Either way its a hazard!

This week, as part of our revamp of the core combat, we've been working on implementing a new way for the player to attack. We decided that instead of using a small hitbox that the player would move around to damage enemies, the player would launch short ranged projectiles that would damage enemies on collision. This gave us more to play around with in terms of pick ups that could modify the properties of these projectiles and further the feeling of power we wanted to give the player. We also started work on the secondary player attacks. It was clear after our early demo that weren't giving the player enough to do to keep things interesting. So to expand the combat and differentiate the player forms, we're going to give each form a secondary attack unique to each of them. We wanted them to be themed around the animal the form is based on while also providing a strategic aspect to the gameplay. 

The Jackal form will have a bite attack that would involve the player latching on to and stealing some health from an enemy. The Hawk form will be an AOE push that forces all enemies back to give the player more room to dodge the enemy attacks when the timer runs out. The Bull form was going to have a charge that would allow them to ram through multiple enemies and parts of the environment, such as the pillars around the room. Speaking of, we were also starting to plan on ways to improve the map design from the pre-alpha. Environmental hazards and obstacles for both the enemies and the player were a common request so we've started planning on what to include. Streams of water to slow characters down, pits to push/ be pushed into, spikes, destroyable columns or stalagmites that can be used for cover, that sort of thing. So far, we already have the columns working as cover, though they can't break just yet. All in due time though. We're eager to go from here, planning to set up a public Discord server soon among other things. However right now, the team has a major responsibility in the form of our personal dissertations due in the coming week so things might be a bit sparse to compensate next week. All the same, we progress regardless.