Lolife now supports real time and turn based modes!
In real time mode (the default choice) enemies automatically act every 0.5 seconds (10 frames).
In turn based mode enemies alternate turns with the player - during one turn the player can move twice, move and attack, or just attack (i.e. attacking always ends their turn).
It's currently configurable via a new options menu on the placeholder title screen:
I see this as an accessibility option, but also just as a preference for how people want to play - both modes should be balanced and legitimate ways to experience the game. The balance is different between the modes, as in real time mode the player can quickly land multiple hits on an enemy between enemy attacks, but I think the easier tactical approach of turn based cancels that out pretty nicely. You might end up grinding a little more in turn based mode because of it, but it's easier to do so!
This was surprisingly simple to get working thanks to the way the game loop was already set up. Basically I have a tick variable that gets decremented each frame until it reaches zero (or less), then the enemies act and tick is reset (to 10). Now I check a new mode variable and only decrement tick each frame if in real time mode. In turn based mode I instead decrement tick in the player's update event (by 5) when moving or in the player's confirm event (by 10) when attacking. There are a couple of added wait/ignores so the enemy turn doesn't happen immediately on player input, but that's pretty much it!