Knight Fight

Here is a gameplay video of my latest prototype:)


I'm using Game Maker Studio, Aseprite and Bfxr.

I have a system in place that when the player or AI gains 10 successful hits a star appears above their head, then they may execute a special attack. There are only 5 stars between the player and the AI.

Any feedback is more than welcome:D
Thanked by 1critic

Comments

  • Those sounds are making me have flashbacks of my C64, colors are near perfect and knights are a bit too complex for the C64 aesthetic, but there is such a nice 80s feel to this. Don't stop. :)
    Thanked by 1Jurgen
  • Looks interesting, so far it seems like there's not much in the way of complexity in mechanics, I guess that's the next thing to work on?

    Some specific inputs:

    1. Range of attack seems really short compared to the speed of movement, which makes spacing seem less interesting than it could be. Spacing is the concept in fighting games were players are aware of the space between themselves and the enemy, so that they know what range of attack the opponent can land or not land.

    2. The "hit" animation looks like a block animation, and as such it looks like the opponent is perfectly blocking every hit rather than getting hit.

    3. There needs to be some indication of getting hit - health bar, hearts, something.
    Thanked by 1Jurgen
  • Love the little knights, and I am a big fan of the colour choices!

    I obviously don't know where you're going with this, but I've enjoyed simple games on mobile where you fight enemies and keep running to the right (even one button games like this). Just punch things to kill them (and possibly block attacks), collect gold/xp, move on.

    Looks like a really nice start to a game!

    Thanked by 1Jurgen
  • Fighting game! GameMaker! Now you're talking my language :D

    The prototype already has plenty of charm, so I would suggest adding a few more attacks to give a bit of variety.

    Attacks in fighting games can (very broadly) be broken into 3 categories. Power, Speed and Range.

    Power - How much damage does it do.
    Speed - How quickly does it start, and how long does it take to recover from.
    Range - The horizontal range of the attack.

    Pick two, those can have good values and the third must be poor. Imagine you have 7 stat points that you have to distribute between each of those categories, where * is a poor stat, and **** is a maxed out stat. This alone can already give you a whole kaleidoscope of different attacks

    Close Range Strong
    Power: ****
    Speed: **
    Range: *
    Close Range Jab
    Power: *
    Speed: ****
    Range: **
    Mid Range Strong
    Power: ***
    Speed: *
    Range: ***
    Mid Range Poke
    Power: *
    Speed: ***
    Range: ***

    As you can see, every attack has trade-offs, push one stat to high, and another suffers. And this is where the fun for the player lies, having to choose which attack has the best risk/rewards ratio for the current situation.

    These categories can obviously be expanded (Range -> Vertical Range & Horizontal Range), and lots of additional properties added like knockdowns, launchers and super moves. However, I would suggest first experimenting with these 3 (Power, Speed & Range) until you've exhausted all possible attacks to get a feeling for the contribution each one makes to an attack. After that, start adding one additional property at a time so you can get an idea of the overall potency it adds to an attack.

    Good luck, and look forward to playing a build soon ;)
    Thanked by 3Tuism Jurgen critic
  • Thanx to all for the awesome feedback:D
    image
    I'm thinking of giving the current character a sword instead of a hammer, I feel I can do more with it from the start:)

    A larger character would have a hammer imo.

    I'm planning on having all characters be some sort of knight, I just need to plan things out properly so that I don't get stuck with implemented designs that don't work or that cause me problems later on:)
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  • Here are the latest concepts:)
    image
    image

    I've decided to go for a larger, more realistic looking character with not too much detail to make the animation process easier.
    I also changed the colours I'm using to a broader palette.
    Knight_concept.jpeg
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    baseforknight.jpeg
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  • Here is the first knight's idle animation:)
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    Knight001_idle.gif
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  • Here is the first knight's walk animation:)
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    First_knight_walk.gif
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  • Here is a concept for Sir Ludus, a playable character:)
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    He has two shields and he is rather tall. For his size he shall move and attack slower.
    Sir_Ludus_concept.jpeg
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  • Here is a skeleton knight concept.
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    It has a pole axe of sorts, therefore it may stab and chop the opponent.
    Skeleton_knight.jpeg
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    Thanked by 1EvanGreenwood
  • Sir Ludus idle animation:)
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    Sir Ludus idle 1.gif
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    Thanked by 1dammit
  • edited
    I'm putting some ideas down here to aid the development process:)
    The following are possible implementations:

    - The fighting aspect of the game will be like a fighting game.
    - Instead of jumping their shall be a dodging past the opponent ability ( in the case of larger characters perhaps a dash ability).
    - Parrying will be much the same as dodging, yet the opponent will be parried past the player and afterwards the combatants face each other again ( for a moment their could be a turn around time-frame in order to execute a counter attack).
    - A timing block repel technique (like in Castlevania Lords of shadow 2).
    - The star above the combatant's head shall be a sigil/symbol which relates to the character. As their will be only a certain amount of sigils activated (shared between combatants), the use of certain special attacks are limited.
    - When the opponent's life is low one may execute a killing technique.
    - Artifacts as in pick ups may be available to enhance the combatant in certain ways (for example: for fighting in a specific level and successfully executing certain actions, pick ups are generated ie rules of the level).
    - Magic attacks and defense spells will be a branch of the sigil/symbol above the combatant's head ( the energy from the symbol may be changed to either (for example holding block and pressing left or right) defense or offense.

    That's what I can think of for now, and with the awesome feedback I've got there is definitely enough to do:D


  • Here is a generic character I'm developing so that I can more easily test out ideas:)
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    This is his first attack.
    Generic_knight_first_attack.gif
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    Thanked by 1EthanC
  • Here is the generic knight's second attack:)
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    Generic_knight_2nd attack.gif
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  • Here is the third attack.
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    Generic_knight_3rd attack.gif
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  • Here is the walk animation and block sprite:)
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    Generic_knight_walk.gif
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    Generic_knight_block_normal.jpeg
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  • Here is the first playable prototype link:D
    https://dropbox.com/s/dt6lqbxdubezgkt/Knight_Fight_002%28prototype%28A%29%29.exe?dl=0

    Keys:
    Enter = restart room
    Q = first attack
    W = second attack
    E = third attack
    A = block

    Here is a game-play video of the prototype:)


    In this prototype I want to get the combat right first, before I proceed with the rest of the ideas. The health-bars work yet they repeat over for now. There is also no death action yet.

    Small explanation of how the AI works:
    I've got a system set in place that has the AI act aggressive and passive under certain circumstances.
    When for instance the player performs an attack the AI becomes passive for a moment. The AI also becomes aggressive when the player does nothing. This all happens when alarm[action] reaches its activation.
    For now alarm[action] is set at 60 where my room_speed is set at 30. As I have it that means 2 seconds before the AI changes its behaviour again.

    Any questions and or feedback is more than welcome:D
    Thanked by 2critic mattbenic
  • edited
    I had the idea of creating a companion/battle buddy system for Knight Fight. Here is the link to a prototype of that system, very basic implementation:)(separate prototype).
    https://dropbox.com/s/s08q4vevwqb9870/Ai_buddy_001%28a%29.exe?dl=0

    How it works:
    Using combo input, the player may control the "buddy" to get over the obstacle. Input left arrow key times 2 = move ai left, right arrow key times 2 = move ai right, up arrow key makes ai jump and when ai is in the air left and right arrow key respectively makes the ai move in those directions.
    Enter key = restart room.

    What I am still thinking about and aiming for is:
    Certain input given to the 'buddy' will result, later on, in the ai having specific behaviour of its own, yet its on your side, fighting beside you.

    Any comments and or feedback is awesome:)
  • Some ideas for the companion system:
    - In the beginning the companion/buddy should be passive in behaviour, mimicking the player and executing player-aiding actions through player input. At a certain point in the fight, when the player's life is low and the AI companion's "take control" bar is full, the AI companion acts on its own.
    - The buddy's actions for the rest of the fight is like "my master is low on life, I fight to protect him" kind of thing.
    - The buddy may attack the opponent and the opponent's companion.
  • Here is a concept for a machine ally:
    image
    Attack state.
    Shoots a cannon ball that lands on the enemies previous position if the enemy has moved.

    image
    Defend state.
    Shield mode - for the area it covers attacks don't reach the player.

    For the design of the machine, it must have a defend state and attack state, so I thought to combine the two into the design. It is a type of shield-cannon.
    The machine takes damage and has its own healthbar.
    first_buddy_machine1.jpeg
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    first_buddy_machine2.jpeg
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  • This is looking cool.. and the first thing I thought watching the most recent post was that it would be a good candidate for of GA training to develop the AI :P
    http://rednuht.org/genetic_walkers/

    (Please, don't get distracted on something like that, keep doing what you're doing, it just looked like an interesting side task)
    Thanked by 1Jurgen
  • Thanx mattbenic, I appreciate it:)

    Here is a short video of the Machine ally firing a non-explosive ball for now:D
    Thanked by 1critic
  • Here is a short video of the Machine ally being able to block the enemy in a forward state and firing in a rear state:)


    The Machine ally moves through combo input: "right, right" is for forward defense state, and "left, left" is for rear attack state.
  • Here is a concept for the "Magna bolt" machine ally:D
    image
    The idea here is:
    It is a mobile, magnet and lightning coil type machine. The magnet activates and the enemy within range will be pulled closer and then the lightning coil part swings around and zaps the enemy, sending him flying away some distance:)
    magna_bolt.jpeg
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  • Here is the 'Magna-bolt' activation animation for now:)
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    magna_bolt(1).gif
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  • edited
    Latest update:)

  • Looking awesome :) The Magna-bolt reminds me a bit of a Dalek for some reason hehehe
    Thanked by 1Jurgen
  • edited
    Awesome work so far. I am enjoying your progress. I particularly like your steam-punk ally... magna-bolt. Inspiring to see when people branch into multiple disciplines (art/coding/etc etc) and pull it off. I can only develop code and have a mediocre game design mind-set at best. Keep at it. Wonderful and inspiring to see. :)

    Edit: The inclusion of an ally in particular is interesting.
    Thanked by 2critic Jurgen
  • edited
    Thankyou very much @FineTunage and @konman:D

    An idea I've had:
    I'm thinking of making the playable area wider/broader so that there is more of a variety of what can be done with machine allies. The two machines I currently have are cool imo, yet things can get a bit cramped I feel.

    A wider playing field could give way to another idea I've had which is:
    Making the game more of a strategy/fighting game where one has to destroy an artifact or building belonging to the opponent in order to win. Like a mini siege or something.

    Edit: I've removed the image here and updated it three posts down:)


    I want to create a situation where the player can use inventory items to solve problems. The trap's rope will have to be burnt and the jumping-sack-slug has to end up springing the trap after it can't be reset. Then the player may progress.

    Perhaps I could incorporate something like this into Knight Fight:)

    Any comments are more than welcome:D
  • Hm.... not sure if you realised, but your "jumping-sack-slug" looks an awful lot like a penis...
    Thanked by 2critic Jurgen
  • Hi @francoisvn, I didn't realize it at the time, you are right, I'll change the design:) Thanx for your input.
  • Here is the updated image I mentioned three posts up:)
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    Scenario_one.jpeg
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    Thanked by 2francoisvn critic
  • edited
    Your progress is great, have a look at some color palettes, they can do wonders for setting the tone. 4 bit seems appropriate for what you have.

    image
    For instance that's the C64 palette and you can find more historic ones below.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_color_palettes
    Thanked by 1Jurgen
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