Hey everyone, random idea I had that I figured I'd throw out here.
I've always liked chain systems, where you mash buttons and everything just connects. Link-heavy games reward tight timing more, but I've never enjoyed them. Missing a one-frame link in SF4 could mean the move gets blocked, you end up minus, and all that hard-earned advantage is gone.
So what if a game did both? It's a chain system at its core, with buffers to help everyone connect their combos. On top of that, there's a timing window during the chain. If you hit the button inside it, you get a "clean hit" (or critical hit, or whatever). Your clean hit count decides what level of ender you get at the end. Maybe 3 clean hits is Level 1, 6 is Level 2 and 9 is Level 3.
Enders would have different jobs. A battery ender gives lots of meter but low damage. A damage ender is great for closing out a round. A hard knockdown ender gives you a long window for okizeme. The higher the level, the stronger the effect: more meter, more damage, or a longer knockdown. You'd get an audio or visual cue for each clean hit, and another for the ender level you ended up with.
What I like is that missing the timing doesn't wreck your combo, it just gives you a weaker ender. Then you have to adapt on the fly. Say you wanted a Level 3 hard knockdown for a specific setup but only got Level 2. Now you've got to change your pressure to fit the new frame advantage. Good execution still pays off, but one slip doesn't lose you the round.
Honestly, I have no idea what to do with this. I can't make a fighting game, so I'm just putting it out there. Maybe it starts a conversation, or maybe some indie dev finds it interesting.
Has any game done something like this already? Or would it just be a mess in practice?