We are very quickly reaching the end here. I just finished the special moves, and that was the last major thing I needed to do, besides obviously making what's already written better and more understandable. But that comes with time. I think very soon I'll be ready to post the doc, after 26 days of work lmao.
Here's what we have for special moves while crouching. If you wanna give feedback on anything up to this point, now's the best time lol.
Special Moves:
Special Moves that carry over from Standing Stance with Stipulations:
Bionic Uppercut:
Same as normal, except on whiff you lose your charge and go back to standing.
Frag Grenade:
Same as normal, except for obviously the different animation for “cooking” the grenade. That also acts as a projectile reflector.
Knife Throw:
Same as normal.
Special Moves exclusive to Crouching Stance:
Automatic Shotgun (Not Charged Only):
Enters a new stance like the Shotgun Blast. The Operator pulls out an automatic shotgun and chambers a ground by racking the slide. Which is significantly quicker than the shotgun pump he does with the Shotgun Blast. You cannot use this move when you have charge because the Operator draws and shoulders his rifle when charged.
There’s a few moves to choose from. Snake-Shot, which essentially fires a burst of 4 hitboxes at the end of the shotgun that reaches out decently far before ending. Which can do plenty of damage, but it's a free meter for the opponent if it’s parried. Frag Shells fires 2 explosive shotgun shells at the ground slightly ahead of the Operator which have a small AOE effect that sends the opponent slightly into the air on hit. Extra damage on direct hit. The final shotgun shot is a flechette shot that fires one flechette shot. It does poor damage on direct hit and has poor ballistics at long range, but will attach to any surface it lands on and create a caltrop esque projectile that disappears after a while. After firing any of those shots the Operator tosses the shotgun away in disgust. Finally, you can swing the shotgun around you and then throw it away in front of you in an arc. The attack with the greatest effective range, but also has a melee hitbox while you swing it around, that combos into the throw, you also have armor during the duration of the melee hitbox.
Burst Fire (Requires Charge):
When you are finally crouched long enough to achieve charge, the Operator will quickly draw and shoulder his rifle in a completely actionable animation, or instantly have it drawn after recovering from a move. At which point you gain access to a spoonful of moves. Burst Fire has the Operator very quickly take aim and fire a projectile bullet with a very fast velocity. Each bullet can destroy 3 enemy projectiles on the way to its target, being deleted after destroying a fourth. You also aim the shots like Ninja’s quick slash. You get to fire 3 bullets one after another, in total if you can hit all 3, it’ll do really good damage. There’s notable downtime at the end of the move where he shoulders the rifle quickly, draws the handgun, and returns to standing. This isn’t much of a combo tool as much as it is a “if you refuse to fight me I’ll use my inescapable super death gun on you” tool. And since the move can be manually aimed there’s a fair bit more mindgames and skill, you can whiff a shot if you predict a parry attempt, and then punish the parry for example. This is The Operator’s single most powerful tool, that against good players he shouldn’t often get to use.
Sniper Bolt (Requires Charge):
A long range scope pops out of the Operator’s rifle and he takes aim with incredible speed. This is also a gun move, but it’s one bullet that is stupidly fast, obliterates all projectiles along its path, and does a fair bit of damage. Not as much as all 3 burst fire shots combined, but this is the easier, simpler solution to some problems. If you are willing to risk it all on one shot. After the shot you remain crouched but of course your charge is consumed. Meaning you’ll have to recharge to use the rifle again.
Match Grade Cutter (Requires Charge):
This move is angle-able with the same GUI as Ninja’s shadow clones, cowboy’s gun throw, ect. It’s essentially a flash kick, but a VS game style flash kick. Where it leaves a lingering slow moving projectile in the air alongside the kick. You can angle the kick to go more forward, go up, or go diagonally up, as well as down, which lets you do a shorter version that doesn’t take you as far off of the ground. During the active frames of the attack it’s projectile and grab invincible, and the hitbox is big enough to beat out most strike moves. But it’s pretty punishable on whiff. And could be parried easily if used predictably. This move is very threatening at closer ranges. Just another reason why you shouldn’t give people playing this character too much room to breathe when crouching.
If this doesn't seem like much, do mind that this stance obviously cannot go into the air, and that if you count all of the charge moves and the automatic shotgun (even though the two never co-exist) this technically has one special move more than the standing stance, in the air, on the ground, or both combined. Even if we have some "returning" moves, they work a bit different lol. It was always apart of my plans to carry over certain specials from the default stance to this this stance. Giving both exclusive tools, as well as stuff they share lol.