Ah I see, although the combat style from Hollow Knight imo is more dark souls like where you're not really in control of combat. You react to attacks and avoid them. Where Sekiro's is about being active in combat so being able to counterattack soon after to control the fight would seem important to me. So I'm not really sure what the best way to find a mix in between would be as they seem to be contradictory styles, but I understand not wanting the slower pace and giving player free hits. However that might be okay if the enemy can be more active and "react" to the player instead of poising through hits like Dark Souls bosses. I guess you could make it so enemies have more "back-off" or distance changing moves so they can more actively avoid the player which would still force the player to close in themselves like you wanted, and avoid the Sekiro attack/deflect loop which comes from trying to replicate the Sekiro feel. Since most parry/deflect heavy games like Mount and Blade, Chivalry, and Mordhau kind of just lock combatants in a loop with the exception coming from kicks which break distance.
Great insights!! I did added more "back off" on new enemies but sometimes it seems that enemy is just standing there. I m thinking if there is a new way to keep the enemy having more movement away from player but still look a smart move but not just some ( clearly designed for player to attack). Another thing I m struggling with is the direction of the enemy. Since there is no jump button in the game, player can not switch side against the boss like Hollow Knight (or the boss jump behind the player). Still figuring a mechanic to switch side(I used a charge attack and teleporting in Level 1 2 bosses). Clearly, the main mechanic is still not complete. Appreciated your ideas, helps me clear the thought.
Haven't beaten him yet, but I like the work you did on this boss. This felt more like a proper sword fight by allowing the boss to deflect back. This one was much more Sekiro-like imo and also I think this is the only fight to encourage me to use the dash more (the mantis lord overhead hit has iffy deflection sometimes as if I'm slightly off I can't deflect it even though I believe if you're directly under the enemy and they go straight down it should always be a deflection... Unless it's like the Tengu's rolling hit, which should be deflected like a normal attack) Also I'm curious about certain moves, and projectile attack build ups being deflected on close range. I feel like that should also be possible but they will always hit when you're in front of them, although similar moves from Sekiro like Isshin's Dragon Flash can be deflected whilst standing in front of him. That could be intentional but that's just probably me expecting it to follow Sekiro's aggressive gameplay.
Glad you like the design of this boss. I might add the parry mechanic to other bosses too, it works great in the the gameplay. Its kind of like giving a break to the player but it also feels like a sword fight like you said. I literally designed the air attack to encourage player to dash away. I will fix the parrying to projectile on close range.
Wait for the next update. As always, appreciate your comment.
I m also thinking about turn this into a full mini game consists of few levels and sell it for a few dollars. You think thats cool?
I just added a new mechanic to the game. Instead of parrying, you need to attack to "parry" attack. I really want to complete the game this summer, gd luck to me.
Also, I wonder if you would interested in trying out this boss. I could send you a private link through discord or something.