In this episode, we take what we’ve learned from the movement and circling mechanics we’ve implemented so far to find our base system for the game.
For those of you who haven’t followed the show or this season so far, the core gameplay is circling around enemies to destroy them, while flying through an open world. With limited screen space and wanting to keep the controls as simple as possible, this requires a balance of movement and turning mechanics with the actual attack mechanic, and so far, here are the methods we’ve tried:
- Manual Circling: click the circling button to freely move around within the view, laying a trail down that gets completed when the polygon shape is closed off
- Auto Circling: hold the circling button to slowly expand a circle in front of the player then release to destroy enemies caught inside
- Semi-Auto Circling: hold the circling button to create a circle, and control the radius with the mouse or other input
- Instant Circling: tap the circling button to create a small circle or hold it to create a large circle
One thing that all of these share in common is that they place the priority on movement and turning over the combat mechanic, which requires a click to activate. Some modes are better than others at making the transition seamless, but in the end, if combat is where the player is going to be putting their attention, it makes much more sense to make the combat controls the priority, while making any movement controls that can’t coexist a secondary option that either requires input to trigger, or gyro controls in the case of a smart device.
Tasks Worked on This Episode:
- Can Move Freely in the Game Window
- Can Use an Input to Initiate Tilting
- Can Use a Different Input to Initiate Circling