*@Raymond Cripps* 2:57 At first I thought like this comment, but after seeing the final product, I think it is much better than expected AND it adds to the game play, Great work! :D (I leave this comment up, in case it give you any ideas or anything.) Hi, I don't think melee combat is right for this type of character. Her abilities is mostly speed & wall-run, so from her perspective as a character, how would she use those abilities to defeat a foe? (assuming foe has no abilities, except armor/HP). She would use the abilities to stay out of reach, while trying to deal damage. Using melee combat would break that, as it doesn't really use her ability. If she would pick a weapon, I think it would need to be a ranged weapon (not a sword/knife/etc..), NOT require careful aiming (not a sniper rifle, etc.), while dealing decent damage... To me, that sound like an AOE weapon, probably some kind of hand-grenades, or grenade launcher. Alternatively, she could use some kind of auto-deplorable sentry machine (easy to make boring game-play here), set up in hard to reach spots. Alternatively, the theme could go more towards espionage, so her mission is to deploy magnetic cameras in mission-critical areas to give the rest of the team vision. Or go more towards the Mirrors Edge game...
And she could have animaiton frames curling her up into a semi-balled-up pose with her "hind legs" forward, with one a bit more forward than the other for style. That way it doesn't just feel like a sonic Spin attack from that Sonic 2.5D game made in the GZDoom - which is an awesome game and everything, but I feel like she needs to keep it cat-like and stylish
I think then it would make sense for her to do a mid air jump via thrusters or something and use the enemy as some sort of springboard in the animation
Yeah, was thinking the same. Though just looking at it and how much consideration went into rebound output and momentum preservation, he put more thought into it than most of the 3D Sonic game designers :D
Problem with that being that she can't climb up or down walls. So if you want to hit an enemy on a wall, you have to make sure to hit the wall at the exact right height from the start of the wall run. An alternative would be to add a feature where she can lock on and climb/descend to the enemy's height, but that might break verticality limits.
if you wanted action arenas but don't want combat "stuck to the ground" could always put combat focused sections in a downward slide loop, walls and floors Hanna Barbara animating while you slide around bonking baddies. Sure would probably add some coding to the enemy logic to fight when freefall/sliding but it'd be how you beat em up battle in motion.
@@lingeringforce6264 Ohh, that's good. Reminds me of flying koopas in mario - making the enemies part of the platforming and part of the movement, rather than just obstacles. Love that.
In regards to player control, it might be helpful to have Gabi target the nearest target *that her controls are pointing towards*. If you're trying to go to the left, but the nearest enemy is to the right, attacking the enemy to the right might feel like the player doesn't have the control they want
maybe it only prioritises the enemy that's further way on the left if you are actively pressing a key toward that direction as you press the attack key
Something like that would go a long way. I remember getting extremely pissed off at Genshin Impact characters using their strongest attacks against the small goon next to me (that wasn't even on screen) and not the big guy I was actually looking at.
Yep, that's how they did it in Arkham Knight. Raymond, apparently doesn't do any research, judging from him raw dogging everything in Blueprints, and him being oblivious he's making a Sonic game with an OC. Oh btw. Akham Knight have a GDC talk about their "sticky" animations. It'S exactly what hes trying to build here... but fails miserably. He could literally just implement proven research papers on the topic and be done with it... but hows got time for that am I right? It's more fun to reinvent the wheel.
First comes Pizza Tower which is better at being a 2D Sonic game than a 2D Sonic game, and now Project Feline is better at being a 3D sonic game than 3D sonic games
@@alfonshedstrom9859 TBH Pizza Tower is closer to Wario Land 4 but with the addition of a momentum system. At this point comparing it to an existing game is doing it a disservice.
Yeah, it's nearly as if he thinks its his own idea, or wants people to think it was.. lmao this series is just funny to watch, been here for like 2 years at least... still pretty much at the same point. (Mind you he started over 5 years ago with this game)
@@MrSofazocker yeah same, i've been here since the start of the remake. perfectionism is a curse. but also if he has fun doing this and can survive on the money he makes, sure why not.
@@MrSofazocker Game dev isn't easy, and people are allowed to take inspiration from existing ideas. Basically everything humans create is derivative in some way. And for all you know, he did think of this move on his own.
Funnily enough, I have an OC of my own whose homing attack of his own actually comes from a magnetic strike. ...Admittedly, I based him off the shield abilities in the fangame I imagine him being in (SRB2) but hey.
I feel like a kind of dive kick or kicking dash animation would look really nice for the homing attack, instead of a sonic-esque ball. You could even make it look like she's jumping off enemies when she bounces off them. I think it would make sense for her to use her legs considering that's her cybernetically enhanced part.
Have you considered adding a momentum requirement for the dash attack? It looks really cool when you did from sliding on a wall, and such, but looked kinda cheap when just moving on ground and spamming jump and dash. It would promote building momentum to be able to defeat enemies, i think. Anyways, great job, looks great.
Yea it does look kinda awkward when it's coming off a slow run up to the enemy, it would probably be less jarring if the dash speed was affected by her momentum too (or distance? Whatever feels better). Maybe I got it wrong on this and that's already how it works, but defeating enemies should probably also reward the player by giving more speed off rebound instead of just returning to the previous one, otherwise people will still avoid enemies anyway since it's a game about going speedy instead of killing enemies.
@@Palochii Well, if an enemy moves as fast as Gabis dash, you'll be a homing missle tracking the thing for 5 seconds in the air, lmao. A dash is a dash.. It goes in a straight line. If the target moves, you should shoot in the direction where the target will be, when the dash is finished. But oh no, then you would have to calculate the ballistics and deal with quaternions, oh no!..
It would be cool to have multiple poses each time she attacks. One is her in a ball, another one is a pounce, another a kick and just make them cycle randomly.
Overall great work as always, however I think you should also add an attack that utilises slide movement. For example, if you slide under an enemy it kills him. It goes with the flow of the gameplay, utilises player's movement and doesn't slow us down, while being rewarding. I think it would be simply satysfying to slide through a group of enemies, blowing them up while maintaining momentum and the combo.
Man's reinvented 3D Sonic, no way (seriously though, I was losing my shit watching you slowly rebuild 3D Sonic combat almost beat for beat while seemingly being unaware of it)
My first thought when you said about combat was "Blade Kitten" right away. Because Gabi and Kit share the vibe! Food for thought: *Right now Gabi is the only actively moving thing in the game* So the obvious step would be adding enemies which run/fly and actively chase you while you're platforming to set the gameplay in motion and bring life to the levels. Proactive enemies is what begs to be added in my opinion. Teaching them to wall run would be extremely tediouis due to all the pathfinding work, its impact on gameplay is way too unpredictable and it will generate countless bugs 100%, so it's off the table. Simple flight would be enough. Helicopter enemies? Jet-drones? Rockets maybe? *Same lack of motion goes for the environment* Flying cars passing by, construction cranes moving containers, elevators going up and down. Anything really. Platforming requires MOAR platforms :D *"Push and Pull" or "Rope and Stick" logic* Grab and throw, push and pull, dive and rise. Roller coasters are fun for a reason. Right now the only way of interaction with enemies is the homing attack as the first step. Naturally, this makes player gravitate towards any enemies they see (aka pull yourself towards, rope-type of interaction). Making some things dangerous for this behaviour will add the opposite emotion (avoid something, jump out of explosions, dash from attacks, save your fluffy little ass via pushing things away, stick-type of interaction). P. S. Make sure you make the game YOU like. All our feedback and suggestions are just that. Players don't know what they want most of the time and just beg for feature creep. Don't fall in that pit. This game is beautiful already. Follow your vision and it will be gorgeous.
It would be cool if her attacks were spin dash-like but instead there are boosters in her legs so she can focus more on her kicks or maybe something like gravity rush were she hones in on an opponent and uses her momentum to deal more damage
You making it so that the homing attack doesn't just make you lose your flow and instead carries your velocity basically fixes the issue sonic adventure has with it's homing attack. Great stuff!
My advice to you is to check out Spark the Electric Jester 3, but also look into the speed running techniques. I believe you'll learn that beating levels faster can in fact be fun. Breaking the game is half the fun, especially when the game begs you to break it.
I personally really dislike Spark 3's combat. The attacks and combos are well made, but they completely delete all of your momentum, so the combat moves are completely unviable to use during platforming. Every time I have to fight enemies, I feel like I'm suddenly playing a different game. The combat and platforming are mutually exclusive in execution.
@@kukukachu The Jester Dash works pretty much the same way as the homing attack in most Sonic games, and Project Feline's homing attack doesn't seem to do anything very different from Spark 3
I think giving Gabi a sidearm isn't a terrible idea. That way she can clear out enemies from a distance with the press of a button without compromising any of her speed. All you'd need to do is keep the homing properties, but turn it into a projectile
That looks really cool, I can also see it possible to include a “super pounce” where if you build up a momentum “gauge” (determined by X time spent at whatever max momentum is), you could home in on an enemy, grab them, then go into a bullet-time to blast off the enemy’s back in a straight-line super dash, with much higher momentum than normal. You’d have a brief second or half-second to aim where you go, but I can see skilled players blasting past stuff regular/first time players would have to work through normally. Gabbi’s a cat, give her a Pounce!
Perhaps a fairly sized circle crosshair that you aim at targets you want to dash at. When in range of a target, the crosshair changes colour or bightens. This adds higher player control and skill ceiling.
Awesome work! Also i think you should change homing animation in future. Like mid air kick or something. I love those grafics and feel of speed and will be waiting for release. (Oh and will be super cool if you will add duplicating player afterimage effect on higher speeds or when homing).
I think the reticle mechanic some people are suggesting is really just a sign that choosing the closest target can be un-intuitive. I personally would expect to attack the target that is closest to my view vector. Maybe even excluding targets that are outside a certain cone.
I don't know if you implement this because you dint mention it but the homing attack should priotise enemies that are close to the center of the screen so you can have better control on which enemie or object you home into, otherwise having more than one enemy in on area would turn the fighting into a hassle again if people want to go fast
Not necessarily true. If the game has a lot of turning and you play it with a controller, you would much prefer the target to be related to your movement stick for quicker targeting, rather than drag the camera around
Cloudbuilt is a similar game that I personally feel that shows how combat can sometimes be a detriment to the flow of a game like this (though sometimes they also get the flow right, depends on the segment). Check it out if you never played it.
You should really consider adding a reticle to the target of the attack when it's in range, so the player can tell when something is being targeted and what is being targeted.
Homing attack is a great addition, but I think there should definitely be a bit more combat-movement mechanics to set it apart from being just another sonic clone. Some potential ideas: - A fast-fall/slam attack that could lead into either a slide or rebounding jump - An uppercut from slide that gives you burst vertical movement from the ground - Follow-up/alternate attacks as the homing attack lands, such as inputting jump to kick and enemy downward and gain more height, inputting crouch/slide to "ride" an enemy down like a skateboard (also potential for an enemy jump explosion? or rail interaction where you cut an enemy in half and continue riding the rail), or neither for the standard homing attack - "Hijacking" a flying enemy to use as a glider and jumping off/discarding them shortly after
The combat always looked out of place. Now THIS looks simply amazing. The momentum gameplay is really coming together. The speedrun community will love the schmoovement (and find a trilion exploits - that's unavoidable, but fine). As a programmer, I really like that you showed how difficult the coding process can be and how to deal with bugs.
The target picking function could be improved by calculating a score for each possible target based on multiple factors like distance or the angle between the camera's view vector and the direction to the target, and picking the one with the highest score (or at random among all the top scoring ones if there is a tie). You can then add weights to each score source to customize what influence each factor has, and you can even use curves to turn the raw factor into a score and get a huge amount of control. This method is also great for its modularity, as it is quite easy to add or remove factors, or have different factors for different target types. And because the only thing that matters is the relative score between each target, it also means that this type of picking function can adapt to any situation seamlessly.
Seeing the homing attack made think of the fluid motions practiced by the Spidermen in Insomniac's games. The entire time I was just imagining Gabi doing flips, tricks, pounces, twirls, airborne poses and whatever randomly-cycled eccentric gymnastics after pulling off a homing attack and rebounding or just jumping into the air. Personally? I'd like to see something like that get implemented, but boy do I know that'd be a real pain to get through. Incredible work as always, Raymond!
So long as Gabby doesn't honking rocket launcher snipe and fire herself with a sword to kill a target across the map. Also her attack doesn't just follow the target perfectly regardless of the path they took for her to hit them with a spin attack.
what if after you bounce on an enemy, instead of restoring her previous momentum you gained a slight boost in speed? I think it would feel very satisfactory and it would be a good reason for players to engage in combat even more. also you could try adding a slide that preserves momentum to deal with enemies in the ground, though I don't know how good that would feel. I had this idea that the player runs at an enemy (both are grounded) and you jump on top of them and boost yourself forward? kind of like vaulting over a fence but with enemies. you could even become airborne and gain a boost of speed like my other idea. I feel like engaging with enemies should give you some sort of reward beyond being platforms. active inputs for different effects after dashing could also be really effective but I think that would just make things more complicated. for example holding the targeting button would make you bounce upwards while letting it go would make you dash through the enemy like in the video. not really a good example but you get the idea. I cant wait until this game is finished, following its development is always a treat
It's funny that you originally started going for character action type combat but ended up coming up with the same solution that Sonic Games essentially have been doing for combat for the same reasons. Personally I would like to see this momentum combat with regular character action combat sequences sprinkled between levels so it feels like theres some level of "real fighting" going on.
Looks great! I personally believe this type of game would greatly benefit from sillier moves in cambat as well as the movement. Im thinking more jumping, backflips, dashes and stuff like that. Make her more different animations for everything and make them wilder bc shes a catgirl after all. I am hyped for your finished product!
What if instead of a homing attack it was a charged kick that you aim yourself. It seems more condusive to player skill expression, and gives it a flavor that's different from Sonic. If you need an example, look into Loader from ROR2. Alternatively, what if there was a time slow down mechanic, similar to Link in BOTW when you charge an arrow mid air? That way you could aim without losing momentum.
Combat looks cool in the updated version, have you considered adding bullet hell like enemies to the game? The fast paced movement and maneuvering might work well with those types of enemies. Certain aspects of the movement and level design remind me of the game Ghost Runner. The game in its current state looks fun btw! You got this!
You should take some inspiration from the "Book of Life" card from Neon White, and allow the player a mich larger targeting range but force them to aim directly at their target. This would not only fix the rail targeting problem you have, but would also open the door for a lot of cool speedrun routes, which would fit right in with a game like this.
this video randomly popped up in my recommendations and as sonebody who fucking ADORES movement games, i was hooked in a matter of seconds. super excited to see how this shapes up in the future!
Glad to see the development s in this is still going strong. Two recommendations. 1. I feel like the forward dash pose should be something like a dive kick, not curled up into a ball. 2. Look into the wall grab/rebound mod for BRC. It's a fantastic way to recover from a mistake and preserve momentum off of walls.
For lock on system of the grind rails. Get all actors of class in the scene, collect all their spline point World Vectors into an array, then find the closest Vector to you out of that array. And lock onto that value. When in range it should auto connect.
8. things 1. what if the homing attack animation was her hitting with the tail 2. will you include things like boss fights? 3. will there be a bonus damage for speed or just a flat damage number? 4. what if with enough damage you just get bonus speed and go through the enemy instead of doing a jump (bad idea) 5. does the game have a combo count? if it does does it affect the game in any way? like the higher your combo is the more speed you get (also kind of a bad idea) 6. i'm a warframe player, the movement there feels so satisfying (imo) like rolling to get more initial speed, being able to gain speed with melee attacks or the bullet-jump 7. make a cannon that sends you flying (bad idea) 8. does the game have a story or just interconnected levels without a narrative cohesion? and finall, cool game. looks really well put together.
I'm already imagining some speedrun strat that involves launching a box and using the homing attack to follow the box for 5 seconds to sequence break or something
It would be cool if instead of locking to the closest target, it locked into the closest to the center of the camera, so the player has more agency on where to go.
You can add multiple attack types with a well timed key input upon impact. - A flip kick to the head that launches Gaby upwards while conserving the horizontal momentum. - A grab stand where Gaby grabs the enemy and jumps upwards from it. (perfect for vertical tight spots) - A bounce where gabby connects feet first and bounces back to the direction that she came from. - A hand grab to throw the enemy at a boss or a switch. Not all of enemies have to be drones though, wall crawlers that try to intercept and block Gaby when she's grinding on the walls or guardrails would be a good way to spice up the main game mechanic.
This game really looks promising! I've so glad youtube actually recommended me this as I was interested as soon as I saw the title! I hope you have amazing progress with making Project Feline Raymond! I just know that I will love this game when it is released to the public!!!
A really cool way to give even more control of Gabi's movement to the player would be to let him control where his momentum goes after her aerial attack, for example, holding forward, Gabi preserves her momentum forwardas it's shown on the video but, if the player holds jump, then instead of going forward she lauches herself upwards! Sideways and backwards should also be an option, that way you could create some even more awesome platforming with this mechanic!
Watching dev videos like yours are so satisfying man. To see how afellow game developers overcome annoying problems in order to refine and pefect their project is truly inspiring. Definitely earned a sub from me.
Possibly annother avenue for momentum based combat would be some kind of slide kick. Like when attacking on the ground with enough momentum, you will slide across the ground delivering a low attack, possibly bleeding off a little momentum so you can't just slide all the time. Could also be used to make the parkour more varied by having low obstacles you have to slide under.
I have never heard of Project Feline before, simply got recommended this video out of nowhere. Your genuine passion for making this game and the transparency with the process behind developing this new combat system has completely sold me on following this game towards it's completion. The game actually seeming pretty promising helps too, of course.
Ay this is actually really cool, havent seen a indie dev sharing development like this before and you seem pretty on top of getting a good product, respect, hope it comes out legendary cause i love fast games and this seems to be real promising
For the kick to be center stage in combat you could emphasize each time an enemy dies with a random still picture of her kick, so we get to see it in 2d. Her beautiful kicks deserve some love. ❤
Yeah !!!! I remember commenting some many dev logs ago about how stiff the movement was in regards to the animations. Now everything is starting to come together !! Keep up the great work. This is inspiring stuff.
If you're looking to make this more unique from sonic, what comes to mind is repositioning enemies. Break cameras, purposely get seen, or physically push them without killing them, in order to move enemies to places where you needed platforms to progress.
The very first thing that came to my mind when i saw gabby with its new homing ability, were enemies with parkour abilities like gabby. Enemies that chase gabby in parkour style, and try to dash at gabby (Mid Air) to distrupt her momentum, kick her down etc. (Damage based on momentum ? ) I dont know how much you planned for the combat, or how deep the combat should be focused on, but i think prioritizing between running away and attacking enemies while keeping the momentum could add an extra depth to the gameplay. Maybe even enemies that have the ability to utilize the momentum factor like gabby and some dont. Well done so far, cant wait to see more !
when it comes to puzzles, an interesting thing that could be considered would be a large circular room that requires momentum and speed to complete it, racing back and forth while maintaining all your speed to rush over switches and levers to trigger pathways to progress. Ideally, you'd be on a timer with each lever once the puzzle starts, being too slow would result in having to start it over. But overall, combining momentum and thinking on your feet. Puzzles built around going fast and maintaining your speed would probably be the best way to implement them. For the homing attack animation, what if it was more like the leggings letting off a boost effect, hands outstretched like a cat pouncing, having a vaulting animation off of the top of the target.
Been following you for awhile now. The game looks like it's coming along good. And I'm really enjoying how smooth this new fighting mechanic looks. It's unique in it's own way and I especially like the flow of how gabi's wall sliding feels. It looks graceful and like a ton of fun
The homing/pouncing attack has given me so many ideas for animations. Plus with that code down, you have the auto-lock and home-in that can be used for other attacks or special abilities to keep combat engaging throughout the entire game. This game reminds me of everything I loved about games from my teenage years, like Jet Grind Radio on Dreamcast, or that kinda cool kinda shitty Rockstar Game on PS2 called Oni, and really, just platformers that were marketed for "cool" people back in 98-2002, and I'm totally here for it. Honestly, it's giving me a lot of inspiration in my own art/designs. This game feels like it needs a little Gabi prequel comics or tiny slice-of-life bits with prequel material hidden inside. I'd 100% buy that.
First of all, I've been following thistle project since the beginning, and I love how it's turning out. This feels Sonic-like (I say that as a compliment), with all the momentum carrying into each single one of your attacks. I love it!
Nicee! This is exactly what I've been hoping to see from the combat system! I think that these improvements will definitely keep a lot more of the flow and momentum that the game encourages.
Some notes I would like to add: Make sure the target is visually marked by something so the player knows where they'll head Where the camera is pointed should also determine what targets are found (essentially just changing the detection from a sphere to a view cone) Also, make sure you start thinking about how to make enemies stepping stones for further speed AND obstacles to speed. One idea I can think of off the top of my head is having enemies protecting each other, forcing the player to attack them in a certain order or risk being hit.
The concept for combat with this style of gameplay reminds me of three things: Kingdom Hearts DDD's flowmotion mechanic, Arkham series vaulting over enemies, and Neon White's weapons/power ups. I could see this game having multiple traversal moves, some of which may only be possible when chained or at certain traversal speeds. Scenario: you use that lunge kick to destroy a ground enemy, use the momentum to perform a sweeping attack against the surrounding enemies, and chain the attack into a jump attack which hits an enemy only vulnerable from above and below, and in the brief moment the enemy is in its destruction animation use it to kick off to the nearest wall and resume traversal.
Love this! Here's what came to mind for me: Since the player is a cat person, maybe instead of automatically rebounding, when they jump onto enemies they "latch on" (for up to a second or so). That will give the player time to aim and "pounce" onto another enemy (or wall) in succession. This also lends more control / expression to the player.
HOODIE GABI ►projectfeline.com/shop
I FEAL LIKE THE SPEAR WOULD BE PERFECT MOVE FOR GABI
I was so sad that I missed it last time
*@Raymond Cripps*
2:57 At first I thought like this comment, but after seeing the final product, I think it is much better than expected AND it adds to the game play, Great work! :D
(I leave this comment up, in case it give you any ideas or anything.)
Hi, I don't think melee combat is right for this type of character.
Her abilities is mostly speed & wall-run, so from her perspective as a character, how would she use those abilities to defeat a foe? (assuming foe has no abilities, except armor/HP).
She would use the abilities to stay out of reach, while trying to deal damage. Using melee combat would break that, as it doesn't really use her ability.
If she would pick a weapon, I think it would need to be a ranged weapon (not a sword/knife/etc..), NOT require careful aiming (not a sniper rifle, etc.), while dealing decent damage...
To me, that sound like an AOE weapon, probably some kind of hand-grenades, or grenade launcher.
Alternatively, she could use some kind of auto-deplorable sentry machine (easy to make boring game-play here), set up in hard to reach spots.
Alternatively, the theme could go more towards espionage, so her mission is to deploy magnetic cameras in mission-critical areas to give the rest of the team vision.
Or go more towards the Mirrors Edge game...
I think your problem might have been already solved by Ghostrunner and Severed Steel.
The game looks so much more smooth & I’m excited to see what else is in the works!
You should 100% call the homing attack in this game the "Pounce" attack.
PAWnce
RAWR X3
uwu
And she could have animaiton frames curling her up into a semi-balled-up pose with her "hind legs" forward, with one a bit more forward than the other for style. That way it doesn't just feel like a sonic Spin attack from that Sonic 2.5D game made in the GZDoom - which is an awesome game and everything, but I feel like she needs to keep it cat-like and stylish
I think then it would make sense for her to do a mid air jump via thrusters or something and use the enemy as some sort of springboard in the animation
Each day we get closer to Sonic.
fr
Convergent evolution. All movement-based platformers approach Sonic at infinity.
if it ain't broke
I knew I wasn't the only one who thinks that
Yeah, was thinking the same. Though just looking at it and how much consideration went into rebound output and momentum preservation, he put more thought into it than most of the 3D Sonic game designers :D
So I wonder how much longer will it take for Raymond to realize he's just making a Sonic game with an OC :D
😆
yeah but better than sonic fr
@@trustytrojan RIP
3D Sonic if it was actually good
@@Gracosef I bet you've never touched a 3d sonic game
Since Gabi spends so much time wallrunning, my first instinct would be, this is where the enemies should be as well - stuck to the walls
Yep I had same thought. Good call.
Problem with that being that she can't climb up or down walls. So if you want to hit an enemy on a wall, you have to make sure to hit the wall at the exact right height from the start of the wall run. An alternative would be to add a feature where she can lock on and climb/descend to the enemy's height, but that might break verticality limits.
if you wanted action arenas but don't want combat "stuck to the ground" could always put combat focused sections in a downward slide loop, walls and floors Hanna Barbara animating while you slide around bonking baddies. Sure would probably add some coding to the enemy logic to fight when freefall/sliding but it'd be how you beat em up battle in motion.
mine was, put them in the air, make enemies into bridges to cross gaps or turn corrners, turning what was a speed bump into a corner cut
@@lingeringforce6264 Ohh, that's good. Reminds me of flying koopas in mario - making the enemies part of the platforming and part of the movement, rather than just obstacles. Love that.
In regards to player control, it might be helpful to have Gabi target the nearest target *that her controls are pointing towards*. If you're trying to go to the left, but the nearest enemy is to the right, attacking the enemy to the right might feel like the player doesn't have the control they want
maybe it only prioritises the enemy that's further way on the left if you are actively pressing a key toward that direction as you press the attack key
It would also be nice for it to consider if the enemy is visible onscreen too.
This, 100%. And maybe even a homing reticle so the player always knows which enemy is targeted? coughsoniccough
Something like that would go a long way. I remember getting extremely pissed off at Genshin Impact characters using their strongest attacks against the small goon next to me (that wasn't even on screen) and not the big guy I was actually looking at.
Yep, that's how they did it in Arkham Knight.
Raymond, apparently doesn't do any research, judging from him raw dogging everything in Blueprints, and him being oblivious he's making a Sonic game with an OC.
Oh btw. Akham Knight have a GDC talk about their "sticky" animations. It'S exactly what hes trying to build here... but fails miserably.
He could literally just implement proven research papers on the topic and be done with it... but hows got time for that am I right? It's more fun to reinvent the wheel.
This is quickly becoming the 3d Sonic game I've always wanted
exactly !
First comes Pizza Tower which is better at being a 2D Sonic game than a 2D Sonic game, and now Project Feline is better at being a 3D sonic game than 3D sonic games
try sparks 3
@@alfonshedstrom9859 Pizza Tower plays nothing like a Sonic game, just because it's speed based doesn't mean that it is Sonic or it's comparable.
@@alfonshedstrom9859 TBH Pizza Tower is closer to Wario Land 4 but with the addition of a momentum system. At this point comparing it to an existing game is doing it a disservice.
It's crazy how someone can make a sonic like homing attack without mentioning sonic once. It really fits in with the gameflow though, I must say that
Yeah, it's nearly as if he thinks its his own idea, or wants people to think it was.. lmao this series is just funny to watch, been here for like 2 years at least... still pretty much at the same point. (Mind you he started over 5 years ago with this game)
@@MrSofazocker yeah same, i've been here since the start of the remake. perfectionism is a curse. but also if he has fun doing this and can survive on the money he makes, sure why not.
@@MrSofazocker Game dev isn't easy, and people are allowed to take inspiration from existing ideas. Basically everything humans create is derivative in some way. And for all you know, he did think of this move on his own.
The genre of this game is slowly becoming "Sonic-like"
Hey, if Freedom Planet can make a 2D Sonic callback, then Project Feline can be a 3D Sonic callback.
@@BlueShellshock It says on Steam that it's a collect-a-ton, so it might more closer to Banjo Kazooie or Mario Sunshine????
@@BlueShellshock spark 3
The magnetic shoes should be the thing pulling Gabi into the enemy
Oooh, and it can be an upgradable thing players get in the start of the game!
I'd thought of them having like... idk, thrusters to justify her dashing. Dive kicking around and all that.
It can be a whole combat kick too!
Funnily enough, I have an OC of my own whose homing attack of his own actually comes from a magnetic strike.
...Admittedly, I based him off the shield abilities in the fangame I imagine him being in (SRB2) but hey.
This would be cool, and the color or intensity of the lights on the shoes could change to reflect the change in magnetism.
I feel like a kind of dive kick or kicking dash animation would look really nice for the homing attack, instead of a sonic-esque ball. You could even make it look like she's jumping off enemies when she bounces off them. I think it would make sense for her to use her legs considering that's her cybernetically enhanced part.
Have you considered adding a momentum requirement for the dash attack? It looks really cool when you did from sliding on a wall, and such, but looked kinda cheap when just moving on ground and spamming jump and dash. It would promote building momentum to be able to defeat enemies, i think. Anyways, great job, looks great.
Yea it does look kinda awkward when it's coming off a slow run up to the enemy, it would probably be less jarring if the dash speed was affected by her momentum too (or distance? Whatever feels better). Maybe I got it wrong on this and that's already how it works, but defeating enemies should probably also reward the player by giving more speed off rebound instead of just returning to the previous one, otherwise people will still avoid enemies anyway since it's a game about going speedy instead of killing enemies.
@@Palochii Well, if an enemy moves as fast as Gabis dash, you'll be a homing missle tracking the thing for 5 seconds in the air, lmao.
A dash is a dash.. It goes in a straight line.
If the target moves, you should shoot in the direction where the target will be, when the dash is finished.
But oh no, then you would have to calculate the ballistics and deal with quaternions, oh no!..
It would be cool to have multiple poses each time she attacks. One is her in a ball, another one is a pounce, another a kick and just make them cycle randomly.
Have a combo, like first is her in a ball, then a kick, then a kick with the other leg
A ball? So just sonic then?
@@lonelylama5222 Not a literal ball, just curling up into one like in the video, but yes.
@@pacifico4999 Raymond is probably to brain dead to implement Input buffers hence combos wont be a thing. lmao
Overall great work as always, however I think you should also add an attack that utilises slide movement. For example, if you slide under an enemy it kills him. It goes with the flow of the gameplay, utilises player's movement and doesn't slow us down, while being rewarding. I think it would be simply satysfying to slide through a group of enemies, blowing them up while maintaining momentum and the combo.
Forgot to mention it, but the slide does indeed damage enemies!
Hello, love your work! I would HEAVILY recommend referencing the game Sanabi when it comes to integrating combat with momentum based platforming!
@@RaymondCrippsthat's super cool! Keep up the good work man, your game looks absolutely amazing!
Man's reinvented 3D Sonic, no way
(seriously though, I was losing my shit watching you slowly rebuild 3D Sonic combat almost beat for beat while seemingly being unaware of it)
My first thought when you said about combat was "Blade Kitten" right away. Because Gabi and Kit share the vibe!
Food for thought:
*Right now Gabi is the only actively moving thing in the game*
So the obvious step would be adding enemies which run/fly and actively chase you while you're platforming to set the gameplay in motion and bring life to the levels. Proactive enemies is what begs to be added in my opinion. Teaching them to wall run would be extremely tediouis due to all the pathfinding work, its impact on gameplay is way too unpredictable and it will generate countless bugs 100%, so it's off the table. Simple flight would be enough. Helicopter enemies? Jet-drones? Rockets maybe?
*Same lack of motion goes for the environment*
Flying cars passing by, construction cranes moving containers, elevators going up and down. Anything really. Platforming requires MOAR platforms :D
*"Push and Pull" or "Rope and Stick" logic*
Grab and throw, push and pull, dive and rise. Roller coasters are fun for a reason.
Right now the only way of interaction with enemies is the homing attack as the first step. Naturally, this makes player gravitate towards any enemies they see (aka pull yourself towards, rope-type of interaction). Making some things dangerous for this behaviour will add the opposite emotion (avoid something, jump out of explosions, dash from attacks, save your fluffy little ass via pushing things away, stick-type of interaction).
P. S. Make sure you make the game YOU like. All our feedback and suggestions are just that. Players don't know what they want most of the time and just beg for feature creep. Don't fall in that pit. This game is beautiful already. Follow your vision and it will be gorgeous.
It would be cool if her attacks were spin dash-like but instead there are boosters in her legs so she can focus more on her kicks or maybe something like gravity rush were she hones in on an opponent and uses her momentum to deal more damage
Literally what I was thinking.
You making it so that the homing attack doesn't just make you lose your flow and instead carries your velocity basically fixes the issue sonic adventure has with it's homing attack. Great stuff!
Can't help but admire the lighting of unreal, even your placeholder level looks gorgeous.
That is among unreal engine's many strong suits, their graphical engine is amazing even with minimal work
the bad thing is that unreal takes up a lot of space compared to other game engines, even including projects themselves@@robinfloof
@@Kooczsi that is definitely true, however in some cases it's a price to pay for good graphics
The preserved momentum from before the homing attack solves my biggest gripe with Sonic. This game looks so sick.
Bro invented Homing attack from Sonic The Hegehog !
Like the combat reminds me alot of the Gravity Rush games
AND Sonic
There's not a lot of games that focus on fast movement action games like sonic. Glad to see this game is slowly becoming sonic.
My advice to you is to check out Spark the Electric Jester 3, but also look into the speed running techniques. I believe you'll learn that beating levels faster can in fact be fun. Breaking the game is half the fun, especially when the game begs you to break it.
I personally really dislike Spark 3's combat. The attacks and combos are well made, but they completely delete all of your momentum, so the combat moves are completely unviable to use during platforming.
Every time I have to fight enemies, I feel like I'm suddenly playing a different game. The combat and platforming are mutually exclusive in execution.
I could see that argument, but what about locking on to the smaller enemies?@@elfrangofrito
@@kukukachu The Jester Dash works pretty much the same way as the homing attack in most Sonic games, and Project Feline's homing attack doesn't seem to do anything very different from Spark 3
you didn't check out the advanced techniques did you?@@elfrangofrito
@@kukukachu I'm not sure of what you're talking about
Sonic's Homing attack but with better consideration to preserving movement and making it a feature that supports the overal movement!
I think giving Gabi a sidearm isn't a terrible idea. That way she can clear out enemies from a distance with the press of a button without compromising any of her speed. All you'd need to do is keep the homing properties, but turn it into a projectile
That looks really cool, I can also see it possible to include a “super pounce” where if you build up a momentum “gauge” (determined by X time spent at whatever max momentum is), you could home in on an enemy, grab them, then go into a bullet-time to blast off the enemy’s back in a straight-line super dash, with much higher momentum than normal. You’d have a brief second or half-second to aim where you go, but I can see skilled players blasting past stuff regular/first time players would have to work through normally.
Gabbi’s a cat, give her a Pounce!
Perhaps a fairly sized circle crosshair that you aim at targets you want to dash at. When in range of a target, the crosshair changes colour or bightens. This adds higher player control and skill ceiling.
Awesome work! Also i think you should change homing animation in future. Like mid air kick or something. I love those grafics and feel of speed and will be waiting for release. (Oh and will be super cool if you will add duplicating player afterimage effect on higher speeds or when homing).
I think the reticle mechanic some people are suggesting is really just a sign that choosing the closest target can be un-intuitive. I personally would expect to attack the target that is closest to my view vector. Maybe even excluding targets that are outside a certain cone.
This game keeps getting better and better
I don't know if you implement this because you dint mention it but the homing attack should priotise enemies that are close to the center of the screen so you can have better control on which enemie or object you home into, otherwise having more than one enemy in on area would turn the fighting into a hassle again if people want to go fast
Yeah you could have a crosshair on screen thats a circular region, and it changes colour or brightens when you are in range of a target
It needs to be more like a Sonic game with it's system yeah.
Not necessarily true. If the game has a lot of turning and you play it with a controller, you would much prefer the target to be related to your movement stick for quicker targeting, rather than drag the camera around
Cloudbuilt is a similar game that I personally feel that shows how combat can sometimes be a detriment to the flow of a game like this (though sometimes they also get the flow right, depends on the segment). Check it out if you never played it.
You should really consider adding a reticle to the target of the attack when it's in range, so the player can tell when something is being targeted and what is being targeted.
Homing attack is a great addition, but I think there should definitely be a bit more combat-movement mechanics to set it apart from being just another sonic clone.
Some potential ideas:
- A fast-fall/slam attack that could lead into either a slide or rebounding jump
- An uppercut from slide that gives you burst vertical movement from the ground
- Follow-up/alternate attacks as the homing attack lands, such as inputting jump to kick and enemy downward and gain more height, inputting crouch/slide to "ride" an enemy down like a skateboard (also potential for an enemy jump explosion? or rail interaction where you cut an enemy in half and continue riding the rail), or neither for the standard homing attack
- "Hijacking" a flying enemy to use as a glider and jumping off/discarding them shortly after
The combat always looked out of place. Now THIS looks simply amazing. The momentum gameplay is really coming together. The speedrun community will love the schmoovement (and find a trilion exploits - that's unavoidable, but fine). As a programmer, I really like that you showed how difficult the coding process can be and how to deal with bugs.
its crazy how he was able to develop the game with only 1 hand...
I haven't seen these videos in a while, and I'm lucky I did. Still looks as good as when I first saw it. Keep up the work!
The target picking function could be improved by calculating a score for each possible target based on multiple factors like distance or the angle between the camera's view vector and the direction to the target, and picking the one with the highest score (or at random among all the top scoring ones if there is a tie).
You can then add weights to each score source to customize what influence each factor has, and you can even use curves to turn the raw factor into a score and get a huge amount of control.
This method is also great for its modularity, as it is quite easy to add or remove factors, or have different factors for different target types. And because the only thing that matters is the relative score between each target, it also means that this type of picking function can adapt to any situation seamlessly.
Everything else aside, your editing has improved immensely!
this is how I imagined my imaginary friend to run when chasing me in the car
I swear, I was going to start a gamedev project with your very same mechanics! I shall follow your development eagerly~
I haven't seen anyone mention it but your thumbnails recently have been looking great!
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is what comes to mind here
i wanna see a boss fight eventually that uses these mechanics
Seeing the homing attack made think of the fluid motions practiced by the Spidermen in Insomniac's games. The entire time I was just imagining Gabi doing flips, tricks, pounces, twirls, airborne poses and whatever randomly-cycled eccentric gymnastics after pulling off a homing attack and rebounding or just jumping into the air. Personally? I'd like to see something like that get implemented, but boy do I know that'd be a real pain to get through.
Incredible work as always, Raymond!
Man slowly realizes why the sonic games were extremely meh platformers while accidentally reinventing them over several years
First time seeing this game, enjoyed the video! Looking forward to the end product!
It’s like a 3D Sonic game but you can actually go fast and have a lot more freedom
So a sonic fan game then?
If you want that check out Spark the Electric Jester 3
So long as Gabby doesn't honking rocket launcher snipe and fire herself with a sword to kill a target across the map. Also her attack doesn't just follow the target perfectly regardless of the path they took for her to hit them with a spin attack.
Instead of turning into a ball, why not make her just do a pounce. She's a cat, after all
Congrats on the combat overhall, the changes work well and the game improved a lot. ;)
- Dan
what if after you bounce on an enemy, instead of restoring her previous momentum you gained a slight boost in speed?
I think it would feel very satisfactory and it would be a good reason for players to engage in combat even more.
also you could try adding a slide that preserves momentum to deal with enemies in the ground, though I don't know how good that would feel. I had this idea that the player runs at an enemy (both are grounded) and you jump on top of them and boost yourself forward? kind of like vaulting over a fence but with enemies. you could even become airborne and gain a boost of speed like my other idea.
I feel like engaging with enemies should give you some sort of reward beyond being platforms. active inputs for different effects after dashing could also be really effective but I think that would just make things more complicated. for example holding the targeting button would make you bounce upwards while letting it go would make you dash through the enemy like in the video. not really a good example but you get the idea.
I cant wait until this game is finished, following its development is always a treat
It's funny that you originally started going for character action type combat
but ended up coming up with the same solution that Sonic Games essentially have been doing
for combat for the same reasons. Personally I would like to see this momentum combat with regular
character action combat sequences sprinkled between levels so it feels like theres some level of "real fighting" going on.
Looks great!
I personally believe this type of game would greatly benefit from sillier moves in cambat as well as the movement.
Im thinking more jumping, backflips, dashes and stuff like that.
Make her more different animations for everything and make them wilder bc shes a catgirl after all.
I am hyped for your finished product!
Easily one of the best Devlogs I’ve ever seen… & this is a lot of work, really hoping this game does great in sales cuz it deserves it 👏
What if instead of a homing attack it was a charged kick that you aim yourself. It seems more condusive to player skill expression, and gives it a flavor that's different from Sonic. If you need an example, look into Loader from ROR2. Alternatively, what if there was a time slow down mechanic, similar to Link in BOTW when you charge an arrow mid air? That way you could aim without losing momentum.
should 100% do a set of random animations that occur when you use the "Pounce" attack.
Combat looks cool in the updated version, have you considered adding bullet hell like enemies to the game? The fast paced movement and maneuvering might work well with those types of enemies. Certain aspects of the movement and level design remind me of the game Ghost Runner.
The game in its current state looks fun btw! You got this!
You should take some inspiration from the "Book of Life" card from Neon White, and allow the player a mich larger targeting range but force them to aim directly at their target. This would not only fix the rail targeting problem you have, but would also open the door for a lot of cool speedrun routes, which would fit right in with a game like this.
this video randomly popped up in my recommendations and as sonebody who fucking ADORES movement games, i was hooked in a matter of seconds. super excited to see how this shapes up in the future!
Glad to see the development s in this is still going strong. Two recommendations. 1. I feel like the forward dash pose should be something like a dive kick, not curled up into a ball. 2. Look into the wall grab/rebound mod for BRC. It's a fantastic way to recover from a mistake and preserve momentum off of walls.
Man, the video is ending and I'm legit sad it's over. I would love to see more devlogs, and i can't wait to play the game!
For lock on system of the grind rails. Get all actors of class in the scene, collect all their spline point World Vectors into an array, then find the closest Vector to you out of that array. And lock onto that value. When in range it should auto connect.
so it's sonic, but cat girl with extra wall run
8. things
1. what if the homing attack animation was her hitting with the tail
2. will you include things like boss fights?
3. will there be a bonus damage for speed or just a flat damage number?
4. what if with enough damage you just get bonus speed and go through the enemy instead of doing a jump (bad idea)
5. does the game have a combo count? if it does does it affect the game in any way? like the higher your combo is the more speed you get (also kind of a bad idea)
6. i'm a warframe player, the movement there feels so satisfying (imo) like rolling to get more initial speed, being able to gain speed with melee attacks or the bullet-jump
7. make a cannon that sends you flying (bad idea)
8. does the game have a story or just interconnected levels without a narrative cohesion?
and finall, cool game. looks really well put together.
This is like a more sastifying sonic lock on atttack
I'm already imagining some speedrun strat that involves launching a box and using the homing attack to follow the box for 5 seconds to sequence break or something
It would be cool if instead of locking to the closest target, it locked into the closest to the center of the camera, so the player has more agency on where to go.
It could be cool if the dash animation was an actual pounce.
You can add multiple attack types with a well timed key input upon impact.
- A flip kick to the head that launches Gaby upwards while conserving the horizontal momentum.
- A grab stand where Gaby grabs the enemy and jumps upwards from it. (perfect for vertical tight spots)
- A bounce where gabby connects feet first and bounces back to the direction that she came from.
- A hand grab to throw the enemy at a boss or a switch.
Not all of enemies have to be drones though, wall crawlers that try to intercept and block Gaby when she's grinding on the walls or guardrails would be a good way to spice up the main game mechanic.
It is honestly so cool getting an early look into a game that is for sure going to be a big deal
This new Sonic game is looking really good
This game really looks promising! I've so glad youtube actually recommended me this as I was interested as soon as I saw the title! I hope you have amazing progress with making Project Feline Raymond! I just know that I will love this game when it is released to the public!!!
I have had your game wishlisted for the longest time and here I am finding this channel. Dude, thank you.
A really cool way to give even more control of Gabi's movement to the player would be to let him control where his momentum goes after her aerial attack, for example, holding forward, Gabi preserves her momentum forwardas it's shown on the video but, if the player holds jump, then instead of going forward she lauches herself upwards! Sideways and backwards should also be an option, that way you could create some even more awesome platforming with this mechanic!
Watching dev videos like yours are so satisfying man. To see how afellow game developers overcome annoying problems in order to refine and pefect their project is truly inspiring. Definitely earned a sub from me.
Possibly annother avenue for momentum based combat would be some kind of slide kick. Like when attacking on the ground with enough momentum, you will slide across the ground delivering a low attack, possibly bleeding off a little momentum so you can't just slide all the time.
Could also be used to make the parkour more varied by having low obstacles you have to slide under.
bro took 10 minutes to cope with the fact he just made a sonic game 😭
I have never heard of Project Feline before, simply got recommended this video out of nowhere. Your genuine passion for making this game and the transparency with the process behind developing this new combat system has completely sold me on following this game towards it's completion. The game actually seeming pretty promising helps too, of course.
looks like your projects are coming to a completion. it was a nice journey. you taught me soo much.
Ay this is actually really cool, havent seen a indie dev sharing development like this before and you seem pretty on top of getting a good product, respect, hope it comes out legendary cause i love fast games and this seems to be real promising
For the kick to be center stage in combat you could emphasize each time an enemy dies with a random still picture of her kick, so we get to see it in 2d. Her beautiful kicks deserve some love. ❤
i feel like the answer is just the way sonic does it XD
Yeah !!!! I remember commenting some many dev logs ago about how stiff the movement was in regards to the animations. Now everything is starting to come together !! Keep up the great work. This is inspiring stuff.
If you're looking to make this more unique from sonic, what comes to mind is repositioning enemies. Break cameras, purposely get seen, or physically push them without killing them, in order to move enemies to places where you needed platforms to progress.
The very first thing that came to my mind when i saw gabby with its new homing ability, were enemies with parkour abilities like gabby.
Enemies that chase gabby in parkour style, and try to dash at gabby (Mid Air) to distrupt her momentum, kick her down etc. (Damage based on momentum ? )
I dont know how much you planned for the combat, or how deep the combat should be focused on, but i think prioritizing between running away and attacking enemies while keeping the momentum could add an extra depth to the gameplay.
Maybe even enemies that have the ability to utilize the momentum factor like gabby and some dont.
Well done so far, cant wait to see more !
when it comes to puzzles, an interesting thing that could be considered would be a large circular room that requires momentum and speed to complete it, racing back and forth while maintaining all your speed to rush over switches and levers to trigger pathways to progress.
Ideally, you'd be on a timer with each lever once the puzzle starts, being too slow would result in having to start it over. But overall, combining momentum and thinking on your feet.
Puzzles built around going fast and maintaining your speed would probably be the best way to implement them.
For the homing attack animation, what if it was more like the leggings letting off a boost effect, hands outstretched like a cat pouncing, having a vaulting animation off of the top of the target.
Been following you for awhile now. The game looks like it's coming along good. And I'm really enjoying how smooth this new fighting mechanic looks. It's unique in it's own way and I especially like the flow of how gabi's wall sliding feels. It looks graceful and like a ton of fun
The amount of aerial mobility this adds feels like it's calling for a dedicated "the floor is lava" level
The homing/pouncing attack has given me so many ideas for animations. Plus with that code down, you have the auto-lock and home-in that can be used for other attacks or special abilities to keep combat engaging throughout the entire game. This game reminds me of everything I loved about games from my teenage years, like Jet Grind Radio on Dreamcast, or that kinda cool kinda shitty Rockstar Game on PS2 called Oni, and really, just platformers that were marketed for "cool" people back in 98-2002, and I'm totally here for it. Honestly, it's giving me a lot of inspiration in my own art/designs. This game feels like it needs a little Gabi prequel comics or tiny slice-of-life bits with prequel material hidden inside. I'd 100% buy that.
2:57 the sonic video recommendations lol
First of all, I've been following thistle project since the beginning, and I love how it's turning out.
This feels Sonic-like (I say that as a compliment), with all the momentum carrying into each single one of your attacks. I love it!
Nicee! This is exactly what I've been hoping to see from the combat system! I think that these improvements will definitely keep a lot more of the flow and momentum that the game encourages.
Some notes I would like to add:
Make sure the target is visually marked by something so the player knows where they'll head
Where the camera is pointed should also determine what targets are found (essentially just changing the detection from a sphere to a view cone)
Also, make sure you start thinking about how to make enemies stepping stones for further speed AND obstacles to speed. One idea I can think of off the top of my head is having enemies protecting each other, forcing the player to attack them in a certain order or risk being hit.
The concept for combat with this style of gameplay reminds me of three things: Kingdom Hearts DDD's flowmotion mechanic, Arkham series vaulting over enemies, and Neon White's weapons/power ups. I could see this game having multiple traversal moves, some of which may only be possible when chained or at certain traversal speeds. Scenario: you use that lunge kick to destroy a ground enemy, use the momentum to perform a sweeping attack against the surrounding enemies, and chain the attack into a jump attack which hits an enemy only vulnerable from above and below, and in the brief moment the enemy is in its destruction animation use it to kick off to the nearest wall and resume traversal.
Why do I remember Sonic Adventure(s?) 2 had this kind of targeting for attacking?
as someone that has been folowing you since the begining, it is nice to see it all come together !
i'm happy for you !
Love this! Here's what came to mind for me:
Since the player is a cat person, maybe instead of automatically rebounding, when they jump onto enemies they "latch on" (for up to a second or so). That will give the player time to aim and "pounce" onto another enemy (or wall) in succession. This also lends more control / expression to the player.
ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ HOOKSHOT RANGED WEAPON or RIOT ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
Oh, and take a look at the combat in Vanquish, that game is nuts.