Now, let's be clear on one thing before I begin. I HAVE read Motie's "Melee Physics" thread, and this idea is basically the same thing. Only different. ... Do I have you properly confused? Good. Good! It means you're intrigued. Now take a look at this. This is basically going to be a weapons-centric variant of my AGILITY COMMANDS thread. If you read that, you probably know what you're in for. Good for you! Here's a little backstory about what brought me to this idea. I've put it in a spoiler, however, so that you can skip right to the main point of this thread if you please. Now, one of my favorite memories that is remotely related to this subject was back in the days of the NES, with a little under-rated game called "Zelda II - The Adventures of Link". I think the ONLY reason it was unpopular was because it was so drastically different from the first Zelda-game, which was a top-down adventure. People were expecting the same gamplay, and got frustrated when they saw this action platformer come blasting onto their screens. "WHAT IS THIS. JUMPING!? DUCKING!? WHAT!?!?!?", I imagine many of them said, before biting sizeable chunks out of their NES controllers. One of the situations in this game that I feels embodies a very early idea of this concept is ANY time you confronted the DARKNUT. You remember the Darknut, right? Oh, of course you do. These wily bastards carried a shield, just like YOU did! Only THEY had the cunning ability to stab low OR high regardless of where their shield was. And unless you were like me, and you cheated with jump-stabs... you were immediately engaged in what is perhaps the earliest version of tactical swordfighting in any video game ever. Whenever the shield was up, you had to duck and stab at his unprotected legs. But you had to be fast, because some of the smarter Darknuts could move their shields rapidly in response to your blows. And at the same time, you were making sure to block their OWN stabs with YOUR shield, which could also hit high or low. Now, I use Zelda 2 as an example because, like StarBound, it is a sidescrolling platformer. And there's every possibility for this kind of scenario to present itself to you. But the cool thing about StarBound is that it isn't born in the ancient days of the NES, so it has the potential to be SO much more. For one thing, you're not just fighting with a dagger, like Link was (Let's face it. Big as that thing was, it wasn't even a short-sword). If StarBound is going to incorporate at LEAST as many different weapons as Terraria did, then we've got potential for different WEAPON STYLES. Since Guns don't need any further abilities, I'll only talk about Melee weapons. There are Five basic types. Light One-Handers / Heavy One-Handers / Lances / Halberds / Heavy Two-Handers And furthermore, there are five "directions" that attacks can strike you from. These are... ABOVE - The attack comes down on your head from the sky. HIGH - The attack his very high, close to your head! MID - An attack to your chest or your gut. LOW - An attack to sweep at your feet! BELOW - An attack from under your feet. Some attacks that come out from underground will count as this. ~LIGHT ONE-HANDERS~ These are your basic weapons like a one-handed sword/claw or light hammer/battle gauntlet. They tend to have the shortest reach, but are the fastest strikers. Including the ability to incorporate a shield, it's a solid weapon choice for beginners. They can perform an ABOVE/HIGH-hitting Overhead Chop (Up + Attack), a mid-hitting horizontal swing (Normal Attack), or a low-hitting leg sweep (Attack button while ducking). They can also perform a lunge attack (Attack while SPRINTING), which is another mid-hitter but with better range (since you move forward with the weapon extended). ~HEAVY ONE-HANDERS~ Heavy One-Handers (Like Battle Axes, and heavier hammers) are much slower than the Lighter variety (hence the name), but they're more powerful FOR it. Because of this, an enemy will require a higher grade of shield if they hope to block your attacks, because anything less will suffer a "Shock" effect, where the defender suffers a small portion of damage from the impact alone, and cancels out their ability to counter a successfully blocked attack (due to a short stun period). All this aside, Heavy One-Handers have all the same moves that Light One-Handers have. They just do it slower. ~LANCES~ Lances are a special kind of two-handed weapon, as they automatically come with their own shield. Lances are also special in that they have a unique style of attacking. Being primarily stabbing weapons, they will poke forward in whatever direction the mouse is pointing, making aiming a snap. However, because they're stabbing weapons, they don't have any sweeping attacks. By holding the button down, though, you can hold the lance out as you walk or SPRINT, allowing yourself to just shish-kabob enemies as you pass by. Like Heavy One-Handers, they are slow to attack, and their bulk slows down the wielder considerably. Since they Jab, the only way to perform an ABOVE or BELOW directional attack is to actually get above or below your opponent and stab at them. ~HALBERDS~ Unlike the Lance, both hands are taken up by the Halberd, leaving no room for a shield. It does, however, have all the same sweeping and lunging attacks that Light and Heavy one-handers have, no longer the point-click-stab routine of Lance wielders. On top of this, Halberds are typically lighter and do not bog down their users like a Lance does, making Halberd-wielders an agile group. They have one critical flaw, however, in that only the Halberd's bladed head will deal any damage, so it's possible for an enemy to snuggle up too close and be completely missed! A Scythe may count as a Halberd-Style weapon. ~HEAVY TWO-HANDERS~ Weapons bred solely for utter annihilation. Heavy Two-Handers are things like enormous greatswords, giant hammers, and truly monstrous axes. They are the slowest-striking weapons of all, but their incredible power lends them more anti-shield power than any Heavy One-Hander can boast, able to deal a SHOCK to any shield regardless of it's resilience. They also boast the range of Halberds and Lances, making them even more formidable. Like the Lance, however, the Heavy Two-Hander can REALLY slow down it's owner, both in AND out of battle. Heavy Two-Handers also possess all of the same moves as Halberds and One-Handers, with the exception of the Forward Lunge. Instead, Heavy Two-Handers can perform a "Whirlwind" attack by holding the attack button and repeatedly pressing left and right. If you perform an attack while SPRINTING, you'll automatically go into a moving whirlwind for a short time (although you can cancel earlier by releasing the attack button. It will continue as long as the button is held down). Unlike the Lance, Heavy Two Handers cannot be used with a shield, since they take up BOTH hands. And unlike the Halberd, every part of the Heavy Two-Hander is considered a part of the 'strike'. ~EDIT: SHIELDS~ I almost completely forgot to mention something important about shields... Since they're gonna be used for blocking and all, they should have some extra commands, too! Hold UP + Shield to hold the shield up at an angle. This will block ABOVE and HIGH attacks. Holding the shield out normally in front of you (Shield button alone), will block HIGH and MID. Ducking with the shield held out near your feet will block LOW attacks. It won't block MID, but ducking will protect you from HIGH attacks (but not ABOVE attacks). For further clarification, if an attack has ANY 'directional label' that isn't covered by your guard, it will be considered to hit. Like if you're ducking and someone uses an overhead chop, it does have a HIGH directional label, but it also has ABOVE, so it can hit you. (Same as if you stand and hold your shield out. It guards against HIGH attacks, but the ABOVE takes priority). So basically, you have to set your guard up in a way that cancels out EVERY ONE of the attack's labels. So if someone is doing an overhead chop, you need to hold UP + SHIELD for a high block.
I already have. I indeed, saw some interesting things in there, like deflecting bullets with well-timed melee attacks.
