Downwell clone design document
key words
niy = not implemented yet
gtr = going to remove
Genre (new made up genre Downwellia)
2D action platformer rogue-like bullet hell RPG
Breakdown of the genre;
2D platforming
Many bullets and hell like difficultly
RNG levels (14K pixels long)
Genre lite elements
RPG
Combat system
1 - Fast
2 - nimble
3 - aggressive, always on the attack
4 - precise timing playstyle
5 - Execution combos
Goals
RNG perks
Different melee hit boxes
Make crystals important.
Alternating kicks
Jump parry
Background pixel art made
Work on cave art
Add different gun types
Boss fights
Scurry melee (closer the enemy, the faster the attack for the melee)
code
scurryMeleeSPDin = 2;
scurryRange = 2;
//when falling
if (self.y > enemy.y-(vsp) && self.y > enemy.y){
scurryMeleeSPD = scurryMeleeSPDin;
}else{
//reset melee speed up code
scurryMeleeSPD = 0;
}
Gunsmith teleports you a gun
Execution combos
parry bullets extend life timer of the bullet
kicking and pushing against the wall produces a kick off of the wall. (wall kick down)
To the side of enemies you can kick grounded or in the air
enemies flinch when hit
Give different bullet types/ enemy types (besides simple)
Artifact system (player can only hold one, gives a boost)
Story
Originally the cave opened up for finding more fungus for cancer research.
Instead found something worse hidden underneath.
Game Mechanics Accomplished
Inputs - 3 in total
left depth = 6 (move left, air move speed left, speed up shooting, excel move speed left (air and ground), falling faster)
right depth = 6 (move right, air move speed right, speed up shooting, excel move speed right (air and ground), falling faster)
Space depth = 26 (1. hold, 2. melee, 3. parry, 4. perfect parry, 5. reset grav excel, 6. stagger fall, 7. controlled jump, 8. held fire, 9. tap fire, 10. cancel kick, 11. falling boost bullet speed, 12. parry bullets gained, 13. bullet exit distance extended further out, 14. when releasing space when going up the distance increases slightly, 15. when shooting the air move speed slows down, 16. touching the ceiling remove the slow down affect, 17. tap space for melee only now, 18. bonk head when jumping and hit head on ceiling, 19. when you melee and make contact with the ground that a melee hit box is squished across the ground, 20. speed up melee hit, 21. triple melee hits, 22. melee-ing the ground removes landing lag, 23. kick off enemies from above now!, 24. hold kick off enemies, 25. melee restore ammo, 26.Whiffing moves affect current melee, 27. melee hits have an overstuff gun affect (niy))
No input = 1 (1. land on enemy to reload, 2. time gated upgrades (yes a stolen concept from Dead Cells but effective))
3. bullet hitting the player and influencing the player vertical movement
4. eye frames
5. getting hurt while shooting = you stop shooting
6. decreased HP = more eye frames
7. 8 random variables
8. HP affect fall speed
9. Landing lag
10. enemy perception range for when to act
11. landing lag influenced by ammo amount
12. more ammo fall faster.
13. shop (1 item so far)
14. gems added
15. Not killing enemies affect future level generation
16. killing enemies speed up players
17. Sound options
18. Options
19. Ammo affects grav excel
20. Killing enemies make you fall faster (only in air)
21. Hitting enemies with melee boost ammo back up
Core mechanics
1. melee/ kicking
2. shooting
3. falling
4. jumping
5. RNG levels
Frame data
Basic melee hit
perfect parry 0 to 1 frame
Parry state 3 frames
End lag 6 frames
Total frames 11 (doubles after parry frame if you miss making it 19 frames instead)
Shoot kick
To shoot 5 frames
kick off
3 frames
jumping
10 frames (note to self, speed up)
landing
10 frames
UX
Everything put off to the side on the right.
Ammo
represented by real bullets, made big, etc.
Play with idea of different ammo looks for different guns.
HP
LV generator
Mutation system
Other blocks can spawn off blocks / objects
The world set and then an event spawns off.
Change LV design to further distance between for blocks to spawn for vertical level design.
Side sections as safe spawns
A side section of un breakable blocks with a 4 out of 21 chance.
19% chance every block spawn, must decrease odds by more to decrease the odds of it consistently spawning.
gem spawn
Drawing certain items outside the video of the camera due to it not being on the screen.
Shop perks
Kaboom! - when hit with a melee you explode!
Design notes
Check for image index = slow (have to use check events to stop image from changing to make this useful)
The change of controls to 3 buttons instead and make the shoot button be your only way to attack rewards/ encourage the player to be aggressive versus the old system
Most added mechanics are built around your shooting
The more depth makes said combat harder.
Added landing lag; slows down the game a bit too much
Adding a kick off mechanic and other tempo increase mechanics does speed up the game by a lot. Perhaps lower HP and ammo to make it riskier?
Also for fast gameplay, make levels longer.
Bigger bullets = more readable
Don't be lazy so testing can go smoothly.
The more game mechanics the harder to master said game.
This went from a clone to it's own thing, huh.
Must go more in depth with gameplay
Levels
LV 1 - 30 to 40s to beat
Shop - 1 shop choice
Game Music
Bad ass, thrilling piano music
Sound Effects
Using musical typing for some sound effects.
1. Two gun sound effects
2. Fantasia 2 musical typing less than a second sound effect.
Art style
Lovecraftian horrors
Monsters
Enemies
Grunts - move left and right
Spiky - move, spikey top protect
Turtle - protect top from bullets
Turret turtle - same as turtle but can shoot
Turret - shoot up (added)
Turret grunt - shoot up move left and right
Game loop
Each letter is a path
0 - All - Pick weapon
1 A - Fall, 1 - B jump, 1 - C land
2 AB - Shoot, 2 C - reload
3 AB - land, 3 C - shoot, 1 D - melee
4 ABC - collect crystals
5 ABC - kill enemies, 2 D - melee, 3 E - parry
6 All - break blocks
7 All - get crystals to HP drops from broken blocks
8 All - complete level
9 All - pick perk
10 All - Shop
Repeat
Import notes
Make a video showing off said mechanics
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