It's been a loooong time coming, but Update 1.4 is out now for PC and Mac!
(XBox is having some issues on their end so the console update will be a bit late. :/)
What does this update feature?
Bots in Versus Mode
Lacking friends on your couch to fight against? You can now face off against CPU-controlled players in Versus Mode! Check out some gameplay here!
(To truly test your skills, try fighting against multiple bots at once!)
Wave Mode Improvements!
Many of the Wave Mode levels have had some tweaks, and the enemies across the board are a bit smarter!
You'll also find all characters spawning in Wave Mode now, and they'll be even more of a threat than before...
Improved AI and Performance!
AI (and some other stuff) in Blast Brawl 2 is now multi-threaded! The game should handle high enemy numbers much better, and performance should be smoother across the board!
A Spooktacular Surprise Boss!
Enter Adventure Mode once more and discover a new boss - The Vicar!
Good luck.
1.4 - The NEMESIS Update: Trailer Out Now!
Kon'nichiwa, senshi!
Update 1.4 - The NEMESIS Update - is coming along pretty nicely! I decided to focus entirely on AI reworking for this update, so this update is all about AI bots! (And some goodies to go along with :D)
Check out the small trailer I put together!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFr_a8y2GzQ
AI Progress
Ymladdwyr cyfarch!
So the map optimization is working now! Which helps with the enemies not approaching thing. :D
So enemies go from seeing this:
To this:
#speedup #progress #bots #are #getting #there
Sorry for Long Delay
Ahoj voják!
Just wanted to put out a quick update that NO, I and this game am not dead, just taking a while.
AI work is tough... ;_; Necessary, and exciting once finished, but uggggh
Move towards me god dammit
In other news, Bots should finally be possible after this work is done!
And yeah, that's a new Wave Mode arena. For some of the cool upcoming Wave mode content. Neat, huh? :D
1.3 - The GRIMOIRE Update OUT NOW!
Privet, bortsy!
SURPRISE! Sudden update time! As of right now, update 1.3 - The Grimoire Update - is out!
1 - THE OCCULTIST
It's a bit small compared to the last one, but it adds a new character: The Occultist! Check out some gameplay here!
She's rather complex.
The Occultist has up to 9 different spells that she can quickly switch between. These can do a huge variety of things, from spawning effects on the battlefield, to buffing or protecting her for a short duration, to creating a wide variety of other effects.
Her spells are grouped into 3 "runes," each with a mechanical and elemental theme. For example, her 3 starting runes are Fire, Steel, and Shadow (with 1 unlockable rune in this update: Ice).
The Occultist can customize her spell list, selecting up to 3 runes from all of the ones she has available. This gives you a ton of control over which options you want to make use of - choose wisely!
The downside of all this is twofold: first, to really leverage the full potential of the character, you need to fully understand your spells and combine them in effective ways. Secondly, all of her spells have fairly noticeable cool-downs - which also pressures you to constantly switch between them.
However, if you put in the effort to truly master her, you'll find she is one of the most varied, flexible, and powerful characters in the game - especially when she can have a little breathing room.
2 - SOFT PROMPTS
Additionally, the other major feature in this update is a small quality-of-life feature for new players - something I'm calling "soft prompts." Now, when first playing characters, small tutorial prompts will give hints on how to perform "complicated" moves.
For example, when charging up the Viking's attack or Warrior's lightning blast, a small prompt will indicate that you can keep holding the button. Or, when aiming as the sniper, a prompt will let you know that "jump" will fire the gun. This feature is particularly necessary for the Occultist, as her spell selection is particularly unorthodox.
By default, these prompts no longer appear for any individual character when you achieve 50+ kills with them - they can be permanently turned off (or permanently turned on in the options menu).
PS: The Xbox version should FINALLY be updated. Yay!
----
The Next Update
So, the Occultist actually jumped ahead of the rest of the content I planned to put into the "Grimoire" update (mainly due to the xbox release schedule). So, unforunately, the next update will not have a new character.
Instead, it will focus on 3 things:
Some combat changes and improvements (primarily centered on making "weapon clashes" more solid and varied)
Finishing the basic AI (including putting this on a separate thread! Which should make the game handle hordes WAY better)
Revamping Wave Mode
That "Revamping Wave Mode" is going to be the real "meat" of the update, especially since that's like, you know, the main "thing" in the game right now. I'll do a post on my plans for this in the near future - stay tuned!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the update! Have fun, Brawlers!
Happy New Year! (and Planned Updates)
Happy 2018! May all your resolutions be realized! :D
One (of my several) resolutions is to release a few updates this year!
I recently got back from the holidays back in Omaha, and am now back at the grind! 2018 awaits, and I need to make sure it's got a better release schedule than 2017!
Most immediately, I'm planning on getting out the Xbox version of the most recent update ASAP. Then, on to content:
1.3 - The GRIMOIRE Update (March?)
This will be a more conventional update. It will add a new character (the Occultist, a spell-slinging wizard with a TON of options, but who must juggle the cooldowns of her many spells).
I'm also going to do some more AI work in this update, hopefully finish pathfinding stuff for the foreseeable future. I think I'm going to experiment with offloading AI to a separate thread - it should help some of the load on console and if it's stable should be worth the extra hoops I'll need to jump through.
There's also going to be some new skins! I'm going to bang out the "shadow" versions of the playable characters. These are dark twisted reflections, and will be part of some pretty important adventure mode content (plus, I'm going to make these the versions you fight in the Wave Mode levels!)
The final part of this update will be some tweaks to Wave Mode - namely, there will be more arenas, and they will not be endless!
As an example, there will be 5 Wave Mode levels in the city region. The first will be a simple arena like the current one, but if you defeat Wave 10, you beat that arena and unlock the next! (You will also get bonus gold for clearing the stage, with extra for every life you have left!)
The next 3 arenas will be more complex and hazardous, and will end with one of the bosses as the final fight. These will be more challenging, and give greater rewards.
The final stage - unlocked only after defeating all the previous stages - will go to Wave 15, be the most deadly, and throw random bosses at you in addition to many enemies and stage hazards.
Long term, all regions will have this type of complexity with their Wave Mode arenas, but the City levels will get the initial treatment for now.
1.4 - The SEEDLING Update (July?)
After I get the Grimoire update out, I am planning to pump out the actual adventure mode update.
The design of adventure mode has undergone a LOT of revision as I've slowly put parts of it together and, ya know, actually played it. The ultimate conclusion I've come to is that it's going to be "open world lite."
Kind of like a souls game without the leveling or character builds. No static "levels" like in the preview, you just spawn at a checkpoint and try to find your way to another checkpoint somewhere.
The plus side of this is that, after adding the starting content, I can just keep adding on to the game content, like slapping more and more icing on a cake.
I'll talk more about this after I get the Grimoire update out, but the general goal of 1.4 will be to put all the adventure content in that leads up to one of the early bosses.
1.5 (and on) - The ??? Updates (Monthly?)
After getting the core of Adventure Mode, I want to try and get a rolling schedule of adding at least SOMETHING cool to the game on a monthly basis. Even if it's just a single room, or enemy, or character. Hopefully much more than that, but we'll see!
Anyway, that's the plan! I hope you have a good new year - I've certainly got my work cut out for me! :D
1.2.1 - Small Update Released!
Alofa, Toa!
Alas, I've run into some cert issues (I've been having trouble creating an Xbox build due to some config stuff) and I was unable to fix the problem before the submission window for the year ended.
So, the Xbox build is going to be delayed until first thing 2018/ :/
However, rather than have you all miss out on the improvements I put together, I decided to release the update to Steam ASAP! So strap in for a small yet feisty update!
This is a fairly focused release, I basically just got a few things into the build that I had to delay due to the Thanksgiving target date:
RELEASE NOTES:
Performance Improvements: Blood splatter code has had one final optimization, it now should be much more responsive on low-end devices!
Boss Rumble Enhancements: If you've tried the boss rumble mode, it might have seemed weirdly undeveloped - that's because it was! I have since added more context/structure around the mode, and it plays out as a dark ritual you won't understand yet! :D
Boss Art/Gameplay Improvements: I've made a few minor tweaks to the boss gameplay, but I've also beefed up the Corpse Queen and Tunnel Ghoul arenas. They're much closer to what long-term they'll look like!
You'll also see a bit of B҉̸̨͏̸L̵̢Ǫ̨́͘͞Ò̵͢͏͠D̸S̸̢̕͢P҉̢̢̨A͏̢͢C̸̷̷̕͠E̴͟͝.
Which may or may not be a significant thing once I (finally, like damn) get Adventure Mode actually out.
:)
Well, that's pretty much it! I hope you all have a happy holidays! As for me, in addition to heading home for Christmas, I'm already working on the next character - she'll be a doozy, but should be QUITE awesome once done.
I'm excited. :D
Update 1.2 - OUT NOW!
After a LONG time, the second update for Blast Brawl 2 is OUT NOW ON STEAM!
Go check it out! Tell me what you think! (Seriously, I would appreciate feedback on the boss fights/difficulty of the first level.)
Happy Brawling!
Update 1.2 - PREVIEW
Talofa tagata!
1 year ago Blast Brawl 2 entered EARLY ACCESS!!!!
I kinda thought I'd have more done by now! :D But the journey is what it is. And I can happily announce that the end of this update is in sight, and I think I will be able to release it on... *drumroll*
THANKSGIVING! (Or, like in 4 weeks if you aren't American)
So, sit back and bask in this handy little feature list of what to expect!
First, the feature I know everybody has been waiting for:
1. NEW MENUS!
I kid, I kid. But seriously, the menus are going to be getting a much cleaner look. Yeesh, I don't know what old me was thinking. Gradients?!? So 2004.
2. A NEW CHARACTER!
Once 1.2 launcher, the ammunition imposition that is the GUNSLINGER will be putting bullet holes into your screens at a frightening pace!
So, you may (or may not) remember the old unlockable outfits introduced in Update 1.1:
Well hold on to your butts because EVERY character now has a full alternate costume!
No longer will you be forced into conformity, picking the same old look day after day! Now you can pick between TWO same old looks day after day! How progressive! :D
(You may recognize some of the outfits below - any such perceived resemblance is purely coincidental.)
4. ALTERNATE MOVESETS!
More significantly, Blast Brawl 2 now has unlockable abilities for all characters!
Each one of these changes up one (or more) of a character's abilities - sometimes in subtle, sometimes in massive ways. The core concept behind each playstyle is still the same, but you might find some surprising mixups in the bunch...
5. A TASTE FOR ADVENTURE!
But that's not all! I've stressed that I've been working on adventure mode in the past, and now I get to prove it!
I've prepared a little mini-campaign for you, that both shows how Adventure mode will generally function, as well as letting you face three of the bosses from the first region of the game!
(Side note: making world maps suuuucks.... >_< It's very tedious work lol.)
6. A NEW VERSUS MODE!
So Bosses in Blast Brawl are gonna be tough! (Like, actually hard. I look forward to hearing complaints.)
Therefore, I feel like players who manage to defeat them without being hit once should receive some sort of epic reward. So I'd like to announce BOSS RUMBLE mode.
In short: if you manage to defeat a boss, solo, without taking any hits, you will be able to play AS that boss and battle your friends! :D The fights will take place in the bosses arena, and you'll be able to customize things like health/player respawns, so you'll be able to set up the ultimate showdown of your dreams!
.
.
.
Phew. That's a lot.
What's that, you say? This seems like a bit light for a 10-month update?
Well, I've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. There is a not-quite-finished pathfinding engine, better physics support, a number of bugfixes, rework/rebalancing of many characters, etc etc etc.
And a lot of the work I've been doing just straight isn't done yet!
I'm pretty sure that I'll do another intermediate update (add a character and some other features) before the full "adventure mode" one. The next update will probably bundle together the finalized AI code, include some Wave Mode improvements, and feature a certain magical character I'm excited to create...
Anyway, good night! And good luck! o7
Almost a year now
Salutu, cumbattenti!
4 days from now, it will have been 1 year since the Early Access launch of Blast Brawl 2!
Jeez, time flies. Since then, I have gotten a job at Google, moved to a different city, celebrated my 3 year anniversary with my wife, and spent an ABSURD amount of time typing (and occasionally clicking) in front of a computer.
I've been pretty shitty on these posts lately. This has NOT been due to lack of work on the game, just... eh. Posting stuff like this has always been hard for me, especially when it's on top of all the other work I've been doing.
BUT! Lo, fret not. Though it may have appeared like I have been dead, or gave up on the project, or acquired a social life, that is not the case! I have labored long in the deep mines of my apartment, hand-crafting quality chaos for you to overcome.
And with that, I would like to say:
The update.
Is.
ALMOST.
Finished.
ALMOST THERE
So it's not quite out of the oven yet. I was really hoping that I could release the update on Oct. 26th (for the anniversary) but as Gabe Newell once said, "These things... they take time."
But there is a LOT in this update. I think the effective amount of "content" you will be able to play will effectively double. Not bad, eh?
Plus, a lot of the stuff I've been doing has been more "structural" work. Things like getting a world map working, programming how adventure levels function, getting an AI infrastructure, making sure stairs and slopes work right. The game has been basically faking a lot of stuff before this, and I've had to make things actually work now.
The good news is, I think most of that type of work is done, and I can work on churning out actual content now!
So on October 26th, I'll give a quick rundown of the update, and I think I'll be able to state a rough release date.
