# Turn based side scrolling fighter game **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 27, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351 "2014-05-27T04:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/1 "2014-05-27T04:16:01Z")
I suspect there must be such an animal, but can’t think of one. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/2 "2014-05-27T11:53:50Z")
Hmm, how about a side-scroller roguelike? Even just ASCII? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/3 "2014-05-27T14:18:55Z")
\*Worms \*comes close, though I wouldn’t describe it as a “fighter game”, exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/4 "2014-05-27T14:23:55Z")
Side-scrolling rogue likes are more plentiful, so much so that they’ve got their own genre name : Metroid-like or Castlevania-like. Even though neither \*Metroid \*nor \*Castlevania \*were procedurally generated. _WazHack_, _Spelunky_, _Risk of Rain_, _Rogue Legacy_… would all be examples. ---
**Author:** ![Peaton\_of\_peat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@Peaton\_of\_peat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peaton_of_peat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/5 "2014-05-27T14:24:43Z")
The only turn-based fighting game I can think of is [Toribash](http://www.toribash.com/), and it’s definitely not a side-scroller. I can’t imagine how you’d make such a thing without it being a gimmick. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/6 "2014-05-27T17:15:06Z")
I can’t imagine how you’d make a fighting game turn-based. Do you mean a shoot-em-up? ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/7 "2014-05-27T20:01:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I can’t imagine how you’d make a fighting game turn-based. Do you mean a shoot-em-up? My brain hurts. How would you make a Shoot-em-up turn based? @\_@ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/8 "2014-05-27T21:05:00Z")
… that’s a good question. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/9 "2014-05-27T21:06:13Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > My brain hurts. How would you make a Shoot-em-up turn based? @\_@ Same way you do it in D&D. You get to move so far during your turn, and fire once your turn, and then it’s the next person’s turn. Hope you have enough move to not be a sitting duck! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/10 "2014-05-28T01:52:46Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I can’t imagine how you’d make a fighting game turn-based. You could implement something like the old “Lost Worlds” card/gamebook game. > **[Lost Worlds (gamebook)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Worlds_(gamebook))** > > Lost Worlds is a "combat picture book game" designed and trademarked by Alfred Leonardi and originally published in 1983 by Nova Game Designs. The game has had many publishers, including Chessex, Emithill, Flying Buffalo, and Greysea. > A minor resurgence in published books occurred in 2004, with five new titles published in 2004 (four of them by a new licensee, 1% Inspiration Games), a further two published in June 2005 (both with photo illustrations rather than graphics), and others early in ... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/11 "2014-05-28T02:27:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I can’t imagine how you’d make a fighting game turn-based. [Chess](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess) ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/12 "2014-05-28T03:09:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I can’t imagine how you’d make a fighting game turn-based. Do you mean a shoot-em-up? DoomRL is a turn based shoot em up. Thanks, Kinthalis, those are good examples. The only two I know are Rogue Legacy and Spelunky, which are RT. Are the others also real time? And yes, as Tom Scud suggested, I was thinking of a mechanic something like the old fighting game books where you pick a move and the opponent picks a move and the result is based off the picks. A simplified one, probably, although maybe not so simple as Rock, Paper, Scissors. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-based-side-scrolling-fighter-game/689351/13 "2014-05-28T05:05:54Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Thanks, Kinthalis, those are good examples. The only two I know are Rogue Legacy and Spelunky, which are RT. Are the others also real time? Ayup. Can’t think of any turn-based side-scroller off the top of my head. Plenty of isometrics or top-down, but not side-scrollers. > [@](#): > > And yes, as Tom Scud suggested, I was thinking of a mechanic something like the old fighting game books where you pick a move and the opponent picks a move and the result is based off the picks. A simplified one, probably, although maybe not so simple as Rock, Paper, Scissors. That’s sort of how the _Combat Mission_ games work. They’re somewhat grognard-y tactical games with a somewhat unique “turn by turn real time” gameplay. Skirmishes and battles are divided in chunks of 1 minute. Which sounds short, but it’s a _very_ long time in practice. Each turn you have unlimited time to give orders to all of your dudes and tanks and off-map artillery support, your opponent does the same, then you both hit “go” and both sets of orders are resolved at the same time; with individual units being given some measure of AI autonomy to react to what they see or what unexpectedly happens to them during the uninterrupted 1 minute segment (like a hidden machine gun suddenly opening up on them while they’re leisurely strolling through an open field, a tank platoon cresting a hill and so on). Then you get to do it again. There’s also a deliberate timelag between your giving new orders to a squad and their acting on those orders (the length of which varies depending on the exact status of their comms with the chain of command) to simulate the confusion of battle. It’s a steep learning curve, but once you grok it it’s a real blast. Then there’s the way _Dominions 3/4_ and _Gratuitous Space Battles_ do it, which is : you setup your guys/ships (blind to what they’re up against), give them all a limited set of orders, still blind (go there, target those types of units first, etc…), and that’s it. You hit go, you finally get to see what the opposing team has, go “oh shit, that’s bad, that’s very bad, I should have…” and helplessly watch the carnage :). The computer just takes over the actual rolling of dice and micromanaging, and applies those orders until somebody’s lost all their stuff.