Hey everyone!
One very busy week later, and I finally have the ability to show you a mock-up of the new UI, which will help me explain the initiative system. As it is a mock-up, the UI isn't final.
So, there are a few key UI elements that will help me explain how this system works. All characters in the game have access to the resource Initiative. Any type of action such as moving, attacking, or using abilities comes with an Initiative cost.
Each character has its own individual Initiative bar, as is visible in the top-left. Each character has an individual income of Initiative, at the beginning of the player's turn.
While you will act with all of your characters in sequence during your turn, just as the enemy will with their characters during their turn, the order in which your characters will get to act during your turn is governed by their Initiative. Highest goes first, lowest goes last.
This means that there is an added layer of strategy, as players will have to predict and plan their Initiative spending in accordance with whatever tactics they wish to execute in the following turns. But wait, there's more!
The sum total of all the player characters' Initiative is then compared to the sum total of the opponent's characters. Whoever is highest, will have the first turn in that battle round. To clarify, battle round one for example would be both the player and computer's turn one. Once they've both played their turn one, battle round one is completed. If you look at the top-middle of the picture, you can see the turn counter, surrounded by a frame split in red and green, the computer being represented by the red and the player by the green. So in this case, we can see that the player will go first in the third battleround. In the event of a tie, the player will go first.
What this means is that if we take this third battle round as an example, is that if the player spends enough Initiative to have their total drop below that of the computers', then the computer will go first in the fourth battle round, giving them two consecutive turns! This is of course, rather risky, but the system works both ways. This means that a skilled and knowdledgeable player can set up situations where they themselves get the double turn for impressive combos.
Feel free to ask in the comments if you have any questions!