Combat changes continue! This week we've tuned a bunch of Komododon (and some Robo) attack anims, as well as enhanced our Chain attack combat flow system. Now that Quick attacks can interrupt & dominate Chain attacks so easily, Chain attacks can finally "combo" into one another in a powerful way!
Two members of our design team pointed out that, since our last patch, Chain attacks have become easy to "counter" - making them less desirable. This second piece of combo-building was the missing bit to address that concern. Play games, and tell us what you think in our bug tracker!
Komododon Quick_Down - Fixed weight of stomp and recovery timing.
Komododon Chain_3 - Made it a headbutt instead of a bite.
Robokomododon Chain_Towards - Changed to hit only twice.
Engineering Changes
Added combo links between chain animations in character_root.
09/02/2015 - Patch notes on KLB Build #451
Attack Priority Update Patch!
Our last official build was #373 - this is #451. That means we've made nearly 80 significant updates to the game - it's been a long while! This is going to be an active development month on KLB - look for 3 more updates during September.
This patch totally revamps our combat priority system. We need a LOT of combat testing to make certain that it's working as intended - please read the notes below, and get playing! Your first game each day is worth 10 Kaiju Coins.
Engineering Fixes:
Attack Params now include combat type - associated with the button used.
Updated characters to include combat type states.
ATTACK PRIORITY CHANGES
Quick Attacks are no longer interrupted by Chain Attacks
Quick Attacks will not interrupt Fierce Attacks
Reaction Priority for Getup Attacks & Charges updated for more consistent behavior.
Charging now reduces all damage by half.
Ducking or Prone monsters take half weapon damage, but full damage from physical sources.
DEFENSE CELL CHANGES
Knockdown weapon attacks remove a Defense Cell.
Physical attacks on a Prone monster remove a Defense Cell.
Connecting with a Charge removes a Defense Cell.
Monsters with no Defense Cells take 150% normal damage from all sources.
Gameplay Fixes:
Komododon's Roar anim updated.
Komododon's Weapon fire anims updated.
Robokomododon's Roan anim updated.
Magnarok's Weapon fire anims updated.
Magnarok's Roar anim updated.
Komododon's Fierce_Basic, Power Down, Power_Toward, Power_Up,
Quick_Toward updated.
Roll anims fixed for Robokomododon and Magnarok
Fixed Magnarok's Charge audio
All Roar audio files updated to match new anims.
We have approximately one week for major feedback on these systems before the next patch. GO TO IT!
Build #373 Notes (04/29/2015)
Combat Update Patch!
We've been really focused on getting feedback from all of you after each game, and we've rolled a ton of that feedback into our latest combat patch. We've started to slow the pace of combat down a bit - let us know how it feels! Gigashark and Robokomododon are getting more animation smoothing, tails are operating more smoothly - lots of small & medium changes!
We're also in the process of increasing knockdown distances - to create more interesting interactions between knockdown, Charge, Build_Up, and ground attacks.
Please note - many of the animation changes have NOT have the associated sound work finished just yet. Audio will tend to trail by one patch.
Engineering Fixes:
Robokomododon's Fall & Prone anims are now properly oriented.
Removed extra Defense Cell from Komododon.
Fixed bug which caused Getup Attacks to break defense cells!
Fixed bug which caused weapons to give infinite vertical KB.
Robokomododon's Power+Toward attack is no longer flagged as a weapon.
Gameplay Fixes:
Normalized damage resistances for all characters.
Hop links to other actions cleaned up & timed better.
Implemented Charge_hit anims on charge impact.
Gigashark has new build_up and fire anims.
Robokomododon has new build_up and fire anims.
8-way steps speeded up for all characters.
Roll speeds normalized & slightly reduced.
Hop speeds adjusted for all characters.
Komododon's attacks reviewed for increased knockdown.
Gigashark has new roar animation.
Gigashark's Chain + Down and Chain + Toward now connect properly with both hits.
Build #361 Notes (04/14/2015)
Defense Cell Patch!
At long last, they're not just for show! There are a few small changes in this build which will have very big gameplay rammifications. Plus, a whole ton of minor improvements. Please keep submitting your thoughts, suggestions, feedback, and bug reports to our FEEDBACK TRACKER. The more you write, the faster we'll keep improving!
Engineering Fixes:
Defense Cells are now implemented! Regain a lost Defense Cell by roaring. (If you interrupt your roar with a Charge it won't count...) To break an opponent's Defense Cell do one of the following:
Hit them with a full-power weapon attack.
Hit them with a Charge.
Hit them while they are prone.
Fixed front knockdowns, prones, and rolls. All characters now roll in a way that is strategically useful, and properly oriented. This is a critical interaction with Charges, Ground Attacks, Getup Attacks, and Defense Cells.
KO reaction should now always play properly.
Fixed several intermittent bugs related to reactions not playing when they should have.
Fixed various bugs related to (invisible) KO'd monsters in 3 & 4 player matches.
Gameplay Fixes:
Characters without Defense Cells remaining take 150% damage from all sources, and are Knocked Down with any heavy attack.
Light attacks no longer interrupt Power Attacks. So when starting to use your weapon, a jab won't cancel you any more. This is true for all Power Attacks.
Jump Anims adjusted - for better flow & visual flair.
Hop Anims adjusted for Romokomododon & Gigashark.
Robokomododon's Toward + Chain attack had range extended to match the anim better.
Magnarok's basic Chain combo should now hit with both attacks more frequently.
Gigashark's Chain + Down attack should now hit more reliably.
Build #311 Notes (02/04/2015)
Jump Patch!
Patch #311 is now live on Steam - and it brings big changes to jumps! We've been carefully looking at jump timings - we've actually been using very different jump timings for each of our three characters, to see how that changes player behavior. And based on that data, we've unified jump timings for all our characters. See the notes below for details:
Engineering Fixes:
Fixed a NASTY bug, where non-consecutive player IDs could generate potentially infinite damage. This should fix most of the bugs that were filed for local matches only.
Gameplay Fixes:
Knockdown times & blend times have been normalized for all characters - in anticipation of a major pass on knockdown distances next week! This means that reaction times when you are being knocked down have changed slightly. Reaction times to overhead knockdowns have been reduced 18%, to help reduce the abusability of moves like Magnarok's overhead slam.
Komododon's Toward + Quick move now counts as a duck, so it will slide under high enemy attacks properly.
Jump recovery times have been normalized at 20 frames (1/3rd of a second) for all characters. This means that while the jump land animation is the same length, a player's ability to interrupt the landing animation have been dramatically increased.
Jump forward distance scalar has been nearly doubled. If you are running full speed and still holding the stick in that direction, your total jump distance will be significantly larger. Since this is a scalar, the effects are reduced if you are moving slower - all the way down to zero (pure vertical jump) if you are not moving at all. Combined with the recovery time, this makes jumping a much stronger evasion option.
Do you like these changes? Hate them? What do you want to see next? Please sumbit bug reports / feeback via our official bug tracker:
http://kaijucombat.com/bugs/
Build #303 Notes (1/25/2015)
Gameplay Fixes
Tail Issues Fixed! Tails now animate when they should, and stop when they should not. This impacts MANY issues - prone states, getup attacks, and tail-using attacks most of all.
Charge and Weapons set to different reaction classes.
Weapon knockbacks increased in many cases.
Weapons now affect prone monsters.
Balance Fixes
Robokomododon's Power + Away increased in damage.
Weapon damage reduced by 50% while monsters are Charging or Ducking.
Komododon's Quick + Toward (sweep) now functional.
Komododon's Fierce + Up (overhead) improved.
Robokomododon's extreme resistance to Explosive attacks has been removed.
Build #302 Notes (1/16/2015)
Big balance pass today!
Gameplay fixes:
Ducking now reduces weapon damage by 50%.
Victory & Knockdown animations should ALWAYS play when you are KO'd.
Getup attacks now cancel charges.
Increased L/R head firing arc.
Prone monsters can now only be hit by overhead attacks.
Balance fixes:
Komododon - Quick + Toward no longer freezes.
Magnarok - light weapon damage increased.
Robokomododon - Fierce + Down slowed by 16%.
Robokomododon - Hops have more follow-through.
Robokomododon - Fierce + Up slowed by 25%.
We're pleased to announce that games played has spiked sharply since our first update of 2015 - online matches reached their highest one-day levels ever of over 350! We've also had 30 new bug reports in the past 2-3 days, which is wonderful! Please keep playing, commenting, and helping us get KLB into fighting trim!
Note - in several animations (get up attacks especially) character tails are not animating correctly. This has the effect of making certain characters totally vulnerable while on the ground - which makes them very weak. We are working hard to address this issue.
Build #296 Notes (01/09/2015)
Back from the holidays!
Back at last from the holidays! As you can see from our build number, we've been working hard all through December, but never had the time to carefully review for a build. Now we're back, so expect frequent builds all through January!
Gameplay fixes:
Magnarok's weapon node position fixed. (Was firing out of his feet!)
All weapon ranges increased dramatically.
New Weapon VFX!
Weapon impact VFX!
Weapons now persist (as appropriate) in the world.
Komododon Bite changed for balance.
Komododon Quick_Toward changed for balance.
Magnarok Overhead_Knockdown anim improved.
Charge turn speed reduced. (It's now hard to miss with a charge, and come back immediately)
Energy use of Weapons overhauled. (See details below)
New Energy System Details:
When you press the POWER button, 1 cell of energy is spent.
Hold POWER as long as you like - no more limits based on energy!
When you release POWER, your character fires a weak, normal, or strong version of their weapon, and pays an additional energy cost: 1 cell for weak, 2 cells for normal, and 3 cells for strong.
To fire a normal beam, a character must build-up at least half way. For a strong beam, a character must build-up fully.
If you build-up past the point that you can afford in terms of energy, you will fire the weaker of the two options. (Doing a build-up with just 1 cell of energy will always fire a weak beam, no matter how long you build-up!)
Build #270 Notes (11/17/2014)
Our Tuesday & Thursday play sessions were VERY successful - we hope to continue seeing such great turnouts! The data & ensuing discussion led to a number of specific fixes - particularly the jump tweak & Charge input change.
Note that the previous Charge input still functions normally - you can tap Roar, then tap it again at the proper moment to Charge. But now you can simply press & hold the button to begin Charging - much simpler to describe! There can be tactical reasons to delay your Charge, but we'll leave that as an exercise for advanced players.
Gameplay Fixes:
Many animations cleaned up (Magnarok knockdowns, Robokomododon's Idle)
Robokomododon's Hop Back improved
Robokomododon's basic Chain attacks reduced in damage.
Robokomododon's fist collision spheres increased in size.
Robokomododon's two-fisted attacks updated with better collision timing.
Charge input adjusted - now simply press & hold roar to Charge!
Jump values adjusted - jumps are now slightly higher, to allow jumping over tall characters.
Build #261 Notes (11/4/2014)
Big update for combat!
Gameplay Fixes:
Bracing has been REMOVED from the game!
L-Trigger now causes characters to DUCK.
R-bumper (R2) now initiates a GRAB animation! (No effect - you can't
actually grapple yet.)
Many attacks now flagged as HIGH - meaning characters who DUCK are unaffected.
Charging characters are now less invulnerable than they used to be...
After a side hop, weapons may now be used much earlier.
