Devlog – Combat & Control System Updates

07 Nov 2025Developer post

ARPG-Style Controls

Movement is still WASD, but you target enemies by hovering over them with the mouse.
Interactions and skill aiming are based on your mouse position.
When hovering over an enemy, their HP and Guard bars are now visible.
Damage numbers appear at the enemy’s location when you hit them.

This makes targeting more intentional and improves overall combat readability.

Holding Ctrl opens a ranged weapon panel (currently only the bow is active).
While holding Ctrl, you can aim and shoot in the direction of your cursor.
This adds new flow options during combat: creating distance, applying pressure, and punishing openings.

Ranged tools now help shape the tempo of engagements.

We’re working on a system where you can assign abilities to Q, E, R, and F.
A few prototype skills are currently being tested to see how they affect combat pacing.

Enemies now telegraph attacks in two colors:

Color	Interaction	Result
Blue Attacks	Can be parried	Successful parry triggers a counterattack. Failing a parry (or blocking instead) still results in taking damage.
Red Attacks	Cannot be blocked or parried	You must dodge to avoid them.

This system emphasizes timing and decision-making.

We removed the stamina system entirely.
Even softened versions of stamina (slowdowns, damage penalties, etc.) still interrupted combat flow.

Now:

We found that stamina was adding friction, not depth.

We introduced a two-weapon combat flow:

Weapon identity:

Weapon	Strengths	Weaknesses
Shortsword	Fast, consistent damage	Weak at breaking Guard
Greatsword	Hits multiple enemies, strong Guard break	Slower, lower base damage

Additional nuance:

In terms of feel:

The core combat is shaping around:
timing, pressure, counterplay, and flow.

That’s everything for now, thanks for reading!
Feedback is always appreciated.