Woohoo! It's finally here! The combat reveal!
Combat in Cynical 7 will flow in real time, as a kid, grinding your characters to insane levels and power was really fun for me, working tirelessly to be able to overcome bosses without breaking a sweat. However as an adult I realized this wasn't fun at all, and I'm more interested in the story and meaningful conflicts. I used this as the basis for developing the battle system. Cynical 7 has no generic counters, only boss battles that will test your skill and constantly require you to evolve your level of play.
The Action Zone: The action zone is where all the magic happens, it consists of 4 panels the player can hop between to safely launch and avoid incoming attacks. Before an attack is launched the action zone will briefly indicate which panels are safe and which ones are dangerous.
Attacking: Tris can use a quick ranged attack that consumes a small amount of energy, or a slower powered attack that consumes no energy but will leave him vulnerable for longer.
Enemy Attacks: The enemies in the game will all use giant attacks to try to crush, bludgeon, maim, and eviscerate Tris, the attacks they use will be related to their fighting style and/or personality, as you can see in the GIF, the robber uses daggers!
Momentum Meter: The momentum meter was design to emulate the ebb and flow of a fight between two opponents. When someone is winning a fight they are emboldened and their adrenaline rushes and when they are losing, they have to fight harder to get back in the game and avoid being exhausted. The momentum meter is filled by successfully landing attacks and dodging attacks while it is drained naturally over time and by taking damage. The higher your momentum the faster you can move between panels and attack, the lower it is, the slower Tris can act and react. Basically, it's important to do well or even the most harmless of foes can get the jump on you, high stats and fancy weapons can't save any fighter from exhaustion!
Bonuses: There are good and bad bonuses that can appear on both the red tiles and the blue tiles, these will be random and the player will have to adapt to them accordingly.
Special Meter: Once the special meter is full the player can unleash a devastating attack, the meter is filled by incapacitating the enemy with Dizzy Status and Power Ups.
Energy Bar: An energy bar indicating the amount of ranged attacks Tris can execute, refills over time.
Dizzy Meter: A bar that fills up the more attacks Tris pulls off in succession (think of it like in street fighter, quickly kicking your opponents ass and taking no damage would make them dizzy and unable to act for a few seconds)when the bar is full the enemy is incapacitated for a short time
Health: Tris has a set amount of health but once it falls below 20-25% it will regenerate slowly back to this point! (testing is needed to determine which amount works)
FAQ:But if the attacks are telegraphed before they happen wouldn't it be easy just to dodge the enemy and avoid momentum issues?In the beginning yes. But however, random bonuses that can affect your momentum, paralyze, and confuse you could affect situation, not only that, enemies will often quickly attack in quick succession or even telegraph more than 1 attack in advance, so it'll be up to you to remember where the danger is! Between the statuses and any momentum hiccups, you'll really have to bring your A game!
What's still left to do?
Animations for dodging and attacking still need to be polished, every good hero needs a victory pose. All of the meters need to be implemented to a functioning state!
If you have any additional questions about the battle system feel free to ask and I'll clear them up!
Tris's weapon in the game is called Harutaru, a colorful fun little blade that can do some awesome things! But more on that next update! :D
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