Hello Etherwest!
I was excited to try out the combat now that it's in DD65. Last time I played Etherwest it was just the selling portion of the game. If I'm not mistaken you can now move things straight from storage to tables (a nice improvement from last I played).
I mostly played the combat repeatedly this demo since I wanted to get a good feel for it so I could provide some decent feedback. I quite enjoyed the mechanic of having to pick up the bullets after shooting. I'll list some stuff below that was either a bug or something I think could use improvement:
1. Bullets did not damage barrels in the dungeon (only '0's came out as damage numbers). The bullets completely flew over the top of the crate (hitbox too low? May be an issue for anything too flat to the ground if it's the bullet hitboxes going over it).
2. When I first fired my shotgun in the dungeon there was a brief lag spike. Maybe it's something to do with instantiating the bullets and you could load them ahead of time in the future?
3. Having my bullets stuck in enemies was a bit frustrating, but I don't know if this is a valid complaint. Uncertain of how well it works with the melee/spell portion of the game yet.
4. My melee weapon felt like its reach was a bit too short. Once I started going ham on stuff and stunlocking enemies things got a lot easier, but I almost wish the reach was longer and there was less of a delay between attacks. Uncertain if this is a valid critique though. The melee didn't feel great to me, but that might be more to do with the mechanics not meshing with how I like to play games instead of just not working well in general.
5. The dashing and sliding feels a bit cumbersome, especially in such close quarters. I can very easily hit walls and stun myself. That's probably part of the point, but I found myself wanting a quick dash/hop instead of something I had to hold. Combining that dash button with another to slide is something I think should be done away with; as far as I could tell the slide only gives you more rotational control (like drifting). I would want to see how the game might play if dashing was just one button and releasing it let you slide (and perhaps you could attack during this as well). That might feel better(?). Having two buttons for retreat/evasion mechanics felt too much for my tiny brain.
Keep up the good work. Curious to see how the combat progresses in Etherwest.
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Thanks for playing and the detailed feedback! I saw you streamed it but I missed unfortunately.
Bullets did not damage barrels [...] bullets completely flew over the top of the crate
Right, it looks silly but it's like that since it was going to be ore deposits until last minute, and you can't really shoot that out. And yes the crate is due to being too short, I should let you shoot it though.
lag spike
Shader compilation. I haven't got to setting up a system to spawn everything to cache it, though the next engine update apparently massively speeds it up.
Having my bullets stuck in enemies was a bit frustrating
I can see where you're coming from, but I feel like the old way of always bouncing off enemies has its own issues. Like if you shoot point blank you get all of your ammo back instantly always, or from a distance it means the ammo becomes more spread out and harder/annoying to recollect. Plus you can be a wuss and shoot then run around to recollect ammo before shooting again. So all in all, I feel like the stuck bullets balance out the combat to encourage both shooting and melee. Though maybe there's a compromise in here somewhere. Regardless, there will be some enemy types that are too hard to get stuck in, like rock golems.
wish the [melee] reach was longer and there was less of a delay between attacks
I'm kinda surprised, I felt that the melee was maybe too fast. Certainly as is, it's too easy to infinite stunlock. But with range yeah maybe just a tad too short. It doesn't help how you're fighting spearlizards with this weapon. Not sure what I can really do to improve it. Maybe I need to reconsider it as a fast or slow archetype instead.
The dashing and sliding feels a bit cumbersome, especially in such close quarters. [..] but I found myself wanting a quick dash/hop instead of something I had to hold. [...] as far as I could tell the slide only gives you more rotational control [...] I would want to see how the game might play if dashing was just one button and releasing it let you slide
So to start, yeah it was tuned for larger arenas, the standard room will likely be 2x the current one, and there will probably be corridors between rooms. I may reduce the penalty for running into things. In regards to a dodgeroll, you're right. I gave myself a personal challenge to avoid it, I feel like too many games do it so I'm invested in trying out other methods of avoidance. We'll see how it works out. Sliding lets you slide under some obstacles or future large enemies (not shown). And it lets you make smaller turns mid sprinting, which otherwise would have a larger cooldown to stop then start again. That said, you're right I don't like how it's another button. It used to also toggle crouching, but that was when the game was slower paced. Not sure if I'll reenable it. If so, I may have to consider a new way of actioning it, like what you mentioned.
Thanks for that, so far no one else has dug into the combat to nitpick it this much; regardless of if it changes, having some pushback is always nice to fully think about the design space. Hope it's more to your liking next time.
Whoops, I should have said the attack delay I wanted to be longer and the reach to be longer. The attack delay is very short and quick right now.
Also, even with all I've given on feedback try to keep your own vision in mind. The combat you want to make might not ever line up with what I enjoy and that's okay.