itch.io

Maybe wait is always a set number of frames. I'm not sure tbh. I have similar issues with wait. I always just use hold to wait instead. That usually works better. That's what you do in hitstun anyways.

I like the idea of a charge character in this game. You have to wait a certain amount of frames to execute certain moves and you can cancel out of the charge inputs at anytime. Not sure if that's what you were going for when you mentioned charge. Give that man a charge flash kick that's immune to air attacks lol. Poor Ninja won't be able to get in with all the immunity and armor. Buff my boy Ninja.

A fairy would be neat. You also bring up a good point about having non- projectile options. One option might be a long range grab that you could use to throw enemies into your projectiles from afar. something like lasso, but better, but preferably not dumb like zephyr. Chaining grabs by throwing your opponent into your projectiles sounds fun. If there are any melee options, they should be really slow or small else the character would be too oppressive, but that would at least give them extra setup or defense. 

Could have Super DI. Trade half a bar of super to be invulnerable to the next attack for a few frames once while you're in hitstun. The trade off would be that if your opponent throws out a quick move and you super DI it, they could still follow-up with another attack on whiff before you're out of hitstun. They could also just use an attack with a lingering hitbox to outlast the i-frames like 1000 cuts or flame wave. Got the idea from cross-counters.

The idea of an attack giving damage boost/reduction to the next attack is a pretty fresh idea to the game. I like it. He could also have an install like MVC to give him a bit more distinction from Cowboy. Although, I'm not sure how I feel about so much gun balance-wise, but mod characters can do whatever so it's no big deal.

I believe the way this engine works, a character that can spam a large number of projectiles would be fun to fight against. Wizard's projectiles are more or less situational with the exception of orb, which is a great spam tool. They could be a unique keep away character without just hover camping a mile in the air. Here are some balance trait ideas:

---Negatives

• The bullet hell character should have next to none or no melee options allowing for an easy punish of moves in close proximity.
• --(1.) To avoid parry abuse, the bullet hell character should be unable to block, this would leave them vulnerable to possible counter-projectile pokes from Wizard and Cowboy and Ninja zoomies. All bullet hell projectiles on screen disappear as soon as the bullet hell character is hit.
• --(2.) In place of being unable to block, the character has an air dodge air option allowing them mobility and avoiding moves briefly.
• All projectiles cast from this character travel relatively slow to avoid just infinitely chipping your opponent to death and to be very reactable.
• Finally the character should have higher recovery on moves in proportion to the amount of projectiles a move creates.

---Positives

• To avoid camping out the bullet hell shooter and just parry farming them, many of their projectiles will be non-parryable and deal chip damage on block.
• For air movement, the character could activate a fly option that lets them quickly fly to a location within a radius while in mid-air, similar to hover, but faster and omnidirectional. This would consume an air option, trading an air dodge potentially. The hover ends when the destination is reached or the hover is cancelled. moves can be activated while hovering, similar to wizard.
• Moves that cast large amounts of projectiles will cause the caster to be static in the air while casting, giving them additional air time, while smaller options will act with normal movement.
• Chip damage can defeat opponents. Otherwise, no option this character can execute would be able to defeat your opponent, unless they just turn their brain off.

---Super Concepts

• Mirror | 1 bar - Creates a static straight line perpendicular from the caster that can be aimed in 4 directions (up, down, left, right). Reflects enemy projectiles that hit the shield back in the direction from where they came from hitting the caster of the projectile. This avoids getting bullied by things such as Cowboy's gun for a brief time. Touching the mirror itself deals no damage.
• Laser | 2 bars- Creates a sweeping laser that cuts across the stage creating firebars along the ground and walls as it hits. It OTG's because of course it does. Cannot be parried.
• Black Hole | 3 bars- The caster channels an attack for about 60 frames (pending), becomes static and immune to all attacks for the duration while casting a black hole on their own location. The black hole does no damage, but sucks in all previously cast projectiles towards its core, before spitting them out in the direction they were traveling at about double speed. Cannot be cancelled.

---Conclusion

The goal of this character concept is to create a character that requires opponents to have to weave between projectiles to approach, while still being reasonably punishable, not to create an unapproachable chip machine or "Wizard 2". Ideally, this character is all neutral and no combo. Eventually, I would like to take some time to learn to mod the game to toy with these ideas when the game finds a comfortable anchor point for the 3 main characters to balance against. Feel free to use these concepts for your own mods, if interested. The more the merrier. Spitballing is fun. Still deciding on an appropriate archetype. Summoner? Angel? A spaceship/UFO might be a neat change of pace. Trying to avoid robot themes to keep it distinct from possible upcoming characters. Feedback and ideas are welcomed.