MORE TIME VAMPIRES
Replaced the tiny Dios with Jonathan Morris from Portrait of Ruin, again, still placeholder as all hell.The video explains all the currently implemented mechanics, got some playtesting in that revealed that aggressive players need a rushdown option or else this thing becomes a frustrating NOTHING GAME really fast. AS A RESULT:I have implemented a mechanic I'm calling Focus, I should probably use a name not associated with Street Fighter, especially since it works in a totally different way. My Focus works by standing still and holding the down button for a few seconds, and then you get a few seconds of attack speed and movement speed boost!OTHER PLANNED FEATURES NOT YET IMPLEMENTED:OverturesEssentially super moves from other fighting games, an Overture can be done when your super meter is full. Possibly a projectile, maybe a counter, would change based on your character. Meter carries over across rounds, however, Focusing depletes it, so utilize it wisely.RequiemsA clean up! Comparable to the X-Factor from Mahvel, but a bit more specific, a Requiem is almost universally a projectile attack that wipes out a large section of past ghosts. However, it destroys ghosts friendly and enemy alike, and no ghosts wiped out by a requiem count towards your final score. It can also be done once every 4 rounds. This number may be subject to change based on playtesting.SPEAKING OF PLAYTESTING, know someone who wants to play this with you? Well, if you want to try it out, here's a link to the current build:http://bswaldmann.itch.io/darkly?secret=84hXkDgSMDlyW4pzwwP34saR68And for funsies, a WIP of the HUD:
This game is looking more and more exciting all the time. I really look forward to the combination of platforming and fighting game aspects. And scratch out what I said earlier about the vampire theming - for some reason I didn't realize you were going more for Castlevania than you were for Count Chocula.
Only real complaint I have about the game's mechanics at the moment is the idea that the focus mechanic sucks up both time and energy - from what I'm hearing, it'd have to be a significant boost for it to be worth draining two vital resources. I feel like the time spent charging - if it were, say, a 33-50% boost over 3 seconds for 1 second of standing still like I imagined - would be an adequate resource burn. It's all a matter of metrics, but I feel like Focus would be a really useful mechanic in a pinch when a losing player is drained of super meter and needs some clincher to possibly turn the tables. I feel like there'd be a lot more tension involved that way.And another thing - I'd imagine Focusing would make most moves unblockable. Otherwise, your opponent is literally given a full second of telegramming to react to, and his best course of action would be simply to block.edit: or, hell, maybe just making your moves unblockable is enough of a buff (and would fit thematically for the concept of "focusing")Mechanics look really cool! You probably explained it, but do you gain focus by holding down a button? I think it would be easier & more fun if players gained focus automatically when not moving. Also your gravity's too low :)
Oh also– check out nidhogg if you haven't already- it's got some great combat ideas that I think your game could benefit from (throwing swords especially)Panzer,
Focus is mainly used to deal with evasive players who are trying to avoid conflict, by standing still for a few seconds to activate, it forces the evasive player to make a choice: he can either continue avoiding the player who will now easily catch up to him thanks to the speed boost, or he can move onto the focusing player to force him to stop focusing and defend himself. Either way, the focusing player gets what he wants: to actually fight his opponent instead of chasing him down. I may consider focused attacks being faster and unblockable, since as it is the attacking hitbox is kind of small, so if you have the precision to move fast and land the move, you deserve to be rewarded for it. I'll also consider dropping the energy resource cost of Focus, but that will have to wait until I've actually implemented abilities that use energy.Polystyrene,As I said above, I want Focus to be something the evasive player has to notice and respond to. So automatically focusing whenever you're not moving makes the evasive player less aware of his opponent's actions, plus it gives him an easy way to build his own focus so he can continue avoiding him. To avoid this, the Focusing player has to hold the Down key, which triggers a different animation and a clear indicator that he's focusing, so his opponent has to respond. However, I'll look into cranking up the gravity, and projectile attacks may be added to the Overture system since I don't want players to be able to just clog whole zones of the map with projectiles. Even if I assume only 1 sword per instance of player, that can still stack up quick, playtesting has usually resulted in 15-20 clones active at any given time.Although yes, Nidhogg is a huge inspiration! I'm aiming for a similar gamespeed.