by KaTsuO_O » Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:49 pm
I'll start out with the important things, and then I'll go in to personal replies where I answer the remaining questions and thoughts.
The reason I made it so that you have to press a button to turn the character, is so that you can walk in one direction, while still face another direction. It is useful in combat because you don't have to turn the back of the enemies in order to back off. AnotherArrow made it so that you could sprint forward but also jump backwards, I find that brilliant. If I make the jump faster than the sprint (but slower for long distances), then it would be more convenient to jump back in order to avoid an incoming attack than turn around and run a few feet. So that is the reason why I made that decision but also an explanation how I'm planning on using it. It is something that you should get used to and it adds more possibilities with look and walk direction specific moves.
The pauses for the different moves is put in deliberate. One example is when she falls and hits the ground, I wanted to give the feeling of that she actually hits the ground. So I added a small animation and made it so that you can't move while it is playing. I feel it makes it a bit more natural, than if you just instantly can walk after a fall and there is no visual impact. However, the animation is made for when you jump or fall from low heights, so the impact doesn't look that great when falling from greater heights. I'm planning on making one or two more animations, one where she stumbles as she hits the ground, and one where she gets down on her knees with a hand on the ground which will slow you down even longer for added effect.
The animation for when pull out the gun is pretty slow, but if I make it faster, then it will be harder to tell what the gun really weights. It is the animation that tells us how heavy something is. However, you can actually start shooting before the animation is complete. If you hold down space while she is pulling it out, she will shoot as soon as possible, which takes 0,8 seconds while the full animation takes 2 seconds. Since it still takes a while to switch between the gun and fits, I think that it adds a bit more strategy to it. Especially since there is certain actions you only can do while unarmed or vice versa, one example being the fact that you can't sprint while holding the gun. So you will need to think if you should have the gun ready, or if it is smarter to keep it on the back.
Another thing that makes it a bit more natural is something that I think OwnerOfSuccuby mentioned, the fact that you can't change direction or stop once you're in the air. When you run of a ledge, then you keep moving with the same velocity as you had before the feet left the ground. I wanted you to have a bit of control in the air, but I didn't manage to get that to work. However since you always jump the same distance, I can design the platforming around that and hopefully make it less frustrating. The platforming is mostly going to be used to get around, instead of being the main obstacle. The challenge is more focused on the combat, so I don't think that I need great precision controls, just something that feels natural.
I made the character myself... I don't really have much more to say about her, other than I think I managed to make a quite nicely designed character.
@QuizmasterBos I'm glad that you think shift to turn works well, since I don't want to add something that no one likes to use. Hopefully people will be more supportive of it once they read my explanation.
I thought it would be good to have an animation where she bends her leg before jumping, but I didn't want to make the jumping feel less responsive. However, since you remind me, I think I should give it a shot. The jump animation doesn't look that great either, so it could certainly help.
I'm not planning on making you able to zoom and I'm also not planning on having a camera follow the character. Instead I'm thinking about having screens, and you walk from one side to the other to get to another screen if possible. If the area is big, then it will be more zoomed out, if the area is smaller, then it will be more zoomed in.
The engine may look pretty on the outside, but it's code is quite a mess and it could be a lot better programmed. If it would be better programmed, then I could more easily add certain features.
@OwnerOfSuccuby Thank you for the sources, but I am not exactly sure what parts of the codes that would help me, or even how I would add them to my engine. Because there is so much programming and it seems so different from how I have programmed it.
I am planning on adding some adult content, but you will not get it during gameplay. It is still something I am thinking about how I want to implement, so I can not say yet how or when you will get the adult content. I really do not want it to hurt the game design, so if I can not find a good way to implement it then I will not add it at all. While I would love to see her getting in to dirty situations, I feel that the game it self is more important.
@AnotherArrow I appreciate that you took your time to write it all up and explain it. However, I managed to get it to work, but at the same time it broke other things. I'm pretty sure that is because my programming is so bad to begin with, and my lack of understanding of programming.
@Kurushimi It is not a bad idea that instead of pressing a button to change direction, you press it to lock yourself in one direction. However, I think you would then need to keep track on if you locked yourself or not, which could end up giving you more problems. Let's say you need to run away from an enemy and you had locked yourself so that you're facing the enemy. If you then forget to unlock or didn't keep track on that you locked yourself, you will end up walking backwards instead of running other direction which you meant to. Yes, you could forgot that you have to change direction the way it works currently, but you shouldn't forget since you should be used to it by then.
You're absolutely right about how she shoots the gun, I do regret that I didn't make it so that she holds the gun by the shoulder. I think I will go back and fix the animations, but if I don't like it as much then I will most likely leave it as it is.
I'd like to thank you for all the constructive feedback even things that I don't agree with, it means a lot more than just compliments.