BENEATH THE SURFACE
COMBAT DESIGN
Beneath The Surface is a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania set in a mysterious labyrinth-like cave where you take control of the one known as “The Wanderer”. The player wakes up inside of the cave unknowing of how you have gotten there. Throughout your journey you will encounter numerous monsters and demons filled within the cave. It is up to you to find and fight your way out of this ancient place and return to safety.
One of my favorite parts of making the prototype was designing the enemy types within it. Though the one that stands out the most is the Void Beast boss battle. The attack patterns and strategy when fighting the boss felt the most unique compared to the smaller enemy types throughout the game. Not only does the boss stand out though, but it gives the player a chance to embrace and use all the abilities they have when fighting the Void Beast as they are most useful here compared to the rest of the game.
Adding subtleties to the camera gave another layer to the game. Having the player use powerful abilities or getting hit with powerful blows really didn’t work out with just showing a health bar deplete or your character being knocked back. Though with visual effects and camera shakes it adds a lot more emphasis on top of these impactful moments. Giving the player a sense of power and danger when playing.
When not in groups, Implings aren’t very threatening and can be taken out in a couple of hits. Though when they fly in packs they pose a real challenge. Typically the player wants to use their special abilties to take out groups of them as basic attacks are only good when they’re split.
Similar to Implings, Slimes don’t necessarily pose a threat. Even when teaming together they aren’t very menacing. They have little health and do little damage. Though when partnering with other mobs they can be a little tricky, making them hard to notice when fighting other enemies. Eventually swooping in for an attack when the player isn’t looking.
Wizards like to keep distance and shoot projectiles. From a distance they can be harmful, but once you get within melee range of them they’re completely defenseless. They can deal some great damage, but only if you’re giving them the space to do so.
Brutes seem as if they’re almost invincible. They have a lot of health, deal a lot of damage, and don’t even flinch at the sight of your attacks. Brutes hit slow though giving the player enough time to dodge. If you aren’t greedy with attacks and dodge accordingly taking out a Brute should be no problem. Though if you aren’t careful a couple hits from these guys can kill you easily.
The Void Beast, being the boss of the game, is the strongest of all enemy types. Most of it’s arsenal consists of range attacks with the most common one being homing missiles it throws at the player. The trait to this boss is trying to stay as close to it as possible while still avoiding all of the attacks it throws at you. Though it has a large health pool and does massive amounts of damage, once the player figures out the strategy to taking down the enemy, the fight begins to feel in your favor.
The goal for the combat system was to be quick, engaging, and powerful. I didn’t want the player to feel like they were fighting an enemy for too long or felt as if they weren’t doing enough damage. Tuning the attack speed and abilities to the right amount gave the player a sense of power, but also kept them cautious on approaching their enemies.
Abilities helped mix things up for the player when in the midst of combat. Charging heavy attacks to the max amount gives the player an electrical spark, upon release emits an explosion that does high damage to all enemies in the area, as well as knocking them back. Giving the player space when approached by a mob of enemies or a particularly tough enemy that they want to keep away. Alternatively though the player can heal themselves instead of using charged attacks when in dire situations. Making these two abilities use the same meter adds a moment of risk vs reward. Would the player rather be safe and use their meter for keeping their health up or rather they use their meter for heavy AOE attacks.
