Standard Enemies
Cartwheeler
The Cartwheeler is a creature that was executed by being beheaded. He is relatively
humanoid in appearance, but on all four of his limbs his hands/feet have been removed,
and long swords have replaced them. The Cartwheeler is able to walk and stand upright
by balancing on these blades, as the Movement section below describes. The
Cartwheeler’s head is somewhat crooked on his torso, and stitching is visible around
the circumference of the neck, as if the head had been sewn back on after being sev-
ered. Stitching is visible on other parts of his body, such as on his shirtless chest. His
head is covered by a bizarre and horrific mask.
Movement
The Cartwheeler has a variety of methods of navigating his environment, including
moving on the floor, on the ceiling, and jumping through the air. When using all four of
its limbs to move, the Cartwheeler is able to travel extremely fast, either on the ground
or on the ceiling. On the ceiling the creature crawls with its head looking at the floor and
its limbs bent back behind it, moving with a spider-like motion. On the ground, the
Cartwheeler moves on all fours reminiscent of a monkey. On the ground, the
Cartwheeler can also move by walking on its two legs like a normal human, though he
moves much slower in this fashion than when using all four limbs. The general motion
of the Cartwheeler has a start/stop feel, with the creature moving extremely fast for a
second and then slowing down to a crawl, which will make its motion erratic and unpre-
dictable, but also a bit disturbing.
The Cartwheeler is able to switch from moving on the floor to moving on the ceil-
ing by leaping in the air while simultaneously moving its limbs in order to stick its
blades into the ceiling. Conversely, the Cartwheeler can easily drop off of the ceiling
and onto the floor. Cartwheelers will decide to switch from being on the floor to being
on the ceiling and vice versa when it is to their advantage during combat or simply to
efficiently navigate the game-world. Cartwheelers can be flagged to stay only on the
floor or on the ceiling in certain specific situations.
The Cartwheeler is quite skilled at jumping, which it uses to move from the floor to
the ceiling as described above. The Cartwheeler can also jump in order to cover large
distances in a short amount of time, or to lunge at the player in order to attack him. This
is described in detail below. Cartwheelers can also spawn into areas by jumping and
landing from great heights, such as off of rooftops or, in one case, out of the sky itself. In
such cases the Cartwheeler will use a special “heavy landing” animation.
When moving on any surface, the Cartwheeler’s blades stick a few inches into that
surface. This will provide a visual explanation for why the creature is able to stay
attached to the ceiling. Though the Cartwheeler has a human body with normal joints,
these joints are able to bend in “wrong” directions as if extremely double jointed. This
allows the Cartwheeler to pull off the various moves it needs to in order to navigate the
environment, while simultaneously making the creature’s movement disturbing to
watch.
Melee Attacks
The Cartwheeler has a number of specific melee attacks, which it will pick from based
on whether it is on the floor or ceiling and depending on the range of its target. Each of
624 Appendix B: Sample Design Document:The Suffering