big changes for this week (also relating to the skipped build last week)

im trying out some big changes with combat flow, enemy ai, enemy types, and some projectile stuff

first off; fixed a bug with close attacks detecting enemies waiting in the background and some oddness with momentum gained from bodies pushing off of each other

the big change this week is a change to combat targeting; the player will be forced to target an enemy when the enemy becomes 'active'. only the targeted enemy's card is shown, and the enemies will pass off control to each other when they choose to or if they are knocked down or killed. only the enemy currently targeted on suu is 'allowed' to act, focusing group encounters into a shifting set of 1v1s, in a way. i'm still reflecting on this change, so it may not stay long term, but so far i like the way it can make group fights feel hectic still but keep them focused.

relatedly; air teching has gone through some changes. air tech (when you press an attack button to escape from a combo) can be used an unlimited number of times 'per combo', but the damage scaling of the combo resets when a character techs. this was to help with situations with potential situations where the player could easily be hit again after teching in group battles.

enemies are now also allowed to tech while under the effects of a guard break; however it is limited to specifically after the timer for a guard break has ticked all the way down. guard breaks don't fully refresh until the character gets back up again after a combo, but the card cracks flickering telegraphed that the timer has finished and they will recover when they get up. Enemies are now permitted to tech during that window, leading to higher difficulties allowing more chances for enemies to escape damage.

bullet type simple enemies are under construction. 10 floating ghost skulls can be summoned with numpad3, which can be killed with >10 points of damage. they just float across the screen slowly dealing contact damage.

related that -that- as well is that some bullet types (ninja shurikens, witch homing cards, witch skulls) can be hit by normal attacks which will dispel them. i'm currently doing some testing and tinkering with allowing that effect to be active for all projectiles as a default property for projectiles. more to come on this point.

lastly some changes were made to enemy ai to give some enemies more predictable patterns. noteable lanterns, green ninja, red ninja, witches, and level 1 blood samurai follow a strict pattern for their attacks. this is also still having work done on it, so they will likely change in the future. the idea (for example) green ninjas is intentional though, sticking to one attack and ignoring everything else.

see you next week!