2 http://www.savage2.com/en/main.php or Global Agenda http://www.globalagendagame.com/ Both of these are first person games with strong RPG elements.

I was aware of savage 2 and watched some gameplay videos yesterday. Savage 2 supports both, third and first person, and it is interesting to see that in most videos the players switch to third person for melee and first person for range combat.

I will take a closer look at global agenda.

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While it would depend entirely on how magic works in your game how about a smart button or gesture system or perhaps combing the two. The smart button would be used to active the relevant ability determined by the situation and focus. Maybe varied by whether you do click or hold the button. For example a click while focused on an attack would cast reflect, while a hold would summon a shield. Like wise an enemy standing in water click would cast freeze, and a click on a frozen enemy would cast rock fist to try and shatter them. Gesture system on the other had would allow the player to assign gestures to each spell and cast them by performing that gesture. Then again the cast button could bring up a radial menu and flick the mouse towards the appropriate spell.

Arx fatalis has s gesture spell system. Never played this game, but overall it looks similar to our game.

The hold button idea in combination with a radial menu is a interesting idea. When you click the button, the standard action will be performed. When you hold the button, a menu pop up and show available spells with only some spells activated. When you hold the button longer more and more spells will be activated (preparation time).

Bringing up the spell book pauses or slows down the game... problem solved?

Check out Vampire: Bloodlines by Troika. It's an excellent example of fps mixed rpg and excellent in general.

It has buffs, ranged and close combat, conversational skills, lockpicking and hacking and even a skill that lets you see useful stuff lying on the ground better.