Blocking in OG

[Raneman]

In Lugaru, I find the blocking system sloppy, more often then actually reversing something, he'll just duck and get kicked in the face by a wolf before he's even done ducking.

Will this improve in Overgrowth?

[BlackHole]

Will this improve in Lugaru?

I think you mean Overgrowth.

- Black
Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music.

[Wilbefast]

In Lugaru, I find the blocking system sloppy more often then actually reversing something, he'll just duck and get kicked in the face by a wolf before he's even done ducking.

That's because you timed it incorrectly

Lugaru subscribes to the "old school" of game design, which is to say not really telling the player how to play the game, then murdering them and pissing on their grave whenever they make a tiny mistake. This is a trait inherited from arcade games, which are supposed to kill you off as quickly as possible so you so you'll put more money in them! Funnily enough though some people (myself included) miss this sort challenge - which is why Lugaru enjoys a sort of "cult" status.
One of David's primary concerns with Overgrowth though is to provide a less steep difficulty curve and better tutorials - without making the game any easier of course (or all of us masochistic gimps will barbecue him alive).

On a side note - blocking with weapons and armed combat in general *is* very sloppy, especially since the same button can be used to block, dodge, disarm and attack. Unarmed combat works very well though in my opinion.

edit: move to Lugaru board?

[sneaky_squirrel]

In Lugaru, I find the blocking system sloppy more often then actually reversing something, he'll just duck and get kicked in the face by a wolf before he's even done ducking.

That's because you timed it incorrectly

Lugaru subscribes to the "old school" of game design, which is to say not really telling the player how to play the game, then murdering them and pissing on their grave whenever they make a tiny mistake. This is a trait inherited from arcade games, which are supposed to kill you off as quickly as possible so you so you'll put more money in them! Funnily enough though some people (myself included) miss this sort challenge - which is why Lugaru enjoys a sort of "cult" status.
One of David's primary concerns with Overgrowth though is to provide a less steep difficulty curve and better tutorials - without making the game any easier of course (or all of us masochistic gimps will barbecue him alive).

On a side note - blocking with weapons and armed combat in general *is* very sloppy, especially since the same button can be used to block, dodge, disarm and attack. Unarmed combat works very well though in my opinion.

edit: move to Lugaru board?

How will dodging and blocking in the same button?, can't we choose if we want to run away or absorb the blow the best we can?, attack too? (Are we going to win by clicking the button as fast as we can since it does everything?)

If you can enlighten me here with the "currently planned unofficial system", I am confused.

[tokage]

See the fighting design drafts 1 and 2 for details on what is planned by the devs. They are a few months old though, so I guess details may have changed since then.

[sneaky_squirrel]

I got a little confused with a few controls (I know they are old, but just out of curiosity).

First

Strike(hold) - attack when an enemy comes within range
Move(tap) - dodge an attack if timed right, opportunity to counter-strike
Grab(hold) - block if far away, clinch if close

Two of these have the exact same control, how does the game know if I want to attack or block? (New psychic intelligence technology?)

Second

Grab(hold) - block if far away, clinch if close
Strike(tap) - hit grabbed opponent

The minute I would grab him I would need to tap to hit him, now how can I tap if I am already holding the mouse?, easy I just stop holding it and proceed to tap, but then my opponent would be released when I stop holding the button.

This would all be explained if the initial grab button were the right mouse button, which I didn't see indicated in the blog post ;p.

[tokage]

In the first draft, right before the end, is a section 'Right Click', where it is explained that right click will be grab/block/defensive/nonviolent action.

I think you are reading the buttons wrong, because they already have the action names instead of left click/right click(because it will be configurable). All a bit confusing, I also had to double check, when reading it right now.

There are three general action types in the second draft: strike(left click), grab(right click) and move(wasd). Hold/Tap, context and the action type is then related to the specific action that will be performed.

• If you hold the strike action key, the character will strike an opponent when he is in range.
• If you hold the grab action key, the character will grapple or block according to context.
• If you tap strike, while grappling, you hit your opponent.
• Like in Lugaru just tapping with an opponent in range will still issue an attack(which is not really mentioned in the draft).

I tested it in the alpha and just the striking part felt a lot like the Lugaru combat to me, so maybe you should check out the Lugaru demo, if you want to get a feel for it(assuming you haven't down that already).

[Wilbefast]

Side note here - proof that it is possible to be good at Lugaru: Insane ninja Skills.

How will dodging and blocking in the same button?, can't we choose if we want to run away or absorb the blow the best we can?, attack too? (Are we going to win by clicking the button as fast as we can since it does everything?)

If you can enlighten me here with the "currently planned unofficial system", I am confused.

Don't worry, I was talking about Lugaru, not Overgrowth. Overgrowth will probably use more buttons so it's unlikely we'll have that many actions bound to the same control. But apart from vague plans to use both mouse buttons, all told we know next-to-nothing about combat (nothing at all about armed combat), especially since it's been ages since the last draft. I talked to John and David about these things ages ago though (back when I was having the same trouble as you), and they do recognize the difficulties new player have coming to grips with the controls - as said it before and I'll say it again: easing the difficulty curve is one of the main concerns.

[Armored Wolf]

Side note here - proof that it is possible to be good at Lugaru: Insane ninja Skills.

How will dodging and blocking in the same button?, can't we choose if we want to run away or absorb the blow the best we can?, attack too? (Are we going to win by clicking the button as fast as we can since it does everything?)

If you can enlighten me here with the "currently planned unofficial system", I am confused.

Don't worry, I was talking about Lugaru, not Overgrowth. Overgrowth will probably use more buttons so it's unlikely we'll have that many actions bound to the same control. But apart from vague plans to use both mouse buttons, all told we know next-to-nothing about combat (nothing at all about armed combat), especially since it's been ages since the last draft. I talked to John and David about these things ages ago though (back when I was having the same trouble as you), and they do recognize the difficulties new player have coming to grips with the controls - as said it before and I'll say it again: easing the difficulty curve is one of the main concerns.

Screw difficulty curves! Difficulty corners are the way to go. Tutorial WHAM smack in the middle of the hardest fight of your life!

Also I hope they keep in Overgrowth the theme of "not telling the player quite everything." It took me forever to learn "Ninja Bonus" in Lugaru

[Raneman]

I would still like a seperate reversal button (mouse3)?

[tokage]

If you think crouch and reversal should be separate buttons, yes, that is planned.

[sneaky_squirrel]

That's good, lugaru was kinda complicated with every function being a combination of the same 2-3 buttons (Can't remember much from the demo).

[Armored Wolf]

That's good, lugaru was kinda complicated with every function being a combination of the same 2-3 buttons (Can't remember much from the demo).

Demo? It's only 20 bucks! For crying out loud, show a little love for Jeff John Philip and Aubrey!

[sneaky_squirrel]

That's good, lugaru was kinda complicated with every function being a combination of the same 2-3 buttons (Can't remember much from the demo).

Demo? It's only 20 bucks! For crying out loud, show a little love for Jeff John Philip and Aubrey!

Alas I am too poor ( I am unable to make money in any way, no job, no allowance, nothin').

Does that mean I can't love?

[Armored Wolf]

Alas I am too poor ( I am unable to make money in any way, no job, no allowance, nothin').

Does that mean I can't love?

Nope! If you don't have money then you can't love!