Version 0.5.1 is now released! This patch contains new CPU versus mode, more training room features, a demo mode, and as always more gameplay improvements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY7JhoPBkWk
CPU Versus Mode
Added CPU / AI functionality! Players can now fight against computer opponents in versus mode and training mode.
There are three difficulties to choose from (Easy / Medium / Hard), the difference between them is that the harder difficulties block more often, tech throws more often, make decisions quicker, and react to things faster.
There is also two behaviour types to choose from. One is the Default option where they will use all their moves, and the other is a Footsie option where they will just use movement and a select few normals (can be fun to practice against).
The AI itself is not particularly smart, but sometimes it does cool things and decently fun to fight against for a version 1.0. In the future we plan on improving on this and adding more behaviour types to fight against. Soon we will also add other game modes like survival and arcade.
Also, Maxx cheats (doesn't need charge)
Demo Mode
Added a demonstration mode that creates random cpu vs cpu matches, and initiates automatically from the press start screen if no input is supplied. There are no intros or outros, and pressing start at any time will bring the game back to the main menu.
Training Mode - Dummy
Added functionality for selecting the behaviour of the training dummy in the "Dummy Settings" sub-menu. The available options are:
- Default (Counter Hit / Blocking)
- Jump
- Crouch
- CPU (Difficulty / Type)
- Human
- Record
- Playback
Training Mode - Quick Change
Moved quick character / stage / music selection to a sub-menu under "Quick Change". Also added the ability to select character color from this menu.
Training Mode - Functions
Added a "Functions" menu to the training mode which serves as a way to access the keyboard-mappable training keys from a controller. This will allow players to Pause / Step / Toggle Playback / Toggle Recording / Save Game State / Load Game State with their controller, which before was only possible from the keyboard.
While in training mode:
- Open the dialog by holding the "Utility" button (previously mapped to the load game state functionality)
- While continuing to hold the Utility button, move up and down to select the desired function
- Release the Utility button to execute or Start button to cancel
- Tap the Utility button in-game to repeat the last selected function (map to load game state and it will function same as before by tapping)
This menu can also be accessed through the pause menu under "Functions".
Training Mode - UI
Adjusted how the sub-menu options work (player / dummy / display / etc). Changed to just being separate sub menus instead of being a left / right group, which was kinda unintuitive how we had it set up.
Patches Dialog
Removed the in-game patch viewing dialogs. Was kind of a pain to maintain and I doubt anyone actually uses them. In the future if I bring it back, it will probably just link to these steam announcement posts.
Optimizations
Bunch of code optimizations done to improve memory performance, should feel smoother as a result (less intermittent hitching).
Animations - Airborne hits improved
All characters have had their airborne being hit animations (reset / juggle / knockback) updated. This should provide more clarity for resets and generally look better than before.
Attacks - Airborne normal pushback increased
All airborne attacks now apply slightly more push back against grounded opponents. Should look better and is slightly tied to the changes in jump arcs (read below).
Camera - Adjustments
As always in searching for the perfect camera, ours has been adjusted against. This version should feel more 2D, move slower horizontally, move less vertically, clamps the top position (doesn't go above a certain height), and generally should be more clear.
Character Shake - Re-enabled
Re-enabled the character shake that happens when a character gets hit and should be a bit more subtle than it used to be. Hopefully gives attacks a little bit more umpfh.
Collision Boxes - Move Boxes - High speed resolutions
Added support to the engine that prevents characters from passing through each other at high speeds. This has been a pretty long-standing problem that has been pretty limiting and we finally got around to addressing it.
Previously, if a character moved quick enough in one frame so that they moved farther than the width of their movement boxes, they would end up passing through the other. In order to prevent this, we generally just made the width of movement boxes relatively large and made sure that animations weren't too fast, but there were still some cases where it was possible to happen.
Now we can account for this, where the engine takes the previous frame's positions into account when figuring out if there was a movement collision and which side each player needs to be on. This will give us a lot more freedom with move box widths where we can make the characters "thinner", and with attack animation speed where characters can move much much faster without having to worry about going through the opponent.
Collision Boxes - Move Boxes - Corner adjustment
Removed the logic that prevented characters from crossing under a juggled opponent in the corner. This was done so that things like Juggle xx DTC -> Forward Dash -> Attack would keep them in the corner even if the attacker got all the way into the corner.
This is being changed in order to allow that juggle cross under (stuff like Dog St.HK xx Run will allow the same mixups in the corner as it does mid screen), and any situation like the above one will be balanced more around the push back on the juggle and dash distance of the character.
Collision Boxes - Move Boxes - Standardized Airborne / Juggle sizes
Standardized the bottom move box position between airborne and juggle states. Previously, the juggle version would reach quite a bit farther down to be harder to get under, but it allowed a strange-looking case to happen when a character gets hit while right on top of the other (one above the other and not intersecting -> get hit into juggle and is now intersecting because it reaches lower -> jarring resolution), most frequent example is Agent uppercutting against a very deep opponent.
Now it should feel a lot more consistent and look better.
Also, the back side of all airborne move boxes has been shrunk a bit, which makes it less often to collide with things that are behind the player. This will be mostly noticeable when landing directly on top of an opponent and landing on the other side (crossup), now when the character hits the ground they will be much closer because their movement box doesn't push out as much, should make empty jump crossups much much better.
Collision Boxes - Move Boxes - Adjusted grounded heights
Dog has had the height of his grounded move boxes slightly reduced, and the Big body characters (T.Yara / Maxx) have had theirs slightly increased. This should slightly increase the difference between the body types.
Collision Boxes - Grab / Move Boxes - Reduced grounded widths
With the above change to high speed move boxes, all body types have had their move box widths decreased (and grab boxes by the same amount - they are tied).
In relation to this, the hurt box widths have NOT been adjusted. Because of this, the horizontal distance between the edge of the move box and the hurt box has been increased, which means that all characters will get slightly more combo options when starting a combo from point-blank range.
Damage - Ignore global and character scaling
Added functionality for defining if a hit has its damage scaled or not. Normal Throws, Command Throws, and Supers all are no longer scaled by global / character scale values and have had their damage values adjusted accordingly. These meta of these moves will no longer be affected when adjusting those scale values, and eventually if we want to move away from the scaling system we now have the ability to do so.
Damage - Removed counter hit scaling bonus
Counter-hits no longer provide the benefit of not scaling the next hit in a combo. The damage variance on combos was just too much but it was fun for a while.
Damage - Adjusted scaling
Slightly increased the global damage scale so that hits generally do a bit more damage and adjusted combo scaling so that there is a larger change between the first and second hits of a combo. This change should give a bit more reward to neutral hits in relation to combos.
Damage - Supers separate scaling
Supers now use a separate linear scaling list (100% -> 90% -> 80% -> 70% -> 60% -> 50%). This change should give more reward to quick combos into supers.
Hit Stop - Adjusted
Slightly increased all non-special-cancellable normals hit stop. This is something we've had in the past and gives these attacks slightly more umpfh, and in the case of super-cancellable attacks, slightly more time to buffer super.
Input - More wakeup leniency
Slightly increased wake up input leniency, which should make it a little easier for players to get their attacks out when getting off the ground.
JTC - Adjustments
JTC has been changed in a few ways that should give it a bit more utility but a bit less effective in neutral. The juggle value that you gain when landing it in a combo has been increased from 1 to 2, which will allow for more combo options after the JTC. On the other hand, it now scales the combo damage much more than before. Hopefully it should make going for these combos more about situational meter usage or player variety, rather than optimal damage.
Jumps - Arc adjustments
All characters jump slightly farther horizontally, and slightly less high vertically.
KO - More freeze
There is slightly more character freeze when KOs happen, should give the KO moment a bit more impact.
Meter - Reduced
Slightly reduced E and T meter gain across the board, should make spending these resources a bit more of a risk and make 4-bar supers a bit harder to build.
Resets - Adjustments
Decreased global reset juggle value from 3 to 2. This should allow more opportunities for resets, and with the above change to JTC juggle value, always after a JTC.
Each character has also had their reset distance slightly increased, which will make it harder to cross under and less reward in general.
UI - Adjustments
Adjusted scaling resolution and positioning of the gameplay UI. Text should be more readable and look better.
Walks - Added speed ramp
Added functionality for walk speed to ramp up over a few frames. This will slightly reduce the distance moved when quickly going between different directions. When initiating a walk, the movement speed will now start at 50% and ramp up to 100% over six frames. With this in mind, all characters have had their walk speed slightly increased.
- Jp.HP: Can no longer cross up
- St.HK: More push back, less corner push back
- HP.Gunshot: More hitboxes added to the end of the beam
- All.Headbutts: Less push back
- HK.Headbutt: More punishable on block
- EX.Headbutt: Travels farther during startup
- General: Gains less meter
- St.MP / St.HP: Dash cancel now requires regular dash input (not single forward / backward)
- Cr.MP (fast): Reaches farther, better on hit
- St.MK: Easier to whiff punish, worse on hit and block
- Cr.MK: No longer disables upper hurt box during startup
- Cr.HP: Can no longer cancel later active frames, fast version better on hit and block
- All.KnifeRush: Juggles slighlty farther horizontally
- HP.KnifeRush: Increased knockdown frames
- EX.KnifeRush: Less push back, worse on block
- General: Less health
- St.HK: More hit stop
- LK.ShieldCharge: Less push back
- MK.ShieldCharge: Less push back
- EX.ShieldCharge: Travels farther during startup, increased hit box range
- Dash Forward: Less distance
- St.LP: Better on hit, better on block
- Cr.LP: Better on hit, better on block
- St.MP: Faster startup, more push back, better hit box
- St.HP: Super cancellable, reaches farther, collision boxes now follow animation, better on hit, worse on block
- Cr.HP: No longer forces stand, hit box top reduced, slower startup, better on hit
- Jp.HK: More active frames, additional hit box on last active frame, less hit stun
- EX.PinWheel: Now requires 0 juggle value (still removes 1), increased corner push back
- PinWheel->Dive: Better on hit, better on block, adjusted spike physics
- Run: Adjusted animation timing
- Run->Slide: Reaches less far
- Run->MidStrike: Increased push back, ex version worse on block
- Dash Forward: Slightly less distance
- Throw Backward: Fixed corner push not being applied
- St.LP: More push back, better on hit
- Cr.LP: More push back
- Jp.LP: Updated animation
- St.MP: Slightly worse on hit, slightly better on block
- Jp.MP: Updated animation
- Cr.MK: Reaches slightly less far
- Jp.MK: Updated animation
- Jp.HP: Updated animation, now causes spike into soft knockdown against airborne opponents, slower startup, less active frames, adjusted hit boxes
- St.HK: Increased juggle value
- Cr.HK: Updated animation, more push back, reaches slightly less far, slightly decreased damage
- Jp.HK: Updated animation, now causes a hard knockdown against airborne opponents
- All.CrescentKicks: Adjusted juggle physics, adjusted hit box positions, no longer cancellable into super when parried, harder to go over opponents on the ground
- Super.LunarGeyser: Worse on block
- General: Less damage, less meter gain, slower walk forward when buffed
- St.LP: More push back, more recovery, more hit / block stun
- Cr.LP: More push back, better on hit
- Fw.MP: Now special cancellable
- St.HP: Faster startup, less push back, bigger hurt box
- Cr.HP: Slower startup, more push back, smaller hit box top, bigger hurt box
- Jp.HK: Slower startup, reaches slightly less far
- All.HookSwing: Less push back
- LP.HookSwing: Slightly less recovery, slightly worse on dtc
- EX.HookSwing: More time between hits, second hit reaches farther
- All.GAP: No longer applies damage on initial hit, easier to whiff punish
- EX.Buff-U: Bigger hit box, increased damage, less push back
That's it for the main changes in the update, but as always, there's a ton of little things in the full detailed changelog, which you can find here
As always if you want to keep up to date with development, please follow us on social media. If anything, definitely join the discord!