Shockwave

Three questions for the mechanic

• Can the player read the complete rule?

  Emphasize the source impact and the surface that will carry the wave; height and travel direction should be visible at release.

• Is the intended response reachable?

  The player jumps, changes elevation, blocks, moves beyond the wave’s reach, or exploits a deliberate break in the surface.

• Does recovery create a useful outcome?

  The wave must pass the player’s complete body before it dissipates, while the impact pose holds a short recovery that rewards a correctly timed crossing.

Design mistakes

• A wave hidden by floor art or camera effects becomes a reaction test to an unreadable hazard

  A wave hidden by floor art or camera effects becomes a reaction test to an unreadable hazard.

• The cue and active geometry disagree

  If the visible shockwave cue promises a different area or timing, the player cannot carry the learned rule into the next cycle.

Tune the attack

• Tune the complete rule

  Tune travel speed, height, lifetime, surface coverage, and repeated spacing against jump airtime and landing control.

• Escalate one variable at a time

  Alternate low and high waves, split them at obstacles, or repeat them in a learnable rhythm after the base traversal is clear.

• Prove the recovery

  The wave must pass the player’s complete body before it dissipates, while the impact pose holds a short recovery that rewards a correctly timed crossing.

Arena

• What the mechanic communicates

  An impact creates a threat that travels across a surface, separating the boss’s strike location from the later line the player must clear. The encounter uses that rule as a short promise: a visible signal, a committed action, and a result the player can verify.

Player upgrades

• Adapt it to the player verbs

  The player jumps, changes elevation, blocks, moves beyond the wave’s reach, or exploits a deliberate break in the surface. Tune travel speed, height, lifetime, surface coverage, and repeated spacing against jump airtime and landing control.

Do not confuse this with

• Keep the mechanic distinct

  A wave hidden by floor art or camera effects becomes a reaction test to an unreadable hazard. Do not hide that distinction behind extra effects or tracking that the announced rule does not contain.