Post by OwlScowling in Dice of Fate comments

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Hey! This is neat, but I did have a little trouble understanding what the controls were and the central gameplay mechanics. On keyboard here, I saw that I can move left, right, and jump. And then I realized that the mouse can click to do another action as well. It was unclear to me if the action button (clicking) was supposed to do. It looks like it attacks, but it seems like it can also parry if timed correctly? I was able to knock the robot's head off which became a die, but then I was unsure what to do after that or how to take advantage of it.

I think a short blurb underneath the game description would be helpful so people can better understand what we're testing! But interrupting enemy attacks can definitely become a core gameplay loop. One of my favorite games is Sekiro and I've heard fantastic things about Nine Sols. So the main question would be: how would the "interrupting enemy attacks" mechanic be different from parrying?

xuanergame13 days ago

Thank you so much for taking the time to play and leave such detailed feedback!

You're absolutely right. I realized I didn't explain the controls or the core objective clearly enough. This prototype is focused on testing a single combat mechanic, but without proper instructions it's easy to get confused about what you're actually supposed to do. I'll definitely add a short introduction and control guide.

About your question regarding parrying—that's actually the main thing I'm exploring.

The goal isn't to create another parry system. Instead of deflecting an attack, I want the player to interrupt the enemy's attack before it fully happens. A successful interrupt doesn't just block damage—it cancels the enemy's action entirely and creates an opportunity to gain rewards and become stronger.

So while parrying is about winning an exchange, I'm trying to build a combat loop around controlling and breaking the enemy's actions.

Whether this is actually different enough from parrying is exactly what I'm trying to validate with this prototype, so your question is incredibly valuable.

Thanks again for playing and helping me improve it!

xuanergame13 days ago

Also, regarding the timing window: if you watch the enemy animation carefully, there's a very brief moment between the charging phase and the actual attack where the enemy "commits" to the strike. That's the interrupt window.

I'm still experimenting with how readable that moment should be. Recently I've been considering making it slightly more obvious through animation or a subtle flash, but I'm not sure yet whether that's the right direction.

xuanergame13 days ago

The main difference from a traditional parry is that a parry catches an attack after it's released, while an interrupt stops the attack at the moment it begins, preventing it from happening in the first place.

OwlScowling12 days ago

Got it! Thanks for explaining. The video in the corner helped a ton to describe what you're going for. There definitely could be something here. To me it's still parry-focused gameplay, but there could be something unique here if every level the character's progression gets set back to zero and you have to parry enemies to rebuild your stats. This could potentially be a roguelike with multiple levels and various abilities you could collect. Otherwise I'd have a hard time imagining how the stat increase wouldn't break the game pretty quickly with enemy parries.

On the parry timing: for beta testing the idea, I think it's fine for the parries to be easy just to validate if the concept works. But for the final, if it's part of the main mechanic you'll want the window to perhaps be a little tighter. It depends on how impactful the bonuses from landing parries will be. In Sekiro, for instance, the parry doesn't immediately provide benefit only until you stack up enough parries to get a deathblow. Perhaps that's the way this could work where you'll need a certain amount of parries to gain a skill? Just a thought! Best of luck with this.

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