Every classic RPG has a moment the player never forgets: the screen fades, the music swells, and something enormous answers the call. In Ichiloto that moment is a summon — a hand-authored ASCII cinematic paired with a battle skill, played full-screen in the middle of combat.
Summons are pure data. Each one lives in its own folder of PHP files: one file describes its identity and rules, another describes its animation frame by frame. No engine code is required to add one, and the engine discovers them automatically.
This section walks the whole pipeline:
- Authoring a Summon — the folder layout, the data file, and how a summon becomes a battle command.
- Cutscene Timelines — the animation format: tracks, keyframes, multi-line ASCII art, color layers, and damage cues.
- Wielders and the Summons Menu — deciding who may call each summon, how players assign them in-game, and renaming the technique to fit your lore.
A summon is equal parts systems design and stagecraft. The engine handles the systems; the stagecraft — a djinn hurling fire, an eagle loosing a cyclone, a bull splitting the earth — is yours.