Okay, so I kind of want to put all our cards on the table. Here are our current ideas that probably would benefit from suggestions and feedback:
1) Multiple versions of the shade enemy, like I mentioned above, that could be combined in different ways and with different environments for unique combat challenges: e.g. short range melee (like the one in the demo), long range melee (maybe with a spear or something), and ranged (with a bow and arrow, perhaps).
2) As an alternative to (1), maybe make the shades more like bosses, so each type would have some unique special power(s) that are hard to avoid to make the fight difficult and interesting; plus, the enemies would get a lot more hit points, and each one would have a particular environment suited to the way it fights (e.g. a foe with several ranged attacks might be in a level with lots of platforms at different heights and maybe some pits to fall into).
3) Adding elements like movable blocks so the player has to solve little puzzles to progress through levels that don't have enemies to fight; we could really use suggestions for more puzzle elements if we are going to go this route; so far we have in mind the destructible blocks, little tunnels to slide through, switches to hit that open doors and activate moving platforms, and large movable blocks; we really want ideas for things that the player can interact with using the abilities he already has, like the sword, the power attack, the wall jump, slide, etc. Ideally these elements would be things that could be combined in lots of different ways to make lots of different puzzles. Any ideas?
4) Ideas for environmental hazards that fit the samurai / Shinto theme of the game (the rough idea as of now is that the enemies are corrupted earth spirits, or maybe the twisted spirits of fallen warriors). The problem we have with this is that plenty of ideas for hazards present themselves, but we are not sure how to make them _feel_ right and be more than just obligatory platformer obstacles.
Thanks, Stencylers!
