Gameplay

This article is about the gameplay in Indie Pogo.

Movement

Jumping

In Indie Pogo, the playable fighters are auto-jumping as soon as they touch the ground. This was the primary development decision, and every other mechanic has been built around this gimmick. Auto-jumping keeps the pacing of a match always in motion.

Air Jump

Additionally, all characters are able to perform an air jump while in the air. This allows players to get on top of their enemies and thus having an advantage, as well as recovery when falling offstage.

Dodge

When in midair, fighters are able to dodge, and be invincible during a few frames. They can dodge in place, or in any direction. Dodging upward can add a bit of recovery. Dodging puts fighters in helpless state, where they cannot do anything until they touch an opponent or the ground.  This state can be also be nullified by performing a wallslide.

Parkour

On the ground, players are able to use the parkour button to stand or crouch on the ground. Inputting a direction allow the character to roll. Releasing the button will stop the parkour. Pressing the jump button mid-roll performs a rolling leap. Parkour can be inputted near walls to wallslide and walljump, even when in helpless state.

Attacks

Pogo Attack

The main way of attacking in Indie Pogo is by Pogo attacking. When ending on top of a foe, players are able to damage the opponent and jumping off them. Pogo Attacking resets your attacks, dodge, and air jump. You can Pogo Attack after a dodge. Unless otherwise stated in their page, a character's pogo attack deals 3 damage. Certain cases, such as weight classes, Augments, and Welltaro's Blast Module upgrade, allow these attacks to deal more damage than usual.

After Dodging, the Pogo Attack hitbox gets bigger but thinner. This lasts after the character touches the ground two times, and is present when jump after touching the ground a first time.

Comparison between the normal Pogo hitbox and the after-dodge Pogo hitbox

Comparison between the normal jumping animation and the after-dodge jumping animation. Notice the hitbox granted by the dodge

Rolling Leap

Rolling leap is performed when jumping out of a roll. When entering on contact with a foe, it does 2 damage. Jump button can be held to keep the momentum and the hitbox active.

Walljump

Walljump works similarly as the rolling leap, but is slower and is performed on a wall.

Grabs and Throws

Grabs are performed by pressing the parkour button in mid-air and aiming in a direction, or by pogoing on an opponent's head and pressing the parkour button. When grabbing, a player can press either dodge, parkour or attack to throw the opponent in any direction. Holding a button will charge the throw, increasing its knockback. Throw knockback distance scales depending on the victim's HP. If a victim collides with a surface after being thrown, they will take 2 to 6 damage depending on the charge and throw velocity.

Victims of grabs can free themselves early by mashing inputs. The higher the victim's HP, the easier it'll be to break free. Additionally, throws can be teched with proper timing, nullifying any damage that the victim would have taken.

Other attacks

Main article: Fighters

Every character can perform attacks using the attack button and a directional input, in the air or on the ground.

Melees: Quick, close-range attacks that are well suited for close-range combat and combos. Every fighter possesses the following Melees:

• Side Melee
• Up Melee
• Down Melee
   

Specials: Unique attacks with different attributes that can vary from character to character. Every fighter possesses the following Specials:

• Neutral Special
• Side Special
• Up Special
• Down Special
   

Grounded Charge: A move performed by pressing the Special button on the ground. Holding the button allows these moves to be charged for increased power or different attributes.

SUPER: A unique super attack, performed with its dedicated button. All SUPERs require five Gems to be activated. 

Pogo Combo and Gems

The Pogo Combo is the main combo mechanic of Indie Pogo. Instead of counting the number of hits that a fighter could land on an stunned opponent like in most fighter games, Pogo Combo counts the number of hits a fighter can land before touching the ground. After two hits, the Pogo Combo displays a "1". This number corresponds to the number of Gems that the player will earn when touching the ground. If a player with an active Pogo Combo is sent into knockback, they will lose their combo.

Players can cash in Pogo Combos for Gems by landing on a surface with an active Pogo Combo. Every player starts off the match with two Gems (or more depending on the use of Augments). Once a player collects Five Gems, they will be able to use their SUPER. These Gems are consumed immediately upon use.

Passives/Unique Traits

In Indie Pogo, some characters possess a unique mechanic no other character has. These traits are either passively activated, or earned when specific criteria are met. Here is a list of all these unique traits.

• Bullet Kin: Using the Right Stick on controllers, Bullet Kin is able to aim their selected Gun a full 360 degrees around them. Bullet Kin also has a dedicated Fire button (set to Right Trigger by default) to fire a shot from their current Gun. In addition to this, Bullet Kin also has the Active Reload Passive. When out of ammo, Bullet Kin will scurry along the ground as a reload sequence plays. By lining up the two indicators using the Fire button, Bullet Kin earns a shorter reload time, and a damage buff on his next clip. If timed incorrectly, the reload time will increase. Lastly, Bullet Kin has the Dodge Roll move from Enter The Gungeon in place of his regular Roll. This technique grants Bullet Kin slight invulnerability and only travels a short distance, dealing minimal damage and knockback.
• CommanderVideo: After performing a Pogo Combo of 3 or more, he activates the Rainbow Trail Passive, which slightly buffs the damage of his Specials. Holding up spawns an orange Beat Paddle above him that deflects projectiles.
• Diogenes: By holding down, Diogenes retreats into his cauldron. This technique, known as Pot Nap, allows Diogenes to nullify all incoming damage taken. Pot Nap cannot nullify damage from SUPERs or Throws. Due to his weight class, Diogenes' Pogo attack deals 4 damage instead of 3.
• Fishy: Due to their weight class, Fishy's Pogo attack deals 4 damage instead of 3.
• Jack: Jack can slow his descent with a Hover by holding the Jump button.
• Shovel Knight: By holding down, he can use his titular Shovel Drop attack to bounce off the ground or foes.
• Viridian: Their air jump inverts their gravity, allowing them to travel upwards as long as the player is holding the jump button.
• Welltaro: His air jump allows him to fire up to 8 bullets out of his Gunboots for extra hang time, slowing his descent, or dealing damage. After performing a Pogo Combo of 2 or more, he activates the Gem High Passive, which slightly buffs the damage of his Specials.

Advanced techniques

Quick Jump

A Quick Jump, or Squat-cancelling, is performed when landing on the ground. Inputting jump during the Jumpsquat animation will cancel the Jumpsquat, allowing characters to jump faster. This technique doesn't consume the air jump. This technique is helpful for characters with long Jumpsquat animation, such as Fishy. Quick Jump is universal and works with every character.

Teching

After taking a hit and being in knockback or tumbling animation, instead of falling flat on the ground, the parkour button can be pressed right before hitting the ground to instantly get in standing position and recovering from a fall. This technique is hard because the window to input the parkour button is very small.

Quick Roll

Pressing the parkour button while holding either side when landing on the ground bypasses the crouch animation, allowing the character to instantly roll.

Wall Climbing

By dodging diagonally upwards towards a wall, Wall Sliding, then Walljumping (repeat this cycle), players can infinitely travel upwards to scale vertical walls and surfaces. This cycle is crucial for survival on Stages with low bottom blast zones or walls that travel all the way down, such as Canabalt Skyline, INK, and Retro Zone. It is a great recovery option if a player has expended all of their character's recovery tools.

Rolldancing

Rolldancing is a technique that lets the player crouch or roll immediately after ending a roll on the ground. To do this, a player has to first cancel their landing with a Quick Roll. After this, releasing the parkour button and immediately pressing it again will let the player crouch, and the player can roll again or do any other actions possible out of crouch. A player can usually only roll twice when rolldancing. However, this technique can be extended by rolling off a platform and landing on another one.

Dodgerolling

Dodgerolling allows players to dodge into the ground and then start rolling almost immediately. To do it, the player must dodge into the ground, wait for a very short number of frames after touching the ground and then try to roll. This bypasses the jumpsquat and crouching animations in the same way in which a Quick Roll does, allowing players to dodge into the ground instead of falling all the way so players can get into a roll faster.

Dodgedancing

Dodgedancing allows players to roll in one direction, turn around very quickly and start rolling in the other direction. Dodgedancing is faster than Rolldancing when turning around and also lets players turn around multiple times per roll, whereas Rolldancing only allows players to turn around once, or twice if they fall off a platform after starting their roll. Dodgedancing is performed by doing a rolling leap, dodging into the ground, waiting a few frames after touching the ground and then trying to roll in the opposite direction, however the player can choose to keep rolling in the same direction after Dodgedancing as well.

Augments

TBA

Gallery

The Shopkeeper talking about Quick Jumping

Trevor Lowe talking about Quick Jumping and Teching

FunPak and VCosmoz "discovering" Quick Jumping

¿Query? discovering Rolldancing

Trivia

• Earning Gems when landing on the ground after a combo is a mechanic taken straight from Downwell. In Indie Pogo, Welltaro's Super was Gem High, a mode that also activates when collecting Gems in Downwell.
• Quick Rolling is the result of an early implementation of the Rolling mechanic. When it was first implemented, rolling was either based on timing (with the window of the Quick Roll) or a set-distance roll if initiated while in Standing position. Rolling was then changed to be non-stop no matter what, but the timing-based roll still exists and thus results into the Quick Rolling technique.
• Quick Jumping was thought to be discovered by players, but Trevor Lowe talked about it prior to this "discovery". This technique is also taught by the Shopkeeper.
• When the hazards are turned on, Bouncy Castle replicates the Quick Jump automatically each time a character lands on the ground.
• The dodge mechanic is inspired by the dodge in Jack the Reaper, where the user spins and becomes invulnerable.