To the developers
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:14 am
Hi! I'm Christian Norgaard from Denmark.
I would like to make some suggestions for Overgrowth based upon my experience of Lugaru.
Lugaru is an extremely enjoyable production due mainly to this one thing:
The super few buttons needed to employ a comparatively sophisticated Tekken-like fighting system, rightly emphasizing speed and timing rather than the ability to memorize some complicated system. Gaming rather than simulation.
Also: The animations and sounds are very cool. This is more important than might be thought.
I think I missed something, but the reason I write is not to say what made Lugaru great ...you probably know that all too well already.
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I'm writing because I have some suggestions:
1: MANY DIFFERENT ANIMATIONS
People want to see more moves. Some people suggests that you should add complicated combination moves, like "p p p p k k" to do something fancy kick. DON'T. It would kill the game instantly. Instead, the magic lies in how fascinating it is to push 'crouch' at the right time to see turner make some totally cool reversal. Adding more moves could be done like this:
Through timing: Hitting crouch should result in one of many kinds of reversals depending on 1) how Turner is facing the enemy, 2) distance to enemy and 3) timing. The idea is not to make it any more complicated dealing certain types and amounts of damage, NO. The idea is just to make variations in animation so that we can play the game a hundred times and still see a totally new move because we somehow hit crouch 1/3 of a second of than usually, standing in a slightly different position etc. Fighting looks good.
2: APPLY THE COMBAT-SYSTEM TO ARMED COMBAT.
Something that is really enjoyable in Lugaru is fighting with the sword and bo-staff. To be honest, this is not because it is effective: Others have already pointed out the dodge and disarm problem. But still: Swinging that sword against an enemy that promptly blocks it is really cool. REALLY cool.
So what I suggest this is: Make weapon combat parallel to fist combat, not just a part of it. Using the same buttons and attack-reverse system, we could have all sorts of awesome fights using swords/staffs/bones/sausages - just as exciting as the fist-fights. Duels look good.
But wait - Wouldn't it be too easy to kill opponents without weapons? Yes, if the irritating disarming is stopped, Turner could cut down every unarmed animal with ease. However, this might be the solution: Agility is hampered by the metal arm extensions called swords - perhaps it is not unreasonable that not having a sword can be an advantage. Disarmament could continue in an only slightly less nullifying manner. This way, the feature that the game rests upon (the combat system) will always be at the center of gameplay instead of collecting armor like some failed Diablo 2 inspired game. Fists against fists, swords against swords, bo-staffs against bo-staffs.
Also, on a note: Dont EVER change the way some things are automated. I'm thinking of the way a knife is very easily blocked by the staff, and the knife is automatically thrown at the enemy with no more aim than general direction. This makes gaming fast paced much the same way the simple combination system does. IT'S GREAT.
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I hope this is of some use. If it is, or you have already considered it but chosen something else, I'd like to get some kind of response.
Keep up the work, what you do it just great!
Christian Norgaard.
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I would like to make some suggestions for Overgrowth based upon my experience of Lugaru.
Lugaru is an extremely enjoyable production due mainly to this one thing:
The super few buttons needed to employ a comparatively sophisticated Tekken-like fighting system, rightly emphasizing speed and timing rather than the ability to memorize some complicated system. Gaming rather than simulation.
Also: The animations and sounds are very cool. This is more important than might be thought.
I think I missed something, but the reason I write is not to say what made Lugaru great ...you probably know that all too well already.
--------------------------
I'm writing because I have some suggestions:
1: MANY DIFFERENT ANIMATIONS
People want to see more moves. Some people suggests that you should add complicated combination moves, like "p p p p k k" to do something fancy kick. DON'T. It would kill the game instantly. Instead, the magic lies in how fascinating it is to push 'crouch' at the right time to see turner make some totally cool reversal. Adding more moves could be done like this:
Through timing: Hitting crouch should result in one of many kinds of reversals depending on 1) how Turner is facing the enemy, 2) distance to enemy and 3) timing. The idea is not to make it any more complicated dealing certain types and amounts of damage, NO. The idea is just to make variations in animation so that we can play the game a hundred times and still see a totally new move because we somehow hit crouch 1/3 of a second of than usually, standing in a slightly different position etc. Fighting looks good.
2: APPLY THE COMBAT-SYSTEM TO ARMED COMBAT.
Something that is really enjoyable in Lugaru is fighting with the sword and bo-staff. To be honest, this is not because it is effective: Others have already pointed out the dodge and disarm problem. But still: Swinging that sword against an enemy that promptly blocks it is really cool. REALLY cool.
So what I suggest this is: Make weapon combat parallel to fist combat, not just a part of it. Using the same buttons and attack-reverse system, we could have all sorts of awesome fights using swords/staffs/bones/sausages - just as exciting as the fist-fights. Duels look good.
But wait - Wouldn't it be too easy to kill opponents without weapons? Yes, if the irritating disarming is stopped, Turner could cut down every unarmed animal with ease. However, this might be the solution: Agility is hampered by the metal arm extensions called swords - perhaps it is not unreasonable that not having a sword can be an advantage. Disarmament could continue in an only slightly less nullifying manner. This way, the feature that the game rests upon (the combat system) will always be at the center of gameplay instead of collecting armor like some failed Diablo 2 inspired game. Fists against fists, swords against swords, bo-staffs against bo-staffs.
Also, on a note: Dont EVER change the way some things are automated. I'm thinking of the way a knife is very easily blocked by the staff, and the knife is automatically thrown at the enemy with no more aim than general direction. This makes gaming fast paced much the same way the simple combination system does. IT'S GREAT.
----
I hope this is of some use. If it is, or you have already considered it but chosen something else, I'd like to get some kind of response.
Keep up the work, what you do it just great!
Christian Norgaard.
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