First off, I really wanted this patch to introduce the first tier of ONLINE MULTIPLAYER... that was the plan. However plans don't always work out, and i guess this dev cycle was proof of that...
This update took a while to get out because most of my time was spent trying to, unsuccessfully, implement working multiplayer over network, and experimenting with "Machine Learning AI" for the boxers.
Unfortunately ML does not lend itself well to boxing, as the AI - instead of "learning to box" learned to cheese the system, and didn't act realistically. After struggling with that for a few weeks, I decided to go back and just tweak/improve my current AI.
As far as MP, it is quite far along, but still has issues that need fixing, which is why it is not in this release (well it's hidden in there but disabled hehe). It's current state is: You can create an online boxer, join a server in any region and host a room. Once two people are in a room, the host can start the fight. Fighting works, but there are some really funky things happening as soon as someone gets knocked down, which is basically game-breaking, and I will have to figure out some sort of solution, in the future.
Developing multiplayer is extremely slow, as every time I want to test it, I need to wait for the new build to finish, and then run two versions of the game. For this reason I decided to just push an update with all the other non-multiplayer fixes/improvements implemented.
NEW FEATURES:
- Added "Boxer Styles" to the AI. This is just the first tier of implementation of "Boxer Styles" into the game. At the current moment it is a very basic system (that will be expanded upon!). It currently only affects the AI, and it's decision making. (In the future I would like to apply this to the player as well, and add different animations for the various styles, but for now it is AI specific.)
- The styles in game now are 1: Traditional 2: Boxer 3: Counter-Puncher 4: Aggressive 5: Evasive. They can be set in the roster creator, or in the last column of the excel roster's spreadsheet. If you are having any issues with your rosters, you may need to add the boxstyle column to your roster in excel, however the game should assign styles automatically, to your current rosters.
- Improved AI decision making, Ai is now more intuitive and is also more aware of it's health/danger. It will become evasive when in trouble, aggressive when its opponent is in trouble.
- Implemented and slowed down the AI's 'decision timer' to alleviate some of the cpu requirements for the AI, improving FPS performance.
- AI now, more closely, mimics human reaction timing. The AI will now use more of the ring, and moves around more in general.
- WIP: Implemented a system where the ai "watches" your punches/movements and attempts to counter your actions depending on it's "boxerstyle" (i.e. Counter Punchers will try to counter, evasive fighters will try to dodge, etc)
GAMEPLAY:
- Increased the velocity of a lot of punches in the game, most leaning punches will now throw with more force/speed.
- Increased the regen rate for health, and increased the damage landed punches make. (The idea behind this change is really from one of our community members. He pointed out that most boxing KOs, in real life, are not happening from "working a meter down" over time. It's usually a quick combo of a few punches, or multiple combos "catching" a fighter, and stunning him.) So hopefully this change will help represent that idea, with more damage, and more regen, you will now have to combo punch your opponents to finish them.
- AI Fighters now will back away to their corner correctly after a KD.
- Reduced the amount of weight loss from working out, to give you some extra training time.
QOL:
- Backend updates to physics engine, ragdoll, collision matrix.
- New Main Menu and Menu fonts (lol no more floating ring that makes zero sense at all - thanks Boxing Fanatico! ! haha)
- Boxer's now have a stare down after weighing in! (again Fanatico with the great suggestions!)
- various gfx updates to menus and text.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug where DODGES were not working at all.
- Fixed a bug in career mode where your health meter would appear to be HALF HEALTH until you levelled up your HP(this was only visual).
- Fixed a bug where punch stats were REVERSED between the two boxers, in between rounds on the "copycat-stats" scorecard.
- Fixed a bug where your shirt during sparring was appearing pink.
- Fixed a bug where the crowd models would clip below the floor during certain animations.
- Changed the way punches are communicated through the backend for use in multiplayer.
- Updated MAC OS and Linux versions for new M1 hardware, and brought them up to date with the PC version.
- various bug fixes I can't remember right now.
