The Thrill of the Fight News

Hello everyone! There has been a good cycle of beta updates and player feedback for the last few months, and I'm now pushing the recent beta tested changes over to the main branch.

Note: If you run into a problem with the update, please opt into the branch named "190123" through Steam, and let me know about the issue in the comments below.

As always, I'd love to hear your feedback, either over on the Steam forums, on Reddit (where I'm u/fyian), or directly at my email address at [email protected]. The game is still in Early Access so anything and everything on the main branch is still subject to change based on your feedback. If you want to receive frequent (but less tested) updates with cutting-edge changes that I'm testing out, please opt into the game's beta branch through Steam.


The tenth opponent has finally been added - Edward Price, A.K.A "Moneymaker." Price is the ultimate fighter, with many of the strengths of the other fighters with few weaknesses. Your trainer might have put his foot on the scale to help you weigh in for this fight...

You'll fight Price in the new Arena venue, which is also available as an option in the fight customization menu.


Punches that land against the opponent's body are more stable and no longer slide around without any friction, giving a better feeling of impact.

Landed punches now show a subtle impact effect that is color-coded to imply the level of damage you inflicted. This effect can be configured or turned off in the game's Settings menu.


The crowd sounds in all venues have been updated to new 3D sound fields (and now with reaction clips!).


The AI has been updated to feel more "fair", with more balanced damage output and added reaction times. The player's punch physics have been updated to detect weak point hits much more reliably. Stats, spacing distances, and other small tweaks have been applied to all opponents.


There have been 93 individual update notes in the beta versions since the last main update, with many improvements to quality of life, general game polish, and improving the way information is shown in game. Check out the previous beta news updates for the full list.

For those of you on the beta branch, here's what's different from the last beta update:

• Brightened the color of the red screen effect that plays when the play receives a hit to the body.
  
• Reduced the Chin and Power levels to 110% for Outclassed mode (from 115%).
  
• Reduced the Chin level to 105% for Endurance mode (from 110%).
  
• Increased the size of the screens in the Arena venue.
  

Note: For those looking to try out the beta, you can do so by right clicking the game in Steam, going to "Properties", clicking the "Betas" tab, and choosing the "beta" option from the dropdown.

Hello, everyone! There's a new beta update headed out now.

The main change that I'd love to get your opinions on is that unblocked punches against the opponent will now have colored particle effects suggesting how much damage you inflicted with the punch you landed. Punches with a cyan colored effect inflict little to no damage on the opponent. Punches with a red colored effect have inflicted enough damage to substantially dizzy your opponent. The effect will blend between cyan to yellow to red to show the damage level of your punches between those two end points. The effect is intended to be subtle so as not to make it the primary focus for the player while they're fighting. This effect can be changed to always show a white impact effect like in the previous update or the impact effect can be turned off altogether through the in-game Settings menu. The option you've chosen for this setting will be shown on the main menu configuration quick view panel.

You'll also notice that the "damaging punches" stat has been removed from the punch statistics page because it was causing confusion and didn't provide enough detail to explain why the player might have won or lost a round. Instead, you'll see a new stat that shows the total damage inflicted per round.

Please read through the full list of changes below and let me know your thoughts in the feedback thread here or by emailing me at [email protected].

If you run into a game breaking issue, please report it to me and then switch over to the rollback branch if needed.

The version number for this update should read "190424.1BS"

Thanks!


Update Notes:

• Added coloration to the hit impact effect to convey how much damage was dealt to the opponent by the hit
  
• Removed the "Damaging Punches" punch statistic and replaced it with the total damage inflicted per round
  
• Added a bout customization option to control how slowly or quickly the trauma system builds accumulated damage
  
• Renamed "Hook Speed Control" to "Tracking Speed Limit" and added it to the main menu configuration quick view panel
  
• Made the boxing dummy taller to match Joe's height
  
• Impact particle effect will now move with the target that was hit instead of floating in the air at the point of impact
  
• Fixed issue causing the player's glove to play the hit impact particle effect at unintended times
  
• Fixed issue where customizing the AI's body hit tendency ratio by any amount would always cause them to only hit the body or the head and ignore the other
  
• Added penalty to AI's damage while they are dizzied
  
• Added descriptions to score card punch statistics sections
  
• Added descriptions to some customization menu options
  
• Raised point of focus for the active fight camera slightly and reduced the maximum amount it will zoom in
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the customization menu to snap back to its starting scroll position if your hand went off the edge of the menu while trying to scroll it
  
• Lowered the main menu position by a couple of inches to make the close buttons easier to reach
  

Note: For those looking to try out the beta, you can do so by right clicking the game in Steam, going to "Properties", clicking the "Betas" tab, and choosing the "beta" option from the dropdown.

Hello, everyone! I've got another beta update headed out. This one isn't quite as exciting as the last one, but has some important bug fixes and tweaks in it.

I've made a fairly important change to how the glove follows the controller. Please punching the weak points on the boxing dummy and let me know if you feel like getting credit for weak points is reliable and consistent.

I've also added a toggle to the bottom of the settings menu that controls whether or not extremely fast hooks will have their speed adjusted. If your hooks feel too weak compared to your straights, turn that setting off and see if it makes any difference. If you do change this setting, please leave feedback and let me know.

Please read through the full list of changes below and let me know your thoughts in the feedback thread here or by emailing me at [email protected].

If you run into a game breaking issue, please report it to me and then switch over to the rollback branch if needed.

The version number for this update should read "190321.0BS"

Thanks!


Update Notes:

• Fixed a bug preventing the AI from throwing body shots under certain conditions
  
• Fixed a bug that would allow some custom settings to carry over into the difficulty presets if you did a custom fight and then played on one of the other difficulties.
  
• Fixed issue where Luis was approaching the player but then wouldn't throw punches.
  
• Adjusted the AIs desired distances and ranges.
  
• Tweaked the method the AI uses to determine if a punch target is in range.
  
• Added a new setting called "Hook Speed Control" that lets you toggle on or off the hook speed limit. This setting may be temporary depending on if player feedback clearly favors it on or off.
  
• Made some tweaks to the way the glove follows the controller
  
• The "automatic" anti-aliasing setting is now actually automatic again
  
• Improved the way cumulative damage scaling works and fixed a few bugs related to it.
  
• The round format text when selecting an opponent now updates with the options you choose in the Custom menu
  
• Reduced brightness of scrolling banner in Arena venue
  
• Fixed VR arcade launch argument
  

Note: For those looking to try out the beta, you can do so by right clicking the game in Steam, going to "Properties", clicking the "Betas" tab, and choosing the "beta" option from the dropdown.

Ladies and gents on the beta branch, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. It's time for the title fight against the world champion at a worthy venue.

Prepare to challenge Edward "Moneymaker" Price in the new Arena venue. Edward represents the pinnacle of fighting prowess, with the strength of Duke Bell, the aggression of Luis Felix, the reactions of Hojo Mizushima, the evasiveness of Mateo Vega, and nearly the reach of Charong Kitsuwan.

Along with Price, this update includes more combat mechanic tweaks, as usual. The "good form" mass bonus have returned and weak points have been toned down a bit to compensate.

Please read through the full list of changes below and let me know your thoughts in the feedback thread here or by emailing me at [email protected].

If you run into a game breaking issue, please report it to me and then switch over to the rollback branch if needed.

Thanks!


Update Notes:

• Added new opponent: Edward "Moneymaker" Price
  
• Added new venue: The Arena
  
• Reintroduced the "good form" mass bonus for leaning into punches and rotating your body.
  
• Reduced the damage of weak point hits to compensate for the return of the "good form" mass bonus.
  
• Removed the angle leniency and increased the size of the weak point zones.
  
• Differentiated opponent movement reaction time and opening recognition time speeds.
  
• Moved Duke Bell and Mateo Vega to the "Arena" venue.
  
• Added "Arena" venue as an option to the fight customization options.
  
• Lowered max speed cut-off in punch smoothing algorithms to try to tame hook speed compared to straight punch speed.
  
• Added version number to title menu.
  
• Fixed bug allowing opponent to block you by accidentally punching your hand right as you started to throw a punch.
  
• Fixed bugs causing either duplicate sound and vibration effects or no effects at all to play during some block collisions.
  
• Fixed a bug causing very fast punches to get smoothed over a much longer period of time than intended.
  
• Fixed the focus ball.
  
• Fixed bug preventing variation in crowd idle animations.
  

Note: For those looking to try out the beta, you can do so by right clicking the game in Steam, going to "Properties", clicking the "Betas" tab, and choosing the "beta" option from the dropdown.

Hello, everyone!

I've got another beta update going out today mainly focused on tweaks to feel from the last beta update.

The previous update focused a bit on bringing the player's abilities more in line with where they should be by making weak points more reliable to activate but harder to hit, making the fist travel path more reliable, especially during collisions, and wrangling in some of the velocity spikes from fast arcing punches. The result of this, along with a few other inadvertent changes, left some players feeling much weaker than they had previously.

This update focuses a bit on making the AI's capabilities more "fair" in response. These changes will probably swing too far in the other direction now, making the AI feel a bit too easy. Weak points have been made slightly more lenient in the connection angle you get full credit for, but weak point zone sizes are still smaller than they used to be. Weak points now do much more damage as part of rebalancing what damage thresholds you're able to reach by hitting weak points with the player's current damage output level. The AI's maximum damage has been reduced to closer match the player's current maximum level of damage after the recent changes. The AI now has requires a certain amount of time to recognize and react to the player's movement, allowing you to gain ground or make angles more easily. The AI also won't respond to your openings immediately, but requires a period of time to recognize you've left an opening.

In the future, these reaction times will be adjusted to increase the difficulty of later opponents and for higher difficulty levels. At the moment, the reaction times are the same relatively slow value for all opponents and difficulties.

Again, things will probably feel too easy, but give it a spin and let me know what you think. Please read through the full list of changes below and let me know your thoughts in the feedback thread here or by emailing me at [email protected].

If you run into a game breaking issue, please report it to me and then switch over to the rollback branch if needed. If you are currently using the rollback branch because you were experiencing extreme power less in the Feb 18 update and are still experiencing that with today's update, then please switch to the main branch, as that's what the previous rollback branch was equivalent to.

Thanks!

Update Notes:

• Increased the angle leniency of getting full weak point credit.
  
• Greatly increased the damage bonus of weak points to allow important damage thresholds to be reached with the player's current level of damage output.
  
• Made the player able to be blocked more easily, but made it less dependent on chosen glove size.
  
• Reduced the AI's maximum damage capability to match the player's current damage output.
  
• Added reaction time for the AI in response to player movement and openings. This will be used to differentiate opponents and difficulty levels more in the future, but is currently the same value for all opponents and difficulties.
  
• Changed the way the "Custom" difficulty option is displayed to make it more clear that it is chosen instead of the other difficulties and not as a modification of the previously chosen difficulty. Note that you can now close the customization menu and still have the customizations apply, as denoted by the custom option being highlighted instead of the other difficulties.
  
• Changed the UI for switching between the scorecard and punch statistics to be more clear.
  
• Reduced AI's body punch ranges.
  
• Greatly improved the smoothness of AI hit and block reaction animations. Hitting the opponent while they are already reacting to a previous hit won't cause them to "snap" back into place as easily.
  
• Defaulted controller outlines to off.
  
• Added option to turn off the impact particle effect.
  
• Added option to turn off the display of the crowd members as a way to improve performance.
  
• Added option to turn off the display of the shadows as a way to improve performance.
  
• Adjusted the smoothing for extremely fast punches to be slightly less strict.
  
• Fixed a physics bug that causing collisions to fire off more than they should.
  
• Setting a manual multiplier will now override the data used for the automatic multiplier, allowing you to quickly set a manual multiplier and then turn the automatic multiplier back on. This let's you quickly "reset" the automatic adjustment system to a higher multiplier.