Punch and impact
Learning paths through this topic
Juggling an enemy in the air should end by itself, not go on forever
Launching an enemy and hitting it again in the air feels great for a few hits, then turns into a lock that the victim cannot escape and that bores everyone. Each extra hit should become a little less effective. Here is how much to reduce and when to force the fall.
A combo counter that rewards a streak and forgets it when you stop
A combo needs a time limit, but a fixed limit is either too forgiving at the start or impossible later. And the timer must stop while the game does. Here are a window that tightens with the streak, the bonus tiers, and what must pause the clock.
Controller vibration that stays pleasant when many things happen at once
Each event shakes the controller on its own, and when explosions, steps and hits overlap the result is a constant buzz that players switch off. Combining them the right way and letting each fade out makes it feel precise. Here is the rule and how to handle the pause menu.
A companion who cuts corners and gets stuck in doorways behind me
A helper that walks straight toward you gets caught on walls the moment you turn a corner. If it instead walks along the line you actually took, it is never in a place you were not. Here is how to store that line without storing every footstep, and how to find the spot a given distance behind you.
A downed partner dragged along shoots past me or snaps to my feet
Pulling a wounded friend should look heavy: they trail a step behind, settle smoothly when you stop, and never overtake you. A spring that is too bouncy swings past you, one that is too stiff snaps. Here is the one setting that gives the trailing distance you want, and the distance beyond which to give up and jump.
A shared camera that keeps two players in view without making everything tiny
When two players walk apart, one camera has to zoom out, but zooming out forever makes the game unreadable, and zooming back in quickly makes the picture breathe. A simple framing rule has a floor for how small things may get and says what to do when the players are too far apart anyway.
A partner's legs keep walking in place or flicker between standing and running
If the walking animation of another player is switched by what the network says, it stutters whenever news is late. Driving it from how far the drawn character actually moved looks right whatever the connection does. Here is how the steps are counted, why standing still needs a short delay, and how to blend into running.
A moving platform is in a different place for each player
If every computer moves a lift or platform with its own timer, they start out of step and stay that way, so one player rides it while another sees it passing. Making its place a plain calculation from the shared game time cures that and costs no network traffic at all. Here is the calculation, with pauses at the ends.
Reviving a friend fails every time I step a little too far away
A revive that restarts the moment you leave the circle by a hair is frustrating, and one that never loses progress makes danger meaningless. The right amount of forgiveness depends on why you left. Here is how the circle, the pause and the loss on a hit fit together, and why the edge of the circle needs two different sizes.
A rope between two players that pulls without yanking
Tying two players together sounds simple until the rope snaps tight and one of them is catapulted, or both are dragged equally even though one is holding on to a switch. A good rope pulls the lighter one more, never in a single jump, and knows about anchors. Here is the rule and the one division that must not happen.
In a side-scrolling co-op game the slower player gets pushed off the screen
If the screen follows whoever is furthest ahead and never goes back, the one behind eventually hits the edge. A hard wall is brutal and being killed by the edge is worse. A soft brake before the edge and the right choice of who leads make it fair. Here is the rule and what to do for a player who is gone.
Switching whom I watch after dying makes the camera lurch
When you are out of the round and flip to watching another player, the camera should glide across, not teleport and not stop and restart. The smooth glide must also behave the same on a slow computer as on a fast one. Here is a motion rule that does both and what you must not reset when the target changes.