Game Design pt.1

Notes on Basic Gameplay, Movement, and Damage:

A team consists of three character players which move left and right in unison underneath a paddle.  The top of the paddle is used to bounce the ball and the direction the ball bounces on the paddle is in relation the the angle it hits the paddle, sending it back in the direction it came.  This allows the ball to be aimed at a target with careful positioning and timing.   Pressing the left or right keys, or tapping on the right/left thirds of the screen will move the paddle and characters horizontally across the screen.  At the start of each level, you have a certain number of lives that are depleted when you lose your ball on the bottom of the screen.  When you lose your ball on the bottom of the screen with no lives left, all characters take 1/2 their maximum HP in damage.  Characters under the paddle each take damage individually from enemy fire.  If one unit dies, then the paddle will automatically shrink down to the remaining characters.  If all of your units are dead, the level is over.  To win the level, all enemies must be defeated and all bricks must be destroyed.  There are two types of damage, physical and magical.  All damage that is dealt directly in one amount is considered physical damage and all AOE damage is magical.  The ball deals both physical damage as well as explodes dealing additional AOE magical damage.  There is a fraction of a second cooldown on the physical damage and about a 1 second delay on the explosion.  Some characters have attacks that deal either physical or magical damage and/or abilities that modify the physical or magical damage of the ball or allies.  When a character is placed in the second position under the paddle, their leader ability is activated giving additional buffs to themselves and/or the ball/allies.

Notes on the Scrolling Screen Movement:

The paddle starts with a base movement speed and each character has a speed that modifies the base speed of the paddle.  The total speed of the paddle will always be faster than the scrolling speed of the screen and this is to allow the paddle to approach the corners of the view regardless of positioning on the level.  The speed of the paddle will affect not only the overall movement speed of the paddle but also its speed in approaching the corners of the view while scrolling.  Neither the paddle nor the ball is able to leave the view and this allows the ball to be bumped by the edge of the screen or effectively dragged along as you scroll the screen by moving.  By positioning the ball between the edge of the screen and a brick or an enemy, you can cause it to rapidly bounce between them, quickly destroying whatever is in its path.  There is a short cool down on the physical damage of the ball to counteract this and there is naturally a longer ~1 second delay on the explosion that the ball creates when it collides with a brick or enemy.  This tactic, while powerful presents two challenges for the player.  The first being required to scroll back to the opposite side of the screen in time to collect the loot and the risk of blindly running into enemy bullets while doing so.  This means that if used for more than a second or so, the player risks damaging themselves and missing loot which effectively balances this mechanic.