Combat Arena
We finished an especially complex active ability this sprint! This is our first dash attack that is also a homing attack, and that’s only half of the ability! It’s insanely fun to use, and we’re looking forward to sharing it with you in the Combat Arena Beta.
We’ve added some more quality of life changes:
Sprint input now activates nearly 2x faster, from about 0.2-0.3 seconds down to 0.15 seconds. We’ve also prevented characters from sprinting while slowed.
The custom firing options for each ability slot are complete, allowing you to choose on a per-slot basis exactly how you prefer to launch your abilities.
You’ll be able to turn the basic reticle on regardless of your first ability if desired.
We fixed numerous bugs with our P2P matches to hopefully get a testable version of that ready for our QA team soon.
Single Player
Character customization is progressing well! We very recently wrapped up all of the modeling and texture work for eyebrows, and we’ll be starting on makeup/skin details in the next few days.
We also just finished the new version of what is, without a doubt, the game’s most commonly seen hairstyle to date! We feel like it’s a pretty big upgrade from the old version, and that it’s a solid representation of the direction we’re taking hairstyles in overall. We’re really excited to finally share this!
Here’s a look at the updated hair without any other facial features:
Development has started on a “quick-use favorites” system, allowing the human character to use items on the fly while exploring. This will be a huge help for accessing your items quickly, especially while in combat.
We’re currently implementing the base functionality for enemy Summoners. This means that soon we’ll be able to challenge or be challenged by human NPCs who Summon their own Kinfolk to battle!
We’ve made some adjustments to how the human character follows Kinfolk during combat.
Previously, if the human character was slower than the Kinfolk they were following, they would run faster and faster until they caught back up. If they weren’t able to catch up or if there was no traversable path to the Kinfolk, they would teleport to catch up. These were temporary solutions that allowed us to get basic follower functionality up and running more quickly, but naturally led to the human character running comically fast and teleporting to places they shouldn’t be able to reach.
Now the human’s following speed is capped at their max sprint speed, they no longer teleport, and they still manage to keep up quite well with their Kinfolk in combat. If you do happen to be both too far away and somewhere the human can’t get to, then a dialogue will appear to let you know about it. If you keep moving further away a max range radius will fade in, showing the furthest distance that you are able to maintain your mental link to your Kinfolk. Crossing this boundary breaks that link and automatically recalls your Kinfolk.
In addition to restoring continuity and preventing the human from getting to places that shouldn’t be possible for them, this also allows us to create some interesting levels and puzzles that require swapping between your human and Kinfolk to overcome.
Several improvements have been made to the human character’s rigging that allow for much greater control when creating animations. The human rig will now support components for character customization, multiple body types, better control of facial features, and even pupil dilation.
Earlier this week, we completed the model and textures for the unrevealed water type Kinfolk, Tide_Walker.
We’ve received several new sketches of an in-game town, and have been making great progress on its design. Since it’s an important location for the game’s story, and naturally chock-full of spoilers, we won’t be able to share these sketches for quite some time (though they’ll certainly be in the digital art book!)
Community
It has been such a joy to watch the “Art Art Contest” submissions come in! As always, we are blown away by the awesome ideas and talent on display in each new piece. If you want to enter for the chance to have your art framed in the buildings of Hinterlock, check out the details on our Discord! Submissions will close next Thursday, September 15 at 12pm EST.
Glad to see you again! We’ll catch you next time, on September 23.
