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Sunday, September 7, 2008

Aurelia knows Sheik now. .


In tribute to my dog, I have begun work on Aurelia's helper, "Sheik". In lament terms, Sheik will do the attacking because Aurelia won't be able to for awhile in the game. Caleb can also call upon Sheik with a special dog whistle. Sheik is best with taller enemies who can't hit him because of his size. He will be loyal to the according player. In Aurelia's scenario Sheik cannot die. In Caleb's, if he is captured and not rescued after a certain time limit, he will become one of the Cerberus dogs for the duration of the game, so it is important that you keep him alive. If a Hell Hound sees Sheik it will not use its flame attack and they will begin fighting. In certain cases, Sheik will be able to turn the Hell Hound on their side until killed. This is a rare case so pay attention to Sheik. He will be able to follow you through doors, passes, ledges, and in some cases, water. If you find a secret area or somewhere he cannot physically go, I have implemented a feature in RTS that will allow you to halt the Dog until you arrive (leaving him idling around the area until you return). This will be important for areas requiring you to be separated from him for a short while.

I know some people will think of this as babysitting but I think it'll be an important part of the gameplay. If Sheik is pursuing an enemy and cannot return to the player, you will be required to use the whistle. In most cases the game will not continue unless you have him next to you (in certain cases, you will not be able to complete a level without him with you).

It sounds really dumb right now but I have some placeholder sprites set for the programming I started and it's actually turning out really good. Since the dog is small my fear of actually shooting him went down. I will take out AutoAim for both ports (Dreamcast and PC) just for this feature (likewise, you can disable Sheik support). Turns out if the player is SIDE=1 just like the creature, you cannot hit him. There's also a flag that sets bullets and whatnot to pass through him, like a ghost.

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