Before the Holidays

Before the Holidays

Before we get into the spirit of Christmas, I have had a small idea into creating a few new mechanics that could possibly go into the main game. but due to the mechanics only being a test base, I have decided to construct them within their own project file, in case of the need to be used within other projects.

Another reason for this side project, is to create something similar to a spellcasting system, which I may later turn into a mini-game, where the player can select an enemy from a list, which will then put them into a contained arena in order to train against.

The main mechanics that I have considered to create are:

Countdown Timers - For special skills, which will appear as interface icons for the user to easily distinguish when each skill is used and available to be used. Similar to how abilities are used within World of Warcraft.

After each ability is used, a radial gradient is shown over the icon which in turn is the time for the ability to reset/can be used, as well as an addition of showing a loading bar to show the progress of the abilty casted and a timer to show when it has reset. (Shown in the video below)

Sequenced Animations - Primarily for the NPC's, due to some games having NPC's that require to use certain animations during certain sequences, but I am sticking solely to in-game use. With this criteria, it helps me narrow down if additonal animation states used within games are 100% neccessary, otherwise it would always be used to give the characters a unique movement set, or used in combat sequences so that we dont see the same attack animation cycle throughout the game.

An exmple of this monotonous use of animation, I have in one of my previous projects, but this was due to not having the appropriate knowledge and artwork in order to fulfill the concept.

I am still yet to find an example within a professional game, which is probably the reason why I think this system to be so important, more so that I do want to create enemies for the player to defeat, just to stagger their progression through a level, rather than run, jump, fly their way through it.

As you can see within the video below (roughly 4:30), even in the introductory level, there are 3-4 types of enemy: cannon fodder, melee, range, boss. 

All of which have bespoke animation states which are structured on the characters class, in addition to the presence of the NPCs health on screen, for instance from the soldier to the boss, the soliders only have a meager bar in contrast to the massive on screen bar used for bosses.