Arena combat using 1 of 3 weapons meteor hammer, rope dart, or roped knives. The combat would have two main modes, agile and planted. Agile has some moves that can be used but doesn’t have the power behind a an attack from a strong base. Planted would open up options for the player (more control over their attacks), as well as increase the power behind them. However in the planted state the player cannot dodge attacks. They might be able to counter attacks however there should be some attacks that you need to dodge (heavy attacks) to force them out of planted mode. If counters are implemented they have to be very difficult to implement. The goal is to make both modes of combat useful in different situations without forcing the player in either direction. Ideally the player would perform best by switching in and out of these two modes. The different weapon types change the style of combat. The meteor hammer is good for trips and strikes, while the rope dart is good for throws, and tangling the enemy. Rope knives would be a primarily lethal weapon, essentially the player throws and retrieves knives from enemies, this weapon has very little power to disable enemies and is primarily meant for damage.

Combat Stances

Planted Mode

In planted mode the camera zooms out to a more top down view and the player can now input directional attacks with the left stick. Different inputs will determine the type of attack that comes out. The player also has to aim the attack in the direction of an enemy. In planted mode the player is always attempting to kill or disable enemies before they reach the player because they can’t dodge and will have to leave the mode or take damage.

Stingers, Sweeps, and, Double Tap, Hold back then stinger forward, hold forward, 360.

Agile Mode

In this mode moves have momentum and the player steps into attacks. The player is much harder to hit however they have less power behind their attacks because they don’t have a good base. The player will want to use this mode while fighting enemies that are fast and hard to pin down. Camera control will function the same or similarly to how it works during platforming sections.

Weapon Types

Meteor Hammer

Heavy weapon. The attacks are slower but crowd control better. Heavy attacks almost always knock down enemies. Heavy attacks with this weapon are particularly slow. Sweeps are particularly good at knocking down enemies however smaller enemies will always be knocked down by heavy attacks from this weapon.

Rope Dart

This weapons sits in the middle between the knives and the meteor hammer in that it is moderately fast inflicts damage and only has a few moves that crowd control. The main advantage of this weapon is that the tip can wrap around enemies for the player to grab and throw them. The player could potentially throw a grabbed enemy into a nearby enemy to knock down two at once.

Knives

In agile mode knives are a much closer form of combat (stabbing). However in planted mode the player throws knives at enemies for increased range compared to the other weapons. This weapon inflicts the most damage but has literally no ability to crowd control.

Additional Mechanics

Devil Trigger

D.Trigger in its current form consists of the player activating it with the press of a button. The player will then switch to planted if they are in agile or if they are in planted mode they will stay as they are. However their form of input changes during D.Trigger. While in this mode the energy bar used exclusively for D.Trigger drains and the player is able to execute exceptionally powerful attacks.The player uses their magic to will the movement of a bunch of strips of silk. They lash out with the application of Ash’ra’s will. While in this mode the player’s method of input is simplified. They can do basic flicks in a direction to send a wave of silk lashing out, knocking down almost every enemy and at least staggering for a large portion of time. These inputs only need a stick to be moved and the player can move either stick, allowing them to attack in two directions at once if they like. The attacks will function the exact same regardless of the weapon the player had equipped before they activated D.Trigger.

This might seem a bit odd giving them the ability to attack at the same time in different directions. This can be confusing to player’s however I posit that this syncs the player’s thoughts with Ash’ra in a way. This is because it is extremely mentally taxing to magically control so much silk at once. So while it is mentally taxing for Ash’ra it is also mentally taxing for the player. This complexity would also give a sense of accomplishment once they mastered that method of control. Player’s are able to use two sticks simultaneously. The oddness of the input scheme is also offset by the simplicity of the inputs. The typical attack buttons (X, B, and Y) would then be relegated to one off actions or magical abilities that affect the enemies or the area around the player. (Think a pulse that stuns or knock down all enemies). Using one of these abilities would definitely cost extra meter as they are special actions. These buttons are not used for standard attacks as they are in standard planted mode as it complicates this control scheme and does not allow for the two stick to be used at once. This simpler control scheme also serves the purpose of requiring less strategic thought from the player. It will take coordination but the player doesn’t have to think as much about their actions as their attacks are essentially super powerful and stun any enemy. There isn’t really a “What attack should I use?” Question. The player just has to hit stuff. The difficulty comes in mental maneuvering and coordination.

D.Trigger costs meter while using D.Trigger but also penalizes the player for disabling devil trigger essentially adding a cost to every time it’s toggled. This stops the optimal strategy from being activating every single time you want to hit the enemy and instead incentivises the player to use it when they have the opportunity to attack multiple enemies at once or take down a large enemy (or when they are in trouble). This keeps gameplay challenging with a high ceiling without making attack actions ridiculously complicated or having the most optimal strategy be complex (as in hitting a bunch of buttons at once to do one single action).

Enemy Mechanics

Aggressive Type

Aggressive enemies in this game have 4 major characteristics. Light or Heavy, Fast or Slow. Typically enemies will that are heavy will be slow and those that are light will be fast. This is mostly for balancing purposes, as an enemies weight determines the player’s ability to knock them down or crowd control them. A character’s weight/size also naturally determines their health pools. For example: A fast goblin type character would be hard to pin down but most moves of even a lighter weapon like the rope dart would be able to knock this creature down. The player would also be able to grab and throw them. A heavier, larger golem type of creature couldn’t really be thrown, and most moves of the rope dart couldn’t stop or stagger this heavy creature. However, the heavier meteor hammer would have a lot of moves that could stagger the golem and a few that could full on trip or disable it. It would be worse off at pinning down the small goblin creature though as it’s moves are slower to start up. The goblin could attack before you could. The knife weapon is an exception as it has zero disabling functionalities and high damage. It’s a high risk high reward play style. The player is vulnerable, especially in planted mode since they can’t stop enemies from attacking them (They can only dodge in agile mode) but the player dishes out a lot of damage, attempting to kill the enemies before they are killed.

Support Type

Besides aggressive enemies there are support type enemies. They either buff the survivability or other minions (via healing or damage reduction) or they could weaken the player by reducing their mobility or survivability (slow debuff or a vulnerability debuff). There are other things the support enemies could do like resurrection etc.

Caster Type

Caster enemies would do damage at a distance to the player, The key thing to know about these is all of their attacks are powerful and give fair warning to the player so as to be balanced and not frustrating. Essentially a sniper character constantly taking difficult to dodge potshots at the player would be very annoying.

The point of caster and support enemies would be to give a clear hierarchy to the fight. Take out casters and support enemies first and then focus on the aggressive enemies.

Special Type

Besides these 3 basic type there can be special enemies that have different attacks or behaviour than the others. Potentially specials could be an aggressive enemy that is both fast and immune to crowd control making them difficult to handle.

Interface

The player will see their health displayed in a bar on the screen. They would also see how much energy they accumulated for their ultimate attack (Think devil trigger from devil may cry). The enemies health bars would be displayed above their heads. There could be a bar showing how close you are to subduing a titan, but the titan combat will need to be fleshed out a bit.

Menus

The only menu necessary will be a pause menu. This will contain the map and any extra bits of lore the players have found. Also the options menu and the exit button obviously.

Messaging

Cutscenes could be narrated by Pad’ua’s character after she absorbs the information in an artifact. Besides that the design of the enemies should convey their connection to their god and the environment will also evoke some of the theme and general setting.

Control Scheme (v1)

Level design is pseudo open world, but player movement is limited from heading into empty areas, essentially map layout is more like a big spider web spreading out from the the guardian sanctum with 4 or 5 major paths that each lead to one or two major boss areas. When it comes down to progressing towards a boss fight the level design becomes a lot more narrow with the player traversing between small open areas where a fight with smaller enemies would happen. (ala string of pearls).