The Art of (Slime) War

A Slime soldier is loyal, loyal unto death.

Hello again, it's me, Linx145! Apologies for the lack of update last week, as the team and I have been hard at work getting the demo ready. Today, I wanted to go through the principles of combat... as a Slime.

Not many know this, but Slimes are completely capable of using weaponry like swords, guns and more! To reflect the Slimes' innate adaptability, you will be able to use a wide variety of weapons in Harpy Raiders, from swords, spears and hammers to twinblades and rifles.

To spice up things in Harpy Raiders, I wanted to focus combat around several pillars. The first is multi-directionality - with many action platformers, you may strike in four cardinal directions, or sometimes maybe eight. But for Harpy Raiders, I wanted a full 360 degree freedom of attack. This would be in line with the game's many flying enemies, which may attack you from strange angles not limited to the primary four. It's only fair that you may point, click and do the same to them as they do to you.

Another pillar I wanted to focus on to spice thing up so as to be 'not like other action platformers!!' was movement based combat. As seen in the gif above, when you are moving sufficiently fast, a shadow trail will appear behind you. This is an indication to perform charged attacks, which manifest in a more powerful slash or slam, depending on the weapon. They can be a powerful opening move to debilitate enemies before the fight itself, and ideally would force the player to be aware of objects in the environment they can use to grapple onto in order to get that much needed burst of speed.

However, I did enter significant problems with this implementation, in which it goes against what players are trained to do by other games. Normally, when you see an enemy, you would slow down and weigh your options before entering the fight instead of grappling and charging in for a more powerful opener. Secondly, it is not immediately obvious that almost any ceiling can be used for charged attacks - not just the sticky slime-covered pipes as seen in the gif. Combine these two, and the learning curve can get quite steep.

I have yet to resolve this on a design level, and will continue to brainstorm to find a solution to the problem. One idea I have is to make all attacks, not just charged attacks, deal more damage when you are moving quickly. Another is to make crates and other breakable objects also stick-able so as to perform charged attacks with.

Demo Progress - What's Left

I am pleased to announce that the demo is around 75% complete! There are still a few technical hurdles I have to cross before it may be released, particularly supporting more platforms via DirectX and Metal, as well as making the game load faster and manage content more efficiently.

In terms of content, we also need to work on the game's first boss which will be fightable at the end of the demo level. Lastly, we will require copious amounts of playtesting, polishing, then playtesting again before I can deem the build fit for release.

In all, the future of the game is looking bright, and with it, the triumph of the Slime Army. Next week, I shall cover the healing and death system that the game has (Spoilers: It gets dark really fast)

Until then! Glory to the Slime Army, in Service of Lord Pinky -Linx145