Orb Ideas

[BrightShadow]

I had hoped to be a weapon designer backer, but really couldn't afford the tier. During the final day livestream, I threw my idea out to the chat, and got a bunch of encouragement to buy the tier lol, but again sadly couldn't.
That being said, people liked my weapon idea enough that I'd like to share it.

Time Orbs:
Low or no damage, however being hit with them freezes/pauses time for the enemy that has been hit, but allows time for everyone else to continue flowing. They would specifically look high contrast, and potentially have white 'runes' falling from them.


So why should time orbs actually be made?
I believe the ability to pause enemies but not all enemies/movement on the screen, in conjunction with overall timestop, could be used for intricate timing/maneuvering. I can imagine puzzles for extra gear and such, requiring such a tool. Normally when you stop time, if the enemies are too far apart you cannot jump from one to another, but if you can timestop enemies, then as you jump on one, the next enemy is still moving and thus gets close enough to finish the maneuver.

If anyone else has a great Weapon Orb idea they would like to share, I welcome any and all replies!

[Nayrman]

Interesting thread idea. Not sure if the crew already has the orb ideas planned out but could be fun to just come up with various ones.

[Bodie]

Oh that's a fun idea! Kind of a riff on the Ice Beam. Very fun

I think everyone should feel free to drop their ideas on orbs and abilities here, as many of them haven't been created yet. Now's the perfect time for ideas!

[Nayrman]

Gee, thanks Bodie, now I'm gonna be up all night thinking of ideas, heh heh.

Hrm, I guess one idea I had was a "rapid fire" wall orbs. Basically it's a standing still rapid (but decently weak) shot. great for walls of enemies but leaves you open if you're too close or from behind/above. Can be aimed but orbs only shoot in that one direction. Not sure how it'd work in air, if you just fall to the ground with the momentum and stand, or if you'd stay in the air in one place while shooting.

Basic diagram:

-------------0
-------------0 *Character standing*

[SHODANFreeman]

What about an orb that you can place strategically and it floats in one spot for a few seconds dealing damage in a radius before returning so you can use it again? It would be great for super dodgy boss fights, so you can focus more on dodging than attacking.

[BrightShadow]

What about an orb that you can place strategically and it floats in one spot for a few seconds ...

I'm imagining a charged up version makes a 'solid' object like a phantom brick, that you can hide underneeth/behind for protection, as well as to jump upon. Probably would be an end game orb, but perhaps not.

[Nayrman]

What about an orb that you can place strategically and it floats in one spot for a few seconds dealing damage in a radius before returning so you can use it again? It would be great for super dodgy boss fights, so you can focus more on dodging than attacking.

Something like the Black Hole Bomb in Megaman 9?

[BrightShadow]

What's so cool about orbs that introduce new game mechanics, is that these same tools will be what speed runners end up making creative use of. I had another orb idea just recently.


Magic Flail:
Charged up use, throws one or more (dependent on charge) enlarged spiked orbs on magical chains, linked to Lunais. Using the directional keys, or a thumbstick, you could control to some degree where the flail is attacking. This would require some basic gravity physics to simulate the weight of enlarged orbs. Would be fun if the flail in small size, had moving attached sprites, instead of being a solid unchanging graphic.


The main reason I suggest a weapon like this, is that additional player skill is necessary to make the most use of it, which rewards players for their improvement, and investment of energy in mastering this beautiful game.

[BrightShadow]

And well... how about another...

Orb of Tricks (or Illusions):
Naturally there are many ideas that could come to mind, but specifically a few abilities I was thinking for various charge levels were:
1. Shadow Doppleganger with rudimentry AI that does no damage but attracts enemy fire while moving around.
2. Exchange places with common enemies (not bosses naturally, unless you think its possible).
3. Basic attack could be a weak life-stealing attack. Or perhaps time-stealing, and if you did it too much the enemy would die from old age, and some enemies would also show withering to a skeleton and then crumbling.

Whats cool about the death by old age thing, is that some enemies in the game could be easier to kill using this method instead of normal damage, as a neat nuance. Lets face it, many good old games had particular nuances like this.

[Kein]

The thing is - we still don't know if it will be one separated orb with particular effect or you can/should combine some basic to create new effects. In this case it is hard to come up with something consistent.

As for the idea a specified in OP regarding Time Orb - it is kinda overpowered, since you don't need any mana to use it and freezing enemies guarantees safe destruction of it. Balance issues.