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[SnoutUp]

Good day!
My name is Aurimas, solo hobby gamedev, and I have issues with finishing and releasing games. To fight that I decided really force myself in to a challenge of making a small new game and publish it as soon as possible. Hopefully, this devlog will help me to brainstorm and get some feedback.

Game: Iron Snout (working title). A "stand your ground" fighting game, where you either fight waves of enemies or try to survive as long as possible in an endless ambush from both sides (yet to be decided). Vertical movement only: jumps and crouching.

Playtesting:

Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/424280

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snoutup.ironsnout
Browser: https://snoutup.itch.io/iron-snout

Latest gameplay GIFs:






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Moves:

• basic punches, can be chained for decorative purposes
• turn around "back hand" slap
• mid-air kicks
• uppercut (striking from crouch position)
• ground pound
• throws
• using enemy body parts against them (kicking and throwing heads)
• catching an enemy projectile and throwing it back!

Enemies:

• a double-axe wielding wolf (walks, throws one of his axes, then runs at character to chopping at it)
• flying enemy type (done: rocket wolf)
• smaller wolf running on all fours and jumping at character
• something with low attacks to force jumping (not implemented)

Issues:

• Maintaining fast paced combat, but not overflowing player with enemies & projectiles
• Making a feedback of a connected strike feel good
• Balancing: insta-death? health bar?
• Responsive touch screen controls
• That feeling that this is not a "small game" anymore

I understand this is nowhere as interesting as other projects posted here, but I hope you don't mind me posting about my progress once in a while.

Time to go back to work!

[SnoutUp]

First update!

Added knock-back/enemy stun and some visual feedback to successful hit. And it made a world of difference to the feel of combat. Although, axe hit is buggy (counts multiple hits) it does look cool.



The question remains... How will I be able to balance all the fighting out when I'll add character mortality... It kind of looks like insta-death would be fun killer, so I'll have to go with health system.

Enemies clumping up is another headache. But, hey, at least it's already fun to test it!

[SnoutUp]

4 AM and I'm done for today. So far it's going on quite well (still haven't started any balancing) and I added a couple of very sweet moves:

[Russ]

Looks pretty awesome! Reminds me of One Finger Death Punch.

[SnoutUp]

Very early alpha version is UP! Added low kicks, knock-backs to more strikes, updated main character sprites with softer colors, tweaked some of the sprites to fit moves better, added trails and, finally, made piglet mortal.

Feedback wanted: http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/iron-snout/33540/

[SnoutUp]

Update:

* improved art of the scenery
* added shadows
* more knock-backs!
* new moves: knee kick and ground slam
* tested on mobile and face palmed because controls needs a ton of work

[CasePortman]

Love it so far! There's something really satisfying about uppercutting a wolf up in the air, juggling it a while, then slamming it back down to the ground!

My best:

[SnoutUp]

Love it so far! There's something really satisfying about uppercutting a wolf up in the air, juggling it a while, then slamming it back down to the ground!

Thanks! I will update Gamejolt version this evening with some balance changes (lowered HP of piglet and wolves, but also made spawn sequence a lot more fair. That'll do for now, until I start adding new enemy types).


I also published Android version already... For my "game in a week challenge". There are some big input delays on some older devices, which I'll look in to, but players report that it works okay: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snoutup.ironsnout



Next week I'm planning to add at least one enemy type or new move/mechanic every day. Let's see how that'll work out for me!

[CasePortman]

Nice! I will definitely give it a shot on Android for sure, also I could watch that gif all day.

[SnoutUp]

Expected to add a new enemy or new mechanic today, but instead added half of new enemy and half of new mechanic.

Enemy: Wolf on the rocket. It will fly through the screen over the character once and come back in lower level forcing to jump. It will probably require a new move to be added for "neutralizing", but jump & kick might be enough.


Move: Throw! Still unsure where and how the grappling will happen, but I'll find a way.

[SnoutUp]

Finally, got time to make an update!

• new enemy type: rocket wolf! Kick it off his firework or it will annoy you to no end.
• enemy attacks have longer wind-up and attack animation is much clearer
• piglet strikes flow much better and have shorter frame reset delay
• ducking now has a kick attacked, so it will be more useful to do
• ducking in front of axe will not do "axe catch" move if an enemy is near by (thus, you will be able to avoid being hit)

[SnoutUp]

During last Feedback Friday on /r/gamedev I got a ton of useful feedback and realized that there's a lot more I need to do, than I first assumed. It's fun to play, but gets old after 10 minutes. I'm still unsure how I'll be able to make it work, even with more content. Anyway, some new mechanics!

Most requested feature: dodged projectiles now hurt enemies! While it's pretty satisfying, it did mess up balance a lot, which may or may not be solved with nerfing it, so it wouldn't insta-kill.



A mash of a couple things I wanted to implement earlier: knocking enemies to the rockets to kill them and... FLYING BODY PARTS!



So, it is moving forward, but not as fast as I'd like it to move.

[SnoutUp]

Great update for the game and wasn't really that complex! Nerfed cleavers, stuck them to the heads of enemies, made them easy to knock out again. Result: faster & more intense gameplay. Also, got some UI done!

[SnoutUp]

Working on new enemy type and, also, handling different kinds of items. A bit in a pickle here, since my code wasn't prepared for that second part.

[SnoutUp]

Spent all Sunday trying to fix Saturday's mess (pogo-stick enemies worked fine, but pogo-stick handling needed a lot of work to feel decent) and finally think I got it  ~right. Had to draw some special frames, weapon trail effects and set wielded weapon positions manually for a lot of frames (more work needed here, but it's cosmetics).
 
Also added combo meter. It really does add to the game and super easy to make. And I was hesitating...

[SnoutUp]

* Finally updated the background!
* Two new moves: flip and split kick
* More basic move frames for variety
* Head kicking and throwing mechanics
* Enemy throwing mechanics
* Small decorations