Hi Dark,
Actually, that is exactly one of the things I intend on upgrading in
Mysteries of the Ancients once I complete converting the Genesis Engine
to C++. It stands to reason since harpies are flying enemies they should
attack from the air and swoop down or fire attacks from the air.
Therefore Angela Carter would have to aim up as well as left/right to
shoot them down. Wolves are somewhat lower to the ground so she might
have to aim slightly down in order to hit one. Centaurs and skeletons
could be hit more or less with the weapon level so they would be
targeted more or less the same way you always do. This adds more realism
and more interesting combat situations.
By and large I agree with what you are saying. We do need more complex
ways to dodge enemy attacks as well as more complex targeting and combat
situations. That's why in addition to converting the game to C++ I'm
also taking the opertunign to through in some extras along the way.
Dark wrote:
this actually brings up a point I've been thinking about a lot recently.
In a side scroller like Mega man or metroid, enemies weren't just always
on the
same level as you. Your character was roughly one vertical tenth the
hight of the
playing area. you'd therefore get enemies coming at you not just from
the side,
but from above, below, or on diagonals, many of which you'd have to
carefully time
your jumps in order to be in a position to hit them.
then, while many enemies tended to damage you if you touched them, many
also had
projectile or other attacks, and often you had to jump or dodge these,
---- frequently
you had to do quite a bit of dodging in order to get close enough to
the enemy to
hit them.
Take the cobrat enemies from mario brothers 2. They would jump out of a
pipe intermitantly,
and chuck bullits at a diagonal angle upwards. if you were on the
ground next to
the pipe, you'd be fine, ---- however if you were in the air above the
pipe you'd
get hit, ---- or indeed if you tried to jump past the pipe while the
cobrat jumped
at you.
One thing I've noticed is that enemies in games like shades or Gma tank
commander
have various attacks which must be avoided, ---- eg, guns they shoot at
you when
your at a distance, bombs that have an area spread, as well as close
range attacks.
In all the side scrollers we have though, it's just that a case of, ---
as you said
yourself tom, turn towards the enemy and shoot it left or right.
i'd personally love to see more enemies with different styles of attack
in an audio
side scroller, ---- and indeed methods of actually avoiding enemy attacks.
in a game like mota for instance, enemies could attack either in the air
or on the
ground, causing you to either need to duck under or jump over them.
Some enemies
could fly in the air and attack only vertically undernieth them.
some, could be like the falling spaceships in space invaders games, and
descend
(or ascend), to your character's level before either shooting at or
flying at you
(the metroid series was famous for such).
the airial bats in Q9 were a vague step in the right direction, --- but
as with
many things in audio games it strikes me there's far more here to tap.
Personally, i'd much rather have games constructed in such a way that if
the player
is good enough, he/she could (allbeit with amazing difficulty), get
through the
game without taking a single hit, dodging everything!
Playing Night of parasite made me remember this, ---- sinse if there's
one thing
i really dislike in nop, it's the way that being hit is so unavoidable,
as the moment
you here the enemy attack, you've been damaged, ---- which just doesn't
seem correct
to me at all.
Just my thoughts.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
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