BARBABIAN RAMAPGE

When I first entered MVM, and made Little Ghost: HTD, it was partly to motivate me to rebuild this game I had started a while ago.  Because it was one of my early projects when I was first teaching myself to use Gamemaker, it was full of antiquated code, that you could almost use to chart my progress like layers of mantle in the earth.

Once the Jam ended and I took a short break, I decided I really wanted to dig into this idea again.

The original idea, was to combine two genres I enjoyed a lot; Platforming and 2D Fighters.  Something akin to Tekken or Sould Calibur.  Directional based inputs and moves combined with traversal.  Not disimilar to the way you can execute magic in C:SotN.  Something that was a bit cartoony in tone, but still with a fantasy vibe.  Serious enough to be invested, but a little tongue-in-cheek  Like a violent Saturday morning cartoon.

CORE CONCEPT CHANGES

There were two main issues as I started development:
A.  What exactly was the potential synergy between Fighting Game Combat and Platforming.
and B.  Fighting game combat is hard enough to develop, let alone developing Enemy AI that can use it.

Basically, how well could the two mix?  Would then be disconnected, with a platforming section leading to a combat section.  Would jumping from one ledge to another just be jumping to another fight.  And if they could meld, what obstacles would they face for their mechanical qualities?

Let's take Hollow Knight for an example.

Hollow Knight combines it's combat and platforming in two main ways.
One is the dual utility of it's moveset.  The Down Pogo Slash not only deals damage, but keeps the player airborn, and refreshes their Double Jump.  And at higher levels of play, you have things like using the Soul Blast to obtain more air-time, or using Descending Darkness to negate your horizontal momentum, and quickly shoot downward.  Even the Dodge move doubling as a movement option.

Most of these moves are one button and directional input away from execution.  What makes combat exciting to my reckoning, is the quick descision making between recognising you need to use a move, and execution that move.  And the narrower this though process, the more exciting and gratifying it is to pull off.

In a traditional robust fighting game moveset, realistically how many of the moves could have a meaningful dual utility?  And would the additional complexity of the input help, or hinder the quick descions making that makes combat fun?  Would it be better, to have a smaller, but more integral moveset, if utility is the main goal?

The other way HK combines traversal with combat is though enviromental hazards.  Both static hazards like spikes, and spawning hazards, like acid globs or the Radiance's swords.  Where the player must not only damage the enemy, but learn their attack patterns to maneuver around them to stay alive.  In Hollow Knight especially, this is more akin to Bullet Hell style combat.

Things that again, don't slot into a traditional one-on-one fighter.

Taking Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as another example, super moves aside, the main combat attack is a single strike.  But while the stick is simple, the complexity comes from executing that strike in response to enemy movements.  You start with a whip, which doesn't have the highest attack, but gives you plenty of range.  More margin for error as you get to grip with things.  And then later, you can get faster or stronger weapons, with less range comparitivly.

You get plenty of versatility and complexity out of this simple moveset, to the point where the Power Moves and Spells are almost optional bouses.  As such, is attempting a Metroidvania, when Fighting Game combat, shooting yourself in the foot from the outset... maybe, maybe not.  But I had developed enough uncertainty to change my approach.

The main thing I wanted was for the player to have visceral fun with the combat.  To enjoy the motion and striking as they beat hoards of enemies to a pulp.  Which made it clear which direction I really had to pursue.  Spectacle Fighting.

SPECTACLE FIGHTING

There a few reasons why this works better for what I wanted to make.  It provides more asymetrical opportunities for fun enemy ideas.  It means I can have a smaller combat pool, that combines variety and utility.  It provides a more intuitive conetext to combine traversal maneuvers with combat.  But most of all, Spectacle Fighting doesn't require as tightly as designed combat system.

In Spectacle Fighters, the goal isn't necessarily to do things the most efficient way, but in the most fun and varied way.  Admittadly, the way they do this is to reward variety with extra damage and XP/Drops.  But that's all maths and balancing after the fact.  While you can min-max your strategies, and typically some enemies will require certain approaches to keep things interesting, the overall goal of the player is still to be as flashy and fun as possible.

Which is not to say it'll be easy.  Just 'easier'.  Designing enemies and encounters.  But also, the graphics and effects (things that you typically might leave til later in development) as a key element of what makes Spectacle Fighting fun on a moment to moment basis.  The visceral feeling of mechanics, VFX and SFX or working in synergy.

I have ideas.  The key one being to have 3 main enemy types.
Canon Fodder; weak enemies, easy to kill and plow through, but still dangerous in large groups if not careful.  High treversal capabilities.
Large Enemies: bigger foes that require more caution and thought.  Lesser in number, and less prone to traveral.
Boulder Enemies:  higher concept and less easy to manhandle.  Very low in traversal.

It's for this reason that I've been hesitant to put out a playable build.  It's all still very rough.  But I also know that nothing is more valuable than player feedback.  And no matter how polished, it never feels ready to show off.  So, Half way into SMVM, and after MVM itself has concluded, I finally spent an evening throwing together a Test Combat Room.  Maybe it is too early for testing, but you never know until you ask.  And a few people resonded well to the video I posted.  So I figured it was time.

Here it is.