Hi, there and a Happy New Year!
I started working on an arcade styled sidescrolling/ beltscrolling Beat 'em up a while ago. Think of Double Dragon or Final Fight. I aim to bring a somewhat classic experience to the players. In line with how the arcade classics did, it's supposed to be as simple as possible while still offering somewhat deep gameplay for maximum accessibility. Don't hassle yourself with long tutorials. Jump right in and smack some villains.
There are different approaches with this kind of games. I like the simple crowd control type. Just a basic combo string to hit enemies without too much variation, ending with a knockdown. Try to hit as many enemies at the same time without being hit yourself. It's all about positioning.
All basic gameplay mechanics already worked at some point except for grabs/ throws, knockdowns and weapons. But since I migrated from GMS to GMS2 I messed around and up a quite a lot. I am doing everything from scratch again. Basic movement (8-way, running by double tapping left or right), button mapping for keyboard and/ or gamepad as well as (partly) jumping are done. I will talk about other elements when I am able to show it in action.
It's gonna have local coop, btw.
I am doing large pixel sprites. Still struggling with animations, but there is always room to improve. This is an example for the most generic enemy type you'll encounter (well, it's the same as in the gifs). Not 100% finished, yet, but you'll get the idea for the style I am going for. Might do some AA and better shading at some point, but right now I am aiming for working sprite sheets instead. Graphical improvements will be pushed back to a later point when I gained more experience.
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