ART OF BOXING 1000 Punch Update!
Hey everyone, back with a MAJOR update to all facets of the game. A lot has changed and I will attempt to walk you through all the changes, and fixes in this update. Also a look forward to what is on-deck/next to KO. Without further ado, lets get into the details!
NEW CHANGES TO THE PUNCH SYSTEM:
OK. So after my purchase of an Xbox Kinect - I dove into mocap... in my living room! And it actually worked really well! My main issue with Art of Boxing's fighting (haha well there are many...) was that you could lean, and you could punch.... but you couldn't do BOTH at the SAME TIME!
Every time you pressed punch, your boxer would straighten up and punch from an upright position. And every punch was the exact same.
So here is my solution:
The GIF isn't great, and is taken from my workspace comp from within my development environment, but basically what I did was record myself throwing a jab, hook, and uppercut with each hand (in mocap), while leaning all 4 directions. Than I made them "blend" together depending on how much you lean, and in whichever direction you choose, that's what you are seeing here in the GIF.
What does this do? Basically before, there were about 15 or so punches in the game. Now depending on how far you lean, and in what direction, the punches will look different, and have modified angles, target, and speed. There are literally thousands of "blends" between punches depending on your "lean". It is much easier to hit your opponent in the body now, and hopefully land Uppercuts... which brings me to another change.
Because of the new leaning system, it was very hard, on a controller to use the right stick AND press X or Y. So my solution was to implement a NEW way to throw an uppercut. You can still use X and Y like before, but now, if you press BOTH triggers it will trigger that arms Uppercut (R1 + R2 - for a Right Uppercut, and L1 + L2 - for a left Uppercut)
Ok still with me? Next up is something awesome:
NEW MOVEMENT FOOTWORK SYSTEM!:
I wasn't liking how the boxers walk, and honestly it still can be wayyy better, and I intend to make it so! Now that I have my new mocap ability, I hope to completely rework the footwork aspect of the game, with awesome new animations in a more boxing style that we are used to. However that particular aspect is NOT in this new update, as I only had so much time, and didn't want to keep you all waiting too long... as I have before :-P
But what I HAVE added this update is the basis of the new movement system which I have another cool likkle GIF for y'all to help understand:
PRESSURE SENSITIVE WALKING CONTROLS! Now depending on HOW HARD you push the left stick, your boxer with walk a different speed. Also holding HARD RIGHT or LEFT will trigger a little slip animation.
FOR PEOPLE ON KEYBOARD: TO MOVE FAST HOLD SHIFT JUST LIKE A FPS..
OTHER NEW THINGS ADDED THIS UPDATE:
- WORKING OUT NOW MAKES YOU LOSE WEIGHT! EVERY WORKOUT REMOVES UP TO 0.5 LBS AND SUCCESSFUL LEVELING OF WORKOUT ALSO TAKES OFF ANOTHER 0.5 LBS! makes the workout and weight management a little more interesting. To offset this, you gain weight between fights.
- REWORK OF AI. The AI is still pretty basic, but I have now implemented the new punches into it's system, and made them back up and go right and left a lot more. Cpu fights still could be better lol... The fighter also will now back up to the other side of the ring during a Knockdown, to allow the opponent to get up... Speaking of getting up. I finally have fixed the "Head falling through the Mat" bug, which has in turn fixed the bug with fighters not getting up properly. Now when a fighter is knocked down, his HEAD will hit the canvas and he will ragdoll PROPERLY. Depending if he lands on his back or front, the game triggers a different "getup" animation. I have also tried to mitigate the "Launching boxers on KO" but more can be done with regards to that...
- Ref actually looks at the fight now. Lol I have no idea what he was looking at before.
- Fixed you corner entourage to not stand around in T-Pose in your corner while you are fighting.
- Fixed items in the shop not working. There was an issue after I changed the graphics over to the new pipeline, where textures and colors were not showing up properly in the store. Also the mask and the hyperbaric chamber now work for purchase. Also the UI in the store was not updating to show "OWNED" unless you closed the window and opened it again, which was (needless to say) confusing, so that has been fixed as well.
- Added the new controls to the Tutorial, and made the mouse visible/unlocked so you could lean AND also skip the tutorial haha. Also added a pause function to the tutorial.
- Reworked the damage and chin system, as well as the regen rate for health. Now fighters will gain health back much slower, so multiple combos are necessary to take someone down.
- Fixed the UI bars for health at the top of the screen. Now your health will accurately carry over from round to round, and your health bar will not appear "full" every round (even though in the past it wasn't actually "full" the meter was just resetting). Now your work in the corner game should have more obvious results.
- Toned down the blood/cuts. I tried to get them to appear hopefully once or twice a fight, this one is hard to test really so let me know if they are happening at a more reasonable rate. I also reduced the splashing, and have it hitting the mat again as well.
- The camera now focuses on the fighter that is knocked down.
- Numerous bug fixes I can't think of right now...