Someone on stream 12 talked about Tien's and Velvet's bars and how they must be changed and I was thinking this since I first saw both Velvet's and Tien's gameplay so I though I'd post some suggestions I was thinking about since.
So...here is my ideas about bar charging in game so far.
Tien's bar should fill when specifically moving towards oponent. Maybe even vertically (when right above the oponent or something). More distance covered - more magic. Like go in - do stuff - go out dancing thing. Somewhat like half-cavalry, heh.
This will make player to actually try and base plays around her mobility tools, closing up and then breaking distance repeatedly, not just plain 'charge, stick close and combo and whatever and stick close again'. Will make her to prepare visible setups in which both players can participate more dynamically.
For an opponent it opens more ways to counterplay. Like playing 'turtle' and not backing away, keeping Tien in the corner, all in attempt to cut her magic supply. And/Or catch Tien player while she is trying to reposition herself for extra magic charge. Unlike current state, plain running away will be punished, oponent will be forced and rewarded for actually interacting, for bullying her over.
Will give more opportunities to it overall. More opportunities to make mistakes, which is a good thing. Also fits her offensive moves. Tien has no backing moves or back-dodges at the moment though.
As a side thought, may have specific fire animation while charging. 'On fire'/'Not so much on fire' theming.
As for Velvet. Can't say for sure cause never played it, but it seems to me that her bar is unreliable so much that it's nearly broken. What I mean is that magic is very essential to her playstyle but player may be unable to say how much there is, if any, without explicitely looking. Reason being non-constant and time based fill rate - way to hard to track. Shouldn't be more than one 'x' in this equaStion (same for current Tien, but unlike Velvet she has only two bars, so not that big deal).
I'd suggest to make at least her first bar (or two, yet better all) to fill at constant rate (or constant condition even) so it will be more like a clock, more certain. Thus player will be able to sync it to spinal reflex instead of having an eye at the corner of the screen at all times or relying on hard-to-get-right 'fealing it'. More reliable this way.
For the rest of the bar I'd favor some 'hold to it' counter-interactive ideas to stress her biggest-zoner-in-the-game style. Like 'how still (horizontally) she stays' (wind/magic vs mobility?) or 'for how long did she not use magic' (attack use/burst vs defense use) or 'when she is not moving towards oponent' (ranged attacks vs melee attacks). Idea is to force player to trade between all-out-zoner and utility/mobility when needed, giving oponent opportunities for exploits. These are wild guesses though as I can't imagine how it would play on top of issue/idea I mentioned earlier.
I certainly would not leave both Tien's and Velvet's bars bound to 'distance' cause it is looking way too similar now. I think they better be bound to 'mobility' in more inderect way. But I really like your idea of Velvet's bar being a frosty-twin of Tien's.
Oli's super-meter 'reading charge'. I'd suggest to speed it up at constant rate. Say it starts somewhat slower and fills 20% more after every second, speed-ups happening discretely. There is too much I want to say to back this up so I'd better not.
By the way, great idea for Paprika bar recovering only when gifts are ate by oponent, both deep tactically and in character.
Ok, mind flush complete. What are your thoughts about these?
So...here is my ideas about bar charging in game so far.
Tien's bar should fill when specifically moving towards oponent. Maybe even vertically (when right above the oponent or something). More distance covered - more magic. Like go in - do stuff - go out dancing thing. Somewhat like half-cavalry, heh.
This will make player to actually try and base plays around her mobility tools, closing up and then breaking distance repeatedly, not just plain 'charge, stick close and combo and whatever and stick close again'. Will make her to prepare visible setups in which both players can participate more dynamically.
For an opponent it opens more ways to counterplay. Like playing 'turtle' and not backing away, keeping Tien in the corner, all in attempt to cut her magic supply. And/Or catch Tien player while she is trying to reposition herself for extra magic charge. Unlike current state, plain running away will be punished, oponent will be forced and rewarded for actually interacting, for bullying her over.
Will give more opportunities to it overall. More opportunities to make mistakes, which is a good thing. Also fits her offensive moves. Tien has no backing moves or back-dodges at the moment though.
As a side thought, may have specific fire animation while charging. 'On fire'/'Not so much on fire' theming.
As for Velvet. Can't say for sure cause never played it, but it seems to me that her bar is unreliable so much that it's nearly broken. What I mean is that magic is very essential to her playstyle but player may be unable to say how much there is, if any, without explicitely looking. Reason being non-constant and time based fill rate - way to hard to track. Shouldn't be more than one 'x' in this equaStion (same for current Tien, but unlike Velvet she has only two bars, so not that big deal).
I'd suggest to make at least her first bar (or two, yet better all) to fill at constant rate (or constant condition even) so it will be more like a clock, more certain. Thus player will be able to sync it to spinal reflex instead of having an eye at the corner of the screen at all times or relying on hard-to-get-right 'fealing it'. More reliable this way.
For the rest of the bar I'd favor some 'hold to it' counter-interactive ideas to stress her biggest-zoner-in-the-game style. Like 'how still (horizontally) she stays' (wind/magic vs mobility?) or 'for how long did she not use magic' (attack use/burst vs defense use) or 'when she is not moving towards oponent' (ranged attacks vs melee attacks). Idea is to force player to trade between all-out-zoner and utility/mobility when needed, giving oponent opportunities for exploits. These are wild guesses though as I can't imagine how it would play on top of issue/idea I mentioned earlier.
I certainly would not leave both Tien's and Velvet's bars bound to 'distance' cause it is looking way too similar now. I think they better be bound to 'mobility' in more inderect way. But I really like your idea of Velvet's bar being a frosty-twin of Tien's.
Oli's super-meter 'reading charge'. I'd suggest to speed it up at constant rate. Say it starts somewhat slower and fills 20% more after every second, speed-ups happening discretely. There is too much I want to say to back this up so I'd better not.
By the way, great idea for Paprika bar recovering only when gifts are ate by oponent, both deep tactically and in character.
Ok, mind flush complete. What are your thoughts about these?