ARCHANGEL ANNOUNCEMENTS MARCH 2019
This is the Archangel Announcements post for March! Here we will discuss the features for the next major public update for the month!
Most of these features are already present in the latest iteration of our experimental preview build! Check out this thread to see how you can get in on the action!
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A new function called 'Soft Lock' has been completed in preparation of the coming single-player mission modes. It was meant to address issues with the default game camera and lock-on system's limitations when fighting multiple opponents. For the purposes of the game, the old system will be called 'Hard Lock' and this new system will be called 'Soft Lock' as they both exist as different targeting modes.
Soft Lock allows the player to utilize the right directional stick or mouse to move the camera while maintaining a lock on a target. This allows the player to freely scan their surroundings while launching their attacks on a chosen target. In addition, they can simply change targets by 'looking' at another unit and positioning said unit near the center of their screen, providing an alternative to the automatic target transfer toggle in the older system. This gives players more freedom to look around and gain awareness of their surroundings.
However, using the soft lock target system has a price. It loses two functions exclusive to hard lock mode : The state indicators, which tell you if the enemy is in a guarded state or invincible to further attack, and the predictive arrow system, that shows you the movement direction and roughly predicts the target's future position. Also, though Hard Lock does not allow the player to freely move the camera around, it 'locks' the target to the center of the player's screen at all times - a very important tool against more difficult mobile enemies.
The trick to using these target systems rely on switching between them according to one's convenience. For now they have two different button assignments, with the Soft-lock being D.pad Down / V in the preview build. This may be subject to change. In the future we may reduce both modes into a singular lock-on button, which cycles between these modes.
With the larger maps that will be utilized in single-player campaigns, Archangels will be expected to cross longer distances. Some Archangels built with the low speed stat will have some obvious problems handling missions that require a lot of travel. Luckily, the standard Imperial Archangel is equipped with a 'Cruise Flight' mode that allows them to enter high-speed, sustained flight, without expending as much boost resources and going into overload. This feature is not normally used by Commercial builds for the Arena, but is a convenience heavily utilized by many paramilitary units.
It should be noted that in this flight mode, boost and stability will be reduced to a minimum as the Archangel generator's resources will be redirected into sustaining the flight mode. This means that an Archangel is actually vulnerable to damage and overload in this mode, and should avoid rushing headlong into battle with this function. In addition, going into Cruise Flight requires a long and loud charging period before startup, and that makes it difficult to use in a heated battle.
Cruise Flight currently has its own default button assignment (D. Pad Up / R) in the preview build. This may be subject to change.
This one is a bit self-explanatory; A simple radar has been added to the HUD, which only appears in certain game modes such as Horde and the upcoming missions for solo play. This provides an additional display to help with the player's positional awareness of multiple enemies (and allies).
A mix of cosmetic flair and actual game mechanics, the game will go into slow motion if an Archangel perfectly times a dodge or an invincibility frame maneuver to avoid an attack. This allows the dodging player time to plan their next moves or counterattack. However, beware that this respite also allows the attacker to dodge cancel or prepare their own followup maneuvers. This feature was made to add more visual flair to melee combat, also adding to the overall aesthetic ('roman') of the game's battle systems.
The Vajra Cannon is an Astra-made handheld plasma cannon that creates super-heated orb-shaped clouds on impact. The orbs linger and deal tick-based damage, making them useful as area-denial weapons, attack deterrents, and stun-lock tools. If fired at close range, the projectile fails to synthesize and merely behaves as a high-stability damage projectile. With a weight of 1250, the Vajra carries 3 shots by default. Its secondary ability is a reload, making it similar to other guns (Ranger, Emancipator) that share its weight value.
We hope this weapon adds a new dimension to the ranged equipment options for the game!
This one is quite lengthy and we suggest looking up the coming patch notes for the balance changes regarding the different weapons. (If you want to see them now, we suggest looking at the preview build thread to see what has changed) We will discuss the most significant changes in their own sections below.
The Overload System used to be a 4 second timer that counted down regardless of the state of the player, with the exception of the down state which allowed them to instantly restore both stability and boost. This system allowed for gameplay that effectively bypassed the 'down period' of the timer, allowing certain builds with long-winded attacks to not suffer the penalties of going into overload. For this reason, Overload is now a conditional 4 second timer; It pauses whenever players take actions that aren't simply walking/moving around, standing still, falling, or taking damage. This means that if a player would relentlessly attack or do maneuvers, it is quite possible for them to stay stuck in overload.
By doing this, we made overload more punishing (as it was meant to be) and make it so players would think twice about carelessly expending boost. To compensate for this change, we've reduced the base cost for dodging, effectively giving archangels across the board more resources to avoid going into overload.
The Liberator Missile Launcher's gameplay has been changed, or more specifically, its primary and alt-fire have been switched. The primary fire of the Liberator will now rapidly fire homing missiles at the target, while its alternate fire launches a non-homing, but powerful trio of missiles. Also, the Liberator's ammo refresh rate has been largely increased, allowing players to have more missiles on hand more often.
The Schafer Flamethrower and Wespe Assault Rifle are unique hand weapons in that their primary fire deals 0 stab damage. Due to stability now playing a major role compared to older iterations of the game, these weapons have become less desirable due to their inherent weakness. Rather than change their gameplay design, we've decided to reduce their weight to 1000, making them budget ranged weapon options. They've also received a damage buff, making them more threatening at whittling down enemy HP.
We'd like to thank everyone who has supported the game thus far as we continue development through the first quarter of 2019. Don't fret, there's much more to come!
_________________________________________________
As usual, make sure to like/follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates!
We also have a YouTube channel where we post videos of our game's development.
You can also visit our Discord and talk with the devs and players of the game!
Most of these features are already present in the latest iteration of our experimental preview build! Check out this thread to see how you can get in on the action!
_________________________________________________
New Feature : Soft Lock
A new function called 'Soft Lock' has been completed in preparation of the coming single-player mission modes. It was meant to address issues with the default game camera and lock-on system's limitations when fighting multiple opponents. For the purposes of the game, the old system will be called 'Hard Lock' and this new system will be called 'Soft Lock' as they both exist as different targeting modes.
Soft Lock allows the player to utilize the right directional stick or mouse to move the camera while maintaining a lock on a target. This allows the player to freely scan their surroundings while launching their attacks on a chosen target. In addition, they can simply change targets by 'looking' at another unit and positioning said unit near the center of their screen, providing an alternative to the automatic target transfer toggle in the older system. This gives players more freedom to look around and gain awareness of their surroundings.
However, using the soft lock target system has a price. It loses two functions exclusive to hard lock mode : The state indicators, which tell you if the enemy is in a guarded state or invincible to further attack, and the predictive arrow system, that shows you the movement direction and roughly predicts the target's future position. Also, though Hard Lock does not allow the player to freely move the camera around, it 'locks' the target to the center of the player's screen at all times - a very important tool against more difficult mobile enemies.
The trick to using these target systems rely on switching between them according to one's convenience. For now they have two different button assignments, with the Soft-lock being D.pad Down / V in the preview build. This may be subject to change. In the future we may reduce both modes into a singular lock-on button, which cycles between these modes.
New Feature : Cruise Flight
With the larger maps that will be utilized in single-player campaigns, Archangels will be expected to cross longer distances. Some Archangels built with the low speed stat will have some obvious problems handling missions that require a lot of travel. Luckily, the standard Imperial Archangel is equipped with a 'Cruise Flight' mode that allows them to enter high-speed, sustained flight, without expending as much boost resources and going into overload. This feature is not normally used by Commercial builds for the Arena, but is a convenience heavily utilized by many paramilitary units.
It should be noted that in this flight mode, boost and stability will be reduced to a minimum as the Archangel generator's resources will be redirected into sustaining the flight mode. This means that an Archangel is actually vulnerable to damage and overload in this mode, and should avoid rushing headlong into battle with this function. In addition, going into Cruise Flight requires a long and loud charging period before startup, and that makes it difficult to use in a heated battle.
Cruise Flight currently has its own default button assignment (D. Pad Up / R) in the preview build. This may be subject to change.
New Feature : Radar
This one is a bit self-explanatory; A simple radar has been added to the HUD, which only appears in certain game modes such as Horde and the upcoming missions for solo play. This provides an additional display to help with the player's positional awareness of multiple enemies (and allies).
New Feature : Dramatic Dodge
A mix of cosmetic flair and actual game mechanics, the game will go into slow motion if an Archangel perfectly times a dodge or an invincibility frame maneuver to avoid an attack. This allows the dodging player time to plan their next moves or counterattack. However, beware that this respite also allows the attacker to dodge cancel or prepare their own followup maneuvers. This feature was made to add more visual flair to melee combat, also adding to the overall aesthetic ('roman') of the game's battle systems.
New Weapon : Vajra Cannon
The Vajra Cannon is an Astra-made handheld plasma cannon that creates super-heated orb-shaped clouds on impact. The orbs linger and deal tick-based damage, making them useful as area-denial weapons, attack deterrents, and stun-lock tools. If fired at close range, the projectile fails to synthesize and merely behaves as a high-stability damage projectile. With a weight of 1250, the Vajra carries 3 shots by default. Its secondary ability is a reload, making it similar to other guns (Ranger, Emancipator) that share its weight value.
We hope this weapon adds a new dimension to the ranged equipment options for the game!
Major Game Mechanics and Balancing
This one is quite lengthy and we suggest looking up the coming patch notes for the balance changes regarding the different weapons. (If you want to see them now, we suggest looking at the preview build thread to see what has changed) We will discuss the most significant changes in their own sections below.
System Update : Boost and Overload
The Overload System used to be a 4 second timer that counted down regardless of the state of the player, with the exception of the down state which allowed them to instantly restore both stability and boost. This system allowed for gameplay that effectively bypassed the 'down period' of the timer, allowing certain builds with long-winded attacks to not suffer the penalties of going into overload. For this reason, Overload is now a conditional 4 second timer; It pauses whenever players take actions that aren't simply walking/moving around, standing still, falling, or taking damage. This means that if a player would relentlessly attack or do maneuvers, it is quite possible for them to stay stuck in overload.
By doing this, we made overload more punishing (as it was meant to be) and make it so players would think twice about carelessly expending boost. To compensate for this change, we've reduced the base cost for dodging, effectively giving archangels across the board more resources to avoid going into overload.
Weapon Rework : Liberator Missile Launcher
The Liberator Missile Launcher's gameplay has been changed, or more specifically, its primary and alt-fire have been switched. The primary fire of the Liberator will now rapidly fire homing missiles at the target, while its alternate fire launches a non-homing, but powerful trio of missiles. Also, the Liberator's ammo refresh rate has been largely increased, allowing players to have more missiles on hand more often.
Weapon Weight Changes and Buffs : Schafer and Wespe
The Schafer Flamethrower and Wespe Assault Rifle are unique hand weapons in that their primary fire deals 0 stab damage. Due to stability now playing a major role compared to older iterations of the game, these weapons have become less desirable due to their inherent weakness. Rather than change their gameplay design, we've decided to reduce their weight to 1000, making them budget ranged weapon options. They've also received a damage buff, making them more threatening at whittling down enemy HP.
DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES
We'd like to thank everyone who has supported the game thus far as we continue development through the first quarter of 2019. Don't fret, there's much more to come!
_________________________________________________
As usual, make sure to like/follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates!
We also have a YouTube channel where we post videos of our game's development.
You can also visit our Discord and talk with the devs and players of the game!