Learn how to add a turn based grid battle in this short gameplay tutorial series.

This is the 2nd part of the gameplay tutorial series focused on turn based grid battles – you can find part 1 here. In this part we’ll set up the battle grid in the field scene, battle start/end events for grid battles, as well as a battle using the grid.

We’ll be working on the 2 Field scene in this tutorial, which is already pretty clustered with things from the game tutorial series at this point. I’ll remove all unneeded things from the scene, i.e. all battles and battle areas, item collectors and the introduction event (including the cam points). In case you’re doing the same, you can keep a backup of your scene by saving it using a different name (File > Save Scene As…).

I’m assuming you’re also working with a cleaned up scene for the rest of the tutorial, i.e. only leaving the areas, music player, scene changer and spawn point from the previous tutorials.

Adding a grid battle to the scene

First, we’ll need to find a nice place for our battle grid in the 2 Field scene (can be found in Assets/Tutorial Resources/Scenes). I’ll place my grid at the northern fork of the forrest path – use the ORK scene wizard to create a new Battle Grid (Create Object > Battle Grid) and place it somewhere around X=137, Y=2, Z=370.

Generating the battle grid

Using the scene wizard we’ve got a new game object with a Battle Grid component attached. We’ll use it to create a 10×10 grid at this position, change the following settings in the component’s inspector.

Now, click on Generate Grid to generate the grid cells using those settings, but you wont see it yet.

Displaying the grid in the editor

By default, battle grid cells are not displayed in the editor. You have to change the following settings in the Grid Setup to see the individual grid cells.

Now your grid will look like this:

Editing the grid

Since the ground is pretty even, we don’t have any blocked cells here from the grid generation – let’s change that by painting some blocked cells on the grid. To do this, select the Paint mode in the Grid Setup and select the grid cell type you want to paint.

Now you can paint blocked cells on the grid in the scene view using the mouse cursor and pressing the left mouse button. Paint blocked cells on the grid where the ground is made of grass – afterwards it’ll look like this:

We only need to set some deployment cells for the player and enemies to finish our grid. Let’s start with the player deployment cells.

Paint some cells at the top side of the grid, e.g.:

And finally we’ll set some enemy deployment cells.

Paint some cells at the bottom side of the grid, e.g.:

That’s it for the battle grid – don’t forget to save the scene.

Battle Start Event

Our battle grid is set to be hidden during the game, i.e. we need to make it visible in the battle start event, as well as trigger the player combatant placement. But first, we’ll set up a new Camera Position for the battle.

Camera Position

Open the ORK Framework editor and navigate to World > Camera Positions, add a new camera position and change the following settings.

That’s it for the camera position – next we’ll create a new battle start event. This event is also included in the Grid Prefabs, in case you don’t want to set it up yourself.

Event Settings

Store Music

Add > Animation + Audio > Music > Store Music

First, we’ll store the currently playing music. Since we only use one music channel and only want to store one clip, the default settings are enough here.

Change Music

Add > Animation + Audio > Music > Change Music

Now we’ll play the battle music.

Show Battle Grid

Add > Battle > Grid > Show Battle Grid

This is a crucial step in grid battles – in order to see the grid and be able to move/act on it, it needs to be displayed.

Destroy Object

Add > Game Object > Game Object > Destroy Object

Since our player (or the whole group) is already spawned in the scene, we need to destroy them. Otherwise the player/group would be standing around on the grid during the player combatant placement.

Spawn Combatants

Add > Battle > Combatant > Spawn Combatants

This will spawn all not yet spawned enemy combatants at their battle spots – which will automatically be placed at a free deployment cell.

Spawn Combatants

Add > Battle > Combatant > Spawn Combatants

This will spawn all not yet spawned ally combatants (i.e. not player combatants) at their battle spots – which will automatically be placed at a free deployment cell.

Change Camera Position

Add > Game Object > Camera > Change Camera Position

Now it’s time to use our new camera position.

Player Grid Placement

Add > Battle > Grid > Player Grid Placement

This will start the player’s combatant placement dialogue – no further settings needed.

And that’s it for the battle start event – click on Save Event to save it, e.g. as gridBattleStart.

Battle End Events

For our battle end events, we only need to replace the victory and escape events – and we can build upon the already created battle end events from the game tutorials.

All we need to do is add a Show Battle Grid step to hide the grid after the battle. We don’t need to replace the defeat event, since this will result in a game over and load the game over scene anyway, so there’s no need to hide the grid.

Show Battle Grid

Add > Battle > Grid > Show Battle Grid

Add this step at the position it’s marked in the images.

Victory Event

Open the simpleVictory battle end event that was created during the gameplay tutorials and add a Show Battle Grid step, set up as described above.

Since we may want to keep the old event around as well, click on Save Event As and save the event e.g. as gridVictoryBattleEnd.

Escape Event

Open the simpleEscape battle end event that was created during the gameplay tutorials and add a Show Battle Grid step, set up as described above. This time, we’ll add it before the last Fade Screen step.

Since we may want to keep the old event around as well, click on Save Event As and save the event e.g. as gridEscapeBattleEnd.

Setting up a battle

Next, we’ll set up a battle that will use the grid and battle start/end events we just created. Use the ORK scene wizard to add a turn based battle to the scene (Create Object > Battle > Turn Based Battle) and place it at the position of the grid.

This is basically the same as any other battle we’ve set up so far – change the following settings of the Battle component.

Start Settings

Combatant Settings

Change the already added first combatant/group’s settings.

Battle Settings

We’ll override the default battle start/end events here. Alternatively, you can also just replace the default events in Battle System > Turn Based Battles.

Battle Start Event

Battle End Events

And that’s it for now – don’t forget to save the scene.

The next grid battles tutorial will handle grid movement and ranges.