Combat Arena Alpha

As we’ve said in our previous newsletters, the team has been working a lot on the game’s single player lately, and this sprint is no exception. That being said, we already have several exciting additions finished and waiting to be added to the Combat Arena Alpha when the next patch comes out.

Single Player

Last time, we talked about the addition of our new fog system. In the past two weeks, we have further integrated it into our other systems so everything plays nicely with each other now. The fog now responds appropriately to the player’s presence and doesn’t interfere with collisions.

The capture mechanic has been tuned up to great effect! The human character is now able to move while aiming and launching, and we’ve updated its VFX. It’s in a much better spot than it was even a few weeks ago! Here’s a look at where it’s at now (we’ll be adding new sound effects soon):

The first version of Kinfolk bond progression has been implemented. You can now track your bond level with each of your party members, and either raise or lower that bond through actions like winning or losing in combat. We’ll be adding more ways for you to affect your bonds in future sprints.
The human character has gotten a lot of attention this sprint! They have a new animation rig now that allows for all the animations we need, and several of the existing animations themselves have been updated. We’ve also implemented logic for what happens when the human character blacks out.

We’ve completed 2 more cutscenes, and started work on the final one for the particular section of the single player that we’re focusing on for the moment. They’re looking really cool and add a ton to the game’s experience!
Every Kinfolk that’s currently playable in the single player now has a list of multiple abilities they can learn as they level up! Part of this process included creating 2 new Dark Type abilities and accompanying VFX.

The tools and nodes we use to create missions have been improved. These mission nodes have additional functionality and convenience features that allow us to create new types of missions.

The terrain has continued to see new expansion recently! We’re having a ton of fun building lots of cool spots off the beaten path for players to discover. Until recently most of our focus has been on a particular section of prairie, but we’re also beginning to turn our attention to a nearby mountain and have started adding lots of details there as well.
The NPCs have received a lot of improvements! For starters, we’ve added new AI to a whopping SIX Kinfolk! We’ve also created new aiming systems, and squashed some bugs along the way. These NPCs also have new pathfinding to help them get around the open world.

Thanks for stopping by! We’ll see you next time, on October 8th!