I've read about some concerns regarding Melee combat, since a lot of the variety in ranged weapons does not apply well to melee (bouncing, splitting, homing, etc...). So I spent some time thinking about melee weapons and came up with the following things I've seen in other games that make melee more fun. 1.) A buckler, or some similar way to block and counter without using a shield in one hand. The Devs have already announced that Shields and Counterattacks will be in the game, which is really awesome. Even so, you can't use two handed weapons and still have a shield equipped. I think that this is fine for someone using a two-handed ranged weapon, but not so easy for someone using a two-handed melee weapon who needs to close the distance. This could be implemented as something worn on the elbow like a buckler, which you could activate by clicking with the off-hand while using a two-handed weapon. You could make it less effective than an actual shield by not allowing you to move while guarding or by blocking less damage, but at least it would be something. I know two-handed melee is more of a berserk style, but it should still have some sort of defense options to compete with dual wielding which is probably even more aggressive. 2.) Aerial dash attacks. One way to help close the distance with ranged foes would be a sudden boost of speed. Coupled with an attack, it could possibly do some small bonus damage to help melee fighters make up for the lost time during the approach. This could be done by pressing Left Shift while airborne, since you probably can not sneak while jumping, and would send you flying straight in the direction you are facing. This would be much different than the jet pack, since you would have more horizontal mobility but less vertical mobility while airborne. *Something like the Screw Attack from the Metroid series could be an upgrade-- an energy barrier that protects you during the Airdash, much like the buckler idea above. It could require energy, and not have the offensive power of the Screw Attack. * Nova Strike! 3.) Parrying ranged attacks. This would have to be treated carefully to prevent it from being to powerful. Being able to block energy weapons with a small chance to reflect them (like a lightsaber) seems reasonable. There could be limitations such as only blocking a certain percentage of the time and stuff. Maybe it only works if you time it correctly. Anyway, the ability to do this could be a mod on certain weapons, and it could be rare. This might not work while swinging the weapon, but rather could be an supplement to the buckler or airdash. If it is implemented while swinging, then it would be most helpful for those who practice dual-wielding techniques. 4.) Force fields that hamper ranged attacks from beyond a certain distance. This has been discussed in other threads and would be a boon for anyone who fears long ranged attacks. The field could have limited hit points, regenerate only after a certain amount of time, use large amounts of battery, allow certain attacks to pass through, or merely reduce the damage taken by such attacks. Whatever choices are made, something like this would be very helpful for short ranged and melee fighters. I trust the Devs to balance this properly if they include it.
1) Sounds good as long as it's only usable when a person is wielding a two-handed weapon. I say that, but then I also start thinking that part of the trade off of a two-handed weapon is more power for less versatility. So, if you can block with a shield type thing and wield a two-handed sword, why wield a shield and one-handed sword combo? I wouldn't be opposed to being able to parry other melee attacks with the two-handed sword, (maybe using the off-hand button) 2) YUS!!! ZEALOT CHARGE!!! In all seriousness though, I think this is a great idea. To make it more cool, the player has to do the dash and then time their attack to get the bonus damage. It'll still do damage regardless, but it does more if you press the attack button as you reach your target. 3) Yes, you have to be very careful with this one, since there really is a lot of room for OPness. One way of making this not OP is making it a timing ability, like you have to press the parry button just before the energy-beam-thing gets to you or else you miss. It shouldn't work against ballistic weaponry since there has to be some kind of weakness. I also like your chance to miss idea though. 4)I really like this idea and think this is an essential to a berzerker/two-handed weapon user type person. Because they need some way to get close enough to their enemies to attack them without getting down to almost 0 health first. I also think there should be different types of shields that work in different ways so people can experiment and find a preference, or prepare for a certain enemy. Hope this helped.
If you read the blog post about shields carefully, you'll notice they mention white health, and also that not all attacks could be blocked with shields. Just extend the disadvantages of theses shields a bit so that the buckler is sufficiently inferior. The sword-and-board style would grant better defense, while the two-hander style would still have options for defense. Let's say an average shield reduces damage by somewhere between 75% and 90%. You could also run and jump while shielding. On the other hand, the buckler might only reduce damage by a much smaller 50%, never have any upgrades, and not allow any movement while using it. This way you still give up versatility, but you can still have the option of using the counterattack which does major bonus damage, and isn't damage the main purpose for two-handed weapons? The trick about timing is that it would be harder to code for. Alternatively, it could be something that just supports the buckler feature. Maybe it allows you to block and reflect some energy shots, but you have to be guarding with the buckler, and therefore unable to approach. The foe might recognize what you are doing and switch to a ballistic weapon, so you approach while he switches, jump over the first few shots and then dash in to attack. Meanwhile, the foe is focused on dodging while you have closed most of the distance and is increasingly concerned about keeping you away. Since they are now using ballistic weapons, you activate your short-term force field and switch to your spear, throwing it at them with deadly accuracy. Noticing that both of your health bars have taken heavy hits, the ranged specialist drops a cluster of proximity mines and makes a break for it to recover. You hastily retreat from the mines and pop your pain meds or whatever and find a way to navigate over the mines using your air dash, and then it repeats all over. Every step of the way the advantage gets pushed and pulled towards either side. That's the sort of intense PvP gameplay I'd like to see. In PvE, I don't think energy weapons will be common on mobs, so I doubt it would be overpowered at all. Oh, it did. I didn't think of having the deflection weapon simply enhance the buckler option. Deflection could be a two-handed-melee-only mod, and the buckler would be two-handed-melee-only tech item. The two would have good synergy and I don't think they would be overpowered.
Yes! This is the kind of gameplay the devs are trying to create, where players have to actually think about how they're going to kill their enemy instead of just running in while spamming their attack (amazing, I know ) . Your idea is awesome. Also I do remember the bit about the white health that can be regenerated, I don't remember there being anything about shields reducing the damage as well. And I do think things like dashes are important for a two-handed melee player because they need something to close the distance between them and their target since ranged players can attack while running away (as far as we know). I like the deflection as a weapon mod as well, and making it so that the buckler can only be used by someone using a two-handed melee weapon is a good point as well, since I can imagine it being abused by people dual wielding attack weapons. Also, I'm glad it helped.
If the buckler/deflection is limited to two-handers only, then you may as well activate it using the right click (or off-hand click). For dual-wielders, they can equip their weapon in their off-hand, approach with a proper shield, then swap the shield for another weapon using the hotkey. I think this is probably the most balanced and best controls, since I just realized that if pressing down pulled up the buckler, then you would fall through platforms. The next question is how you could dash. My next guess would be double-tapping the directional key, like you would in Kirby games.
Well, you could just press a button to start dashing. We've got a whole keyboard available to us. Also, we don't know that the player can move while using a normal shield either.
The trick is to make the controls feel fluid and natural. Using E for the grapple in Terraria was great, for example. I assume they would let you customize it, but the idea is that it would be nice to have an ideal default key that works well. Edit: Here's one way to implement the Air Dash. Some sort of tech that gives you an additional jump, only it is just horizontal instead of vertical.
Hm, I'm not sure if I can help with figuring out which key is best, since I always shift everything (including wasd) to the right. This means I change wasd to esdf. And then I usually just put everything else where I feel like. But, I guess something like that should be on a key that you can reach with your pinky finger since you need to have your pointer finger and ring finger free for movement. (This is a pro to my shifting everything as it provides more keys for the pinky to press.)
If you don't shift everything to the right (which is a good idea btw), then Left Shift or Spacebar are probably jump because the other keys, like E, R, F, V, and C would all require you to use your left index finger, and disrupt horizontal movement. Since you have both Left Shift and Spacebar, one of those could be for the buckler (or some other primary tech item for other classes). Also, Up (or W on WASD) could be jump, opening another option. Edited the OP for the fact that Left Shift is already going to be the default key for sneaking and other control related content.
Could shields themselves have heath/durability? So's you can't just cower behind your shield forever(it gets repaired if you get back on the ship, like all other tools.)
It hadn't been decided yet at the time that I posted this, but since then the developers decided that shields will use the player's energy bar each time they block an attack, and you don't recover energy while holding it up. If you keep it up all the time, your enemy can just use up all of your energy and then you are left vulnerable.
That works. Presumably bucklers work the same way. There's gonna have to be a pause before recharging though, or you could just tap the shield and have your energy regenerate while having the shield up half the time.
Well, from what I can tell, you can't attack while the shield is up and you can't raise your shield while attacking, so even if you tap the button you are just getting 50% damage reduction in exchange for not having any offense. It seems much more practical to try to tap the shield just as you are getting hit, so good timing is rewarded. At the same time, players with poor reflexes can still compete because they can hold it up longer if they have to. At first I was really sad that they axed the White Health idea, but I really think the way they tied in energy works well.
