Mecha Crusades

Very early build mockup

The information below is tentative

Introduction

Mecha Crusades is a 2D fighting game built on the idea of fusing the best parts of traditional fighting games and platform fighters. The combat focuses heavily on movement, both in air and on land, and skill expression in performing knockback-based combos and evading the opponent’s attacks. The movement will be the deepest part of the game rather than the attacks dished out, which will have Tekken-like inputs. The goal of the project is to elicit the sense of momentum as the player moves across the screen. The knock-back style of attacks is very similar to Super Smash Bros. and the base movement is heavily inspired by Tekken and Guilty Gear.

Mission Statement

Mecha Crusades will be easy to get into, but nigh impossible to master. The game encourages and rewards skill expression and creativity in movement of the character. The game will be playable through keyboard or controller on PC through Itch.io

Overview of Gameplay

As mentioned above, Mecha Crusades is designed to be a hybrid of the traditional 2D fighting game and the platform fighting game genres. Initially, in the early stages, the game will be completely free on itch.io. Once the game becomes more robust, it will move to Steam and will be Free-to-play with purchasable cosmetic options. The game will feature a mech-based futuristic theme. The animations will give players the impression that the movement is fluid, lively, and free, but the attacks and interactions are heavy, mechanical, and impactful. The SFX will mirror this sentiment.

Mechanics: Movement

Grounded:      Players will be able to move left, right, and duck using the DPad. A double tap of the horizontal directions will result in a short dash. Pressing the up button alone will cause the player to jump. There will be two heights of the initial jump. One will be a shorthop which happens when you tap the jump button, the other will be a fullhop which happens when you hold the up button. Grounded dashes have a certain amount of lag, as does landing depending on your speed. Currently crawling (moving while ducking) is not allowed. Players will auto-turn on the ground.  

Aerial:             Players will be able to manipulate aerial drift based on the character’s attributes. Players will be able to force themselves to fall, increasing their speed towards the ground. Players will not auto-turn midair. Players in the air will have two aerial movement actions available before reaching the ground. The three options to choose from are Double-jumping, Air-dashing, and Air-dodging. All three have their benefits and weaknesses. Double-jump height is predetermined based on the character attributes. The variation between characters will be minor in this attribute. Air-dashing distance is heavily reliant on the player’s current momentum. Air-dashing is only horizontal and the animation can be canceled after a certain frame with aerial attacks or fast-fall.

Mechanics: Defending

Grounded:       Holding back blocks incoming mid and high attacks from the player’s front. Ducking blocks low attacks. All attacks cause shield stun and shield pushback. The shield can be damaged to the point of breaking which will put the use of shield on a long cooldown. Releasing shield as soon as a projectile hits will reflect the projectile instead. Releasing shield as soon as an enemy attacks will cause the enemy’s move to have 2x lag.

Credits:

• The knight model and environmental sprites has was created by Sven Thole and submitted on itch.io and are just temporarily in the project
• The backgrounds were from the Nature - 16 backgrounds pack created by Jakub Varga which is submitted on the Unity Asset Store and are just temporarily in the project