Dash Blitz

New Content

• Who else but Accel, of course!
  
  This wise-cracking self-driving car is Dash Blitz's new heavyweight, but he's no slowpoke - he's the fastest character yet!
  
• Accel's home turf, Wild Highway, is now a playable stage!
  
  The overgrown remnants of an old-world highway, perfect for clambering around and attacking from surprising angles!
  
• Bluster's favourite date-site, Windy Bluff, is now a playable stage!
  
  The fans are incredibly dangerous, blasting out powerful gusts of air and chopping up anyone who gets caught in the blades! But you can use the wind to your advantage, too. Try to launch enemies who are struggling over the cliff!
  

General Fixes

• Fixed a bug with the main menu; you should be able to see what you've selected again.
  
• Fixed a bug with the lobby where the mouse position would override cursors.
  
• Fixed a number of transparency issues and cutscene models not following the same rules as game models.
  
• Fixed an issue where reducing outlines to zero thickness still showed black artifacts behind the character model; this should be all better now, for those of you who prefer the classic minimalist aesthetic.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed you to enter some modes without any players.
  
• Fixed a bug with music where the override option wasn't being applied after a fight.
  
• Removed the Item menu from the Race mode screen.
  

General Improvements

• Horizontal speed now translates into wall-scaling speed! This shouldn't be too noticeable for most characters, except for a slight feeling of momentum being carried, but newcomer Accel takes full advantage of this change!
  
• Increased the delay on Magna Pulse to discourage spam. Also removed it from Race mode, that wasn't very fair.
  
• Improved the UI for Race mode to have a little more flair.
  
  
• Added some more voiceovers to give the overall game a little more personality.
  
• Modified sound effects for Magna Pulse and Magna Burst.
  

Stages

Metro Sewers

• Made some improvements to the waterspout in the centre, making it more clear when it's about to burst.
  
• Made some changes to collision in the centre to (hopefully) prevent rolling projectiles from bouncing in the air.
  

Everlanche Climb

• Fixed an issue where the clouds here covered up cutscenes and dialog.
  

Characters

#1

• Amended reflect mechanics, allowing #1 to ding more effectively. His attacks should now launch projectiles in the same direction as he swings. This change also applies to all other sources of reflection.
  

Edge

• Fixed an issue where Edge's kunai wouldn't spawn.
  
• Also, the longer you throw kunai, the more they fan out now, giving Edge back some of his scattershot's functionality while trading out raw damage.
  

Bluster

• Improved Vertical Full-Charge Shot's hitboxes.
  

Manny

• Fixed an issue where Manny dropped dramatically after finishing a clamber.
  
• Improved the height Manny jumps after exiting a clamber, which should make it easier to swing onto moving platforms.
  
• New chainsaw noises.
  

Sherpa

• Added partial shot-immunity to Sherpa's dash. The earlier you are in the dash the more he can shrug off. This should hopefully make it easier to wade into combat, but you're still easy to combo, so be careful.
  

Puffin

• Added some visual feedback on Puffin's grab to better show how her enemies are frozen.
  

New Content

• We're trialing out some new sound effects - most notably the new charging, shooting and teleporting sounds. Hopefully they're a little less obnoxious. I know I'd gotten used to the chime of the teleporter, but this new sound should be a little more sci-fi-y.
  

General Fixes

• Taken strides to improve terrain collision, most notably to remove the weird slow-down effect in the wings of Dash Finale. If anyone gets flung through a wall, though, you know who to call.
  
• Magna Pulse now zeroes out the momentum of affected targets, preventing them from sliding away.
  
• Fixed some graphical bugs with certain stages.
  

General Improvements

• You can now continue to charge shots while grappling, allowing you to more reliably connect charged shots and further expanding the uses of grappling. This has also fixed an issue where you would shoot without warning after a grapple.
  
• You can no longer cling onto the small walls on the side of Dash Finale's main stage - this wasn't exactly a bug, but it led to some awkward interactions like Arrhic continuously body slamming anyone who got on top of him.
  

Characters

#1

• Stagger on forward throws now persists regardless of the launch angle, so it should function as a combo properly now.
  
• Added dinger sounds to #1's attacks where they can reflect projectiles, making it more satisfying and clarifying when it's working.
  

Arrhic

• Sped up Arrhic's initial grab-time, making it easier to grapple foes at point-blank.
  

Manny

• Re-implemented chainsaw noises. Go forth and rev to the extreme!
  
• Fixed a bug with Manny teleporting back down to the ground when he finished clambering around on things.
  

Sherpa

• Lasers now deal more damage per hit. With the tweak to grappling this makes grab combos especially devastating.
  

General Improvements

• Substantially buffed Magna Pulse; the pulse now temporarily stuns enemies, lasts longer and pulls much more forcefully. If you think that's too much, don't forget you can block the pulse much like an attack.
  
• Improved visibility on the flash effect when taking damage.
  

General Fixes

• Fixed some graphical glitches with certain stages and attacks. The new texture job is an on-going effort because shaders are hard, but hopefully the worst offenders have been smoothed out now.
  
• Hopefully fixed a persistent bug where textures were being overwritten with brighter/darker versions. This was a hard one to reproduce, but I mostly saw it after playing through Onslaught. If you still see anything weird, let me know.
  
• Fixed a bug where adjusting outline thickness modified sound effect volume. Weird how two completely unrelated things can interact, huh?
  
• Fixed various menu bugs, where the game couldn't be exited (what a shame) and buttons couldn't be remapped.
  

New Content

• Characters now sport thick, juicy outlines! It's a very different look, and still in need of some refinement for the future, but it makes it easier to track the action at Dash Blitz's trademark high speeds. Feel free to tweak the outline thickness to whatever you're comfortable with in the menu.
  
• Characters have faces now! This was a part of an extensive retexturing job going on behind the scenes, which led to a number of small details being added to the cast. In the future these will be animated, but for now it's just a little splash of life.
  If you'd prefer the original minimalist vision, you can opt out in the menu. There's some growing pains here, tied to the outline implementation, so you might see some black spots in people's faces, and regardless their faces will appear during cutscenes.
  
• The all-new Magna System! Magnetic energy is a resource that every fighter can use. Magna Pulse to pull your foes towards you, or Magna Burst to escape a combo! Your Magna gauge will refill over time, and like charging your shots, it refills faster when you're on low health, so don't be stingy. You'll find these options discussed in the tutorial, and you can of course remap them freely.
  
• The new health bars sit snugly on the top of the screen. This is a very minor thing but I think they look snazzy.
  
• There's now an announcer on the character select screen, calling out the name of your choices. If you don't like it - first of all, rude. But you can just finetune the voice volume in the menu.
  
• You can now change the song that plays in every fight! You can set it to a specific track, or even have it change according to the fighters. You'll even see a new theme for Bluster in there!
  

General Improvements

• The same input can now be set for Pause as for Back. Pressing Mouse Right will also act as Cancel in the pause menu.
  
• The default key for Pause and for Back is now set to Escape, which should feel more natural.
  
• Added mouse controls to the lobby for the main keyboard player. This is a small one but it's a very nice quality of life improvement, especially if you're sitting at the desktop and playing (such as, y'know, if you were playtesting). Mouse Left acts as Select, Mouse Right acts as Cancel, and the scrollwheel allows you to change colour.
  
• Made a number of cling swings stronger - these are the hardest attacks to land consistently and their damage potential should now better reflect that.
  
• Allowed most swings to destroy fully-charged projectiles - in practice the most common ranged attack is the full charge shot, so swings beating out projectiles wasn't really happening. Now throwing out charged shots is marginally less safe and well-timed melee swings are better rewarded.
  
• Added more arenas for Onslaught, so there's a bit of variety in the platform layout.
  

Characters

#1

• Increased stagger on forward throws, making them easier to combo off of.
  
• Besides Run Swing, ALL swings now reflect projectiles. To compensate for its gimmick being stolen, Standing Swing now reflects with much more speed and power. These changes are reflected by the Baseball Bat item.
  
• #1 can continue to reflect projectiles with his Item Standing Swing, albeit less effectively than usual.
  
• You can now hold in the Swing button to extend a Jump Swing. In the future this might see some more tweaks, but right now, it makes it that little bit easier to time your hits.
  

Edge

• Edge's repeating kunai shot has been drastically weakened, with the scatter shot being removed. In future the scatter may come back, but not at the same CPU-destroying scale. Hopefully the kunai's current power level brings Edge back to where he's meant to be - a fast, dangerous melee fighter whose ranged attacks can open you up to melee.
  
• Dash Swing does not interact with projectiles at all now. Not so much a nerf as an oversight, it'd be a bit weird blocking a bullet with your pinky toe.
  

Nomad

• You can now hold in the Swing button to extend a Jump Swing, exactly like #1.
  

Arrhic

• Removed damage on Arrhic's initial grab, adding more damage to his throws to compensate. Fixed a few bugs with his grapples.
  
• Cling Swing no longer interacts with projectiles at all. Throwing your chest at people is not a defense, Arrhic.
  
• In a unique case for a grapple, Ground Forward Throw DOES block projectiles. Throwing other people's chests at them is an acceptable defense.
  

Rondo

• Due to Rondo's weak stature, he has retained an inability to block charged shots with his swings.
  
• You can now hold in the Swing button to extend a Jump Swing, just like #1.
  

Valerie

• No changes... this time. We'll see if Magna Pulse mitigates the issues with airdash spam.
  

Sherpa

• Jump Swing now deals more damage per hit, making it one of the deadlier multi-hits.
  
• Item swings now deal much more damage, on par with Sherpa's raw swings. I'm not sure why they weren't already, probably just an oversight on my part.
  
• Lasers now trap in place, then launch with force. The same change has been made to the Laser Rifle item.
  

Puffin

• As a unique property, Puffin's grab can now destroy projectiles.
  

Kero

• Improved damage on Jump Swing, making it more rewarding to land.
  

General Fixes

• Fixed an issue where it was harder to escape grabs than intended.
  
• The player input screen now correctly shows the player whose input will be changed.
  
• Fixed race handling on Hustle Harbour so a teleporting Nomad doesn't get lost on the track.
  

• Characters are being re-textured! For the most part this will be small, but with it comes the option for faces, which I think helps give the cast more personality. Faces will be strictly optional, so if you prefer minimalist visuals, don't sweat it.
  
• In terms of gameplay, the Magna System will be the biggest element added. Magna is a resource available to each character that recharges over time. You can spend it on two different magnetic waves. Magna Burst is a short-ranged burst attack that you can use at any time, allowing you to escape combos. On the other hand, Magna Pulse is a long-range pulse that deals no damage and pulls targets towards you, allowing you to strike back at dodgy foes.
  
• An announcer on the character select screen, so when you pick Sherpa, you can have a nice little reminder that you're a real man picking a real character.
  
• Outlines for characters and objects. I'm looking to give this an option in the menu to dictate the width, and will of course be optional.
  
• Choose the music for your battle! I'm aiming to also have an option so music defaults to character selection over stage selection.
  
• New health bars, as in my previous post. This is still a work in progress.