Demo level redesign

This entry will be organized in the following sections:

• General design considerations: Details the level objectives and some conclusions to take into account.
• Macro structure: Defines the main parts in which the level will be divided and the immediate objective of each one of them.
• Micro structure: Details each challenge of every section of the level.

General design considerations

The general layout for the demo level was well received, but there are some flaws that must be addressed:

• The relation between speed and jump height doesn´t seem to be very evident. I should redo the very first part of the level so there are more simple parts and the player learns that building speed before a jump helps getting higher. I could also put the variable jump height tutorial in this part, it also serves as a nice introduction for semisolid platforms.
• The entry points for the secret paths must be made harder to find and beat, so players don´t get into them thinking it´s the normal path like happened to Pehesse.
• Keep the count of the Dragon Coins used, this should be more like a training for myself so I keep the count low and more importance is given to each of them (5 per level). There shouldn´t be any Dragon Coin in the normal path.

It may be a good idea to divide the level into smaller ones and focus the first one just on teaching the basics.

Macro structure

The level will be divided in 4 thematic groups:

• Jump button: Teaches the player all the different jumping techniques.
• Run button: Teaches all the uses of the Run button.
• Up & Down directions: Teaches all the uses of UP & DOWn directions.
• Final test: Throws everything together in a series of small challenges.

The first 3 sections will define different challenges to teach the basic skills and the last one will be a real challenge mixing everything:

1. Basic jumping skills (Jump button)
   1. Jump
   2. Speed and distance relation
   3. Speed and height relation
   4. Bouncing on enemies
2. Running (Run Button)
   1. Run
   2. Running jump
   3. Variable jump
3. Vertical actions (Up & Down directions)
   1. Crouch
   2. Slide
   3. Look up
   4. Look down
   5. Stomp
4. Final test (put everything together)

This makes, at least, 10 challenges, which is a pretty big number and could be a level itself. Note that we have left out skills like breaking blocks as with the new PUP system the player won´t be able to do so and we won´t be using any PUPs in this level.

The layout of the level will be very linear as there won´t be any hidden paths in this level. However, we will be using verticality and forcing the player to go left in between some challenges to spice it up a little, but without givng him the chance to get lost or backtrack too far; in fact the player will mos times be locked in the current challenge with no chance to go anywhere else.

Micro structure

These section will detail the specific challenges in the order in which they are found.

1 Basic jumping skills (Jump button)

1.1 Jump

The first thing to do is to teach the player how to jump (well, the first thing in fact would be to teach him to walk, but that is too simple). We´ll start with a flat floor with some coins leading the player to the right until he faces a wall with an explanation right before it that tells the player to use the Jump key. One simple jump (even steady) will allow the player to get over the wall.

1.2 Speed and distance relation

The horizontal speed is related to the jump distance, so we must explain this to the player and force him to learn this concept by heart, as it will be a required skill everywhere throughout the game.

We can do this with 2 simple challenges:

• A simple jump straight ahead from a standing position, so the player fails the jump.
• The same jump with a little space to build up speed, so the player can complete the jump.

It is important that the player misses the jump so he can see the different outcomes. Coins will help to guide the jump and highlight even more the difference. We can set the challenge so that the player falls straight vertically onto a 1 block ledge. The left part is blocked by a barrier and the right part requires the jump to cross through. The floor is not visible and coins will describe an arc, so the player will be enticed to take the jump and fail. When he falls to the bottom, a tip box will show 2 drawings: one of the player failing the jump from a standing position and other completing it with built-up speed. The player will make his way back through some low platforms and through a semisolid platform, hitting a button along the way to remove the barrier. As this is the first button in the game, it needs to be visible and not missable, so the player has no choice but to activate it. We can place another barrier next to the button so the player sees how it dissapears, just in case the original barrier was too high and goes off camera. Both of these barriers will stay off once the player presses the buttons, even if he later dies and has to come back through this part.

Once the player reaches the top, coins will guide him to the right so he can get through the part that the barrier was originally blocking. A simple walking jump should be enough to cross the gap and beat the challenge.

We´ll end the challenge with a series of simple challenges on 2 and 1 block wide platforms where the player needs to use the recently learnt technique.

1.3 Speed and height relation  

One thing that players without much experience in Mario games have difficulty grasping is how the horizontal speed before a jump affects the jump´s height. We must think of a way to make players deduce this by themselves, so the concept becomes firmly ingrained in their minds.

A nice way to do this could be to present the player with a situation where he´s forced to jump from a still position, then repeat the same situation but allowing him to walk before jumping. A collectible just of reach could help to highlight the difference in height reached. Visual effects could also enforce the feeling that the walking jump is higher than the standing one.

We just designed a challenge really similar to what we need to demonstrate the speed and jump distance relation , so maybe we could just repeat the layout, but this time raising the target platform´s height. This approach has the advantage that players will immediately recognize it and some may find the solution to the challenge without failing first. By allowing this, we are risking that some players can´t identify the real purpose behind the challenge so it becomes useless. On the other hand, advanced players will feel bored with all this, so we need to change something to make it interesting for them too.

Instead of putting the barrier vertically we´ll place it horizontally and away from the block where the player lands on. The left part of the block will be filled with spikes so the player can´t fall through this side and must jump to the right following the coins, which will take him to the next tip. This way the barrier will block the way upwards when the player falls, so he has to step on the button to make it move to the right. The barrier will then allow the player to pass through and will also act as a barrier against the spikes on the floor, providing ample space to build up speed and make the jump. The barrier will stay off once the player deactivates it, even if the player dies later and has to come back through this part again.

A small section upwards will follow with the following jumps that require what´s just been explained:

1. Jump to 3w platform.
2. 3w platform to 1w platform directly above.
3. 1w platform to 1w platform directly above.

1.4 Bouncing on enemies

This challenge will have 4 parts:

1. Isolated enemy: The player lands on an isolated enemy and kills him. We can just force the player to fall vertically on a trapped enemy.
2. Bounce to reach higher: The player must bounce on an enemy to reach a higher platform. We can repeat the layout of the demo, it explains everything pretty well.
3. Link bounces: The player must bounce on 2 enemies to cross a spiked pit. We need to use red armored enemies for this, so they don´t die upon jumping on them, stay on a block and can be easily jumped on. The jump will be really easy to achieve by just holding the jump button and right direction.
4. Moving targets: The player will need to bounce on a steady enemy, then on a moving enemy to get to a higher platform. The floor will be covered with spikes and the enemies won´t respawn, so we´ll use a red armored enemy for the static one and normal armored enemy for the moving one.

This concludes the section of basic jumping techniques for now. Next, the player will learn the running techniques.

2 Running (Run button)

2.1 Run

We can repeat the layout of the demo, dividing the challenge in 2 parts:

1. Approach: A series of gaps will make the player fall when trying to walk over them. An initial part will use a resizable platform with an unused style so the player can later recognize it. We´ll also use a different coin pattern to enforce this.
2. Running over gaps: A tip at the bottom of the tip will teach the player the command to run. The player can now climb back to where he fell from and run through the series of gaps to the other side.

2.2 Running jump

This will be a pretty straightforward challenge. Using the resizabe platform style and coin pattern we just used for the running training, we will lay out a long platform leading to a long pit, so the player has to make a running jump to cross it. If the player fails we may put a tip box in the bottom of the pit.

2.3 Variable jump

Up until this point all jumps have required the player to use the maximum jump height by holding down the jump button during the jump´s duration. This time, we´ll force the player to use a running medium jump. For this challenge we´ll use the same setup as in the demo: running resizable platform and coin pattern over a small gap, with a wall and a normal resizable platform to trap the player if he jumps too high.

We can end this section with a series (2 or 3 will do) of short, simple jumps with a resizable platform above to force the player to jump carefully. A sakilled player will be able to breeze through this part running and making short hops.

3 Vertical actions (Up & Down directions) 

3.1 Crouch

A tip will teach the player that he can press the Down direction to crouch. This is a very basic action, so the challenge will be really simple: an horizontally moving platform passing over one wall, in a way that if the player doesn´t crouch he´ll fall from the platform.

3.2 Slide

By running and then crouching the player can slide and get under low ceilings. We´ll use the resizable platform and coin pattern we used in the running challenges to layout a flat floor for the player to build speed and slide under a 1 block wide ceiling. There´s no fail state here, so we´ll have to trap the player so that he doesn´t start running around looking for ways to bypass the challenge.

Checkpoint

There is certain risk of the playing dying in the next challenge until he discovers the look mechanic, so we´ll be usign checkpoint here.

3.3 Look up

Even though continuing with the down direction mechanics seems like the most natural thing to do, it maybe too hard to introduce the look mechanic without using a tip box for it or overcomplicating the layout. Using the Look Up mechanic justifies the use of a tip box to let the player know of the new input and also allows us to vary the layout a bit more, without making it too complex.

The player will be facing a spike pit with no way to go. There will be some hidden platforms with coins over them and describing the jump arcs between them. The tip box will tel him to look up, which will spawn the platforms. From this platform, there will be another one to the left. This one must be located more to the left than the place where the player uses the look mechanic to spawn the first platforms, so it doesn´t get triggered by that first look (we may need another intermediate platform for this). We do it this way so the player may start finding a relation between the direction he´s facing and the area of effect of the look mechanic. We may add some kind of visual effect to highlight the area under the effect, but we must make it subtle, so when the look mechanic is used in action environments where the player has to keep track things outside of it, it also works.

Finally we put another platform to the right (again, we may need an intermediate platform so it stays out of the area of influence of the look mechanic before now). When the player looks up, the platform will spawn, but the wall to it´s right will despawn too (or maybe the ceiling, depending on what works better for the layout), opening the way forward. 

3.4 Look down

The player will be now again trapped, but a single row of blocks will hint with a line of coins at the path going downwards. The player has to crouch to make the blocks disappear and unlock the path forward. In the previous demo KooopaKid complained that this mechanic wasn´t very clear, as it also depends on which way Kitsune is facing. For example, the player could sit on top of the disappearing block and look downwards, so nothing would happen. To avoid this, we´ll fill the floor with spikes, so the player can´t stand on the blocks that can disappear. We´ll make these blocks and spikes vanishable, so when the player looks down everything goes away. Better yet, we´ll use a row of hidden blocks right above the spikes, so the player can recognize them.

To try to somehow explain the horizontal functions of the look mechanic, we´ll spawn the player at the center of the spike filled pit. If he looks down to the right, only the blocks from that side will apeear. If he looks to the left the blocks from that side will appear instead. There will be a row of coins above the hidden blocks and only one block in each side can disappear, marked with a column of coins below it, so the player can despawn the spikes, get the coins and jump through the gap from the block that disappeared.

3.5 Stomp

A tip will teach the player the command to trigger the stomp. There will be a column of flying armored enemies so if the player jumps on the top-most one he will just bounce in place. When using the stomp attack, the player will destroy all enemies in the column. There´s another use of the stomp attack, which is to activate PUP blocks from above, but as we´ve removed the simple PUP and the other 2 won´t be in the demo, we´ll leave it out for now.

4 Final test (put everything together)

The final test will be a small level around a simple obstacle that forces the player to use the recently learnt techniques. This mechanic will be vanishing platforms with intercepts:

• Vanishing platforms (VP): When the player lands on them a small timer starts counting. Once it reaches 0 the block disappears and starts another timer. When this second timer is finished, the block will reappear.
• Intercepts (I): We´ll use flying armored enemies. As they´ve already been introduced in the Stomp tutorial, they won´t need a presentation challenge.

Other elements used in this section are:

• Static platform (SP)
• Hidden platforms (HP)

This minilevel will be divided in 4 sections:

1. Presentation: Simple jump to a VP and to a static one from there. No penalty if failing. The second jump requires running.
2. Development:
1. D1:Jump with 1 I to another VP (2 or 3x1). Another jump with I1 positioned in such a way that it forces the player to stop and use up all the time of the VP to relocate himself before jumping . Bouncing on I1 allows the player to reach DC1. End on static platform.
2. D2: 1 block tall gap on a VP, jump with 1I, running jump to another VP. The last jump will have a resizable platform above, so if the player uses a full jump he will be sent to the higher path. If he manages to make the low jump he´ll get DC2.
3. Twist:
1. Critical path: Let the timer go out to fall to a lower platform. VP1 with a column of flying armored Is (I1) surrounded by walls that doesn´t allow to jump to the right. DC3 is located inbetween the walls amongst the individual enemies that form I1. The player must wait until VP1 falls, ride it downwards a bit then jump to VP2 on the right. Then another jump with I2 to VP3, then jump to safety.
2. Optional path: There is an alternate route: before starting the challenge the player has to look up to spawn HP3A and down to spawn HP5A. Then, after landing on VP2, the player can bounce on I2 to reach HP3A. From HP3A the player can jump to VP4A (check if it´s really necessary to gain height) and jump above I1. Using a stomp in this location will get the player through I1, get DC3 and make him land in HP5A, from where he can jump again to VP2 and continue through the critical path. Players who look down before attempting the challenge will unlock HP2 that will negate the challenge, but this can be a way to reward exploration.
4. Conclusion: Jump with I1 to VP1, followed by a jump with I2. The player must wait for the right moment to jump on VP1, then wait for the right moment to bounce on I2 and reach the goal. Failing the jump will make him fall down and end the level without the completion token. It´s important to synchronize I1 and I2 correctly, so when I1 allows passage I2 is blocking the last jump, forcing the player to wait a bit on VP1 before attempting the last jump.

Dueling system

We face an important problem when thinking aboutt he duels against the other virtues: the player´s attack methods are very limited (jump and stomp) and the ones provided by the powerUps may be too powerful and break the fights (Astral Palm and Ninja Star). With jumping, we risk having to make the enemies invulnerable through most parts of the fight, which may not be a good decission. We must think of a system to make the fights more engaging, limiting enemy invulnerability to the minimum so players feel the game´s not cheating and they have freedom to try different tactics instead of following a rigid instruction set.("attack now", "defend now").

Megaman games do this really well. Usually you can attack the boss at any moment, but you risk getting hit in return if you choose poorly. This allows for players to develop their own strategy and even have fun refighting bosses to try new things. Megaman bosses (and Megaman himself) have a life bar, so this style of many-hits to win fits the game nicely. Kitsune doesn´t use that and instead will utilize a reduced number of hit-points, with 3 differentiated phases in each fight. This way, bosses will be able to sustain 9 or 10 hits and every hit is more important than individual shots in Megaman games (specially in old ones where there was no charged shot).

One solution is to use charged attacks. These force the player to evade the enemy attacks for some time until the charge is complete, so there´s no need to force enemy invulnerability. We can make enemies require charged attacks of one PUP or the other (or make them required in the mechanic used to deal damage in the fight) so the player can choose the moment to dish out damage.

The powerless state doesn´t have a charged attack, so if the player looses all PUPs he´ll need a way to get them back. We should insert in every sequence of the boss patterns a opportunity to get a PUP from one of the boss attacks. Some general ideas:

• For bosses using projectiles, some projectile can be colored differently. Instead of evading it, if the player jumps on it it will spawn a PUP.
• The boss may spawn some blocks to alter the level´s layout, we can hide PUPs inside of them, so if the player jumps to the correct one he´ll spawn one.
• Look dispenser: Have a dispenser that will spawn a PUP when the player looks at it. It takes some time so the player must find the correct place and moment to stand still and look at the dispenser long enough without getting hit.

This way we can lock the duel in different phases and force the player to get flawlessly through each sequence of them, or risk it all by going kamikaze style and having to get new PUPs constantly, with the added tension of being vulnerable almost all the time.

New PowerUp system

Replaying The Wonderful 101 and basking in the glorious light of it´s fantastic game systems has made me rethink the PowerUp system for Kitsune. The initial idea was to just use a standard Mario PowerUp system: the player can only use one PowerUp and must find it in the stage he currently is, with the possibility of adding a secondary PowerUp to switch to at will through a slow process. But what if we relinquish this and instead allow the player to have all PowerUps available at any time and allow him to switch between them quickly with the press of a button?

This new approach open up some amazing possibilities:

• Levels can be more varied, as the player may be explicitly required to switch playstyles on the go.
• It may open a new world of possibilities for skilled players, like jumping with the Shadow Edge to kill an intercept with the Screw Attack, then switching mid-air to Astral Palm to perform a Double Jump, then switching back to Shadow Edge to break a wall and fall at a secret platform.
• It allows us to make powerUps, enemies and obstacles more distinct and situational, adding a layer of depth not seen in Mario games. We can divide enemies into physical and spiritual and use a duality system.
• It grants more hitpoints to the player, so more complex bossfights can be made, with each hit taking away one PowerUp.
• It will solve any problem with the PowerUp blocks: just make them spawn the PowerUp the player is missing.
• It will help differentiatet the game from Mario World more.

On the other hand, it presents some problems:

• Level design will be more complex. The player will have always access to the double jump PowerUp, which can make some challenges too easy. In these situations, we will have to add enemies or obstacles that encourage the usage of the Shadow Edge, but that at the same time allow the player to go through without it, to account for situations where the player has taken a hit and has lost it. Shadow Edge can easily be discouraged from use by placing spiked walls so the wall jump can´t be abused to bypass challenges.
• The game is immediately made more complex. We are adding another button, so we must train the player really well in the earlier levels to make him able to identify situations in which a PowerUp is required and switch at will.
• At the same time, levels relying on damage-inducing mechanics will immediately be made much easier, as the player will be able to sustain more hits. This can be mitigated by gating the level with PowerUp-based obstacles, forcing the player to repeat the challenges flawlessly or sending him trhough a different path.

The new PowerUp system

Kitsune will have 4 states:

• PowerLess: Can´t break blocks, dies with one hit. Useful to make tense levels.
• PoweredUp: Can break blocks and sustain 1 hit. We can remove it as it really doesn´t add anything to gameplay.
• Shadow Edge
• Astral Palm

The style button will only really be useful when Kitsune has both PowerUps active. This is not a nice thing, as it´s a bit weird to use one button and not have it active all the time. We may add some funny animations where Kitsune tries to activate a PowerUp but fails. This action could affect enemies, making them flinch for a moment so the action has some minimal use... 

The "Yoshi/Kyuubi" style PowerUp will be removed and instead we will give more utilities to the other 2 PowerUps::

• Shadow Edge:
• Physical power.
• Can bounce on spiked enemies or armored enemies.
• Destroy walls.
• Wall jump: When hitting the wall we must accomodate a few frames for the player to stick before starting to slide down, it´ll make wall jumping much more user-friendly.
• Activate devices which require rotation.
• Screw jump.
• Tap Down in the air to make a stomp attack, turning Kitsune into a ball with spikes.
• Vulnerable to spiritual enemies and attacks.
• Sprint to activate the rolling saw and break hard walls.
• Walk into shadows to become invisible.
• Doesn´t make noise when landing or running, so is good for stealth levels.
• Tap Run to throw a small Star. The Star will travel 3/4 of the view and disappear in a puff of smoke if it doesn´t hit anything.
• Stars can be used to hit distant switches or activate small rotating devices.
• If the star hits a wall that can be destroyed it will get stuck on it. If the wall can´t be destroyed the star will bounce back, fall and disappear.
• Charge to release a bigger Star that can travel all the screen and can´t be repelled.
• Sprint + Crouch to charge the Spark Dash. Tap Run to unleash the invincible dash in any direction.
• Astral Palm:
• Spiritual power.
• Can bounce on spiritual enemies.
• Destroy or pass through barriers.
• Double jump.
• Activate devices which require spiritual energy or attacks.
• Push objects from a distance.
• Tap Y to attack with short range (only works against spiritual enemies). Tap Y + a direction to attack in that direction (can attack downwards in the air, but can´t use the stomp attack).
• Tap Y repeteadly while still to activate Thousand Astral Palms.
• Sprint allows to run over physical hazards (spikes) or liquids (water, lava...).
• Charge to release a bigger palm.
• Can walk on spiritual lines (Shadow Edge will fall through them).
• Sprint + Jump to fly.
• Astral Stomp: Tap down while flying to fall quickly to the ground and create an earthquake that will deal 1HP to all enemies standing on the ground, even to armored and spiked enemies.
• Can see invisible enemies, by sensing their spiritual energy.

Enemies

Enemies can have powerUps themselves, each type of powerUp will change how they interact with the player:

• Powerless: Can be jumped on and killed in any situation.
• Armored: First jump will take away their armor (which can be grabbed and thrown), second jump kills them. Jumping on them with Shadow Edge will kill them in one hit.
• FiredUp (3 levels): Player must first use the Astral Palm to push the fire away, the enemy then becomes powerless for a while. There are 3 levels, each one requires one more additional hit to take away the fire: green (1 hit), blue (2 hits), purple (3 hits). The ranged attack of the Shadow Edge damages them, but each flame needs 3 hits to be put off. For example a purple flamed enemy will need 3 hits to become blue flamed, 3 to become green and 1 to be killed. But the player must do it in a very short time, or the enemy will powerUp again to the max level.
• Spiked (2 levels): Spiked enemies can only be jumped on with the Shadow Edge. If the enemy has wood spikes, the Shadow Edge will remove the spikes and the enemy can be jumped on and killed with any powerUp. If the enemy has metal spikes, the Shadow Edge can bounce on them, but not harm them. They are invulnerable to the Astral Palm but the wooden ones can be cut with the Shadow Edge´s ranged attack. However, it will bounce off metal spiked enemies.
• Electrified: Invulnerable to everything, can´t even be jumped on without sufferng damage.

Instead of using spikes and Grinders for the most common obstacles we must think of something else, as those kind of obstacles would allow bouncing with the Shadow Edge. Some ideas:

• Lava, acid, soul pool, laser barrier: For floors and walls (sideways lava an acid could be cool).
• Laser borders: On any physical obstacle.

Action overload

One thing that makes the system of TW101 great is that every action can be used in more than one situation. We will now detail every action of the player in all states and try to define more than one use for each of them.

PowerLess

• Jump: Can be used to jump over obstacles, bounce on enemies, kill normal enemies, activate switches by hitting them from below or landing on them, hit blocks from below to kill enemies standing on them.
• Run: Move faster to avoid obstacles, jump further, sprint.
• Sprint: Move even faster, jump further and higher, automatically get under obstacles.
• Crouch: Avoid obstacles, slide under obstacles when running, hold to LookDown when still.
• LookUp & LookDown: Activate invisible blocks, discover invisible enemies, despawn false walls, damage specific enemies.
• Stomp: Another air mobility option (hang time+fall faster), hit blocks from above, kill enemies walking below blocks from above.

Shadow Edge

• Jump: Same as powerless + can bounce on spiked enemies or armored enemies in any angle, can hit enemies from anywhere not just by landing on them, destroy walls, floors and ceilings.
• Wall slide: Enables wall jump, fall slower, can make certain blocks disappear.
• Wall jump: Jump from walls, push movable blocks that the player jumps from.
• Stomp attack: Same as powerless + Destroy hard blocks, instantly kill enemies with HP<=2, bounce higher on bounceable stuff.
• Run: Same as powerless + activate devices that require rotation.
• Shadow Edge (Sprint): Move faster, jump higher and further, break hard walls (jumps will also break hard walls and ceilings), enables Spark Dash, activate devices that require fast rotation.
• Star: Hit enemies dealing 0.5 HP damage (doesn´t affect spiked enemies), activate switches & small rotating devices, activate trap sensors, locate hidden & destroyable walls, shoot through electricity to turn on electric devices.
• Charged Star: Same as Star but dealing 1 HP damage + will destroy walls (not hard ones).
• Charged state: 1 HP armor, but will loose the charged state.
• Spark Dash: Destroy hard walls, fly around (tap Y to change direction), invulnerable to everything, but somethings will make it bounce ending the dash.

Astral Palm

• Jump: Same as powerless + can bounce on and destroy spiritual enemies and pass through barriers.
• Double jump: Same as Jump + Jump higher, more air mobility, useful for devices which react to player´s jumping (like the on/off pairs of blocks). 
• Astral Palm: Activate devices which require spiritual energy or attacks, deal 2HP to astral enemies, push objects from a distance, can attack in any direction even in the air, destroy barriers, repel astral projectiles.
• Thousand Astral Palms: Same as Astral Palm + Can break Spiritual armor, deal a lot of damage in shor time to astral enemies.
• Astral Fist: Biiger Palm, longer range, push objects very far with strength allowing them to go over gaps, deal more damage to astral enemies.
• Run: Same as powerless + pass through barriers.
• Sprint: Move faster, jump higher, run over physical hazards (spikes) or liquids (water, lava...), enable Astral Jump, run through & kill Astral Enemies without spikes.
• Astral Jump: Rise 1 screen and a half with 1 hit armor (if hit will loose the vertical push but maintain vertical and horizontal momentum and gliding capabilities until the player touches ground), enables Astral Wings.
• Astral Wings: Rise with tapping B, glide automatically, Astral Palm becomes Astral Fist, enables Astral Stomp.
• Astral Stomp: Deal 1HP damage to all enemies, make big enemies dizzy, destroy floors.

Conclusions

With these changes we can add a lot of depth to the levels, including more advanced challenges that require mixing both PowerUps or using specific obstacles and enemies to make the player use one PowerUp or the other. Shadow Edge will be very good to deal with physical intercepts, enemies in general and for stealth levels. Astral Palm allows more mobility and changes the playstyle by relying more on the Y attack, allowing more crazy stuff but making it more complex to perform. Both PowerUps can be used to explore freely by flying, but Shadow Edge is better when paths are blocked by enemies and walls, while Astral Palm is better for navigating carefully and even allows almost pure shoot´em up challenges.

The Wonderful 101

I owed this game some more time, so yesterday I started playing it again. I started a new playthrough from scratch, as it´s been more than a year since I last played and I have to relearn many of the game systems. And that is precisely why I decided to write this post: the game systems in TW101 are FANTASTIC.

The system has many controls and situations to keep track of, so it´s not very user-friendly at first and takes some time to get used to it. The aspect that shines specially is how every system can be used in many different ways and has a lot of specific properties that become really useful in some situations. The game utilizes a lot of specific obstacles in the shape of spiked enemies, enraged ones, lasers, missiles...but also gives the player various ways to deal with every situation:

• Y button: This is usually labelled as the "Dash" command, but I think a better name for it would be the "Group" command. When you press it all the characters get in a tight cluster near the leader and follow him around. This can be used to get the team out of harm´s way, to dispel Unite Forms and call back units...When the group is tight it moves faster, but it´s also more vulnerable. Just with a single shallow action as "run" the game has implemented many uses for it.
• X button: Team attack. It can be tapped to attack repeteadly or held down to charge a more powerful attack up to 3 levels once the corresponding skill is unlocked. This attack makes Wonderful ones cling to bigger enemies and potentially stun them, allowing you to unleash combos and specially, to use the more damaging techniques such as throws or launchers. It also acts as a lock-on command, so the player can instantly teleport to the enemy´s location (awesome skill for resetting jumps in air combos without allowing the enemy to touch the ground) or direct team unites. By using the X button when activating a glyph instead of the A button, the glyph will be activated by other team members, allowing the player to keep doing his stuff. It can also be mixed with skills, so the player can draw the glyph for the sword, then press B, X to activate a sword launcher performed by the team members while the team leader keeps doing his own thing.
• Unite Hand: This is the medium attack (average speed, average-strong power). It can also be used to grab things like shields, protect against fire (which will also allow the hand to shoot fireballs!), activate devices...
• Unite Sword: A fast attack, with lower power but increased range. It can also be used to reflect lasers. The weapon will supercharge and use electricity with a long combo (or when reflecting lasers), which will help to inflict stun on the enemies. This effect is common for all weapons, for example making the hand catch fire with a long combo.
• Unite Gun: Ranged attack. Can cath projectiles and varied stuff and throw it at the enemies. When shooting the bullets are in fact made by Wonderful ones, and hitting an enemy with them will have the same effect as using the X attack, with the Wonderfuls clinging to the enemy and attacking it.

These are just some examples of all the multipurposes each action, button or skill has in the game, but there are many more. Unite Hammer can be used to block attacks from above, to destroy armored enemies or to turn around big enemies. Unite Whip can remove spikes from enemies or grab enemies from the tail. Unite Claw can be used to freeze enemies, climb walls or remove armor pieces. But even things like the Wonder Liner have many uses apart of selecting Unite Morphs. The Wonder Liner can be used to capture enemies or recruit citizens, to recover stunned Wonderful ones, to unlock secrets, to create bridges or stairs... Every action in the game has many uses, which when combined with the rest of the systems at the player´s hands and the many different enemies, hazards and situations, give the game a lot of depth. The best way to sum this up quickly is not a single button or action in the game does only one single thing and that all the different options are useful under the right situation.

Even though we are not aiming for such a complex system for Kitsune and much of the focus of the mechanics will be in the obstacle mechanics rather than on the player himself, it´s a very nice idea to reevaluate all the planned mechanics and search for more uses to each of them. This has also made us rethink the powerUp system, so if we finally allow the player to change the active powerUp quickly at will, more integration with the level mechanics can be possible.