I recently did a rework of some late game abilities. I removed an existing ability (though I don't rule it out coming back in either this game or a future one) and replaced it with a totally new one. This was a lot of work, and involved going through every single room in the game in order to make everything compatible and keep it accessible when the old ability was removed. This is kind of a difficult and unusual thing to do this late into development.
So why do it? What was wrong with the original ability? It all goes back to the game's core philosophies, which I'd like to highlight here.
As a general rule, every ability that you find in the game follows these guidelines:
- No pausing to switch abilities on or off. This goes to how items work in the game, you can use them without having to dig into a menu, and is something that breaks the flow of a lot of Castlevania games.
- Every ability should have multiple uses. Weapons are the best example of this, where they can be used to cross obstacles as well as for combat.
- Avoid context sensitive abilities. This means any abilities that can only be used in a specific situation or allows interaction with a certain object.
The ability that was removed was a grapple belt. It used specific points in the environment to pull you to them, retaining your momentum to slingshot from one to another. Was it cool? Sure, it allowed for some neat platforming segments. However, it also was only useful in specific situations (hook points) and had no other utility beyond traversing the environment.
Let's take a quick look at the magnet boots, their replacement.
This is a preview of its introduction, with some graphics not totally ready yet. It lets you stick onto almost any ceiling in the game for as long as you have fuel. While you're sticking you can jump and dash freely, shoot, jump, and drop at any time. It's as if gravity is reversed. Certain ceilings don't allow you to magnet to them, but they're the exception and not the rule.
With that in mind, how does the new ability do with these philosophies?
It doesn't require pausing to turn it on or off, it's a single input.
It has multiple uses, and can be used while fighting enemies or while exploring. It can even be used in some unexpected ways, or even to skip over previously seen platforming sections that would have been slower before.
It isn't context sensitive and can be used at any time.
In these regards it is a much better fit, and makes a lot of areas flow better. I think that having a good grasp on your game's philosophies helps to guide your design decisions.
Fortunately, Star Rift Saga is pretty late into development (and should be releasing this year) so this should be the last major ability rework I have to do.
Looking forward to sharing more, a lot is coming together.