A Few Quick Matches News

[p]hi everyone! pluto here, just wanted to give a brief update before the holidays on what we're working on behind the scenes, as well as provide a very small patch for CPU difficulty. enjoy![/p][h3]## PATCH 1.6.3, EASIER CPU SETTINGS ##[/h3][p]this is a quick patch to include a difficulty setting for CPU's. you can now select easy or hard after adding them to your match. the "easy" CPU setting should provide a nicer training method for newer players. the "hard" CPU's are the same ones that were already implemented in the game.[/p][p]this was cooked up pretty quickly just to give new players a way to practice without needing to go online and fight players who are more experienced. in the future, we would like to add more difficulty settings for CPU's, but we wanted to push this update as quickly as possible to give newer players a better experience. [/p][p][/p][h3]## mods / workshop support ##[/h3][p]this remains our #1 goal for AFQM, as we feel it really adds to the longevity and replayablity of the game. also, i just really want to see what you guys come up with![/p][p]as stated in previous updates, fully custom stages are implemented, but now we need the ability for stages to load custom scripts and spawn custom objects, because characters will need the ability to create these objects. there are still a lot of things that need added, like proper integration with steam workshop, modding documentation, and testing online to ensure everything runs smoothly, but the most difficult part (actually getting custom characters to load properly without the need of the game engine) is almost finished![/p][p][/p][h3]## in-game tutorial ##[/h3][p]while modding/workshop is a top priority for plaguye at the moment, i plan on contracting an additional developer (most likely after the holdays) to whip up a long overdue in-game tutorial, to better explain the mechanics of this game. while i originally created this game as a fun way to just do cool combos, it's obviously taken on a life of its own, and a step-by-step, in depth guide is very needed for newcomers. this was always planned, but needing to rework the online infrastructure, as well as fixing in-game bugs and balance issues, took priority for many months.[/p][p][/p][h3]## character #5 ##[/h3][p]our 5th character is also actively being worked on! this is essentially my only task at the moment, so i'm hoping their development will go quickly. i will not be giving a hard date for their release though, because something bad happens every single time i do that and i miss the date lol.[/p][p]anyway, character 5's weapon of choice will be a lengthy spear! his gameplay will be focused on keeping you at specific distances to maximize their damage output. (no, they are not a marth clone, i promise). they will also have 2 special moves i'm particularly excited about, because i haven't quite seen it done before in a platfighter, but i will keep it a secret until i make sure it's actually going to work. i don't want to keep their entire development a secret though, so once i have some concrete footage, i'll share it with you all, and maybe even livestream working on them towards the end![/p][p][/p][h3]## thank you for a great 2025 ##[/h3][p]i'm still blown away by the reception this game received. halfway through this year i had no idea what i was going to do with my life. i was out of money and out of time, and instead of getting a regular 9 to 5, i doubled down, worked 18 hours a day for 2 months straight alongside plaguye, and created/released A FEW QUICK MATCHES hoping it would sell just enough copies to get me out of debt. now, over 130,000 people have downloaded this little game, and i have enough resources to fund this game to its endpoint, as well as stickfigurez, and even future games. i know a huge part of it is luck, but i'm still proud of this game and the team that helped bring it to life! thank you all for playing A FEW QUICK MATCHES! [/p][p][/p]

this is a quick patch to include a difficulty setting for CPU's. you can now select easy or hard after adding them to your match. the "easy" CPU setting should provide a nicer training method for newer players. the "hard" CPU's are the same ones that were already implemented in the game.
this was cooked up pretty quickly just to give new players a way to practice without needing to go online and fight players who are more experienced. in the future, we would like to add more difficulty settings for CPU's, but we wanted to push this update as quickly as possible to give newer players a better experience.

[h2]a quick patch to fix a few crashes and one gameplay error with eureka. we are working on a larger balance patch that puts characters more in line with the intended vision after the previous knockdown changes. i will be reaching out to a few players to help with this balance patch as well.[/h2]

[h3]## BUGS ##[/h3]
- fixed multiple eureka CPU crashes

[h3]## EUREKA ##[/h3]
- fixed an issue where eureka could not perform specials to cancel her down special (she still can't cancel it with another down special)

[h2]## GAMEPLAY ##[/h2]
- reeling speed threshold reduced slightly. this small change has a big impact on combos, specifically in later percents. (if this change is a little too crazy, i will release another patch to tighten it up. it's an easy thing to change, but it effects a TON of gameplay, so it's hard to test for every edge case). because the threshold was a bit too high, players would get stuck in their flinching animation from weak hits, even at high percents, allowing characters like eureka to perform weak hit nair into up smash guaranteed at basically any relevant percent. this change makes it so that those combos still work at lower percents, but in the mid/high percent range, you will no longer be stuck in this animation, and will be given an opportunity to tech the move. this means that across the board, characters' weaker hits at higher percents will not auto lock you into kill confirms or huge setups. it makes the early game just as consistent as it used to be, and still allows for some lonnngggg combos if timed properly, but the mid-game and especially the late-game becomes more neutral heavy and requires a few more interactions to win the stock. this change might take a minute to get used to, but i think it's extremely important for the overall health of the game, and new players will probably feel a little less lost, becuase they'll at least have a couple more chances to win the fight lol.

## EUREKA ##
- eureka's orb now gets destroyed if she is hit while an orb is active. this forces eureka to be more careful when recovering (her recovery still refreshes on hit)
- eyeball has significantly more startup time, and a little more endlag
- opponents can now quick cancel off of hitting an eyeball
- eyeball deals 5% to eureka when destroyed by an opponent
- eyeball hitstun reduced from 45 to 40 frames
- all of these eyeball changes are to remove the free combo extension routes the move provided, and instead, creates a unique neutral tool. instead of a free followup, the move is now deployed, and then if you win neutral at the correct time, you get your combo extension. there are also still opportunities to mix in eyeball during a combo at the cost of a guaranteed followup, but you're still in advantage state, and if you guess right and get another hit, you'll be able to combo similarly to the way eyeball used to work. this one change nerfs eureka's zero to death potential and overall punish game, so the rest of her changes are going to be pretty minimal for now. (please note, if it is found that the eyeball can still be used in guaranteed combo routes, it will probably be nerfed again before platfight, because this is not the intended use of the move).
- down special no longer refreshes your airdash. you can still cancel the move with airdash if you haven't used it yet, as well as cancel with an aerial or a jump (this was never an intended feature of the move).
- increased knockback scaling on weak hits of nair
- increased knockback scaling on the weak hits of back air. this + the reeling speed change makes it so this move no longer stun locks you for eternity no matter what percent you're at

[h2]## NINJA ##[/h2]
- up air hitbox size increased
- up tilt hitbox size increased
- up smash damage and knockback scaling increased
- backsway now sways further, and the hitbox is a kill move instead of a combo move, but there is more endlag on the attack (palm strike) if you commit to it
[h2]
## REND & KNOCKT ##[/h2]
please note that while there are no direct changes to knockt and rend, they are also changed significantly by the reeling threshhold change. for example, rend's weak hits will no longer auto combo into jab at mid to high percents, and you will have more changes to tech out of certain routes from both characters.

[h2]## BUGS ##[/h2]
- fixed a crash involving CPU's (mainly eureka)

[h2]## MISC ##[/h2]
- updated credits and splash screen to include platform fighter engine (sorry yosi thank you for not suing me)
- removed some unused sprite assets to clean up the game files a bit

[h2]## CPU AI ##[/h2]
- cpu ai has been improved significantly. the cpu's now try to utilize the combo system more, and try to play certain playstyles depending on the character. this implementation also allows us to easily create difficulty settings for the cpu's, from extremely easy to impossibly hard. this difficulty curve will be added in a future patch.
[h2]
## ONLINE IMPROVEMENTS / BUG FIXES ##[/h2]
- fixed issues with inviting and joining friends through steam. you should now be able to invite friends as well as join friends who have already made lobbies through the steam invite system
- you and your opponents can now have different delay settings, meaning players with better internet will no longer be forced to play on higher delay when their oppoonent selects it. each player can set the delay to their liking. (for those unaware, delay is extremely important for rollback netcode to work properly. usually, at least 2 frames of delay is recommended even if you have incredibly good connection/ping).
- fixed a bug where the host closing the game would freeze the game for others in an online lobby. you are now booted back to the online menu

[h2]## COMING SOON (NOVEMBER 14TH)[/h2]
- a balance patch focusing on characters will be released within the next week, giving players plenty of time to adjust to the changes before the upcoming platfight online tournament. this patch will ONLY contain balance patches, and new animations/taunts/etc will be added in a patch after the tournament (i don't want to brick everyone's custom mods right before an event either).

- we've also been making progress on workshop/mod support. specifically, plague has been working on getting custom stages implemented in an easy to understand way. no release date yet for workshop, but we're gaining ground!