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time slowdown

Started by SiddharthBhat 7 replies 2.2k views
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SiddharthBhat
SiddharthBhat
Hi all!


I've been implementing a sort of "time slowdown" game mechanic in my RPG where game time slows down drastically when an opponent is killed. This mode activates as soon as any enemy is killed.

During this downtime, your character can move about freely(with his normal speed) while all other enemies are slowed down. This allows you to execute special moves and combos with impunity.
Right now, the you get a bonus of 2 seconds each time you damage an enemy when you're in downtime mode.

I initially thought it would be fun, but it actually isn't. Also, it's somewhat hard to balance this, because it's very overpowered if used by an experienced player.

So I'd like some ideas to spice this up, and make it more balanced to the poor enemies you're mercilessly destroying

Thanks all!

P.S - English is not my first language, so please ignore any grammatical mistakes that I've made.
Nanoha
Nanoha
Killing Floor does somethign similar, been a while since I played it but I think it only does it if you get a headshot kill (which is quite easy so I guess there's more to it than that). How about tying it into your combo system, make some combos trigger this slow down effect if they kill the enemy with it. Make it so its not 100% guaranteed to trigger and make it so it can't be extented. Or make a bar fill up as you fight things, when it hits max then you can trigger the slow down.

Plenty of things there you could improve with your rpg stats (increase chance or it triggering, increase duration, increase rate the bar fills, reduce the rate the bar drop (if it slowly degrades with time).
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Setrio
Setrio
First come in mind is trying to reduce the amount of times that you can use that power and make some combos that work ONLY on that mode. For example, a player could choose to try to focus on SLOW MODE character (with combos and attributes that make the player could trigger that power more often or deadly) or a NORMAL character or even a mix of both. Attach that power to attributes or even potions, where you can buy a special potion that trigger the slow mode in a battle (within X time). Also maybe you can limit the slow not by time instead the player could make X combos in SLOW mode, so with higher level more combos available. Don't know, plenty of options/ideas could come.
Iron Chef Carnage
Iron Chef Carnage
Instead of automatically triggering the slo-mo, have it be an active power. Actions performed in real-time charge up the meter, and then you can hit the button to activate slo-mo, which will drain the meter. Sweet combos, stealth kills, headshots, whatever your game rewards can be used to multiply the bonus to the meter's charge rate, but either drastically reduce or outright eliminate the bonuses while you're actually in slo-mo mode, so you can't use a little juice to get more juice and then just juice through the whole scenario with some practice. Make players save it up for times when it will be important.
Ashaman73
Ashaman73

Thanks all! I really like the idea of making it an active process, so I'm implementing it right now

Take a look at Max Payne. They use this slow motion feature (bullet time) in the way Iron Chef Carnage descripted it.
LorenzoGatti
LorenzoGatti
You could limit the amount of slaughter that can take place in slow mode to avoid positive feedback, and make it activated by the player.
For example, if the enemies and enemy bullets freeze and the player moves fast, the player's shots could freeze too, and hit only after slow mode ends: slow mode would be a temporary opportunity to escape certain death, to concentrate attacks on high priority targets or to set up special hit chains and traps.

Quantitatively, slow mode recharging (I assume X frames of slow mode are awarded for each kill) should require some normal-time fighting: the total award for a typical slow mode activation should be significantly less than its cost, to make slow mode a precious tool and resource that the player conserves rather than the normal condition of the game.
Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru
Nanoha
Nanoha

For example, if the enemies and enemy bullets freeze and the player moves fast, the player's shots could freeze too, and hit only after slow mode ends:


Sounds a bit like Splinter Cell - it's pretty cool when the freeze ends and all the bullets shoot off.
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Kobo
Kobo
In Hammerfight, sometimes a slow motion gets triggered when you really whallop somebody good. It slows down enemies and it also slows down your character (but not as much). It gives you a couple of seconds to maneuver with great accuracy and I think it's harder to trigger it again for a short period.

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