Project REBIRTH #4: Aerial Combo

This video was recorded on 21/06/2023.

A big part of many melee-focused Character Action games is the ability for the player to strike the enemy and send them into a helpless state, then continue attacking them to perform an extended combo. To facilitate this I found it was important to break down the ways an enemy could be affected by attacks in most games in this genre:

1. Staggered: An enemy is hit by a light attack and recoils a bit, but not enough to send them off their feet.

2. Sent flying: An enemy is hit by a big attack that sends them flying directly away from the player, creating some distance between the two.

3. Launched: An enemy is hit by a big, upward moving attack that launches them into the air where they may float for an instant before falling back to the ground.

4. Spiked: An enemy is hit by a big, downward moving attack that send thems hurtling towards the ground if they're airborne, or simply bounds them off it if they aren't.

Once the player's attacks and enemies reactions were animated, it was a matter of assigning different properties to the player's attacks based on the move being used. In this case it's a launcher, followed by an aerial combo, then an aerial spike, and finally a grounded attack combo.

A little extra in this case is the added ability for a player to dash a significant distance in a short time, with to evade attacks or to close the distance.

When all this is combined you then what happens in the video becomes possible. Know that this framework for "comboing" enemies is in place it opens the door for more unique possible combos and player expression when more weapons and abilities are added to the player's arsenal.