Ideally, there will be a lot of bosses. Like, at least 20. Giving each and every single one of them a gimmick is a little much. Some specific bosses may have gimmicks, though. Depending on what you mean by "limiting" that very well could be the entire point. No single class is supposed to be good at everything; they're supposed to work together, so the player is encouraged to have more than one on their team. That's actually why I gave each class its own debuff. In one of the game's main inspirations--Super Kirby Clash--only the Beam Mage has a debuff, and so one good strategy is to have all four players be that class in order to apply the debuff over and over again. By giving each class its own debuff, this issue should hopefully be lessened, since not having any given class present means you don't get that debuff. Elementalist doesn't help their teammates on purpose, though. They're supposed to be the simple "point and shoot" class that deals lotsa damage. Buffing their allies attacks is more Chrono Mage territory, hence the Haste and Stop spells. The villain is almost certainly one the one building the BIG ROBOTS. Probably flies around in an airship. Also is probably a mage, but turned their back on magic for whatever reason, and wants it destroyed now. I'm envisioning him as being cartoonishly evil.

All valid points, and I completely agree! I didn’t realize there would be that many bosses, that would definitely be a bit much lol. I think no matter how you do it, I’ll be excited to play it. I am also seeing an extremely cartoonishly evil villain, and I am so down to beat them.

Yeah, it may go without saying, but when there's nothing but boss fights in the game, there should be a good variety of bosses to make things interesting. :p Like, imagine if Cuphead only had 5 bosses or something. It definitely wouldn't be a bad game, but it wouldn't be nearly as great as it is. What kind of gimmicks are you interested in seeing?

Some gimmicks that I think would work great, a boss that can like hold a player in place or stop them and their team has to shoot them out invokes a lot of teamwork, a boss that can go invisible (though it is still slightly visible obviously), a boss can redirect your attacks if you shoot at the wrong time, and a boss that like changes the environment of the arena to make things difficult for the team and inspire new tactics. Now those could all be game design nightmares so let me know what you think!

So, I've come up with a more solid story now. It's nothing, like, RPG level, but I'm still down to share it if you wish. The question is, would you like me to share the big plot twist at the end or not? If I do, and you manage to remember, then obviously it probably won't hit as hard when/if I actually finish the project and (hopefully) publish it. On the other hand, it will probably be a very long time until I actually finish this thing (if ever), so chances are you will forget by the time I actually put it out htere.

Yeah you can tell me! You can also just dm me if that makes it easier for you.

I actually can't DM. They're broken! :D In any case, here's what I got: The story: The story will be fairly simplistic. There will probably be a quick introduction, where the big bad on a blimp drops off the first BIG ROBOT. The Elementalist either is already on the scene, or shows up shortly thereafter. Cue gameplay section where you play as the Elementalist. The Chrono Mage will then show up, and the Elementalist will probably tell them to get lost because it's too dangerous for a kid, but then we cue a gameplay section as the Chrono Mage. Finally, both the Photomancer and the Healer show up together, and unlike the other two the implication is that they already know each other, and were already fighting BIG ROBOTS together. Regardless, we get a short gameplay section with the two of them, and then everyone teams up. Cue title screen with the four of them staring at the blimp in the distance. There will be very little in the way of big narrative moments. More just them tracking the blimp through various locations, fighting BIG ROBOTS along the way. Instead, the story will focus more on who these characters are, and hwo they interact with each other. The Elementalist will be something akin to a Lancer. She'll be quiet, and kind of a jerk, at least at first, and was very much a "I work alone" type when the story begins. Over time, she opens up, and it turns out she's actually quite sweet. She cares deeply about her new friends, even if she's not great at showing it. The Chrono Mage will be a bright & peppy little girl. She's the Heart of the group, and the one who pulled everyone together in the first place, adn the one who keeps them together. She often talks about her past as an orphan, and about her brother who died in a tragic accident. The Photomancer will be the Brains. She's a total nerd, and is probably the only one actually tracking hte blimp, with everyone else just trusting she knows where she's going, and following her around. She is rather arrogant, which can get annoying, but also most of the time she's usually right. The Healer will be the Muscle. A big beefy guy who's been on a team with the Photomancer for long before the game. Despite the fact that it looks like he's her bodyguard, her role as a photomancer often means she's actually his bodyguard, while he uses his healing magic to keep them alive. As a healer, he's very gentle and caring, despite his imposing looks. The spoiler stuff: [spoiler]Eventually, they track the big bad to his hideout (or maybe shoot down the airship, and board it while it's down) and he's a Chrono Mage in a mech suit. His abilities as a Chrono Mage far surpass that of the hero, and his mastery over time makes him more or less unbeatable, as even if the heroes do win a fight, he can reverse time to before it even happened. Eventually, it's revealed that he's actually the hero Chrono Mage's brother that she talks about all the time, and the "accident" She often talks about affected both of them. Because of the accident, the brother's age was accelerated, and he became an old man who *did* nearly die, but barely managed to survive with his mech suit. The hero on the other hand became unable to age, and is stuck as a little girl forever. This event was the reason the villain hates magic. Eventually, things get bad. The villain kills each of the heroes one by one, while the hero Chrono Mage yells for him to stop. First the Healer dies, then the Photomancer. Just as the Elementalist is about to be killed, the Chrono Mage yells "Stop!" one more time, and time freezes. There's a brief gameplay section as the Chrono Mage where time is frozen, where you can interact with the bodies of the Healer and Photomancer, as well as the about-to-die-as-soon-as-time-resumes Elementalist, and with all three the Chrono Mage is uncharacteristically dim. Finally, you can interact with the villain, and she'll say something along the lines of "There's only one way to fix this.". Then, the Chrono Mage will cast her ultimate spell, and turn back time. There's a short cutscene where you see the Chrono Mage with her brother back when they were orphans. In this cutscene, he's sweet and caring, totally unlike the villain we saw not that long ago. However, she suddenly pulls out a magic staff, and when he asks what she's doing, she shoots him in the head, killing him instantly. She then falls to her knees, and cries over his corpse, and then the game ends! Yay! :D There may also be a post-credits scene, where you play as the Chrono Mage in the hub, back in the present where you can interact with all of your allies, but none of them know who you or each other are, because if this downer ending wasn't downer enough, saving her buddies also meant that none of them ever met, and she saved the world at the cost of losing all of her friends that she fought so hard to protect in the first place![/spoiler]

That’s so good! I love the idea of really meeting these characters, which kinda breaks the boundary for a simple boss fighter with simple graphics (I’m assuming). Spoiler praise: [spoiler]I love this so much, it would have a huge impact on the players and the fact that you grow with the characters and learn them through only to see them die in battle is one of my favorite concepts, and the whole family thing is genius![/spoiler] Seriously, great job! I’m so excited for this!

You wanted the story stuff to come up with ideas, didn't you? Got any? :p

Honestly this seems pretty complete to me, are there any areas you’re a little less confident about?

No, I'm content with it. You just said you wanted to come up with story stuff, so I was giving you the opportunity to do so.

I’m genuinely excited for this game, keep us updated!