This project has been in development for almost 4 months now, which is nothing compared to some of the other games mencioned here. For those who say that the combat is missing something(or is janky), can you please elaborate a bit? It would make easier for me to pinpoint what exactly makes the game not feel as vibrant/swift as most classic beat em ups.
Re: Combat - Keep in mind I've only played the one-level demo, and that it's also...well,a demo! I don't mean to be harsh, because it's not bad. It just doesn't rise above yet, which is understandable when you're missing things like the grapple mechanic, more special moves, and passive effects. To point out a couple of things specifically:
- The Punch combo: I often found that the third attack in the chain would just whiff completely and leave me vulnerable because the target got pushed back out of range fromt he previous two hits. This caused me to resort almost entirely to just the kick combo, because it did everything punches seemed to do (as far as I could notice), but more consistently.
So, first thing would be to adjust either the punch pushback or the hitbox ont he third attack so it hits. I'd also consider the baseline function of each attack. If one attack is simply better than the other, why have two buttons? Could you differentiate them to give each purpose? I think the answer is "yes!" Maybe punches do more damage or combo longer before knockdown, but have shorter range; kicks could have longer range and knockdown more easily, but do less damage. Just a suggestion, I'm no dev, but I hope this illustrates what I'm getting at.
- The enemies: *Minding it's a demo,* the entire first level is literally one type of enemy + a boss-version with a longer health bar. There doesn't seem to be any variation to their attacks or AI; they all just try to swarm on you with the same generic punches and kicks.
Take a gander at this Streets of Rage 2 FAQ:
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Galsia: The base generic enemy. Not a lot of HP, just uses weak jabs, just tries to swarm you...but sometimes they can be armed with knives, which requires recognizing that fact and jump kicking or throwing them to get them to drop it, which you can then use! Immediate variety.
Donovan: Similar to Galsia, but their jabs will combo into an uppercut that can knock you down, and can also come armed with pipes!
Signal: Another of the low-level punk enemies, but they're *deliberately indirect* when trying to fight you. Has a little more HP than the previous two, and likes to be more evasive and use sudden slides or throws to knock you down.
That's just three basic enemies, all of which you can run into on the first level. And that's not even getting into the idea that, this being a sex game, maybe the different enemy types have leanings toward certain actions or positions, rather than everyone having the same generic pool of actions.
Like I said, not a dev and there's clearly stuff to add. I just hope to see this properly fleshed out as a beat 'em up; especially since the game is inherently asking players to replay to unlock stuff and build stats. The experience needs to be fun, rather than a chore of a grind.
