How would you create a Gladiator/Duel style turn based RPG?

[adrix89]

I have an ich for some single character turn based combat games.
I got into Sword and Sandals Steam version(not sure about other versions) and it doesn't have much depth.
Domina is good but too much of an action game.
Age of Decadence/Dungeon Rats has depth but its too much RNG.
Shigatari is perfect but I already played it to death.

So what would you like to see in a gladiator/duel turn based combat RPG where you control just one character? Maybe with some AI companions and maybe permadeath.
I think this niche has potential.
No complicated stories, just the pure battles, progression and challenge.
Very minimal requirements for the arenas and art.
Its just the combat has to be good.
I also played Dwarf Fortress Adventure and that was something like this.
How do you think the combat could work?

 

[Grimwulf]

Exanima has an arena mode and very interesting combat mechanics. It's pretty much what you've described.

No complicated stories, just the pure battles, progression and challenge.
Very minimal requirements for the arenas and art.
Its just the combat has to be good.

 

[udm]

I would do it like Battles of Norghan but with more variety to unit abilities and more sim stuff to do outside of the arena.

 

[Hyperion]

Wasn't the best, but wasn't terrible either. Lots of varied fights, restrictions in events required you use certain race and class combinations. Also wasn't entirely single combatant, but I do believe you could set companions to Ai and control only one character if you so desired. Permadeath was possible for Gladiators you hire. Lots of timing puzzles could be frustrating if your reflexes suck, but make the game astronomically easier if you git gud. I do believe you could change settings to do it automatically for you, however.

 

[Somberlain]

 

[undecaf]

Still play that occasionally. Awesome little timesink, even if simple.

 

[Jazz_]

I would copy the arena mini-game in Underrail.

 

[Bantichai]

The upcoming combat demo in my own game "Dead Monarchy", is more or less what you've described. I've dubbed it survival mode because I wanted to string it together with some progression. In between fights you'd purchase gear then go fight some more. Obviously there is more to the game than this, but for now I am focusing on the combat demo as I'm only one guy. In the complete game, I'd either integrate arena based game-play into the base game or keep it aside as a separate mode. I'll let you know when the demo drops

 

[Startropy]

I would look into the Riddle of Steel PnP system if you haven't already. The devs spent a lot of thought on this subject matter.

 

[fantadomat]

 

[adrix89]

I would look into the Riddle of Steel PnP system if you haven't already. The devs spent a lot of thought on this subject matter.

Tabletops all have bullshit dice rolls so its all "pretend" depth not actual depth.

 

[Background Character]

There's a steam version? Man, I remember playing the flash game like a fuckload of years ago and it was badass, or at least that's how I remember it

Okay the theme song was great it was like

Gladiator
Gladiator
GLA DIA TOR

And then it just reapeated that over and over again, it was awesome.

 

[Dorateen]

Can one solo Dark Sun: Shattered Lands?

 

[Reinhardt]

 

[Wayward Son]

Already done. It's really short and technically incomplete but hey, ideas are all there. Too bad I botched it and accidentally overwrote my local copies. Note: It is in Python, so you'll need to get some sort of interpreter (I used the 2.7 interpreter from Python's website)
Edit: linked wrong version.

 

[Flint]

Already done. It's really short and technically incomplete but hey, ideas are all there. Too bad I botched it and accidentally overwrote my local copies. Note: It is in Python, so you'll need to get some sort of interpreter (I used the 2.7 interpreter from Python's website)
Edit: linked wrong version.

Zipped source files on github? Do you even version control?