New project in the works: Linear Quest

I've been working on a new project for about a month - code named "Linear Quest," it's a game where you control lovingly hand-drawn, animated stick figure characters in a 2D, sidescrolling, beat-em-up RPG. It features 7 playable classes and up to 3-player multiplayer (either on one device or over LAN.) I'm hoping to take advantage of the Ouya exclusive program which runs through this summer, so I'm trying to get a Kickstartable demo polished and ready by then. (Note that Ouya exclusives can still be released on Desktop, just not on any other mobile or console platforms for a few months after release.)

You can check out a rough combat demo on Flash now. Note that the Flash version can run a little sluggish compared to the version for desktop/Ouya, especially if you're on a laptop. WASD to move, L to attack, K to swap weapons, and hold Shift while moving to run.

One interesting design issue that I grappled with early on was how to "sell" hits - how to make it look and feel like there was a significant impact when you hit your opponent instead of just swinging your weapon around the enemy. The answer is that the impact of a blow is really the sum of a lot of little things that you might miss. Take a look at the demo and you'll see my solution so far:

• The attacker and target freeze for a split second when the weapon connects - longer for big hits
• The target flashes red briefly
• There's a "hurt" animation - not too long, but long enough that you can set up combos
• The target is knocked back slightly, or knocked to the ground for running attacks or the final hit of a combo
• Progressive injuries are shown as HP is lost
• Damage numbers start big and quickly shrink down to normal size; their size is proportional to damage, normalized by how much HP the enemy has

It's a problem that can always be tweaked a little more, so I'll probably keep going - by adding some subtle particle effects, for example.