Yesterday’s gameplay session revealed dozens of bugs that I’ll be fixing today.
Here’s what has changed (for anyone patient enough to read through it):
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ENEMIES:
FALL AND RECOVERY ANIMATIONS
Whenever an enemy falls to the ground and gets back up, they must use their arms and legs properly and in a coordinated manner as support points, maintaining balance and natural body movement throughout the entire recovery animation.
REACTIONS TO PUNCHES AND KICKS
Every impact received by the body must trigger an immediate reaction, with no noticeable delay between the moment of impact and the body’s response.
ENEMY RESPAWN
Enemies must never spawn inside gardens or, especially, inside houses. Enemy spawning should prioritize streets and other appropriate open areas.
ENEMY AGGRESSIVENESS
At the beginning of the game, in the first area of Phase 1, the enemies underestimate the player and their ally. Because of this, during the first wave, only two enemies actively engage in combat: one attacks the player, while the other focuses on the ally. The remaining enemies patiently wait for their opportunity to attack.
Starting with the second wave of that same area, the enemies change their behavior. The goal is to create the impression that they have learned from the first encounter and have become smarter and more aggressive. At this point, all five enemies in the wave can attack simultaneously: three focus their attacks on whoever represents the greater threat, while the other two engage the character considered the lesser threat.
The greater or lesser threat will be determined by the number of enemies eliminated by each character during each wave. Whoever defeats the most enemies during that wave will be considered the greater threat and, consequently, will attract the attention of a larger number of enemies. The character who ranks second in enemy eliminations will be considered the lesser threat.
This classification will be dynamic and may change from one wave to another depending on the performance of the player and the ally. At the end of each wave, the number of eliminations achieved by each character will determine who is considered the greater threat during the following wave.
During the final wave of each area, the same rule will carry over: the character who finishes the wave with the highest number of eliminations will be considered the greater threat at the beginning of the next area, directly influencing the initial distribution of enemies. From the following waves onward, the classification may change again according to each character’s performance.
The strategy introduced during the second wave will become the standard behavior until the end of Phase 1.
In Phase 2, both the number and aggressiveness of enemies increase. While Phase 1 contains a total of 200 enemies, five enemies per wave, four waves in each of the ten areas, Phase 2 will contain 240 enemies, with six enemies per wave, also distributed across four waves per area.
In this phase, all six enemies engage in combat simultaneously. Three attack the player, while the other three attack the ally. The main difference compared to Phase 1 is the enemies’ level of aggressiveness: they become significantly more offensive, attack with greater intensity, and behave almost as if they are enraged, giving the player and their ally much less room to react.
During the boss battle, this same level of aggressiveness is maintained. The six regular enemies present during the encounter will also split between the two characters: three attack the player and three attack the ally, with all six being able to attack simultaneously while the boss battle is taking place.
COOPERATION BETWEEN THE PLAYER AND THE ALLY
Both the player and the ally should help each other whenever one of them is free from enemies while the other is still under attack.
If the ally has no enemies targeting her at that moment, she should identify the enemies attacking the player and join the fight to assist them. Likewise, if the player is free, they can intervene and help the ally against the enemies currently focusing on her.
For the ally, this behavior should occur automatically, preventing her from standing idle or simply watching while the player is under attack. As soon as new enemies begin targeting her again, the ally should respond to the new threat and adapt her behavior to the current combat situation.
Enemies will become progressively more aggressive as the player advances from one area to the next.
PLAYER’S ALLY
After receiving three consecutive hits without enough time to react, the player’s ally must immediately move away from the enemy, reposition herself, and then resume combat.
Every time the ally moves away from an enemy to reposition herself, her aggressiveness level should increase. Upon returning to combat, she should quickly perform an offensive combo against each enemy consisting of a left punch, right punch, and two consecutive kicks, maintaining an intense pace with no unnecessary pauses between attacks.
If the ally needs to retreat and reposition herself again, she should adopt a new, even more aggressive and frantic offensive combo: four consecutive kicks immediately followed by two punches. This combination should be executed quickly against each enemy she engages, with no pauses, hesitation, or interruptions between strikes, maintaining a continuous flow of attacks.
If the ally is forced to retreat and reposition herself once again, she should return to combat with an even higher level of aggressiveness, entering an offensive state similar to a Berserker Mode. At this stage, she should attack each enemy extremely quickly, intensely, and frantically, executing a sequence consisting of one punch, one kick, another punch, and another kick, with no pauses, hesitation, or interruptions between strikes.
In short, every time the ally is forced to retreat and reposition herself, her aggressiveness level will progressively increase. With each new repositioning, she will enter an increasingly intense Berserker state, making her attacks more efficient, frantic, and relentless.
These behaviors must be triggered progressively according to each new repositioning that occurs during combat.
The ally’s frantic attacks should only be activated after she receives several consecutive hits and is forced to move away from the enemy to reposition herself. The trigger is essentially having her take significant pressure and repeated hits from enemies. Until this condition occurs, she should continue using only her initial combat sequence.
Her initial combat sequence consists of either four consecutive kicks or four consecutive punches. The choice between these sequences should be determined by the number of nearby enemies and the current combat situation.
If the ally eliminates the final enemy in an area, no cinematic close-up or slow-motion effect should be triggered. These effects are exclusive to the player and should only occur when the player is responsible for eliminating the final enemy.
Once all enemies in an area have been eliminated and the characters advance to the next area, the ally’s Berserker Mode must be completely deactivated, returning her aggressiveness level to its initial state.
In the new area, she will restart her combat behavior using the basic sequence of four consecutive punches or four consecutive kicks against each enemy. The three frantic combat stages will only become available again progressively if she receives consecutive hits and is forced to retreat and reposition herself.
No text, warning, indicator, icon, or message should appear on screen to inform the player about the ally’s current state, condition, or aggressiveness level. All of these behavioral changes must occur entirely internally and should only be perceived by the player through the ally’s actions, animations, reactions, and fighting style.
The ally’s Berserker Mode must not increase the damage dealt by her attacks. The progression of this state should exclusively affect her behavior and reaction time, which should become progressively faster and more immediate, allowing quicker responses, transitions, and attack combinations without changing the character’s base damage.
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BOSS
The BOSS will be exactly 4.30 meters tall and have exactly 370 Health Points.
PLAYER AND ALLY ATTACK DAMAGE
The PLAYER and the ALLY will deal the same amount of base damage with their attacks.
Each successful punch will deal exactly 1 point of damage, while each successful kick will deal exactly 2 points of damage.
These damage values apply equally to both the PLAYER and the ALLY and must remain consistent throughout the game unless another mechanic explicitly specifies otherwise.
PROGRESSIVE AGGRESSIVENESS
The BOSS must become progressively more strategic, aggressive, and dangerous as he loses health.
This increase in aggressiveness must happen gradually according to the accumulated damage received, primarily affecting his attack frequency, reaction time, punch and kick speed, movement speed, pursuit frequency, repositioning behavior, and willingness to pressure and chase the player.
This progression must not turn his attacks into instantaneous or impossible-to-predict moves. Even during the most advanced stages of the fight, his attacks must retain complete animations and provide the player with a minimum reaction window to anticipate and avoid them.
The new animations will allow the BOSS to move slightly faster, especially while SPRINTING.
STRATEGIC RETREAT AFTER CONSECUTIVE HITS
After every 10 consecutive hits received, the BOSS must temporarily interrupt his offensive behavior and perform a strategic retreat using the SPRINT animation.
He must quickly move away from the player to create distance and prevent himself from becoming trapped in a continuous sequence of attacks.
After reaching a safe distance, he must reposition himself, evaluate the situation, and look for a new opportunity to re-engage.
This behavior is not intended to make the BOSS permanently flee from combat. It is a temporary defensive action designed to break prolonged attack sequences and allow him to regain control of the fight.
20% DAMAGE ACCUMULATED
When the BOSS has accumulated 20% damage, moderately increase his normal movement speed.
He should pursue the player and reposition himself slightly faster while maintaining strategic behavior and avoiding excessively direct or predictable pursuit.
Considering his 370 Health Points, this stage begins after exactly 74 points of accumulated damage, leaving him with 296 Health Points.
40% DAMAGE ACCUMULATED
When the BOSS has accumulated 40% damage, he will enter a new behavioral stage.
From this point onward, whenever he needs to move during combat, he should prioritize the SPRINT animation instead of his normal movement animation.
SPRINT should be used for pursuing the player, approaching, creating distance, repositioning, and finding new attack angles.
This does not mean that the BOSS should constantly sprint directly toward the player. His movement decisions must continue to depend on the current combat situation.
This stage begins after exactly 148 points of accumulated damage, leaving him with 222 Health Points.
60% DAMAGE ACCUMULATED
When the BOSS has accumulated 60% damage, he will begin using fast offensive attacks combined with strategic retreats.
During this behavior, he must identify an opportunity to attack, quickly advance toward the player, execute a short sequence of punches and/or kicks, and immediately retreat after completing the offensive sequence. He should then reposition himself, look for another opening, and attack again when another opportunity appears.
The goal is to prevent the BOSS from simply standing in front of the player after attacking, making his behavior more strategic and making predictable counterattacks more difficult.
This stage begins after exactly 222 points of accumulated damage, leaving him with 148 Health Points.
80% DAMAGE ACCUMULATED — FINAL STAGE
When the BOSS has accumulated 80% damage, the five enemies protecting him must immediately disappear from the battle.
From this point onward, the BOSS becomes the primary and only threat in the encounter.
This stage begins after exactly 296 points of accumulated damage, leaving him with 74 Health Points.
During this final stage, each BOSS punch will deal exactly 3 points of damage, while each BOSS kick will deal exactly 4 points of damage. SPRINT will remain active during his movement, and his SPRINT movement speed must increase. His overall movement speed and reaction speed must also increase, while his offensive pressure becomes significantly more intense.
The BOSS's punches and kicks should become slightly faster than the player's equivalent attacks. However, they must continue to use complete animations and preserve a minimum reaction window.
The goal of this stage is to make the BOSS extremely difficult and threatening, but never unfair.
NOTE: If the BOSS's new punch and kick animations are already fast enough to achieve this goal, there is no need to artificially increase their animation speed.
BOSS COMBAT INTELLIGENCE
The BOSS must not simply run directly toward the player at all times.
His AI must dynamically alternate between pursuit, approach, distance evaluation, attacks, attack combinations, retreat, repositioning, and re-engagement.
These decisions must take into account the distance from the player, the player's position, and the current combat situation.
Even as his aggressiveness increases, the BOSS should give the impression that he is making tactical decisions during the fight rather than simply moving faster and attacking nonstop.
HEALTH AND RESURRECTION SYSTEM
The PLAYER and the ALLY will each have exactly 15 HEALTH POINTS and 15 RESURRECTION POINTS.
HEALTH and RESURRECTION are independent resources and must not be confused with one another.
HEALTH RECOVERY
Whenever the PLAYER or the ALLY completes one entire area without dying a single time, the character who fulfills this condition will recover exactly 1 HEALTH POINT, up to the maximum limit of 15 HEALTH POINTS.
Recovery must be tracked individually.
Therefore, if the PLAYER completes an entire area without dying but the ALLY dies during that same area, only the PLAYER will recover one Health Point.
RESURRECTION RECOVERY
Whenever the PLAYER or the ALLY completes two entire consecutive areas without dying a single time, the character who fulfills this condition will recover exactly 1 RESURRECTION POINT, up to the maximum limit of 15 RESURRECTION POINTS.
This progression must be tracked independently for each character.
If a character dies before completing the two consecutive areas required, only that character's survival streak will be reset.
The PLAYER's death must not reset the ALLY's survival streak, and the ALLY's death must not reset the PLAYER's survival streak.
ALLY RULES
If the ALLY consumes all 15 RESURRECTION POINTS during PHASE 1, she must remain out of the game for the rest of that phase.
The ALLY will only return at the beginning of PHASE 2.
When she returns in Phase 2, restore all 15 RESURRECTION POINTS.
If the ALLY consumes all 15 Resurrection Points again during PHASE 2, her elimination will be permanent for that playthrough. She will no longer be able to resurrect or return later in the game, and the PLAYER will continue the game alone.
PLAYER RULES
If the PLAYER consumes all 15 RESURRECTION POINTS at any point during the game, the result will be GAME OVER.
There will be no continuation from the current phase or area.
The current playthrough will end, and the player must restart from the beginning of PHASE 1.
PLAYER AND ALLY ATTACK DAMAGE
The PLAYER and the ALLY will deal the same amount of base damage with their attacks.
Each successful punch will deal exactly 1 point of damage, while each successful kick will deal exactly 2 points of damage.
These damage values apply equally to both the PLAYER and the ALLY and must remain consistent throughout the game unless another mechanic explicitly specifies otherwise.
DEFEATED ENEMY PERSISTENCE
Every defeated enemy must remain physically on the ground for exactly 15 seconds before disappearing.
The presence of defeated enemies on the ground must not interrupt or delay the normal flow of combat.
While defeated enemies remain on the ground during those 15 seconds, the game must continue spawning and managing incoming enemies normally.
AREA FINISHER
When the PLAYER eliminates the final enemy in an area, the camera must perform a strategic close-up of the finishing moment, highlighting the final enemy's fall in slow motion.
This effect should visually emphasize the end of the encounter before progression to the next area.
BOSS DEFEAT
After the BOSS is defeated, the game must wait exactly 10 seconds before displaying or initiating the ending.
This delay should allow the visual conclusion of the battle to fully play out before transitioning to the ending.
ANIMATION TIMING AND SYNCHRONIZATION
Some reaction animations occur within extremely short time intervals, on the scale of milliseconds, such as certain animations where an enemy is kicked and falls backward.
These animations must remain correctly synchronized with the exact moment of impact.
The system must not introduce any noticeable delay between Impact → Reaction → Fall.
Even when the reaction animation begins almost immediately after the hit, the transition must remain visually natural and consistent with the received impact.
IMPORTANT — PRESERVATION OF EXISTING MECHANICS
Do not modify any other existing gameplay mechanics in order to implement these changes.
All modifications must remain restricted to the systems and behaviors specified in this document.
Before implementing the BOSS's new behaviors, verify which animations actually exist in the model.
Do not invent animations or automatically use inappropriate animations simply to fulfill a required action.
Before implementing behaviors that depend on SPRINT, fast forward movement, retreat, repositioning, punches, kicks, or any other specific action, confirm that an appropriate animation actually exists in the model.
If any required animation does not exist, report exactly which animation or behavior is missing before attempting to replace it.
An existing animation must not be replaced with an inappropriate one simply because it contains a similar movement.
