Simplifying

Today I took the plunge and pretty much removed most of the features I wrote into Gather Up recently. I wrote the Z targeting system, it didn't work. I was in fact getting hit more with a system that was supposed to make it -easier- to dodge which made the whole thing a tantamount failure. I had half sense it wasn't a good idea because it was straying from the 'two button' paradigm, multiplying complexity (I have a rough calculation for it, but I'll talk about that another day).

There is a positive side to it. I've lost about 3-4 days of work, including some other stuff to do with the way ammo is handled. I re-wrote a huge chunk of the code to support the Z locking which transfers well (I had to remove/tweak a few lines of code to get back to the stage I wanted) so overall everything now works better. My issues originally was handing the gun between during dodge moves and I had to write that for the last system to work. So everything that respect is cleaner and better than if I had directly switched from one system to the other.

I've returned all the dodge controls to something even simpler than the demo. No more 'toward' and 'away' nonsense. You shoot the nearest thing pressing or holding X. You can roll any time but tapping down + direction. You can backflip any time by pressing up. Next up I'm going to alter the 'hover mode' to be a bit less crap and be more like a short period of floaty/flight type movement to add a Ariel dimension to fighting. I want to create something like the air suspension moves in Devil May Cry, sans actually having to shoot to stay in the air. If done right it should add something else new to the platforming element as well as combat. I've still got the issue of weapon and target cycling, but I think they will be manageable.

The other paradigm shift (see what I did there) is that I've changed with level I'm going to be doing for the demo build. A few people expressed concern about the lack of exploration and I think I need to address that as part of proof of concept. I'm quite happy with the results for linear areas, which feel a bit dead right now because they are awaiting the epic story content that is going to make them interesting to play. Since the movement mode has changed so much, I think I'll need to re-prove the open world mechanics of Level Up under Gather Up's altered movement mechanics and focus on fighting as well as collecting.

In other news. I worked on a house:
I'm not really sure about using this style right now. It feels a bit too busy and distracting and the windows/doors -really- clash with the brickwork. I do like the colours though.

Gather Up - Dodging System

I've been doing some work on the dodging in Gather Up today. In fact I have the code window up right now, I've just decided to do this blog post as a quick breather.

I've got a couple of small issues with dodging. I'm modelling the combat after Zelda's Z-Locking system. Only I have the issue that I have a LOT less buttons to play with and am reluctant to add more. Too many buttons normally adds needless complexity.

During combat the player needs to be able to do quite a few things. They need to be able to shoot, either on Auto, or one shot. They need to be able to move. They should be able to dodge. They should be able to switch to another target. They should be able to switch weapons. Now consider I'm mapping this to Arrow Keys and X+C. Not an easy task.

Here's how it breaks down right now. Lots of contextual stuff going on.

X - Lock on/Shoot when you have target
C - Menu (pauses so you can switch guns, considering making a quick switch menu by holding C rather than tapping it)
LEFT - Hold to run, Tap to dodge. Dodging toward an enemy is a roll, away is a backflip.
RIGHT - As Above
DOWN - Cycle next target, hold to exit combat stance.
UP - Cycle weapon (perhaps I don't need this with a menu though) OR another dodge

I'm already coming up with issues doing this. Targeting feels clumsy against multiple opponents. I want something more like the simple 'Holding Z locks on to the nearest thing' system.

So perhaps I should add another key.

My OTHER consideration is that I want to add another dodge to make the game more...unique from the Zelda system. I've been thinking some kind of grappling hook type system. So you tap up and the hero fires a piton into the roof and pulls himself a couple of tiles off the ground so you can shoot from a slightly greater height and dodge ground based attacks. It would probably be a bit of work to prototype, and seems like a big risk to take on already complex controls.