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 invicible 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.
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 rolljump. Parkour can be inputted near walls to wallslide and walljump.
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(or 4 if the character used is Fishy).
Rolljump
Rolljump is performed when jumping out of a roll. When entering on contact with a foe, it does 4 damage. Jump button can be held to keep the momentum and the hitbox active.
Walljump
Walljump works similarly as the rolljump, but is slower and is performed on a wall.
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.
Neutral Aerial: An attack that deals damage around the fighter/that can be angled to the sides.
Up Aerial: An attack or a movement angled upward, useful for recovery and damaging enemies trying to Pogo.
Down Aerial: An attack or a movement angled downward, useful for doing combos after a Pogo Attack.
Grounded Charge: A move performed on the ground, that grows in power when charged.
SUPER: A unique super attack, performed with its dedicated button. Super needs 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 an enemy attacks the fighter before they could land on the ground, the Pogo Combo is lost. When a player touches the ground with an active Pogo Combo, it disappears, transforming into Gems. Five Gems are needed to execute a Super. At the start of a match, every fighter receives 2 Gems.
Unique traits
In Indie Pogo, some characters possess a unique mechanic no other character has. Here is a list of all these unique traits.
CommanderVideo: After doing a Pogo Combo of 3, he activates the Rainbow Trail, which buffes most of his moves.
Fishy: Their Pogo Attack deals 4 damage instead of 3. Their air jump goes higher but cannot be interrupted.
Jack: He can hover by holding the Jump button.
Shovel Knight: By holding down, he can use his tituliar Shovel Drop attack to bounce off the ground or foes.
Velocispider: His Grounded Charge and Neutral Aerial share the same charge.
Viridian: Their air jump inverts their gravity, allowing them to go really high.
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.
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 and holding either side when landing on the ground cancels the jumpsquat animation and bypasses the crouch animation, allowing the character to instantly roll.
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.
Trivia
- Earning Gems when landing on the ground after a combo is a mechanic taken straight from Downwell. In Indie Pogo, Welltaro's Super is 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.
Gallery
