Demo Release - Game Mechanics


About

If you wish to understand the mechanics of Project Salamander a bit further, you're in the right place!

Player Controls

  • Directional Input: Moves the player character.
  • Fire Weapon 1/Fire Weapon 2: Fire normal weapon
  • Fire Special Weapon: More powerful attacks with unique mechanics and cooldowns. Example:
    • Sword: A melee attack that lets the player dash toward an enemy, dealing damage and granting invincibility frames (iframes) upon a successful hit. Has a cooldown of 1.3 seconds upon pressing the button.
  • Dash:
    • Consumes Boost Gauge to initiate and maintain dashing.
    • Increases movement speed but reduces turning ability.
    • Makes the player invulnerable to enemy beam projectiles and lasers.
    • Ends when the Boost Gauge is fully depleted.
  • Activate Overdrive:
    • Replaces the traditional bomb system seen in bullet hell games.
    • Temporarily empowers the player with special enhancements.
  • Switch Target:
    • The player's current target is displayed on the UI.
    • Attacks will be directed at the active target.
    • Players can switch targets at any time.

Overdrive System

  • Building Overdrive Meter:
    • The meter fills when the player hits an enemy or grazes enemy projectiles.
    • Requires at least 50% to activate.
    • Activation at 100% provides additional bonuses.
  • Activation Effects:
    • Grants brief iframes upon activation by default.
    • Replenishes the Boost Gauge.
    • Boosts damage dealt by 1.2x
    • If activated at 100%, grants a longer duration and extended iframes.
  • Overdrive Depletion:
    • Begins draining immediately after activation.
    • Ends when the Overdrive Meter is empty.
    • Taking a hit during Overdrive does not reduce HP but immediately ends Overdrive by default
  • Overdrive Bonus:
    • When Overdrive ends, player receives bonus score based on their performance during Overdrive (more about this later)

Overdrive Types

The player selects one Overdrive before starting a stage:

  1. Accelerating Overdrive:
    • Slows down everything except the player.
    • Increases animation speed of most actions.
    • Does not provide iframe upon activation.
  2. Blazing Overdrive:
    • Allows animation cancelling of weapon attacks.
    • Enables much higher fire rates.
    • Boosts damage output.
  3. Covering Overdrive:
    • Lasts longer than other Overdrives.
    • Upon activation, creates a shockwave that clears all projectiles in a radius.
    • If activated at 100%, creates a larger shockwave.
    • Taking a hit during this Overdrive does not immediately end it but instead reduces the remaining Overdrive Meter slightly.

Scoring System

Enemy Destruction
  • Defeating an enemy rewards score based on enemy type.
Dealing Damage
  • Score is rewarded proportionally to the amount of actual damage the player deals to enemies.
Combo System
  • The combo counter increases as the player deals damage (actual damage dealt is counted), and the UI displays the player's current combo damage.
  • The counter resets if the player does not hit an enemy in time. The counter also resets if the player takes damage.
  • The score multiplier increases with higher combo damage, up to a maximum 3x bonus at 10,000 combo damage.
  • The combo score multiplier affects score gained from enemy destruction, dealing damage and Overdrive Bonus.
  • At the end of the stage, the player is granted additional score based on the highest combo damage achieved.

Overdrive Bonus

  • Bonus score is rewarded at the end of Overdrive based on its type and the player's performance. The score is ranked from S to C, with different performance metrics for each Overdrive type (values are tentative).

Overdrive Performance Rankings:

  • Accelerating: Graze through enemy projectiles
    • S: 16+ projectiles; A: 8-15 projectiles; B: 4-7 projectiles; C: 0-3 projectiles.
  • Blazing: Deal damage or defeat enemies
    • S: 2,400+ damage or 6+ enemies; A: 1,600-2,399damage or 4-5 enemies; B: 800-1,599 damage or 2-3 enemies; C: 0-799 damage or 0-1 enemies.
  • Covering: Clear projectiles upon activating Overdrive
    • S: 12+ projectiles; A: 8-11 projectiles; B: 4-7 projectiles; C: 0-3 projectiles.

Score Rewards by Rank:

  • S: 5,000 points
  • A: 2,500 points
  • B: 1,500 points
  • C: No bonus
  • If the player remains unharmed throughout the Overdrive duration, the Overdrive Mastery Bonus is increased by 1.5x.
  • Affected by the combo score multiplier.

Stage Completion Bonus

  • Survival Bonus: Extra score is awarded based on remaining HP. No HP loss grants additional 20% bonus to this score.
  • Time Bonus: Faster completion results in a higher score bonus.
  • Combo Bonus: Reward bonus score equal to twice the highest combo damage achieved during the stage.

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