FutureFragments
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Okay, so
🕑 Added 2015-11-23 18:39:08 +0000 UTC 99% of the time I don't make posts like this because I don't like announcing features to the game before we've all gotten it really fleshed out, but by god, this is getting in the game one way or another, so fuck it!Right now, when you beat a boss, you get one powerup, something that's utility based and gets Talia around levels easier (like a dash, or double jump, or whatever else).
Originally, these abilities were going to do massive damage already, but we thought about it and were like "wait, that seems kinda odd to be spamming this movement based ability just to do damage." Then, we thought "What if we gave the player an extra charge shot for each powerup, that would only work when that powerup was selected?"
This would also solve the current problem where the "split charge shot" feels odd, as one level does medium damage and pierces all enemies, and the second does large damage but only to one enemy; no matter what path we take (whether it's sequential charge or button swapping them) it feels awkward in one way or another.
So, we'll likely change her charge shot to just simply be "charge for a bit of time, get a medium damage shot to one enemy, charge longer, get massive damage to one enemy"... and then stuff like specialty charge shots would be the THIRD charge level, only accessible if you've selected that powerup!
These charge shots would use up the same essence that the regular powerup utility abilities do, so we're still debating on how to best represent that (whether by a numerical mana bar, or by "charges" of some sort, or something else).
(For those of you wondering what would happen if you wanted to just keep your charge held the whole time, note that we'll likely implement an "opt out" feature if you don't want to waste your mana, possibly like pressing the down arrow key to duck and nullify the charge.)
So for example;
FIRE BOSS GAINED ABILITIES:
- Fire dash: causes enemies hit with it to suffer burning damage over time, but no direct damage, can be used in the air or ground
- Fire Charge shot: upon hitting an enemy, explodes and does decent damage in the area around the enemy, causing splash damage and burning damage over time to all enemies affected.
ICE BOSS GAINED ABILITIES:
- Ice shot: causes enemies hit with it to take no damage, but they are frozen solid for a few seconds, allowing Talia to use them as a platform. Works on enemies on the walls or in the air, freezing them right where they're at.
- Ice Charge shot: upon hitting an enemy, slows an enemy's movements to a crawl for 5 or so seconds, and does MASSIVE damage to a single enemy.
These specific abilities on the charge shots might change, but we just wanted to give you an idea of, well, the idea!
Comments
The Future Fragments Team
Well, the fire charge isn't gonna do a ton of damage, the ice one would, etc. but that said... If we do the "only have one charge shot based on the power you've got equipped", and we have a deplete-able mana system tied to it, that means that the player will need to conserve their charge attack, which means dealing with enemies would actually become TOUGHER without their charge shot available, etc. If we DON'T have a mana system available, then that would be more feasible, but even MMX and other megaman games left the charge stuff for his normal shots available, in case you don't want to use the powered up shot, but you just want to use the normal one, for whatever reason, etc.
Secular Reason
Liking the sound of the idea so far. I feel like something small is getting lost in translation, but that me be because I literally just woke up. I'll just wait and test it out when it is released.
Ashiel
This sounds waaaay better. :D
Alyena
So, bearing in mind that this idea is still in its earliest iterations, I think that combining multi-tiered charging and different effects based upon the power you've got equipped is an unnecessary complication. To simplify, just have a single charge shot based upon the power you've got equipped, and when you don't have any powers equipped, the charge shot defaults to the medium-strength piercing attack. (Or maybe the default charge shot is a big damage, single-hit attack, and the piercing shot is an ability you get later. Balance issues/theming... that's all stuff for you designers to tweak ;) ) You save on complexity (damn, I WANTED the tier 2 shot, but messed up and get the tier 3 shot, and now I have to release it and start over) as well as design space, by which I mean that currently the tier 2 shot already has a lot in common with your proposed tier 3 shots. You have more room to differentiate between the shots for the other abilities. For example, the fire shot doesn't have to be about massive damage - it can be about causing an area effect dot, and the massive damage attack can be reserved for the ice shot, or a later ability.
Don LUSH
Hi great work so far, the idea of a 3rd charge exclusive to the ability gained (as far as i understood) is nice and fairly resembles the charge system used for the Megaman X saga which is neat. A good refence could be X4 since there was 2 arm upgrades a) adds a 3rd charge to the weapon with great damage, pierce and residual damage orbs b)stacks 4 charged shots at medium damage that must be used before you can charge again.
