When You Block Too Much It Push You Over :(

Alright gamers we're gonna talk about game feel some more

Continuing on from the previous post, another problem rainshade encountered arose from the ability to block: specifically, with the inability to attack freely, there was very little incentive put the umbrella away until there was an opening or unblockable attack, which caused a lot of difficult with designing attacks.

The first solution I had involved everyone's favorite game play mechanic: Durability! Regenerating durability, of course. I'm not that cruel. Parrying worked as before, but every time you blocked without parrying, the umbrella would lose some durability. It would regenerate when not in use, taking 1-6 seconds, and if it broke, you couldn't use it for several seconds. You can see it in action here.

Not only did this solve the issue of players blocking all the time, it was more of an over-correction, as the resource management could result under-using the umbrella in order to preserve that durability for something more dangerous. Additionally, the current state of the umbrella while it was shut was difficult to communicate, and leaving the player totally defenseless for a bit if the umbrella broke wasn't fun! Oh, and the umbrella is canonically indestructible. So that didn't make sense.

We eventually switched to a focus on breaking your stance, rather than your gear. The amount of damage you can block before a guard break was reduced, the amount of time you're vulnerable in the guard break animation increased, and all other limitations were removed. The umbrella simply needs to be re-opened to refresh your guard. I was worried that players might drop and raise their guard between hits to bypass this, but then they're just gonna parry, which is more or less what i wanted in the first place!

Additionally, some rules were set in place. First, attacks that don't have much force to them, such as fire, affect your guard dramatically less, and if you parry something that hits continuously, you the subsequent hits will also be considered parried. It's succinct, it's consistent, and you don't have to worry about long-term problems caused by short-term solutions.

As always, thank you so so much for your support! I wasn't able to work on Rainshade much this much, as I was absent for the first third, helped someone move across the country, then had my car nearly break down twice, so my priorities were shifted somewhat. Anyway here's what I'm trying to implement right now: