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JJ2+ shield idea contest

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Feb 19, 2014, 03:34 PM
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JJ2+ shield idea contest

We're all used to the JJ2's set of three shields (and the disgrace to the entire shield kind known as the laser shield). They don't vary all that much between each other and don't leave much choice to level designers in the occasional cases they actually want to add a shield to their creation. Overall, the point I'm trying to make and I think we can all agree with is that the quantity of available shields is just not large enough.
We at the JJ2+ staff believe we have just enough control over the game code by now that we can fulfill the task as is adding a brand new shield to the game. And guess what, we decided to ask the community for ideas on what it could be, and that's exactly what this thread is for.
Now to help you organize your ideas here is a list of things that define a shield type:
  • Visuals
    • Shield body - the main and most memorable part of a shield is the sphere around its owner. Even though all of the game shields follow this scheme, there is technically no reason for us to stick to the spherical shape so don't feel limited to it and just describe whatever you would like your shield to look like. When you consider colors, keep in mind certain JJ2 limitations - especially that in 8-bit mode (that we'd like to and will keep compatibility with) it relies entirely on its palette that has only so many constant entries. If you think a simple description is not enough, you can always draw concept art of the shield; it's far from obligatory but you would be sure to avoid any misconceptions.
    • Projectiles - every shield has its own kind of bullets it allows players to fire. Those, generally, use sprites, and a brand new shield requires brand new sprites. Again, keep in mind the JJ2 palette when you describe them. It's also hard to hide it would save us a lot of work if you actually drew the sprites yourself but if you don't want to, you don't have to.
    • Particles - those can only be observed for the fire shield and the lightning shield and are not an actual requirement. Particles are created by travelling and exploding projectiles but if you fits your theme they can probably be also left by the shield itself. Say what they should appear and behave like, possibly draw them if you feel like it; they're small so it shouldn't be much of an effort.
    • Shield monitor - there's not much freedom here, the shield monitor basically displays a small symbol that represents your shield. You can tell us what you think it should be or you can draw it yourself (the symbol itself is limited to the size of about 10x16 pixels).
  • Mechanics
    • Projectiles - the only real difference between mechanics of various shields is observable in their projectiles. And yet, two of the existing shields introduce nearly no real changes compared to regular blaster. There's a lot of room to be original here. Tell us how much damage the projectiles should do, what their trajectory should look like, how far they should go and whatever other special properties they should have, anything that comes to your mind, really. Try not to describe a weapon too overpowered or useless - balance is the key. Like in other categories, describing this aspect with words will do completely fine but if you're feeling ambitious and are skilled with AngelScript, feel free to write a script that will demonstrate your desired bullet behavior.
  • Sounds
    • Looped sound - the sound you hear constantly when the shield is enabled. Even though all existing shields do have one, it is not really obligatory, especially in case it just doesn't make sense for your shield to make sounds on its own. Provide a brief description of the sound or post a link to a sample.
    • Projectiles - they make sounds when they're fired and when they explode. No matter what your idea is it probably makes sense to have at least one sound made by shield projectiles. Again, describe the sound briefly or post a link.

Example:
If you wanted to suggest to add the JJ2 water shield, you would probably post something like this:
Quote:
My idea is a water shield. It looks like a translucent blue water bubble surrounding a rabbit and it distorts things visible behind it. The shield monitor shows a picture of a droplet. It allows the rabbit to shoot smaller blue bubbles at random angles. The bubbles travel long distances in straight lines and bounce back whenever they hit a wall. They do 1 point of damage to enemies and 2 to other players. They never leave any particles but you can hear them making very subtle quiet sounds when they bounce against walls. Other than that they make sounds generally associated with bubbles and flowing / dropping water when they're shot, and similar sounds are constantly made by the shield.
The idea that is considered by JJ2+ staff to be the best one is guaranteed to become one of our priorities and be implemented in one of the nearest versions of JJ2+ (I realize this might sound kind of vague; that's purely because we never implemented a new shield in JJ2+ and can't know how much time exactly it can take us). The winner, if possible to contact, will be kept updated with our progress implementing the shield (with pictures!). Additionally, every other shield idea posted in this thread will be considered and might be added to the patch later during its development.
Even if you don't have an idea of your own, you might want to post in this thread to comment or support others' concepts. Don't be afraid to express your opinion as it might affect the final verdict.

Because it's always difficult to tell what amount of activity and interest can be expected from JCF, there is currently no deadline. When the deadline is decided on, a proper post informing about it will be made in this thread at least a week before the contest is closed.

Good luck!
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Feb 19, 2014, 04:59 PM
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My suggestion is a dark shield, as an opposite of sorts to the laser shield.
It would visually be based around lighting effects as the laser shield is, but using darkness rather than light. The monitor could simply be a blank one, I suppose?
Where the laser shield has long range and is very precise, the dark shield is shorter range but will inflict damage on anything within a certain radius of the player with a shockwave-like effect (is this possible?). No projectiles as such, just a circular area around the player.
For sounds, I'm not really sure. Perhaps reversed audio clips of the laser shield, or something to give an unsettling effect.

Also, are multiple suggestions allowed?
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Feb 19, 2014, 11:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Obi1mcd View Post
the dark shield [...] will inflict damage on anything within a certain radius of the player with a shockwave-like effect (is this possible?). No projectiles as such, just a circular area around the player.
There is certainly nothing shouting "impossible" from this description. However, we would likely make the circular area behave with most of characteristics of a bullet, including having to be triggered by the shield owner. There are various reasons for that, some being: keeping it consistent with other shields, preventing it from being overpowered (notice you can shoot bullets of other weapons while you have a shield in case of which you would be able to use the shockwave and projectiles at the same time), preventing it from acting out of player's will (when they don't actually want to destroy a given object; although given the theme of the shield you could argue it would be a feature rather than a downside) and the fact that, if you wanted, you could still quite easily force it to constantly produce the force field by using AngelScript while it would probably prove more challenging to make it stop doing so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Obi1mcd
Also, are multiple suggestions allowed?
Yes, although I suppose a limit of up to 3 per person would be a good idea to give a chance to everybody and potentially stop people from flooding us with half-baked ideas. So yeah, let's go with up to 3 per participant.
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Would love a ''Random shield'' - a box that pops a random shield.
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Feb 20, 2014, 01:24 AM
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Well I have some ideas for a shield, but most of them are about the mechanics. Also when I would think of a new shield it would be more a utility tool than weapon. My ideas (not all apply for the same shield and they can be combined with other ideas):

- Let the shield be a substitute for a +1 carrot by letting it block one hit and blink the player after while destroying the shield. By this I mean you can instead of have 2 +1 carrots in a level, 1 +1 carrot and 1 1-hit shield to make gameplay more exciting.
- Let the shield time go down quicker when you shoot, so the player has to balance between the offensive advantage and deffensive advantage of the shield.
- Let the shield give a one shot force pulse that clears all bullets around the player.
- As for weapons: A weapon that shoot like pepper spray (with an angle), mid range that explodes with a explosion smaller than tnt but maybe a bit bigger than rf. Also it has a medium-high firerate.

And now a more complete idea: A shield that is made up of oil which looks a bit like a black oil bubble around the player. The player shoots oil bubble bullets with a medium-high firerate of short-medium distance that spread a bit and have tnt size (maybe a fire rate like the toaster or a bit slower). The oil stays for a little time and then fades away making this a more deffensive weapon. Last, the oil does either 2 damage or the oil does 1 damage an can be put on fire to create a small explosion which does 2 damage in a larger area and instantanious. The last one might be a bit too gimmick.
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The crab shield:
The user is covered with a pinkish (think Uterus boss interior) sphere that is capable of taking damage as regular shields do. Firing releases crab eggs from the blaster that are affected by gravity and bounce once upon hitting the ground. These do 1 damage against both enemies and players and can be generally understood as weak. However, if the player holds down the fire button, the eggs gather up in a circle around the player, that is slightly larger than the shield itself and circles around them in the direction they are facing. Additionally, the faster the player moves, the faster they rotate. A limit of 8-10 eggs can be gathered up this way and further holding the button will only keep them around the player. Upon running into an enemy, the eggs deal damage as they normally do, and are destroyed as previously mentioned. If the player releases the fire button, the eggs are scattered with great force in directions opposite of the player (like fireworks). This way they are not affected by gravity and can travel a greater distance than normally, but still do the same damage.

Generally, the idea is based around a shield that emphasises the defensive while sacrificing offense. The most "shieldey" shield, if you will.
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Feb 20, 2014, 08:21 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Foly View Post

- Let the shield be a substitute for a +1 carrot by letting it block one hit and blink the player after while destroying the shield. By this I mean you can instead of have 2 +1 carrots in a level, 1 +1 carrot and 1 1-hit shield to make gameplay more exciting.
Fun fact: Having a bird is basically a one hit shield. I thought they were useless in MP but they do have a use. Unfortunately, they don't hit enemy players.

But I haven't tested it in a long time, so I might be wrong.
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Feb 20, 2014, 02:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Ementaler View Post
There is certainly nothing shouting "impossible" from this description. However, we would likely make the circular area behave with most of characteristics of a bullet, including having to be triggered by the shield owner.
Yeah that's what I was thinking, probably should have specified that.
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Biohazard Shield

Visuals:
Shield Body: Something similar to the Water Shield bubble design, but coloured green (think Jazz green), slightly less transparent, a few small bubbles rising up inside (like in a fizzy drink) and an overall "slimy" appearance.
Projectiles: I imagine the projectiles to be small, green, gelatinous orbs (similar in size and shape to the Water Shield bullets).
Particles: Smaller bubble-like particles could potentially "drip" from the shield body and/or the the projectiles, but this isn't really necessary (and could get excessive).
Shield Monitor: Biohazard/radioactive warning sign?
Mechanics:
Projectiles: The Biohazard projectiles stick to any masked surfaces that they come into contact with. After a few seconds, these bullets explode. However, they are still hostile to enemies and other players when stuck to a surface. Due to this property, this weapon is extremely effective for defensive purposes such as area denial. It is poor in general combat though, as the bullets are slow, move upwards in a parabolic trajectory and do not travel very far. This is the kind of trajectory the bullet would take if it was fired standing still:
If the bullet hasn't hit a masked tile yet, it has a counterEnd of the same value as a Blaster bullet. If it hits a masked tile, the counterEnd value resets and lasts about three seconds before the bullet explodes. Unlike the other shields, the Biohazard projectiles cannot be autofired (like Seeker/RF/TNT). They deal two damage to both enemies and players. However, they are unable to deal any damage to destruct scenery, and just stick to them like they would to any other masked surface.
Sounds:
Looped Sound: Something akin to the bubbling sound in this track, perhaps?
Projectiles: Not sure really. I guess they could sound like the Biorifle from UT (the weapon of which this shield was partially inspired by), or use a sound effect similar to the Water Shield bullets.
I may post some concept art later if there's interest in this idea.
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Mar 5, 2014, 01:43 PM
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Wooden shield - protects Jazz from flame attacks. However, if shot with ice, this shield runs out of time

Metal shield - prevents seekers from chasing Jazz. However, RF missile speed increases velocity when shot toward the metal shield

Clay shield - renders Jazz immobile, but prevents Jazz from taking damage for 5, 10 or 15 seconds, depending on if Jazz has 1, 2 or 3 health
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KRSplatinum View Post
Wooden shield - protects Jazz from flame attacks. However, if shot with ice, this shield runs out of time

Metal shield - prevents seekers from chasing Jazz. However, RF missile speed increases velocity when shot toward the metal shield

Clay shield - renders Jazz immobile, but prevents Jazz from taking damage for 5, 10 or 15 seconds, depending on if Jazz has 1, 2 or 3 health
Ok, I know I'm going like I'm picking on you with this and all..though honestly, these shield ideas are poorly thought out. Here's why:

1) You haven't explained what their bullets would be like.

2) Then wooden shield doesn't seem all that useful. Toaster isn't that great of a weapon. It's mainly used as a last resort, and to camp exit passages. Or, if you have no other weapons, or other powered weapons for that matter. If it only protects you from toaster, I could only see this shield being utilised in a level with only toaster pickups/the only PU being toaster, utilising unfreezing springs, with sparingly placed ice pickups. And how does wood protect from fire?

3) Utilising the Metal shield would require a layout that's more vertical and diagonally based, because RF is very strong in horizontal passages. Seeker pickups would be fairly common, I guess.

I could see these two ideas working in a one-time scripted level with some more thought. I believe the new shield should be versatile when it comes to making use of it, when creating a level.

4) On the other hand, the clay shield idea is worst idea so far, because it's no fun to be immobile. Not only that, the enemy can just sit beside you and wait to hit you until it wears out. Even if you could shoot, people could easily stay away from you.

Where I may be going wrong, is that I don't exactly know if the wooden and metal shields protect you from other types of shots in a way like the regular shields do. If they don't, then they truly are super situational and my points stand out further. I got this assumption because you mention the wooden shield protecting from getting hurt by toaster shots, which all other shields can do.

Maybe if the ideas weren't half-baked, I'd get a better idea of their potential, and would maybe delete this post.
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The contest is going to close on the 19th of March.

So far we consider all complete shield ideas in this thread that weren't posted by KRSplat very interesting and as long as we don't meet any obstacles, we'll likely initially implement at least two of them.
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Lightning Shield

Shield look: Electricity moving around the player(Not necessarily in a circle).

Particles: Little sparks of electricity in random directions.

Projectile look: A bolt of lightning that stretches out close to the width of a 320x240 window, and only moves with the player firing it. Animated.

Monitor: Fork lightning, or perhaps something reminiscent of the Harry Potter scar.

Projectile: Causes players hit by it to flash every other frame, they slow down while doing this, and take one damage every few seconds they are caught in this. However, the player firing this also slows down equally. Enemies hit by this take one damage every half-second. However, you take one damage for every two players you kill with this.

Passive effect: Players and enemies that touch you take one damage.

Sound: Similar to the plasma, but with electrical sparks.

Projectile sound: Electrical buzzing similar to the Star Wars Force Lightning.
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Last edited by Love & Thunder; Mar 10, 2014 at 08:16 AM. Reason: Too much like PurpleJazz's, so I came up with another one.
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1. A cloak. You can't fire, but you are invisible for the duration of the timer.

2. Fast Fire shield. Implement the negative number shields, just give them a particle effect that is themed with their ammo type.

3. Jungle Gun. Shield looks like (uses the sprite for) a boulder, does damage on contact to other players/enemies, shoots bananas.
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Quote:
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shoots bananas
yes
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shoots bananas.
wow. Nice opinion.
Is it can use to feeding monkeys?
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Quote:
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3. Jungle Gun. Shield looks like (uses the sprite for) a boulder, does damage on contact to other players/enemies, shoots bananas.
I would use this.
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The contest is now over and its winner is Foly with his oil shield idea:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foly View Post
A shield that is made up of oil which looks a bit like a black oil bubble around the player. The player shoots oil bubble bullets with a medium-high firerate of short-medium distance that spread a bit and have tnt size (maybe a fire rate like the toaster or a bit slower). The oil stays for a little time and then fades away making this a more deffensive weapon. Last, the oil does either 2 damage or the oil does 1 damage an can be put on fire to create a small explosion which does 2 damage in a larger area and instantanious. The last one might be a bit too gimmick.
This shield and potentially some of the other shields suggested in this thread will be implemented in the JJ2+ patch. Congratulations and thanks to everybody for your contributions!
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Awesome idea, looking forward to seeing it in action!
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Finally, Black gold is win. Wow.
Congratulation Foly!
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Too late for the contest, but a nice idea popped into my mind too.

Name: The Deflection Shield (or the Reflection Shield, the Mirror Shield, the Force Field Shield - pick your favourite).
Visuals - Body: Generally, the shield is transparent/invisible. A very faint version of the green thing in this picture is visible at the side towards which the player is moving. The colour could be neutral/white, maybe this is best achievable with specially-shaped lighting effects. The effect should be more pronounced at higher speeds, but it should never be brighter than about 30% of being completely saturated.
When an 'enemy' bullet (i.e. not from you or your team) hits the outer border of the shield, that part of the shield lights up brightly with the same shape like the thing in the picture. The brightness of that should be 100%, which I envision to be comparable to the explosion of Pepper Spray bullets.
When a 'friendly' bullet (i.e. shot by you or a team mate) hits the outer border, or when any bullet hits the outer border from the inside, a similar effect should be seen, but with only 50% of the brightness.
So basically, the shield is only visible while moving and whenever it is struck by bullets.
Visuals - Projectiles: The shield does not have its own kind of projectiles. You just shoot Blaster bullets if you select the Blaster. Any bullets that hit/pass through the shield's outer border get brightened up a bit (extra lighting). This is to visualise the fact that the shield 'did something' (see below) with it.
Visuals - Particles: The shield does not produce particles.
Visuals - Monitor: The monitor could show a very faint/incomplete circle with one bright side that spins around (much like what the shield would look like if the player would move in circles).
Mechanics - Projectiles: Instead of producing its own kind of bullets, the shield affects projectiles that touch it.
*All 'enemy' bullets that hit the shield's outer border are reflected. This reflection is in general like a mirror. That is, reflection around the normal of the surface, basically changing the sign of the angle of incidence. The speed of the player carrying the shield is added to that of the bullet after the reflection. Note that this may again change the direction of the bullet: if the bullet would be deflected exactly upwards if the shield was not moving, then if the shield was moving right, the bullet will move up and to the right. Most natural, as this gives the effect of 'pushing' the bullets away.
*All 'friendly' bullets that hit the shield's outer border, as well as all bullets that pass the shield's outer border from the inside out will pass through (hence the reduced lighting effect in this case), but they are deflected by changing their direction towards the surface normal by 50%. The bullet's speed is not changed in this case.
*Pepper Spray bullets do not follow the above. Since they are so small, the shield does not react to them at all - they are completely ignored. Enemy Pepper Spray bullets will do their normal damage if they hit the player character.
Sounds - Looped: Maybe a constant, subtle, low-pitched humming would be nice. But silence is fine too.
Sounds - Projectiles: When projectiles interact with the shield, a more pronounced low-pitched hum is good. In general, the more visible the shield is, the more it should be audible as well.
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Oh my gawd I won something in my life

I'm looking forward to see how its implanted. Also it is nice to see so many neat ideas!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Treylina View Post
Ok, I know I'm going like I'm picking on you with this and all..though honestly, these shield ideas are poorly thought out. Here's why:

1) You haven't explained what their bullets would be like.

2) Then wooden shield doesn't seem all that useful. Toaster isn't that great of a weapon. It's mainly used as a last resort, and to camp exit passages. Or, if you have no other weapons, or other powered weapons for that matter. If it only protects you from toaster, I could only see this shield being utilised in a level with only toaster pickups/the only PU being toaster, utilising unfreezing springs, with sparingly placed ice pickups. And how does wood protect from fire?

3) Utilising the Metal shield would require a layout that's more vertical and diagonally based, because RF is very strong in horizontal passages. Seeker pickups would be fairly common, I guess.

I could see these two ideas working in a one-time scripted level with some more thought. I believe the new shield should be versatile when it comes to making use of it, when creating a level.

4) On the other hand, the clay shield idea is worst idea so far, because it's no fun to be immobile. Not only that, the enemy can just sit beside you and wait to hit you until it wears out. Even if you could shoot, people could easily stay away from you.

Where I may be going wrong, is that I don't exactly know if the wooden and metal shields protect you from other types of shots in a way like the regular shields do. If they don't, then they truly are super situational and my points stand out further. I got this assumption because you mention the wooden shield protecting from getting hurt by toaster shots, which all other shields can do.

Maybe if the ideas weren't half-baked, I'd get a better idea of their potential, and would maybe delete this post.
1)

Wood shield would shoot tear gas. Metal shield would throw bombs. Clay shield would throw stones.

2)

Not only toaster, but fireball, rockets and seekers all use flames for propulsion. The wood shield can use flame retardant - much like how they make paper money. The wood doesn't catch fire if you use flame retardant.

3)

The seekers just wouldn't detect whoever has the metal shield. The heat signature of the metal would protect the heat seeking nature of seekers.

4)

Being immobile while using shields works in Super Smash Brothers - the shields there allow you to hop left and right once while using it, but other than that it would work like the clay shield. Shields in SSB are a commonly accepted tactic, they just aren't the exact same as shields in JJ2.
Ktos.

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May 13, 2014, 03:53 AM
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I know it is already too late, but I haven't been around for quite a while and decided to post it anyway, maybe you'd like the ideas so why not. I have two ideas for a shield, both working in a similar way.

1. Black Hole Generator
Visuals:
Shield body: Rabbit would be covered with a dark sphere, maybe it could even drain the light around it a bit.

Projectiles: It would leave an lightless points behind the rabbit, staying in one place similar to how TNT works. It would be rather an ambient lighting effect rather than any graphic by itself.

Particles: Sparks when something hits the generated hole.

Shield Monitor: Thats actually incredibly hard to come up with anything than just a dark monitor without anything on its screen. Maybe I'll get a better idea later.
Mechanics:
Projectiles: Instead of actually damaging anything, projectiles(which aren't really moving at all) would suck any projectiles nearby inside it and immobilize them, maybe except for homing projectiles like seekers that would be immobilized only temporarily. Black holes would dissappear after a short time. I'm not even sure, but I think it might be a good idea of making it suck both your and your enemies projectiles. And, it might have an interesting effect with TNT when it sucks it in.

Shield: Because of defensive nature of the shield itself it might have been a bit overpowered while working as a normal one. I thought it might be a good idea of it having shield hearts(that would make it dissapear after getting hit once or twice), or maybe shooting projectiles would drain its time left. Actualy, it might not be that op when its only for 15 seconds.

I have no ideas for the sounds right now, maybe I'll think of something later.

2. Tornado Shield
Visuals:
Projectiles: Small cyclones or actually anything that spins around. There is even a spinning animation of something inside the jj2 that plus uses as an bullet animation for some weapon, though a circle-shaped tornado of some sort would be much better.

Shield: Shape wouldn't be a sphere - near rabbits feet there could be an spinning animation of cyclone.

Shield Monitor: A small tornado on the screen.
Mechanics:
Projectiles: I have three thoughts how this might work:
- Projectiles would suck rabbits in immobilizing them and not damaging, and when the tornado runs out it would throw them in random location. Tornados would stay in one place maybe moving around a bit randomly,
- They might either be a homing projectiles and damage rabbits as they touch them,
- First idea, but damaging them and not throwing them away randomly.

Shield: Might speed up the rabbit or increase its jumping height, though not necessary.
Sounds:
Looped Sound: Maybe wind one? Because why not.

Projectiles sound: Maybe also wind sound, just changed a bit so at the beggining when you shoot its louder, and then constantly it gets more quiet.

Both are about sucking, I know.
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