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PCAM-24: A Designer’s Guide

To Phase-Based Actions

One idea to remember

Actions don’t happen over time. Actions move through stages.

PCAM-24 gives you a clear, shared way to describe those stages—so animation, combat, AI, and player input all agree on what is happening right now.

1. What problem PCAM-24 solves

In designer terms

If you’ve ever dealt with: * "The animation hit, but the damage didn’t" * "The parry felt right but failed online" * "This move is balanced at 60 FPS but broken at 120" * "Which frame does the hitbox turn on again?"

PCAM-24 exists to remove those problems at the design level, not as a late technical fix.

2. Phase replaces time

How to think differently

In PCAM-24, every action moves through 24 phases, numbered 0–23.

Do NOT think in... DO think in...
Seconds Stages of the action
Frames Wind-up / Commitment
Normalized Time Impact / Recovery

3. Phase windows

Your main design tool

A Window is just a named range of phases.

Example: Light Attack

Window Name Phases Meaning
Anticipation 0–5 Player commits
Commit 6–9 Cannot cancel
Active 10–13 Attack can hit
Recovery 14–21 Vulnerable
Reset 22–23 Combo allowed

No timers. No frame math. No "magic numbers".

4. What you author (and what you don’t)

You Author: * Phase windows * Which actions can cancel into others * Where hits, invulnerability, parries, and combos live * How risky or safe an action feels

You Do NOT Author: * Animation frame numbers * Millisecond windows * Per-FPS tuning * Separate logic for online vs offline

5. Animation becomes a follower

Animation does not decide gameplay. Instead, Animation reads the current phase.

  • If the attack looks like it hits, it is in the window.
  • There is no "visual lie."

The Shift

You stop asking: "Which animation frame is the hit?"

You start asking: "Which phase is dangerous?"

6. Dodge, Parry, and Block

Why this feels fair

Dodge

Invulnerability is a phase window. * Example: Phases 7–12 are . * If a hit occurs outside that window, it always lands.

Parry

Perfect parry is a very small phase window. * Example: Phases 4–6 are . * Late parry may block instead of parry.

Block

Block strength can change by phase. Holding block too long can naturally weaken it as the phase loops.

7. Cancels and Combos

Clean and readable

Instead of "combo window is frames 38–41", you define Chain Windows.

  • Example: Combo allowed only during phases 22–23.
  • Attack input buffered earlier will fire automatically there.

This makes combos consistent, latency-safe, and easy to rebalance.

8. Why this helps AI design

AI doesn’t guess anymore. It sees: 1. Opponent Action 2. Opponent Phase 3. Opponent Window

So it can dodge only during windows or punish only during .

9. Multiplayer feels better

Without you designing "for netcode"

Because phase is authoritative: * Online and offline behave the same. * Hits are decided by phase, not packet timing. * Disagreements are explainable ("you were in phase 9, not 10").

10. How you tune difficulty

You adjust Window Sizes and Window Positions.

  • Make a move safer \(\to\) Shorten window.
  • Make parry harder \(\to\) Shrink window.
  • Make combat faster \(\to\) Shift earlier.
  • Make stamina matter \(\to\) Reduce windows.

11. Debugging becomes visual

A PCAM-24 game can show you exactly why a hit failed. * Instead of "It feels off sometimes..." * You get "This window is too short" or "This cancel overlaps too much."

12. Mental Model Summary

Keep This

  • Phase = Where the action is
  • Windows = What the action can do
  • Time = Irrelevant to gameplay authority
  • Animation = Presentation
  • Phase = Truth

13. What PCAM-24 is not

To avoid confusion, PCAM-24 is not: * A new animation system * A timing tweak * A combat gimmick * A fighting-game-only thing

It is a shared language for action stages.

14. Why this is a design upgrade

PCAM-24 lets designers reason about gameplay in human terms and avoid fragile timing logic.

You stop fighting the engine. You start shaping actions.