Aercé

Definitely worth the effort! I think version select is sick especially nowadays where patching has made it near impossible to explore those older versions.

It was. Basically my engine has always been designed to be forward compatible - all moveset files from the first alpha are still parsed by the current version of the engine. There's a horrible series of if/else that check the version number and restore old behavior (such as IPS systems and such)

Would be super interested in hearing about how you implemented version select! That always seemed like such a daunting thing.

The lineart was good too

I decided that small enemies would be endlessly spawned to accompany the boss during a boss fight

#gamedev #IndieGameDev

YouTube video by Aki Lightning 【忍者龙剑传4/NINJA GAIDEN 4】 Ryu gameplay [no commentary]

The one that gets to me the most is the OTs. In 2 OTs are made of two parts: A unique attack that varies depending on the state of the delimbed enemy and an execution who only triggers if you are in range and facing the correct way for the animation to play. In 4 it's not. youtu.be/Yz15Rn-dVzo?...

"Guillotine throw doesn't delimb on walls?" "What's with all these QTEs" "If you can adjust difficulty on the fly doesn't that mean they all share the same enemy groups?" "Attack strings move you so much it's making enemies whiff" "Is that a no damage bonus..."
There's SO. MUCH.

If being disappointed in NG4 was its own game it'd be the best example of low foor high depth ever made. If you're new to the series you'll find something lame to point out every 15 seconds or sobut as you get more experienced the pace will go up!

Ever since Sigma 2, 3D Ninja Gaiden games have found new and innovative ways to get everything about the series wrong. Ignoring the bigger stuff like parries, rail sections and yellow (not BLUE???) paint, NG4 messing up the feel of wall jumps and OTs is almost inspiring.

Progress for July:

Having your artstyle be restricted to the limitations and techniques of an old/handheld console is quite nice, it crosses out a lot of stuff making decision making easier and gives some legitimacy to cut corners both for you and hopefully the people judging your game.

Studying 3DS games has taught me the secret for low poly hands: You make multiple pre-posed models and swap them on the fly so you don't suffer the hell that is hand rigging and topology.

First post, wanted to share some songs here so thats what i'm doing! I accept any criticism towards the songs. tinyurl.com/29xyrbbc

#beepbox #ultrabox

Working on a game where you pilot a rollerblading mech that shoots pizzas and can do aerials, here's what about a week has gotten me so far.

I think there is more appeal in using useless moves on real characters than joke characters but it does work yes. I guess I can see how it's a high risk low reward design choice to add those moves.

The reason this example is great is that it has both! There's a lot of nuance to that move AND it's useless, which is what makes the interaction so crazy. The tradeoffs you mentioned are real, but so is the appeal factor of showing off mastery using moves not meant to be seen in high level play.

YouTube video by Video Game Comrade EVO MOMENT #38

I was gonna make a list but this one example from beat them up's sister genre justifies the idea by itself I think. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cfS...

I feel like moveset bloat and lack of balance gets conflated here. While bloat makes for a less elegant game (and if that was an implied goal fair enough), it does not inherently lead to a smaller pool of optimal moves. Those additional moves can add to the game in other ways.

Weighing coolness, silhouette, rigging difficulty, how fitting it is to the world design... Going for only one weapon isn't saving that much time if it makes me worry about "getting it right" even more.

Steam ignoring reviews made from copies obtained through keys is a bit evil.
Putting your indie game on any PC platform other than Steam even if still part of its ecosystem is gonna hurt your overall reach.

Chat is it cooler for the oversized one-handed pilebunker to be held tonfa-style or gauntlet-style
I've spent the weekend on this question and I'm still not sure.

Obligatory "Ninja Gaiden does that"
Ninjas will space themselves out of range of charged UTs, ush forward only to do a backflip to bait attacks, claw ninjas are programmed to circle behind Ryu and can attack while off-screen, their orbit is big enough to whiff punish izuna etc

after playing more and more beat-em-ups (old, new, 2D, 3D, arcade, console, """""character action""""", whatever), I think I'm coming to realize what a lot of modern 3D beat-em-ups and action RPGs (and even modern 2D ones as well)

which is "enemies that actively try to not get hit by your attacks"

This would all be a lot easier if I was ok with having evil militarized dudes as enemies but considering a part of the intended appeal is having the enemies look as cool as the player I Do Not Want That.

I think I'd need to take inspiration from old beat them ups as despite technically be from gangs their designs (and the fact they each have names) show a lot more individuality while still having the relatibility necessary to take a smart opponent seriously on a gameplay level.

There's suprisingly little examples to look at for what I'm going for. Plenty of monster designs but those are a better fit for punching bags/enemies with simple "beast" behavior. If you want smart enemies you're stuck with militarized faction dudes, either mega-cops or knights depending on setting.

I do have a guiding principles/bias that lets me cut through a lot of that but character/weapon design ends up affecting so much without anything coming in to help you decide. Solo dev puts limitations on visual fidelity and content scope but there's no ceiling to how good character design can be.

I'm confident in my decision making in regards to game design but I've been unable to progress when it comes to character and weapon design.
There's too many different contexts slamming together and I don't know which ones to prioritize. Do I design for the story? Gameplay? Genre expecations?

There also seems to be some kind of counterhit propriety? Lunar forward+X had a near 100% delimb rate on pink demons when whiff punishing, but not when hitting normally or on ninjas.

Interesting design thing in NG2, enemies have really strong lateral tracking but stop their strings if they're out of range, so instead of dodging into them you can dodge away to cause a punishment window. Works best when done early so you're closer and have more frame advantage.