Exanima 0.4.3 Beta Released

[Madoc]

We are currently working to introduce character skills and this requires some fairly extensive changes to the inner workings of combat. There are aslo numerous issues with combat that we've not been fixing due to so much being subject to change. While this update does not introduce skills it does introduce the revised combat system that supports them.

The changes are quite extensive. This is our first fully functional version that we consider to already be a significant improvement. There have been big changes to animations and how they work, the tactical element of combat is much better structured and cannot be abused with controls by player and AI alike. Many new things are supported though mostly they will not be exposed until skills are, for now we tried to mimic the previous combat mechanics. There are new momentum preservation and recovery mechanics which should make the combat feel both more realistic and consistent. One handed weapons and polearms particularly are more effective and behave more reliably.

We're aware of some current issues. Feint is still exploitable as a general attack speed increase but not as much as previously, the AI needs to be retrained for the new combat mechanics and animations, parries and blocks need to be adjusted to properly intercept certain blows (though this was already in a broken state).

It's been a while since our last update and we've done a lot fixes and little tweaks, many of which were not included in the changelog. We've of course been working on many other things and there's some really nice new features on their way!


Changes in version 0.4.3:

• While skills have not been added the new combat system supporting them has

• New combat animation system featuring extensive changes

• Better structured and non exploitable recovery and momentum mechanics

• All characters granted the following techniques to mimic previous combat:​

• Remise: immediately follow a swing with one in the opposite direction

• Feint: cease a feined attack to quickly start another

• Fend: abandon your attack to quickly parry​

• In hold to dash mode rapidly tapping always produces small steps

• Getting up from the ground is now significantly faster

• Fixed dragged items disappearing after trying a locked door

• NPCs that are off screen now cast correct visible shadows

• Improved character obstacle awareness

• Extensive fixes and improvements


Account page link.

 

[Murf]

Oh man o man o man o man!

Gonna try it out now!
Thanks for all the work you and your team do!

 

[Elaxter]

Holy moley! this looks great. Thank you, as always!

Edit:

Played a little in the arena and I can feel a huge difference. The combat feels finished and easier to pull off. I'm not fighting with the weight of the weapon as much. The character feels like he is in control of the weapon.

I caught a spiked mace in my face and got knocked on my ass. 10/10 would be mutilated again.

 

[TwoPumpWarrior]

Is there an absolute lowest combat proficiency? Knowing that Remise, Feint, and Fend are techniques, does that mean some may have none of these skills in the open-world? For example a farmer and a merchant, they may have no experience with combat. So they can't reliably parry, queue follow up attacks, or even impart substantial forces on the weapon. This is just a simple ass example but I hope you see my meaning.
Basically, the scope and skill of combat are much wider than I had imagined.

 

[El Maco]

Possible bug report: I alt-tabbed to Windows after starting an arena match. Next time I was in the character creation screen I got several messages from mr. Texture Manager saying "This would cause problem 2" or something along those lines. Nothing obvious were broken after that, though.

 

[Madoc]

There was a bit of failure with the installer package and it didn't include all the new release data. Unless you've downloaded it in the past 5 minutes you should redownload it. Sorry about that.

Is there an absolute lowest combat proficiency? Knowing that Remise, Feint, and Fend are techniques, does that mean some may have none of these skills in the open-world? For example a farmer and a merchant, they may have no experience with combat. So they can't reliably parry, queue follow up attacks, or even impart substantial forces on the weapon. This is just a simple ass example but I hope you see my meaning.
Basically, the scope and skill of combat are much wider than I had imagined.

Yes, when skills are properly introduced you won't have any of these techniques and you'll have to train them (same goes for NPCs). Right now we just gave these 3 techniques to all characters to emulate the previous combat mechanics as closesly as possible.

 

[Boothie]

well not much of a change overall, happy to hear that your laying the groundwork for a more substantial improvement of the combat system though =D. I truly cant wait for skills (and stabbing, i mean seriously madoc why cant we stab yet?)

 

[Tony]

Excellent update, Madoc! The new animations are great and make combat look much more fluid and smooth. Taking small steps when single tapping has resolved the issue I had with hold to dash so now it is working much better and I can once again execute precise maneuvers. Lastly, the new animations for polearms and one-handed weapons are also a vast improvement which makes them more enjoyable to use.

P.S. how people react when being struck is a subtle but very neat addition that enhances the immersion factor a lot .

 

[Madoc]

We were tying to make the combat play as similarly as possible to before despite the changes so you're not going to notice anything drastic. That said there are still some notable changes. In general though we're not looking to change how the combat works at all, only enhance it.

You should have significantly more control over your swings, it's both easier to deliver more force and to stay balanced. Accuracy and the effectiveness of blows should also feel improved. The new remise mechanic allows you to chain swings in both directions instead of just RtL->LtR, and you can also swing in a wider arc without a remise by letting go of LMB early.

Most of the animation changes are fairly subtle but the way they work is quite different. It has a fairly minimal impact on footwork which is a different beast, the characters do however balance themselves better. There is a noticeably improved fluidity in all motions, a lot of new dynamic behaviours and a better interaction with physics momentum. Characters now also have some varied and realistic reactions to being hit whereas before they did nothing beyond rigidly getting knocked a little.

I think if you do a direct comparison of an older version with this one you'll notice there's actually some pretty big differences, mostly subtle but important.

 

[Boothie]

Played a bit more, i think i especially notice the difference when playing with sword and shield, a weapon set that previously just frustrated me =D. I do hope my success with it was not just because the AI hasnt been adjusted for the new changes =P.

 

[Pancakez54]

The grips on the weapons feels tighter and the swinging is faster. Just what I wanted you guys to do.

 

[Drunk3n Noble]

Anyone else having issues installing 4.3? Every time I try to run it, I get an error. Tried deleting 4.3 and redownloading, no luck. Any advice?

 

[Drunk3n Noble]

Never mind, I got it to run. (Finally!)

 

[Fawz]

Sounds like some great changes overall. Can't try it out just yet, but really happy to see you guys are still willing to make these kind of improvements at this stage. Hopefully the Skill system gets introduced soon and further mixes things up

 

[Mark Shaun Rushow]

Oh improved character obstacle awareness! That is a super bonus I wasn't expecting and have been hoping for can't wait to check it out.