Campaign 1: challenge and readable combat

Campaign 1 aims for the deliberate challenge of classic action games: observe an enemy, choose an opening and commit to a response. Its current beta combines Dome combat, the Hangar Warden, escape flight and the flight boss.

Challenge feels deliberate when attack commitments, defensive cues and contact feedback are readable and consistent.

Decisions create the challenge

The Dome gives the player melee, ordinary and charged projectiles, a deliberate downward attack, a force field and evasive movement. Enemies can defend and counter sustained pressure. An enemy attack that committed first should not be cancelled simply because the player began attacking later.

Ordinary chance-based enemy fields now occur on 8% of eligible attack commitments. That is distinct from explicit sustained-pressure and stomp counters. A field is meant to be a readable cue: defend, reposition, use a permitted piercing attack, or wait for the opening. It should not become an unexplained guarantee that every enemy blocks every exchange.

The Wayward Star has a limited missile supply and refill pickups. Missiles pierce ordinary enemy fields. The flight boss has a separate response: a 50% chance to raise its missile defense, with shielded missile damage reduced by half. That keeps missiles useful without making them an automatic shortcut through the boss.

The picture must agree with the rule

Sprite dimensions, collision shapes and attack areas have different owners. A large tail or transparent canvas border should not make a low crawler absorb a shot that visibly passes over its body. Flight projectiles use a swept hull collision check so a fast shot cannot simply cross the ship between frames. Small impact bursts show where contact occurred.

Ground hazards must sit visibly against their actual floor. Boss attacks need an observable release. Camera transitions should preserve orientation and control. These details make failure understandable and learning possible.

Presentation completes the encounter

Campaign 1 uses authored scenes and spoken dialogue, separate music choices for flight gameplay and its boss, and a final thank-you scene with time to enjoy the ending track. The compact flight HUD avoids repeating weapon, shield and pulse prose below the meters. The website provides one outer fullscreen control.

The owner accepted Campaign 1 for beta. That is a product milestone, not a claim that every future browser, device, controller or campaign has been tested. Future tuning should preserve readable cues and document changes to the rules.

Continue with art and audio, the game platform, and Arcade access.

Implementation evidence in TheGynaraLegend: src/Gynara.Engine/Combat/TrainingEnemy.CounterDefense.cs, src/Gynara.Engine/Shmup, src/Gynara.Game/CampaignConclusion.cs, and docs/current/web-playtest-feedback-fixes.md.

Further reading: Maintained handbook chapter.