Defensive Gameplay Theory

With an Action game, you need Defensive gameplay in the combat system. Since one of the major elements of the game is using a shield, this should be a given for our game. At the moment, i'm considering several methods of defensive combat.

Blocking:
Out of all the defensive methods, I think this is the most likely to get into the game. You block attacks with your shield. The question is how to balance that. Two ways I am thinking of are having blocking tied to a stamina bar, in the same vein as how attacking works. The more powerful the enemy attacks are, the more stamina that will be depleted. The other balance method is chip damage and staggering.  Chip Damage is where certain attacks will deal damage even if you are blocking, albeit reduced. Staggering means that more powerful attacks will force the character into a staggering animation where they are vulnerable to attack. The issue with these methods is if it would make blocking too undesirable for stronger enemies, when you could just try to dodge their attacks.

Radiant Burst:
This idea has basis in defensive techniques like the Royal Guard Style from Devil May Cry 3, or Parrying from Street Fighter III. It's a High Risk defensive technique. Basically, you hold down attack and block at the same time, which basically turns your magic bar into a timer that depletes in a short time (Exact times need to be sorted out), if an enemy hits your block while the timer is active, Lucia releases a burst of light around her, damaging and knocking back all surrounding enemies. Plus, the closer the timer is to depleting, the more powerful the burst will be However, the risk is that if you miss the timing, you will be left in a dangerous position, and with no way to retaliate. This move is intended to be an advanced tactic.

Dodge Rolling
This is as basic evasive tactic, used to roll out of the way of enemy attacks. The problem is if the existence of a dodge roll would make blocking useless. This is one of the methods I find least likely to get into the game, because of that reason. I feel more of a focus on the shield would be better.

Project Light Enemies: Carvers

Today we'll be looking at one of the basic enemies of the game, the Carvers.

Appearance: Primal beings that come from the dark, these are insectoid like creatures with sharp talons, resembling Preying Mantises with eyeless, tooth filled maws, and four talon appendages.

Purpose: Carvers are another basic enemy type. They are speedy enemies that like to dash up to you and start slashing away. When they get exposed to the light they will try to strafe out of the way, and get you from different angles. You need to keep a close eye on their movements to overcome them.

The goal we want for this enemy is to make it capable of performing these actions of trying to strafe out of the way when they start getting damaged by light shots, as to make the player have to be one their toes when trying to fight them.

While we're on the subject, one of the design motifs we're trying to go with in regards to the main enemies, the Nightspawn, is that they should have a kind of vermin theme to them. Things that live and thrive in the darkest, dingiest areas, but having a chaotic demonic edge to them, where they have more monstrous traits that what one would usually expect from vermin.

Character Introduction: Lucia

For this instalment, i'd like to introduce the current concept of our protagonist, Lucia!

Backstory:

A Paladin in training. Lucia joined the Order from a young age. She was inspired to join from her life as an orphan, abandoned on the streets. She met another child who she grew a close friendship with. The boy idolized the Paladins, and dreamed of joining them. One day, they witnessed a town getting attacked by Nightspawn, and in the chaos, Lucia was separated from the boy. After the attack, witnessing the carnage after the attack, she made a vow to join the Paladins to save people from monsters, and honor the boy’s dreams. She joined the Order but quickly ran into difficulties as she had issues sword fighting, and could never get the hang of it. She instead found using magic with her shield was far more efficient for her. She fights defensively, using magic and her resourcefulness to overcome her opponents. She has deep rooted issues that the boy would have made a better Paladin than her, and she’s spoiling his dream by not being able to use weapons properly. She still has fear about Nightspawn, but is determined to make sure that people can live through her efforts.

Project Light Gameplay: Environments

One of the most important aspects of this game will be the environments. The atmosphere is something that we're really looking at. Lets go through the basics. As said in the introduction, one of the main influences in the game is Devil May Cry. The first game to be exact, since it best captures the kind of mood we want to go for.

Note the lack of lighting, the gothic, demonic architecture and lonely mood. That's the kind of art direction we want to go for. While it's not going to be a horror game, per say, we want it to invoke a similar atmosphere, as it gives the vibe of being alone in a hostile environment filled with vicious monsters trying to kill you. It makes for good tension, and fits with the overall character direction we will be going for (More on that to come!).

Now you may have noticed that we also cited Zelda 3D as one of our sources. This is because of the general style of the game. We're not going with a realistic style. The game will be going for more of a cartoony, somewhat anime-esc style, similar to the remake (Not quite the original, since we aren't going with a blocky, polygonal style like it had) We feel that more supernatural and fantastical things can be made with such a style.

I may have misled people with the Sunny Box Art of Zelda 3D. We want to make it like some of the darker parts of Zelda. For example:

The Shadow Temple: (Ocarina of Time)

Arbiter's Grounds (Twilight Princess)

Ancient Cistern (Skyward Sword)

Before I end this segment, one tidbit for a future instalment. One aspect of the game will infact be using Light based Puzzles to try and navigate around the Castle. More info on that to come!

Project Light Gameplay: Combat

So it's time I spoke about the gameplay. Keep in mind that the conception phase is still in process, and will be subjected to changes depending on what happens during development.

Combat:

So the story revolves around using Lucia's magic shield as a weapon, via it's light magic. Alan Wake is a good starting point to put one's mind to it, but don't think it's exactly the same. For one, Alan Wake's Light mechanics are used to weaken enemies, using it to destroy their shields. The Mechanics for Project Light use it to outright destroy enemies, and is basically your main weapon.

While more attacks are planned throughout development, at the moment the primary light shots from Lucia are straight beams of light, that are focused on enemies to kill them. Basically, a constant laser beam. To avoid this from being a game breaking weapon, it will have no hit stun (Basically the mechanic that when an attack hits a character, they are forced into a flinching animation), and that all of Lucia's attacks with run on a Meter.

The idea of such a bar is similar to the Meters from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Dark Souls (The Green Bars pictured above). Where using your attacks will drain the meter. While it refills quickly, the challenge in those games is not letting your meter deplete and leave you in a vulnerable spot, and also balancing stronger attacks by having them take away more of the meter. That will apply to this game as well.

One final aspect that I wish to discuss is that of defence. Currently nothing solid has been planned, but I am thinking of whether the defensive techniques should be focused solely on the Shield, or doing Action Game style Dodge Rolls.

That's all for now!