Hey everyone. Here's a quick report on the latest updates for my Final Mix characters. Most of these updates are a few months old (most already implemented while Leo was still a WIP), but I figured I'll mention them in detail in preparation for the next update release. Note that not everything is being mentioned, but will be listed in each characters' readme.
AI- My original goal was to make AI that resembled human gameplay (i.e. less scripted, as well as prone for error). As I learn more about properly coding AI, many fixes to triggers and revising AI behavior have been implemented. Current AI are less spammy on certain moves, less exploitable (hopefully), and are more technical in executing certain strategies and responses based on the situation. I also took the time to play through with each character, testing what sort of combos, special traits, etc. they have, and tried my best to implement those into the AI. Still not perfect, nor designed for AI fights, but should still offer a challenge.
- AI settings between 1 to 10 should be much easier to play against now, due to many fixes on some bad triggers
SYSTEM- Many revisions on how each Dizzy counter gets filled up. Originally, it was based on only physical & projectile attacks separated in categories Light, Medium, Heavy, Special, and Hyper. Now, the Dizzy counter responds to throws of all types, and the categories have been changed to Light, Medium, Heavy/Throws (Normal), Special Throws, Special, and Hyper. Also, the rate in which the Dizzy Counter increased has been adjusted for almost all categories, as well as everyone's default Dizzy limit have been increased.
- Hit pauses and envshakes have been unified amongst all characters
- All throws now have screen-edge spacing when executed in the corner, similar to how Capcom does it for their fighting games. This helps both visually, as well as for the fluidity of gameplay to prevent glitches in coding,and unbalanced corner traps.
- Sudden Jump has been changed to Sudden Air. This works now like a mini-jump, which allows Leo, Kenji, and Mai-Ling to jump in for a quick overhead attack during a Forward Dash. You can only do a Vertical Sudden Air and Diagonal Forward Sudden Air.
- Ultimate Guard got a few updates in regards to spacing. For example, when an enemy connects while you are in the corner, there will be pushback, which will help to reduce UGL (Ultimate Guard Lock-up) abit.
- Each character's Back Dash has reduced invinciblity from startup
- Gethit animtime have been made universal amongst all characters (using Leo as base). So, doing combos on my characters should be easier as opposed to before.
- Some jump attacks can now be used for cross ups (yes, this exists in Red Earth). Some are straight from Red Earth, few are new.
LEO
Since Leo is the latest addition to Red Earth: Final Mix, it was easier to develop him with better coding & less room for error. His gameplay's pretty much set, so no new changes and/or additions are plan (other than fine tuning).
- Combo and juggle potential has been improved while using Venus Satellite, which includes all basic attacks having 0 juggle points and all Heavy basic attacks putting p2 into an ice-stunned state (same as Counter Impact), while damage has been adjusted to avoid 100% combos.
- The fire burst during Blaze Pulse does less damage, while some basic moves gain different properties. For example, Stand HK will now knock down followed by the fire burst during Blaze Pulse
- Various tweaks and cosmetics were implemented for Mystic Pulse abit, such as missing FX on some moves
- Those special taunts are gone...but are being used for another system that's being implemented for all characters (more on that next time)
KENJI
Being the character with the most "tricks" and versatile abilities, Kenji gets some adjustments that balances him out more, which includes some damage reduction, and slower startup on a few moves. Despite that, he does gain a new move and a few extra tweaks to improve his abilities.
- F+MP becomes much slower on startup since it is an overhead, which prevents it from being spammed repeatedly with little risk.
- LK Kagero -> MP gets a slightly slower startup
- M Jumonji (ground) now acts more like the Red Earth version, and now the kunai fully homes in onto the opponent no matter where he/she goes. There is a time limit on the kunai homing, though. Due to its effectiveness, damage has been reduced.
- M Kagero -> MK move's been renamed from "Shoten" to "Ishu". Ishu represents when Kenji is rolling in midair to catch an opponent for a throw.When he actually connects, the type of throw executed changes depending on where the opponent is: "Shoten" for grounded opponents and a new Izuna-type throw for airborne opponents.
- Rasetsujin's startup has been slightly reduced, which allows it to connect & register in real combos
TESSA
Tessa got
of attention to fix certain areas that affected her gameplay and limited her effectiveness. Many tweaks were implemented to improve combos and strategies for most of her basic attacks, special moves, and Mystic Breaks, while some other properties from Red Earth were added to enhance her personality. At the same token she recieved some power downs for the sake of balancing, most of it involves slower recovery to prevent safe long-range attacks, as well as changes to how some of her attacks' properties. Her overall zoning game is still there, but the opponent will have an extra sec or two to react and try to retaliate.
- 4 ghosts during Jamming Ghost have limited cases where they can attack. For example, opponents in a liedown state will not be hit anymore, and there's a greater chance of the ghosts not attacking while opponents are in a falling state from midair. These changes, however, do not change the way this move works, for it still opens up opportunities for comboing, pressuring on defensive opponents, and juggles (only if opponent is in a gethit state, as opposed to a knockdown & falling state). On top of that, there is a separate damage reduction coding that reduces Tessa's attacks while Jamming Ghost is activated.
- Her midair crossover Pop Wand combo (was possible until the last public update which nullified it by accident) is now doable again
- All basic attacks that involve her cats have been retimed animation-wise. Instead of hitting early, they now hit based on the cats actual attack animation frames. This makes timing combos better (animation-wise), especially for all MK versions
- There is more recovery time after a few moves, such as all special cannon-related moves, and Dragon's Roar
- All cannon-related moves have better spacing in corners so that the actual projectiles can hit. So, combos in the corner like Stand MK (2 hits) -> LK Electron Cannon (cannon hit & electro bug hit) are now possible
- Cannonballs' speed adjusts in order to hit multiple times when Hyper Cannon is done upclose against a cornered opponent
- There is now a recovery time when Chaos Seal misses (forgot to implement this initially)
- All life and power up items from Fortune Seal have had their power up values lowered, so the boost is not too advantageous. Also, a new life up item has been added, called "Turkey Dinner". This will come out more frequent than Roasted Pig (which still heals the most, but not as much as before)
- More float values have been added for certain moves so that they work more similar to their usage in Red Earth
- Evasive Air's jump height and ascending duration have been lowered. While it still works the same to get Tessa over her opponent's head quickly, it won't be as "safe" as a 2nd Super Jump.
MAI-LING
Other than adding/revising new systems, Mai-Ling's update consists mainly of fine-tuning her gameplay and improving certain moves' effectiveness.
- Basic moves received some tweaks for improved chaining, juggling, and combo potential
- Kononyu's counter startup time has been reduced, making it easier to time when to use for countering an opponent's attack
- Revised Kasen's hit properties, so it knocks the opponent back instead of acting like a launcher, while improving its counter properties against normal physical attacks
- Tentsuiga now puts opponents into a custom state for the air combo segment so to bind some characters with particular codings against physical attacks to take all hits.
- Revised Rolling's invincibility coding, giving it full invincibility for a few ticks at startup before making Mai-Ling vulnerable to crouch attacks only.
- Koen now connects on a falling opponent for juggling purposes
More info on the final features being implemented for the next update. Once everything's in order, I plan to move on to some new WIPs. But, I leave you all a small preview of what's to come.
Veterans Day