I'll skip all the boring stuff I did this week... writing dialogue, fixing build errors on Mac, incrementally improving the parkour code, refactoring a bunch of templates out of existence, fixing rare AI crashes...
Just a few things of note:
Level design revisited
I resurrected this level and re-worked it in light of new design decisions. It now works pretty well in both PvP mode and parkour mode.
Stealth upgrade
In order to encourage you to plan for the long game, I must make it more difficult to kill your enemy at the beginning of the game. However, in order to make you feel vulnerable, you still need to die in a few hits.
This led me to the stealth mechanic: you're invisible while planted on surfaces that you "own".
Now you're safer, but you're cowering in your safe zones.
In the late game, I want things to get more hectic, more lethal, and less safe. Easy solution: pay X credits to upgrade your sensor ability and disable the enemy's stealth. This was easy to implement, so I did.
There are two problems with this design. First, when someone disables your stealth, you have no idea what happened. Your stealth just stops working, and now you're frustrated and confused. A UI element could solve this, but that's extra work, extra visual noise, and you still might miss it.
Second, it's not a "fun" upgrade. When I look at the upgrade menu, removing an element of the game looks unappealing, even if it's a good tactical choice. I want an upgrade for me, not a downgrade for my enemy. Maybe it's just semantics, but it makes a big difference emotionally.
Then I realized that you the player already have power to disable your enemy's stealth: you can spawn a minion to destroy their sensors. It's way more fun to spawn a dude that shoots lasers than it is to just buy an upgrade.
TL;DR: I trashed the stealth upgrade.
More health revisions
Previously I described how much fun it was to battle an enemy near a health powerup. You have to constantly switch between attacking your opponent and re-capturing the health powerup, depending on how much health you both have.
This is made possible by two important details: first, when you are damaged, the game resets your nearest owned health powerup to a neutral state, giving you a chance to quickly regain your health by recapturing it. And second, players can steal health powerups owned by an enemy.
This design has a problem too, though: once you are damaged, you immediately retreat to the nearest health pickup, since you can't do damage anymore. Your enemy follows close behind. Once you're both at the powerup, neither of you has an incentive to leave. You can always gain an upper hand by re-capturing the powerup. The game will end there, after an indeterminate period of back-and-forth.
The game should not end with the first encounter.
Here's where I'm at now: first, when you are damaged, your most distant health powerup resets. This forces you to make a significant retreat, probably back within your safe zone where you have an advantage. Second: in the early game, you can't steal enemy health. You have to buy an expensive upgrade.
This upgrade is much more appealing because it allows you to gain a huge advantage very quickly. It also splits the game into four different modes, depending on which of the two players have the upgrade. And it makes the game end more quickly as time expires.
Containment fields
Now there's another problem. In the early game, it's pretty easy to escape danger. You might be frustrated if an enemy slips through your fingers, but no worries, it's early.
However, in the late game, it's still just as easy to escape, making the game drag on endlessly.
The first thing I thought of was a "stun" ability. Pay X credits and now you can hit a button to temporarily freeze the enemy in place.
More design problems. First, it's frustratingly difficult to hit a button at the right time while frantically bouncing around chasing someone. Second, there's no way for the enemy to counter. Maybe they buy a counter-upgrade that makes them un-stunnable?
That is soooooo boring.
Here's what I'm experimenting with: you buy an upgrade that adds "containment fields" to your minions.
It's hard to see, but there's a transparent field around that minion. You can pass through it freely, while the enemy cannot. This accomplishes the goal of corralling your enemy, but is more interesting than a stun ability for two reasons: first, the field is mobile because minions walk around. Second, the enemy can counter it by killing the minion (which happens to be a lot of fun).
I've only playtested these mechanics against my not-very-smart-yet AI, but I'm hoping to do some real playtesting this weekend. In the meantime, there's plenty of level design, animation, and writing to do.