There's been a problem plaguing me and DW for a while now, and we finally got around to talking about it.
We both noticed that characters didn't seem to have any weight in Shadow wolf. Everyone sprung effortlessly into the air and then floated gently down, like an old balloon.
Today, we put in a number of changes to address this issue, and I think the problem has been brutally crushed.
Firstly, characters can optionally have a pre-jump script. This script plays out, and then ends by triggering the standard jump function. This allows characters to have any amount of animations or effects that occur right before their jump launches them. About a third of a second worth of animation really seems to give a sense of effort and power to a jump, without making the character feel terribly unwieldy.
We also added the ability to add custom effects and scripts when a character lands. Thus far we just created a simple dust cloud, and spawned a little one whenever Black lands hard, and a larger one when she dive kicks the ground. Mitz is a tiny little forest fairy, so he still springs into the air and prances around like a tiny, hairy ballet dancer. (Sometimes it's the exception that gives meaning to the rule.) In the long run, the potential is pretty vast, and I'm burning with ideas to use this for.
Combined with the knockback and stun effects we were already working on, this will give characters a real sense of weight, which will in turn give attacks that are strong enough to throw them back a real feeling of power.
