Keyboard:
W Take one step forward
A Circle step left
S Take one step backward
D Circle step right
SHIFT Activate mode 2
3-button mouse:
BUTTON 1 Activate Left Hand
BUTTON 2 Activate Right Hand
BUTTON 3 Activate special move
(for a 2-button mouse, the actions from the 3rd button can be assigned to two keyboard keys)
The player can choose whether he wants his default mode setting to be offensive or defensive. If he chooses it to be ''offensive'' then he will have to press (and hold?) the SHIFT button to activate the defensive mode during play.
In offensive mode, BUTTON 1 (B1) will give a left-handed attack.
BUTTON 2 (B2) will give a right-handed attack. BUTTON 3 (B3) will give a physical attack move (shove, push, kick, etc).
In defensive mode, B1 will give a left-handed defense, B2 a right-handed defense, B3 a physical defense move (dodge, duck, jump back, etc).
To each mouse button, for each of the two modes (offensive/defensive), 3 functions can be assigned:
TAP
HOLD
HOLD + MOVE
For B1 and B2 in offensive mode, a tap might result in a feigned attack; a hold in a piercing attack; a hold + move mouse in a slashing attack. For B3, a tap might result in a shove; a hold in a kick; a hold + move mouse in a jump kick (just as example).
Attacking and defending
The mouse pointer''s location is the focus point of the fighter. When the mouse pointer is hoovering over the enemy''s head, that''s where your character is preparing to attack. The longer the mouse pointer stays at one point, the higher the accuracy of the attack will be.
The same applies to defense. The mouse pointer, in defensive mode, determines where the character will expect the next attack to come from. When in defensive mode, the best thing to do against an enemy with just one weapon, is to follow the weapon with your mouse pointer. This will give the highest chance for a succesful block. A character focused on defense will activate his defensive mode, then click and hold his right or left hand mouse button, moving the mouse pointer across the screen in order to follow the opponent''s weapon. In this situation, when the opponent attacks, your character will automatically attempt to block the attack, with a very high succes chance.
Speed of combat
I''m not sure yet if I want to make the fights real-time or not. I can see the benefit of slightly slowing down time, in order to give players more chance to react to what they see their opponent do. It might become more like a chess game, where players think ahead and plan their moves. But maybe that''ll take away some of the excitement.
View
I want two things:
Players to be able to see their own character fight
Players to be able to have as large a target as possible
For now, I see the player''s character appear fully at the bottom of the screen, while the opponent is place directly in front of him. The feet of the player''s character should be close to the bottom of the screen while the top of the head of the enemy should be close to the very top of the screen.
The problem is that the player''s character will obscure part of the body of his opponent. Maybe the camera can move automatically, depending on where the mouse pointer is positioned. If mouse pointer is moved down, towards opponent''s legs, the camera could move higher above the character, thus showing more of the opponent''s lower half. If mouse pointer is moved up, towards opponent''s head, the camera could move lower to show a more detailed frontal view of the upper part of the opponent''s body.
The same automatic camera movement would apply to distance between fighters. When fighters are far apart, camera should zoom out, keeping player character at bottom of screen and enemy at top. When players are very close to each other, camera should zoom in as far as possible, keeping the head of opponent at top of screen and feet of player character at bottom of screen.
I''m still debating whether or not this interface should/could add more functions. Right now, the left hand can control keyboard, where three fingers will take care of movement, while one other finger will control the MODE key (can be assigned to any key). The right hand will control the mouse, where player will need three fingers. (or two, but then the keyboard will have to add two keys to control the offensive physical moves and defensive physical moves).
After having played Bushido Blade, I am now wondering how to insert ''stance'' into the design. At first I thought of letting the mouse pointer control this. The stance of the player character would adjust according to the mouse pointer location. Player could be allowed to set his own favorite stances. (Example: mouse pointer: high on left side of opponent -> stance: hold sword above head). The good thing about this, is that the opponent would eventually be able to recognize the stance and prepare his defense accordingly. The bad thing is... if mouse movement controls stance, then what happens when a player makes a slashing attack (hold + move mouse)? Does stance change right after attack depending on where the mouse pointer is located after attack? Does mouse pointer reset automatically to location where attack started?
Also, imagine a player having assigned a low, defensive stance to ''mouse pointer low''. If the player sees an opening in the opponent''s defense and wants to stab at the head, the mouse movement required to get the mouse pointer from where it is (low) to where he wants to attack (high) would change the stance immediately. What if the player doesn''t want to change his stance, but still wants to have flexible attacks?
Well, I''ve fallen in love with this interface, but I''m sure there''s enough to critique, so go ahead
