RG&B

Combat Rules Summarized:

• Absolute Basics: Each round, enemy moves are forecasted in the enemy turn bar up above. Leverage this knowledge as you have your party members play cards into your own turn bar. When you're done, hit 'READY!' to play out the round. Bars execute left to right.
  • Note: You can redact a card by clicking it again or playing a different card with the same character.
  • Second Note: You can see full move effects by hovering over icons in the turn bar.
• Positioning:
  • Executing a card puts an ally in the right-most position.
  •  Enemies always target the party's right-most member unless otherwise specified.
• Reading a card:
  • The card's time cost is in the top-left. This is the number of turn bar slots it requires to play.
  • A shorthand of its effect appears in the middle bar. "N x M" means the card deals N damage and hits M times. (e.g. "2 x 1" deals 2 damage once, and "1 x 3" deals 1 damage thrice.)
  • Cards only affect a chosen target unless specifically stated otherwise ("Self:", etc).

• Reading HP: Each combatant's HP is split into segments. In the HUD above their head:
  • The left number is the current segment's (remaining) HP.
  • The right number is the next segment's (starting) HP.
  • The bar below shows how many total segments remain, including the current one. 
  • (Note: You can hover on a character's HP HUD to see their remaining segments in number form.)
• Segments & Breaking: HP segments matter in several ways:
  • Excess damage from a single hit does NOT bleed over into the next segment. (Clearing a segment is "Breaking" it.) 
  • If an enemy's segment is reduced to exactly 0 (a "Perfect Break"), that enemy gets Stunned and loses its next action. 
    • If there are multiple enemies, you can only Stun an enemy if it's the next one to act. (i.e. Your move's icon must be above the target's color in the turn bar.)
  • Player characters recover their current HP segment after combat, but they do NOT recover lost segments.
• Stats:
  • Attack (ATK) is added to each hit the character's move deals. (e.g. 3 x1 becomes 4 x 1, and 1 x 3 becomes 2 x 3.)
  • Defense (DEF) is subtracted from each hit the character takes.
  • Speed (SPD) reduces the time cost of cards, to a minimum of 1.
  • Note: Cards and move displays on the turn bar will update to show current stat changes only. 
    
• Saving:
  • The game autosaves after any fight finishes. It should retain your current map, your progress on that map, and party HP segments.

• Deck & Party Stuff:
  • In the current version, your deck is fixed the moment it becomes visible in the party menu. Your party is likewise immutable.
  • I have plans for adding alternate decks as you progress and opening up different preset party comps in the postgame (for subsequent playthroughs), but my ability to do so is contingent on how much testing I can get done for all of those.

Credits:

• All sprites and icons are originally from game-icons.net (under CC BY 3.0).
• All music is from Retro Gamer Soundtrack!, an album by Free Music Archive user HoliznaCC0 (under CC0 1.0 Universal).