Q-gallery V

[Zorafim]

Ah, I wasn't thinking an offensive shield. Just, something you stick on your offhand while holding something else. Or, a weapon type that's always paired with another, since using a shield kinda does change your combat style.
So like, you can have saber/shield as a separate combat style from simply saber, with either weaker or clunkier gameplay that provides more defensive options. Or a spear/shield combo that gives you good defensive options, but sacrifices versatile attacks for more direct ones.

Other options are axe / hammer / poleaxe / warhammer. Axe / hammer could be similar to a sword, but half the length and heavier followthrough. Warhammers and poleaxes are hammers and axes mounted onto poles, and act like heavier glaives. Though nobody would bat an eye if they're just reskins of the glaive with different stats.

If you prefer more exotic weapons, I could look into that.

In terms of ranged weapons, I tend to like mine heavy. I prefer light bows over pistols, but I also love myself a grenade launcher or a minigun.

[qoxolg]

@shin: ooh yes! A bow! Since it’s sci-fi, will the bow be a projectile, or just hit scan? Of course it will need a charging mechanism. With higher potential power then handguns but slower/harder to aim.

@Zora: I could do that for some weapon, though it might prove hard to balance. I’ve already been thinking to give melee weapons the ability to block, but I am afraid that it will take away some of the challenge. Maybe let blocking consume MP? I also need to take into account some attack canceling, though not to much, or maybe give attack cancels some cool down for your next attack, to prevent abuse like you have in PSO2.

[Zorafim]

Mm~ so,

I find that blocking in games is not accurate to blocking in real combat in the slightest. In games, you just press a button, and magically all incoming attacks come to your weapon. In reality, blocking is as involved as attacking. You have to focus as hard as getting your weapon between you and the attack as much as you would have to focus on getting the weapon to the enemy to hit them.

So here are some thoughts. Blocking a hit stuns you, dependent on the weight of the weapon and strength of the character. Timing a block lowers this stun so that a perfect block acts as a parry, which will prevent that stun and maybe even set you up for a counter attack. A shield, as a large chunk of metal (or a spreading outward force) will have more stability than a light weapon, and therefore block more effectively. And a very heavy weapon, such as a great sword, will have a much higher success of blocking an attack than a rapier. Which can then be balanced around having a faster chance to block and get a successful parry, or execute a dodge.

The idea is to get a flow going. Holding a defensive stance should protect you a little from attacks, but you shouldn't be completely safe. So some system that punishes the player for just hiding behind a shield without thinking, and rewards the player for being reactive, seems like it would work to create more engaging gameplay.

[qoxolg]

aha! yes I could implement something like that, since I already have variables for weapon weight. That sounds like a fair and fun way to use it. That way I can play with different weapon archetypes within the weapon classes itself.

It's still quite hard to make a proper combat system that feels fair. I now have lowered the stagger on enemies, so that if the weight/stagger resistance formula goes below a certain value, in stead of stagger, you will slow down the attack animation of the enemy. Full stagger made it to easy to just mash attack buttons and dodge after the 3-hit combo.

I also have a slight hit stun slow down on the players attack animation when hitting an enemy, because it feels so much more satisfying.

I dislike games that have 0 reaction to attacks, with the player and enemy interchanging attacks and having the biggest numbers win.

[Zorafim]

Yes, combat is a combination of offense and defense. Simply attacking more than the enemy does leads to boring gameplay.

I liked Bayonetta's gameplay. I think you couldn't really stun a lot of enemies, but you could dodge whenever you wanted. This lead to a lot of reactionary gameplay, which I think is awesome.

Some other things I should mention. Hammers and axes are terrible for defense due to their awkward weight distribution and their poor length. Their high weight allows them to be more effective if they do a successful parry though, allowing them to knock weapons away more easily.
So I think axes and maces should get some kind of blocking penalty, but increased stunlock effectiveness

[qoxolg]

Nothing sexy with this months update. Mostly worked on systems. This month I’ll be working on the spaceship interior.

[Shinureal]

Looking good Sir!

[Zorafim]

The saber sheathing on the back looks neat, though it looks like it would be hard to grab.

The shooting mode looks great too. It looks like it nailed PSO2's 3PS elements perfectly, though the handgun still seems boring to me. It would make a great stepping stone to a higher level weapon later on. Something like a minigun with poor range and leaves you vulnerable. but has high dps. Or a rifle with higher dps and range, but a slower shooting speed.

The heal bot adds a great dynamic to the combat system. Before it kinda seemed like you would just kill anything, but now you need to prioritize the healbots to get anything done.

[qoxolg]

late reply is late (I blame PSO-W for decided to session time out me when I wrote my reply)

For the saber sheathing, I guess it just warps to the hands, because space magic? I've been thinking off putting it on the hip. I could do that I guess, but I also like the idea of showing off the weapon.

Of course the handgun is just the boring ranged weapon you probably don't want to use. Just like the saber is the boring melee weapon. Weapons aren't gonna be super interesting until I get to the more high rarity ones with special abilities and attacks.

The healbot indeed helps boost difficulty and strategy, though currently the enemies are a bit to aggressive. More than 5 enemies is quite hard to handle. I am thinking of making a variable for aggressiveness which will be lowered for the lower difficulties. For my 'Ultimate' difficulty this would be fine though.


Anyway, some arts, because I keep forgetting to actually draw. Making this game is way to addicting. The spaceship is coming along nicely. Halfway trough the month and I already made some good progress. I might actually be able to add the shopping area and/or elevators if I can keep this up. At the very least the new spaceship is already functional with the quest counter and the teleport implemented into it.

[yoshiblue]

Thanks to all the DBZ craze, the setting makes me think Future Namek or someplace on DBZ Earth. I like the detail in the water too, very pretty. For a moment I thought the railing on the left was a shoreline though, heh. I also wonder is the CAST has extra protection in the belly.