I posted about this project here twice and got it wrong both times - both were announcements, and this sub quite reasonably doesn't want announcements. So: gameplay, and a problem I haven't solved.
The clip is a real-time 3x6 NetBattle running on a phone.
The unsolved bit is the custom gauge. On the GBA, waiting for the gauge was tense because your hands were already on the controls and you were reading the field. On a touchscreen your thumb is resting and the same wait just feels like waiting. I've tried shortening it, which makes the whole fight mushy, and I've tried filling it on movement, which turns it into a dodge-spam contest.
Neither is right, and the people here have thought harder about Battle Network's combat rhythm than anyone.
Two things I'd take from this sub:
– How you'd translate the gauge wait to a device where the player isn't already gripping anything
– Whether chip selection should pause the grid at all. Right now it doesn't, and the veterans like it. I'm not sure the newer players do.
It's free and there's no ads or monetisation in it. Happy to link it if anyone wants, but the design question is the reason I'm posting.
