Spat and Swallowed Object Powers

#1

'Sup brohomies,

Jetrel and I were just discussing that we’d like to see more done with Frogatto’s tongue attack. I see this mainly taking shape not by changing the tongue attack itself, but by adding new items with special properties (perhaps even adding special properties to existing items). Some items would have a special effect when swallowed, and some would have a special effect when spat out.

As an example of special swallowed properties… we could have a poisonous enemy that makes Frogatto dizzy when he eats it (yes, I know I’m ripping off Yoshi’s Island and I so don’t care).

As an example of a spat property… actually, Jetrel’s made one already. Look forward to fruit that explodes on contact when spat.

Let’s hear yours!

#2

But also some more of mine (sorry, just didn’t want the introductory post to be too clogged).

I’d like to see an enemy that made Frogatto impervious to pools of acid while held in his stomach.

#3

But how to you get back out of the pool? :o

We had the jellybug, but I don’t know if that one still works. It made you all floaty.

  • A pufferfish sort of thing would be funny, because it would swell up Frogatto and he’d roll around.
#4

Swallowed properties:

  • makes frogatto able to jump higher (or lower)
  • makes frogatto actually have negative acceleration (i.e. float upwards)
  • makes frogatto move faster (or slower)
  • causes frogattto to gain (or lose) health at periodic intervals (e.g. every few seconds). Also mana.
  • makes frogatto impervious to certain natural hazards, be they acid, jets of poisonous vapor, or perhaps causes certain enemies or hostile terrain to ignore him.
  • makes frogatto able to pass through some obstacle (like a wall of slime, or a magic barrier)
    • acts as some sort of pass-key to enable some magical or otherwise thing if present, and to disable it if not; like a power-crystal that powers magic devices, but needs to be carried. One idea would be making a magic, intangible bridge tangible (c.f. the bifrost or somesuch).
  • makes frogatto invincible
  • makes time pass more slowly (or more quickly)
  • causes frogatto to exude some nearby effect - a fiery item might give him a 2-3-tile-wide radius in which things take periodic, ideally non-flinching damage.
    • makes frogatto give off light

Thoughts:

  • some of these could perhaps expire after a set amount of time - i.e. a health-returning one might be considered to “completely dissolve” after having been held for X seconds.
  • negative effects should be considered a tradeoff for some unusually good thing; i.e. if something does damage to you when you carry it, maybe it’s worth it because it does -crazy- damage to enemies, or has some enormous area-of-effect
#5

Thoughts on mechanics:
Actionjack already touched on a few ideas, but here’s a breakdown. There’s an idea for a new mechanic, “digesting” (a la Kirby), triggered by having something in frogatto’s mouth, and pressing “down”. Kirby used this just as a way to earn temporary powers - Unlike kirby, we could end up doing a whole variety of “unrelated to ability” effects. For example, swallowing and digesting certain fruit could restore health.

? Passive effects that persist whilst you have something in your mouth
? Activated effects triggered by digesting something (c.f. Kirby)
? Activated effects triggered by spitting something (c.f. Yoshi’s Island or SMW)
? ? Enemy modifications triggered by swallowing an enemy and spitting it (i.e. a transformation in the enemy’s type)

#6

Well, we have to watch the shape of the pool. It could be mostly horizontal, with a slope on either end so you can walk out of it. Or if you still have to jump out, the acid resistance could persist until 2-3 seconds after you spat the thing out.

#7

Is this a venue through which to flirt with the idea of…

The immortal double-jump?

#8

We were also talking about a spat projectile that gets more powerful if you juggle it (spit it up in the air and catch it) a few times before you spit it at an enemy.