Two Strikes News

Hi everyone!
You have no idea how busy I am...

First of all, I went with Entalto Publishing to GDC and it was a blast! Had a great time and met amazing people. I just step back home and I have to catch another flight to Brazil, to visit my parents, since that's the time of the year I come here to visit them. I will be working from here, but soon I will stop for 10 days to actually rest. Very needed. But then, it will be non-stop until release! So bear with me!

This update doesn't bring a lot, since I just finished a big chunk of the game lore and just started on the achievements. Unfortunately they have to be released together, so that's why I can't release them now.

So the changes for this updates are:

• Removed Tie Break as the default decision mode after a tie. (There is an option on settings to activate it back again)
  
• Fixed bugs like the Quick Guide Showing Achievements
  
• Added mouse visibility back.
  

The tie break mechanic was an old one that made sense back in the day where the Duel Clash wasn't implemented. Now, with it, feels redundant and takes the tension that the ties create in fighting game.

We finally start exploring the lore of Two Strikes! How Exciting is that?
This is an important update for me! It finally introduces more details about our duelists and all the hard work Eoin Thompson, our historian did for the game. Who were they? What motivated them in life? What could motivate them in... death?

I started building the Lore section of the menu, there you can find each duelist profile and know more about them. For now, only their profiles are available, more in the next updates!

Also, I've finally linked the endgame to the credits scene!

We are also very happy to introduce you the 8th scenario that belongs to Shenyan, still to be released. You can play in it in the versus modes or in the practice mode.

[h3]Bug Fixing[/h3]

• Some characters experienced some annoying behavior after defending, which would need new input to make them move, even if the player pressed the move button before the end of some animations.
  
• Fixed bugs where the double dash was not working well, especially for scenarios where there would be one tap and then, a hold to the same direction. That was also a very annoying behavior that I am happy that we managed to fix.
  
• For keyboard players, fixed some scrambled inputs.
  

First of all, I'd like to thank the patience for the lack of updates in January, but I promise, it was worth it.

I am happy to announce that we moved away from the old clunky UI to a brand new and beautiful one. With controller or keyboard input indications, for Xbox and PS controllers on all pages.

This UI is not just an aesthetic change, it is laying grounds for all the content that is missing in the game, like extras, achievements, story more lore, and even the ability to listen to the OST of the game in the menus. I am excited about the things to come.

The change also includes all menus, in-game included with a very clear way of communicating the information.

[h3]I already added a couple of nice things with this new UI:[/h3]

1. Credits Screen. Here you can see who has already participated in the game creation and the responsible for all the areas of the game.

2. Default Controller Screen. Here you can see the default inputs for Xbox and PS5 controllers.

3. Options to inactivate the dash with double tapping for each player separately.

4. A more interesting and cohesive key binding screen.

5. The duel settings are not part of the flow anymore. You can set the number of duels or difficulty once and not have to setup every time you choose to play a game mode.

6. New quick guide screen. Here you can access each game tip, instead of having to go through them.

7. News section. Here you will be able to access the latest release notes and any other important Two Strikes news in the future.

In other news, I also had to change the game input system from Rewired to Unity's New Input System. The new UI wasn't compatible with Rewired and as per the request of the publisher, thinking ahead for the porting of the game to all platforms, also suggested I move to the New Input System. This New Input System should simplify detecting fighting sticks and even leverless controllers a lot better and without conflicts with XInput with Steam.

A lot of testing was done to find most of the bugs, but I believe that some of them might have escaped us, so I please asking for your help to find them, so we can squash them as fast as possible.


[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• Ayai recovery after being defended from her weak attack is getting 20% longer since some characters were not able to counter even with a weak attack, which was very unfair considering how fast and long-ranged her attack is.
  
• Yasuke's dash back range is being reduced by 50% and the duration is being decreased by 20%. Consider this a buff, since it makes Yasuke more dynamic and in a better spot after canceling his attacks.
  

We are getting very close to finishing all the art assets of the game. Including ending illustrations. While I can't show the ending illustrations, I can show you the story mode portraits that were just finished. Miyo, the swordsmith!

Hi all! I'm sorry for the lack of updates in January.

We are working, a lot!

I am basically re-doing the menus for a more modern and interesting UI, that will help me add the achievements, story mode lore and character profiles in a way that will be great to access and collect the information. The problem is that, I also needed to refactor the input system to the "new" input system from Unity and that's a lot of work to understand and apply.

I was using Rewired before which is a really amazing tool, easy to code with it and setup, but also caused problems with some controllers. Also, we are thinking about the porting to the other platforms, which is a lot easier with the new input system, so it was a change that will have to be done, sooner or later.

I thank you for your patience and hopefully, I can show you soon.

Have a great year, everyone!

Danilo Barbosa

I decided to work a little bit more on Infinite Mode before completely focusing again on the Story Mode. Now I think I can do that.

[h3]Minor quality of life improvements[/h3]

• Infinite Mode death counter. Now you can see in real time how many have you dueled to the death.
  
• Last update I decided to remove the Feint (hold) input, but upon requests, I decided to re-add again.
  
• Getting hit in Infinite doesn't reset at the start of the next match, making it a lot more difficult to reach higher scores.