Commit 88cfe46.

I can’t remember exactly what commit it was but at some point I changed the control scheme. Characters used to have a single stick to control movement and another stick to control shooting direction. Players that are generally skilled at video games can adapt to this fairly quickly. Players that are unskilled, or young players, really struggled with this. That sucks. I want the game to be accessible to anyone. I feel like there are game design decisions that can add depth without adding barriers for new or unskilled players.

So…changes. Now a single stick controls movement and aiming. Since movement is analog (small stick movements = small player movements) you can aim without moving by using very subtle movements of the stick. This allows advanced players to manage movement and aiming with fine motor skill but inexperienced players to move around freely and fire in the direction they are aiming.

I also killed the concept of mana as its difficult to manage and doesn’t add depth to the game. Now players hold down the attack button to charge up an attack. A short charge is required to fire a weak spell. Longer charges create an overcharged/powered up spell. While charging, a player has some movement and jump height penalties applied. I’m not sold on this mechanic yet but I wanted to try it and see how it fared in playtesting.

charged-spells-4

Categories: BattleCryptGameDev

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