Download HERE.
New demo is (finally) out! It features features an new control scheme (third person keyboard + mouse), new combat system (separate torso+leg animations, dice roll skills hit/stagger/dodge system) plus new AI system to handle the new mechanics.
Okay maybe not entirely new as it still shares much of the same codebase (for good reason!) but compared to the previous Scuffed Brawler demo, which modifies the Heroine Rumble 2 code for controls + combat, the controls and combat code in this demo are done starting from scratch.
In terms of the overall content in this demo, it is very similar to the previous Scuffed demo. There is a starting hub area of sorts, with NPC merchants, plus another NPC at far end that you can talk to and start Heroine Rumble-like matches. Exiting the hub leads to the world map, that you can control with keyboard WASD now, with 3 randomly generated dungeons to test the combat system out.
Speaking of the combat system, I want to talk about the design goals for "HRT2" (still undecided on the name)
Unlike the Heroine Rumble series and HRT1, which are games focused almost entirely on combat, I want to do a lot more "outside of combat" content for HRT2, which means that the combat system needs to be simple, yet robust. Here are the goals for combat system:
It needs to be support group vs group fights reasonably well, as I envision HRT2 to be a game about managing a small group
The player should be able to take control and get involved in the fight personally
I want it to be stats-based as part of the appeal for a sandbox game like HRT2 is the progress from rag to riches, and allowing too much skill expression would allow the player to potentially bypass the progression too easily
I don't want skyrim-like combat where it's two guys whacking each other with weapons, having stagger and dodge makes the combat feels more dynamic.
Here's is how the combat system works:
The player can move the character via WASD keys.
Press LMB (Left Mouse Button) to attack. (Can move while attacking now)
When an attack connects on foes, there is a hidden roll in the background that determines if the attack is successful: HIT, BLOCKED, DODGED or PARRIED.
HITs have red numbers and deals the most amount of damage.
BLOCKED have grey numbers and LIGHT_ATTACKS only deals 33% of the damage.
DODGED shows a grey Dodged and the entire attack whiffs .
PARRIED is like a super BLOCK that also have the potential to stagger the attacker.
You can view the rolls by pressing the debug button (Bug icon) that shows a combat log.
Press and hold down LMB to do a HEAVY_ATTACK instead of LIGHT_ATTACK.
HEAVY_ATTACKS have a yellow trail instead of white and has greatly improved performance on BLOCKs (shows red number instead of grey currently)
Press RMB (Right Mouse Button) to block/ready.
Press left/right/back + SHIFT to (active) Dodge.
Press forward + SHIFT to run, but there is no dash attack.
Note that player Blocks and Dodges are not always successful and is also subjected to the hidden background rolls. But, under manual control mode, the player gets a bonus to the Block/Dodge chance.
However, the drawback is that the player do not roll random blocks/dodges. Meaning that if the player is not currently Dodging, there is a 0% chance to dodge for the player.
This is different than NPCs, which always rolls for Blocks/Dodges even when they are not currently blocking/dodging.
The base Block chance is 50% (for NPCS).
The base Dodge chance is 30% (for NPCs).
There is only a single attack roll against Block and Dodge.
For example, if the roll is 40, the attacked character is not eligible for Dodge (40 > 30) but eligible for Block (40 < 50) so it will Block. If the roll is 20, then the attacked character will Dodge. If the roll is 70, then it is a HIT.
There are times where the character wouldn't be eligible for Dodges (such as when charging up a HEAVY_ATTACK) and they will Block (in this case hyper armor through) even if the roll does not beat the dodge chance.
There is another mechanic that I'm not entirely sure about to be honest. Which is a Consecutive Attack Penalty.
After each attack, the next attack will swing slower and rolls with penalty.
To clear this Penalty, stop attacking for 3 seconds.
The reason for this is to make AI vs AI fights look a lot nicer. After one side does a lot of attacks, there will be a natural opening for the other side to counter attack. It creates a nice back and forth rhythm.
But... if the player does not know this, perhaps they will be frustrated with "Why do my attacks takes so long to execute?" questions so perhaps this mechanic will be changed.
This PENALTY is also show in the stamina bar changing color.
Two more thing.The first is that you can open the loadout window (or press I) and go to the Overview to see the Skills of the character. Only a couple right now, but a lot more to come.
The second thing is the new Rest ability that all characters start with now. Use this is rapidly heal all HP outside of the combat. Your teammates will Rest with you too. Its a tiny glimpse of the the "outside of combat" content.
That's it for now. I know there are still many problems, such as its possible for characters to spawn outside of bounds or force out of bounds via grabs, but simply don't have the time to do for this (already delayed) demo. If all goes well, next demo will get save/loading working plus ranged weaponry. Bows, rifle/crossbow, and pistol animation sets planned, but bows first.