Fraymakers News

Highlights

New Beta Branch: Optimized Unloading
· Currently the game keeps all menu assets in memory, even during gameplay. This results in fast loading between menu and match, but could cause the game to run worse on lower end hardware. If you’ve experienced issues previously, give this build a try to see if it improves your game feel and memory utilization online.
· Expect to see a brief black screen after matches end for now since we do not currently have UI during this new phase to reload the menu assets. This black screen will be replaced by an endcard in the future.
· During testing we observed an issue where music rarely cuts off mid-match. It's unclear if this bug is specific to this build, but we are currently investigating this. Let us know if you experience this issue!

Loading Upgrades
· No more frozen game when waiting for custom content to load on startup or during long downloads online! We now use threading to load content, which prevents the entire game from freezing up and allows us to display a loading bar.
· Simplified custom content loading procedures behind-the-scenes and updated it to fail more gracefully. A single piece of content failing to load should no longer cause the rest of the custom content to fail. This should fix a bug that sometimes prevented your custom content from loading, alongside generally increased loading stability.
· Loading logic can be precarious - please let us know if you find any bugs with the new functionality at fraymakers.com/feedback.

General

Gameplay
· Parry
    - 📢 You can no longer parry attacks from behind.
         - Parries now use the same logic as shields when determining if an attack should be parryable.
· Armor Visuals
    - Attacks with the various types of armor are now indicated by the character tinting orange during armored frames.
· Crash
    - 📢 Pressing shield during crash loop now properly results in get up.
    - Entering crash bounce for the first time now causes a slight screen shake.

Announcer
· First Blood
    - Now properly occurs every time the first stock is lost.

Graphics
· Vsync is now disabled by default on first launch.
    - We received reports recently about some setups having substantially lower frame rates when vsync is on. Given the player feedback, we believe vsync defaulting to off will give an improved gameplay experience to most new players on average while we investigate vsync issues.

Menus

Options
· Gameplay
    - Stage backgrounds are now togglable.
         - If you’re having trouble running the game smoothly online or offline, setting this option to "off" should improve performance on lower end hardware. Consider using this option while we work on other optimizations.
· Sound
    - Master volume slider added.

Online
· Rollback Stress Test
    - Fail rating now also suggests turning off backgrounds.

Fonts
· Munro
    - 📢 Adjusted the letter "J" to not look like a left-facing parenthesis.

Playable Characters

CommanderVideo
· General
    - 📢 Hurtboxes tightened on neutral special, up special and ledge roll.
· CPU
    - Now holds side special until reaching the desired target instead of instantly releasing it.
· Side Special
    - Tapping the input now always plays through one frame of the active hitbox. Previously, tapping the input would go straight from startup to endlag without a hitbox ever coming out.

Octodad
· General
    - 📢 Hurtboxes tightened on double jump, crouch, forward tilt, special side air, special up throw, all airdashes, ledge climb and ledge roll.
    - Corrected colors on ledge roll and airdash forward up.
    - Frame positioning corrected on airdash back down.
    - Frame timing adjusted on double jump and ledge get up.

Orcane
· General
    - 📢 Hurtboxes tightened on up tilt, forward tilt, down tilt, crash bounce, crash get up, crash roll, crash attack and ledge attack.
· Hurt Medium
    - 📢 Adjusted animation length to match the rest of the cast (did not affect hitstun duration).
· Crash Get Up
    - Frame timing slightly adjusted.

The Watcher
· General
    - 📢 Hurtboxes tightened on spot dodge and back throw.
    - 📢 Hurtboxes now display their proper color in Training Mode.
· Hurt Lights
    - 📢 Adjusted animation length to match the rest of the cast (did not affect hitstun duration). .
· Neutral Air
    - 📢 Weak hitbox stats now properly apply to the second hitbox.
· Down Tilt
    - 📢 Fixed incorrect colors on pixel art.
· Grab
    - 📢 Fixed incorrect colors on pixel art.
· Back Throw
    - 📢 Back layer of ribbons realigned.

Welltaro
· Ammo Meter UI
    - No longer bounces when Welltaro restores bullets by hitting an opponent. Now only bounces on land.
· Hurt Lights
    - 📢 Adjusted animation length to match the rest of the cast (did not affect hitstun duration). .

Ultra Fishbunjin 3000
· General
    - 📢 Hurtboxes tightened on crouch.
· Forward Tilt
    - Hitboxes tightened.
· Forward Strong
    - Hitboxes tightened.
· Neutral Special
    - No longer plays a random effect.
         - This was potentially a sneaky source of desyncs - please test and let us know if you notice fewer desyncs, particularly in the Fishbunjin vs Orcane matchup.
    - Hitbox reaches slightly further downward.
    - Aerial version’s hitbox now matches the grounded version.
· Crash Attack
    - Hitboxes tightened.
· Crash Roll
    - 📢 Pixel art adjusted.
    - Frame timing slightly adjusted.

Assists

The Silent
· Now restores poison when you hit an enemy with projectiles and assists.

Custom Content

Bug Fixes
· Fixed bug where attempting to set string stats to a null value via any one of their updating methods wouldn't work (e.g. setting "nextAnimation" to "null" for a character animation would have had no effect).

New bodyStatusShaderColor stat
· Introduced new bodyStatusShaderColor animation stat for game objects. This allows the new armor color feature to use a custom color or be turned off on a per move basis. (See https://github.com/Fraymakers/fraymakers-api-docs/blob/main/docs/classes/CharacterAnimationStats.md)

Character Template v0.2.4

https://github.com/Fraymakers/character-template/releases/tag/0.2.4

Side Special
· Added a commented out bodyStatusShaderColor to an alternate Side Special in animation stats demonstrating how to turn off the color.

Fraymakers Api Types Plugin v0.3.5

https://github.com/Fraymakers/api-types-plugin/releases/tag/0.3.5

Note: Changes with a 📢 in front resulted from suggestions by our community!

General

Hit Sparks
· Spike
    - New work in progress sprite added.

Playable Characters

The Watcher
· Bug Fixes
    - Fixed bug that prevented Wrath Strongs from becoming stronger after charging.
    - Fixed bug that allowed you to switch from a Calm to a Divinity special mid animation if you triggered Divinity during the Calm animation and landed.
    - Fixed bug that sometimes prevented Calm and Wrath from changing palettes online.
    - Fixed bug that caused the Watcher to go into special fall when hitting an opponent while teleporting from the ground to the air using side special.
· HUD
    - Mantra meter now dynamically moves underneath your HUD when the Gameplay Options HUD location setting is set to "top".
· Back Air
    - Sparkle effect position and timing adjusted.
· Down Air
    - Sparkle effect position and timing adjusted.

Welltaro
· Neutral Air
    - Corrected incorrect colors and missing pixels on pixel art.
· Up Throw
    - Effects added.
    - Keyframe physical placements slightly adjusted.
    - Endlag visually adjusted to play through the keyframes a bit more slowly. Frame data is unchanged.
· Forward Throw
    - Endlag visually adjusted to play through the keyframes a bit more slowly. Frame data is unchanged.
· Down Throw
    - Endlag visually adjusted to play through the keyframes a bit more slowly. Frame data is unchanged.

Assists

Captain Viridian
· Bug Fixes
    - Fixed bug that caused you to land after hitting with a grounded attack while gravity is flipped.
    - No longer interrupts an attack to lift you off the ground while gravity is flipped. You will now be lifted off the ground once the attack ends.

Highlights

The Watcher
· Added to the game! The Watcher is selectable as both a character and assist. Using her down special, you can switch between her Calm and Wrath stances to change her physics, attack properties, and neutral special - it’s like having two characters in one. Land 5 hits in each stance using your staff attacks, palm strikes, and precise kicks to enter Divinity, enhancing your next special move with divine power and causing them to stun your opponents. Let us know what you think, and send us your coolest combos!
    - We’ve also already hit the ground running on the next character! For more info on Character 7 and our other progress, check out our latest update on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mcleodgaming/fraymakers-the-infinitely-replayable-indie-platform-fighter/posts/4162483

General

Gameplay
· Grounded spikes now multiply knockback by 1.3.
    - Our spikes generally have weaker knockback than other attacks since otherwise they would combine with gravity to kill extremely early. This is an experimental change meant to compensate for the side effect of spiking hitboxes having low knockback when they hit opponents upward off the ground.

Bug Fixes
📢 Fixed bug that caused attacks buffered out of hitstun to come out 1 frame later than perfectly timed attacks.
📢 Fixed bug that caused a jump input perfectly timed out of landing lag while holding left or right to result in an instant buffered double jump rather than a normal grounded jump.
· Tech inputs are no longer conflated with shield inputs that came from input buffer consumption, resulting in more reliable teching in some situations.
· Fixed bug that caused previous and projected ECBs of newly generated objects to be incorrect on their first frame.

Menus

Character Select Screen
· Orcane moved to the lower left position where the Watcher was previously locked.

Credits
· “PsnDth - Programmer” added to the Collaborators section.

Playable Characters

CommanderVideo
· General
    - Hurtboxes tightened on walk and airdashes.
· Rainbow Trail
    - Now only refreshes when hitting other fighters (now won’t trigger on any other hittable object). This is currently not relevant for official content.
· Neutral Special
    - Fixed bug that caused the animation in response to a direction being pressed to be delayed by one frame.
· Down Special
    - Now properly links to grounded animation when landing from the aerial version.

Octodad
· General
    - Hurtboxes tightened on down special and down special air.
· Up Special
    - 📢 Throw now uses a programmatic hit instead of a hitbox, preventing instances where unexpected behavior could occur when throwing characters while pressed up against terrain.
· Up Special Air
    - 📢 Thrown characters now visually react to the throw.
· Parry Fail
    - Frame data now matches the rest of the cast (29 frames → 30 frames)

Orcane
· General
    - Hurtboxes tightened on jump, fall, land light, aerial lands, double jump, crouch, spot dodge, roll, tech roll, airdashes, forward air, back air, down air, dash attack, jab 1, parry success, side special air and up special teleport.
· Puddle
    - 📢 Fixed bug that created a dormant second puddle by teleporting as a new puddle was created.
    - CPU now highly prioritizes getting a puddle down onto the ground if one isn’t present.

Ultra Fishbunjin 3000
· General
    - ECB width increased (50 → 60)
    - Hurtboxes tightened on forward air.
    - 📢 Additional sound effects added to grab, up throw, down throw, back throw, jab, techs, forward strong and side special.
· Side Special
    - Can no longer fast fall during startup.
· Forward Air
    - Keyframe timing adjusted.
         - Previously, his legs were fully extended on the keyframe before the hitbox came out. With this adjustment, the hitbox now comes out on this keyframe and feels more intuitive. The keyframe timing on the rest of the animation was adjusted so this change doesn’t affect startup, active time, or endlag.
    - Slightly reduced the hitbox range of the first two frames and slightly increased the hitbox range of the last three active frames.
· Up Tilt
    - Hitboxes tightened.

The Watcher
· Added to the game.

Welltaro
· General
    - Hurtboxes tightened on tumble, up strong, forward strong land, neutral special, neutral special air, and assist call.
· Neutral Air
    - Filled in missing shading on character pixel art.
    - Flame effects updated with completed pixel art.
· Forward Strong
    - Filled in missing shading on character pixel art.
    - Flame effects updated with completed pixel art.
· Back Air
    - Flame effects updated.
    - Frame timing adjusted (does not affect frame data).

Assists

Captain Viridian
· Pressing the assist button while Captain Viridian is active now allows you to flip your gravity back and forth.
· Duration increased (1 second → 1.5 seconds)
· Speed cap increased (1x terminal velocity → 1.25x terminal velocity)
· Fixed bug that threw an error into the console on KO after calling the assist.

Diogenes
· Damage to charge reduced (125 → 100)
· Slightly adjusted movement physics, resulting in moving further between jumps.
· Reduced startup and cooldown between leaps by 4 frames.
· Stats adjusted on falling hitbox (angle 361 →, 30, baseKnockback 65 → 55, knockbackGrowth 85 → 95, hitstop -1 → 20)
· Both hits can no longer reverse angle.

The Kid
· Damage to charge reduced (75 → 50)

Kragg
· Damage to charge increased (75 → 85)

Lea
· Damage to charge increased (90 → 95)
· Startup increased (22 → 24)

Nikandreos
· Hitbox sizes reduced.
· Startup increased by 1 frame.
· First hit damage reduced (6 → 1)
· Second hit stats adjusted (damage 14 → 10, knockbackGrowth 35 → 55, hitstop 20 → 14)

Niko
· Damage to charge reduced (100 → 90)

Octodad
📢 Throw now uses a programmatic hit instead of a hitbox, preventing instances where unexpected behavior could occur when throwing characters while pressed up against terrain.

Peppino
📢 Throw now uses a programmatic hit instead of a hitbox, preventing instances where unexpected behavior could occur when throwing characters while pressed up against terrain.

Pizza
· Paint duration increased (3 seconds → 5 seconds)
· knockbackGrowth increased (30 → 50)

Rhythm Doctor
· Damage to charge reduced (65 → 60)

Rockman
· No longer swings at teammates.

Super Hexagon
· Damage to charge increased (75 → 106)
· Hitbox size reduced.

Tankman
· Hitbox size reduced.
· knockbackGrowth reduced (75 → 70)
· Startup increased (8 → 13)

The Watcher
· Added to the game!

Welltaro
· Now fires three projectiles in a row while moving forward.
· Projectile size increased.

Stages

The Spire
· Death boundary raised by 30 pixels.
· Camera boundary raised by 30 pixels.

Custom Content

· Entity's "attachToFloor" method will no longer throw an error and no action will occur when passed a null floor structure.

Character Template v0.2.3

· https://github.com/Fraymakers/character-template/releases/tag/0.2.3
· Shield 2 “Clutch” Button Check Example
    - Added to the character template, you can find the code example in Script and on Neutral Special.
· Ledge Climb
    - The "ledge_climb" and "ledge_climb_in" animations were inappropriately swapped in the template. This is now corrected.

Note: Changes with a 📢 in front resulted from suggestions by our community!

Highlights

Engine Upgrade
· The engine upgrade to run the game on Heaps 2 and Hashlink 1.14 has been promoted to the main build. Thank you to everyone who helped test this on the upgrade beta branch! As always, please let us know if you run into any issues using the feedback form. In case you missed it, here is the list of major changes coming with the upgrade:
    - Improved online and offline performance
    - Greatly reduced game hitching
    - Improved loading times, including startup custom content loading
    - Improved garbage collection
    - Mouse disappears after idling
· Bug Fixes
    - Mouse is “trapped” less often within the game window.
         - Known issue: the mouse can sometimes become trapped by the game window (press Alt-Tab to fix it for now)
    - 📢Resolutions now properly display on the graphics menu.

Machine-specific Graphics Settings
· Graphics settings have migrated from the main save file to a separate one that does not sync to Steam Cloud. This allows each device to maintain its own graphics settings between launches.

Menus

Graphics
· Fullscreen and fullscreen borderless now automatically lock in your display’s maximum resolution.
· Known bug: toggling from fullscreen or fullscreen borderless to windowed ignores your preset resolution option. In order to make the window the size you prefer, you’ll have to set the resolution after applying the windowed setting, and apply one more time.

General

Bug Fixes
· Launching a replay that contains missing custom content will now show a pop-up message instead of crashing
    - This fix was added to v0.6.11 but wasn’t included in the patch notes.
· Hovering over a hidden token on the stage select no longer triggers a buzzer sound effect.
📢Training mode toggles are no longer biased to the left when using the hand cursor.

📢 Loudspeaker Emoji? 📢
· We’re implementing this emoji into the patch notes to highlight issues that were resolved as a result of feedback from the community. Thank you so much for all of your help with improving Fraymakers! If you have a bug or any feedback you’d like to inform us of, feel free to use our feedback form.

Controls

Wavedash Button

• Fixed bug that caused the airdash animation to be skipped when you angled the wavedash button input upward.
  

Stages

Stratostar

• Springs are no longer affected by structures.