Thursday, August 8, 2013

8-8-13 - Engine Update #2: Swimming mechanics and weapon usage

So far so good! Work has been a steady flow for this project. I'm accomplishing something each night, whether it be the fixing of bugs or progression on the engine itself.

Since the last update I've added the swimming portion of the engine. Spike can now submerge himself in water!

The engine takes a likeness to that of Wario Land 4's swimming mechanics. The directional keys move Spike around in the water (up down left and right) and when he's not moving at all he simply floats back up towards the water's surface.

There are also currents that push Spike around when your in that general area.

As a notice, I should add that Spike wont have this full control under water until he acquires the water stone which would allow him to hold his breath underwater for a certain period of time. Without the stone, Spike would simply stay at the water's surface (for an example of what I'm going for, observe the water mechanics of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. When in the water you stay at the water's surface until you acquire a special item that would let you go completely under.)

This engine will also apply to lava. Only that when you don't have the fire stone, the lava would simply hurt Spike (yea, I know, in the show Spike can wade around in lava like its nothing. My excuse here is that this lava in the game is a bit special. as in enchanted. The fire stone would cloak Spike from the harmful magic that enables the lava to hurt him.)

Other things I'm thinking on at the momment, and I would like to get some opinions:
I've decided that instead of having Spike spit fire projectiles, I should actually give him a wand at the beginning of the game which would allow him to shoot magic projectiles. This would allow me to add certain weapon upgrades Metroid and Megaman style.

He could still use his fire breath, but I'm still debating on how to include it. Perhaps if you hold down the fire button for a short amount of time he'll stand in place while blowing forth a steady flame (see Kirby's Dream Land: flame power).

If anybody here has any ideas or opinions on the matter, please let me know. I'll keep you posted as things progress. And hopefully soon, I can start posting up some media. There's a few good reasons I'm not posting up any now. :P

1 comment:

  1. please don't do the "wand" thing.

    If you need Spike to be able to upgrade, just have him learn different types of spellbreathing. Nothing says breathing fire is all he'll ever be able to do. For example, you could give him ice breath, or even crap like "healing fire" and such, without it being too much of a stretch.
    Hell, even just natural spellcasting without magic breath could work; I just find that wands feel really out of place in Equestria. Especially when you're using a character like spike, with so much potential.

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