Twinspire Combat Demo

This is a demo of the combat for a metroidvania that I'm currently working on.  I personally feel that metroidvanias often neglect combat, so I thought I'd try my hand at fixing that.  This demo features snappy controls, novel mechanics, a large variety of enemies, and an innovative budget-based encounter generator.

Instructions (seriously, read these):

Arrow keys - move

X - light attack (hold to do a spin attack)

C - heavy attack (hold to do a kick; high knockback)

Z - counter

• You have a maximum counterable damage.  If an enemy flashes "DANGER!", their attack is too strong to counter.

Do a heavy attack after a chain of light attacks to do a combo attack.  Different numbers of preceding light attacks will result in a different combo attack.  Combos 6-10 must be unlocked in the upgrade menu.

In ascending order, starting at 0 light attacks:

• Stab - strong but narrow
• Straight Punch - a faster but weaker version of the stab
• Hilt Bash - high stun and knockback
• Hook - average strike with a forward lunge
• Jump Attack - long strike with a large lunge
• Cleave - extremely wide lunging strike
• Flat Slam - low damage but very high stun
• Helm Splitter - high damage, sends the enemy behind you
• Jump Drive - like the jump attack but better
• Mortal Draw - devastating strike with very long recovery

V (hold) - heal (you get 5 heals until you die)

Space - dash

Duality: when attacking or dashing, you build up a meter under your character called duality.  Positive duality (orange; right side) is gained from attacking.  Negative duality (blue; left side) is gained from dashing.  When duality is positive, damage dealt and taken are increased.  When duality is negative, damage dealt and taken are decreased.

Left mouse button - spawn enemy (enemy ID is the first number under the HUD meters)

Y - decrease enemy spawn ID by 1 (min 0)

U - increase enemy spawn ID by 1 (max 59)

H - decrease enemy spawn ID by 10 (min 0)

J - increase enemy spawn ID by 10 (max 59)

I - toggle enemy movement (useful for setting up scenarios and encounters)

P - toggle enemy pathing debug

M - generate random encounter (budget [difficulty] is the second number under the HUD meters)

R - decrease random encounter budget by 10 (min 10)

T - increase random encounter budget by 10 (no maximum; WARNING: unstable at higher amounts [more than a few hundred])

E - Open/close inventory

Arrow keys to navigate the menu.  The talisman menu lets you equip stat altering talismans.  The upgrade menu lets you upgrade your character.  More instructions in the menus.

Esc - close game

Since enemy sprites are just blockmesh, I've labeled them with their types.

Feral (0-10) - contact damage

Melee (11-30) - melee strikes

Ranged (31-46) - projectile attacks

Hybrid (47-50) - melee + ranged

Please forgive the graphics.  I know it's hard to make intentional plans when the enemies aren't distinct-looking.  Later on I'll add sprites and this won't be a problem.  I prioritize function over looks.