Caveman 3.0: implementing rock toss and similar mini-games:

I have a few mini-games planned that are similar to rock toss (throw rock at target for score).

I was thinking of using the combat engine, dialog options, and AI to implement it in-game, as opposed to a separate mini-game module.

example:

imagine if in skyrim you could challenge an NPC to an archery contest, and you would both shoot at a target and the game would keep score. and there would be color dialog like "nice shot", or "ha! top that one!". you might even get a dragon attack in the process, kill it, then resume the contest.

compare to the lockpick mini-game in skyrim where you go to a totally separate screen, almost like a separate stand alone game inside a game.

Could this work?

if so, how should it work?

Would winning the game be a matter of the player's skill or the character's abilities?

I guess that would depend on the target.

The combat engine uses real physics to get a missile to a target, then uses chance to hit with armor, stat, skill, and quality mods to determine if damage is done. Weapon type, quality, stats, and chance determine damage done.

For inanimate targets, some sort of collision check between the missile and target would be required. Missile velocity at time of impact and missile type (IE mass) would determine the force of the impact, which would determine if you knocked over a target in a stone toss game, for example.

Obviously, there would have to be some sort of flag in a band member struct (or perhaps a new action type) to indicate they were playing a game, and that game related collision checks, scoring, AI, and dialog should be performed.