EDIT: fixed bug and added title screen
old version:
This is a shabby prototype of a combat system.
I suppose the main influences are Ocarina of Time and Golden Sun.
Maybe the over-the-shoulder perspective is heresy on a platform like this, I was thinking it's a bit like pokemon though.
I think the most interesting feature is the way your mobility is limited. your position is locked to north/south/east/west and you can move between a near/far plane, like this:
I didn't really explore this mechanic that much, but I think it could be really fun.
features:
- narcoleptic skeleton with exploding legs
- 'mode 7' floor rendering
- buggy 2D particle effects
- rad glowing pentagram with authentic frame-rate drops
how to beat the guy:
- keep your distance from the skeleton or he will bite you, unless he is asleep
- the bat attack and the skull attack can be dodged by dashing left or right with good timing
- for the earthquake attack you must counterattack, it will put him straight to sleep
- Once he is asleep you can hack his legs off, after that he is helpless
- there is a jump attack as well, but it's not much use in this fight
I originally planned to make it a survival/adventure thing with player progression and backtracking and all sorts of cool stuff, but I ran out of tokens just on this! Including polygons and particle effects was definitely a mistake, I might remove all of that and carry on with it in the future.
The gameplay was supposed to revolve around the idea that each monster would need a special strategy to beat it, and you'd have to look it up in the instruction book.
There's a pretty hefty 'engine' behind it as well. I'm sort-of happy with it, but I'm still looking for ways to cut it down and looking for a better way to sequence things.
tumblr.com/blog/chocolateoutline
Any chances to make a full game out of it, if you use multiple cartridges? You could at least move data creation into a serialized binary and maybe do some abstraction to the code, which is triggered from there? If you're in need, I have a toolkit called PicoBuild - it is mostly complete, but lacks some import functionality for sound at the moment. I use it for my RPG Tower of Rhavenna, which spans over at least three cartridges.
@SunSailor I did think about multiple cartridges, I feel like if I crossed that line though the project would be never ending. That's one of the things I love about Pico-8, you learn about adapting to a limited scope.
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