Okay, so I’ve been messing around with game development stuff lately, and I got stuck on this whole “rune” versus “halys” thing. I was trying to build, like, a simple combat system, you know, just for fun, and I kept seeing these terms pop up.
I started digging around, trying to figure out what the heck each one was actually doing. At first, I thought maybe they were just different names for the same thing. Like, maybe one was an older version or something? Turns out, nope, they’re definitely distinct.
My Experiment
So, I decided to do a little experiment. I set up a super basic project. Nothing fancy, just enough to test these two things out side-by-side. I’m not going to get into all the nitty-gritty code details, because honestly, it was kind of a mess. I’m still learning, okay?
First, I implemented the ‘rune’ approach. My understanding is that runes are more like…individual actions or commands. Think of them like, a single spell or ability that a character can use. So, I set it up so I could create different runes, give them names and effects (like, “Fireball” that does damage, or “Heal” that restores health…basic stuff).
- Creating Runes: Made a way to define new runes.
- Assigning Effects: Figured out how to make the runes do things when used.
- Testing: Used a couple of dummy characters to cast the runes and see what happened.
Then, I moved on to “halys”. From what I could gather, halys is more about chaining actions together. It’s like, building a sequence of moves. So, instead of just saying “cast Fireball”, you could say “cast Fireball, then cast Ice Shard, then run away”. It’s about creating combos, basically.
- Building Sequences: I had to figure out how to link actions together.
- Order of Operations: Made sure the actions happened in the right order.
- Testing (again): Had my dummy characters try out some simple sequences.
What I Found
The biggest difference, at least in my little test, was how they felt to use. With runes, it was very…one-at-a-time. You pick a rune, you use it, you wait, you pick another one. With halys, it felt more fluid. You could set up a chain of actions and watch them play out. It was like the difference between turn-based combat and something a little more real-time (though my project was still very much turn-based!).
Honestly, both approaches have their pros and cons. Runes are simpler to understand and implement, at least at the basic level. Halys is more complex, but it offers more potential for interesting gameplay. I can see how you could use them together, too! Like, maybe you use runes to define the individual actions, and then use halys to combine them in different ways.
I’m still pretty new to all this, so I’m sure there’s a ton I’m missing. But this little experiment definitely helped me get a better handle on the difference between runes and halys. It’s one of those things where you just have to do it to really understand it, you know?
I might create another test and combine them next time, I think it’s a good way to improve my skill!
