The worst part of Smash Bros. is that it's not on PC, and the best part of Rivals of Aether—aside from platform-generating rhinoceros beetle Kragg —is that it is on PC. But the excellent sequel, Rivals of Aether 2, lacks the character I got on with most in the short time I played
The worst part of Smash Bros. is that it's not on PC, and the best part of Rivals of Aether—aside from platform-generating rhinoceros beetle Kragg—is that it is on PC. But the excellent sequel, Rivals of Aether 2, lacks the character I got on with most in the short time I played the original game: Shovel Knight... Read more.
We have a small hotfix with fix and updates to workshop for players and creators. We also have couple of projectile behavior fixes for Mollo and Hodan. Fixed workshop characters prioritizing incorrect duplicate sprites. Redid the "window_attack_pressed" change; It now only disabl
We have a small hotfix with fix and updates to workshop for players and creators. We also have couple of projectile behavior fixes for Mollo and Hodan.
Redid the "window_attack_pressed" change; It now only disables that variable when attempting to do a buffered reverse ftilt out of jab, instead of any time "can_attack" is disabled.
Fixed a crash when using "init_shader()" very early after reloading, such as in "draw_hud.gml".
css_update and css_draw no longer run while the character is loading or the slot is inactive.
Added the script "update_end.gml" to stages.
Bug Fix: Bombs will now properly hit himself in teams with team attack off.
Bug Fix: Made sweatwhirls only immune to projectiles instead of fully transcendant as originally intended.
Hey there! It’s been a while since our last Rivals of Aether update, hasn’t it? We’re overall pretty happy with where the game is at, with 18 characters meticulously adjusted over the course of 10 years! We’re here today with a big update for the workshop community that has been
Hey there! It’s been a while since our last Rivals of Aether update, hasn’t it? We’re overall pretty happy with where the game is at, with 18 characters meticulously adjusted over the course of 10 years! We’re here today with a big update for the workshop community that has been creating non-stop since the feature was introduced. Today’s patch has a ton of requested features that should make the lives of Workshop creators AND players more fun and much easier to navigate - stage searching, thick platforms, disabling hitbox shaders and more! I expect to see a demake of Hyperborian Harbor on my desk this evening.
In addition to a long list of Workshop support additions, we have also fixed up a few characters with some unintended interactions from the base cast of the game. Check out everything as we dive in:
Regional Pricing Updates
We’ve made some adjustments to our regional pricing to make the game more affordable. We currently use Steam’s default regional pricing already, but one of the things we did for Rivals II was make even further adjustments to certain regions to better reflect purchasing power in those countries. We’re porting those same calculations over to Rivals 1, and you’ll be able to see the new prices in your region reflected on the Steam store starting today.
Euros 28.99 > 24.99 Brazilian Reals 88.99 > 79.99 Australian Dollar 43.95 > 37.99 New Zealand Dollar 43.59 > 37.99 Polish zloty 138.99 > 105.06
A New Buddy
In case you missed it in the return of our classic April 1st Direct, there’s a new game in the Aether universe! Led by our friend Giik and his team at Lepioid, with music by flashygoodness and RESOFORCE, this talented team took the helm and created a brand new adventure centered around microgames You can pick up the game for just $2.99 HERE, and if you do (or if you already own it), we have a special gift for you in Rivals of Aether! Añi is here as the latest crossover buddy to accompany players in their many adventures.
Gameplay Updates
Added a failsafe for projectiles that have a missing owner, causing a crash (ex. forsburn clones that fire the O-rune projectile and disappear).
Added an Añi buddy for owners of Dreams of Aether!
Bug Fix: Fixed bubbles popping vs. Clairen's plasma field at an unusually large range.
Bomb bonk hitboxes no longer pass through fast-moving players in hitstun if the bomb is primed.
Passing through fast opponents is there to prevent a bonk from stopping a strong or lethal hit. If the bomb is primed, this could feel bad when you wanted it to interrupt that hit with an explosion.
Neutral Special now has a hard cap of spins, 44 (the amount you get after absorbing 6 spirits).
This is to prevent an infinite in free-for-all and doubles where Hodan could be endlessly fed spirits from another Hodan while keeping opponents in place.
The standard alt palettes now have much brighter jacket colors. Fashion, baybeeeee.
Bug Fix: Fixed Neutral Special notes falling off on attacks that don't cause hitstun, e.g. Ori Neutral Special taps.
This makes it more consistent with other lose-on-hurt effects like Ranno poison stacks.
Workshop Updates
WORKSHOP GENERAL:
You can now search for stages in the same way you can search for characters. Hit Backspace (or Back/View on controllers) when on the stage select screen to type in a search term.
You can now make platform articles "thick" by setting `solid` in them to `true`. Players will not be able to fall through or drop through these, similar to how Hyperborean Harbor's base platforms work in Rivals of Aether II.
You can now set `uses_shader` in hitboxes and hit FX to false, disabling recoloring.
Replays on workshop stages now properly apply rule overrides for disabling the timer.
Players now have the variable `col_jumpthrough`, which stores the ID of the platform they're currently standing on (Note, this does not include solid blocks.).
A sprite with duplicate files (like "idle_strip4.png" and "idle_strip5.png") will now unload the already-loaded file and inform you of the duplicate files.
Bug Fix: Fixed a crash that occurs when more than 12 player objects exist at the same time.
Bug Fix: Fixed a crash when running `user_event` in `init_shader` on the results screen while a base cast character won alongside a workshop character in doubles.
Bug Fix: Fixed crash when using `print` in a playtest NPC (or any character above certain player numbers for that matter).
WORKSHOP CHARACTER BEHAVIOR:
In workshop characters, `window_attack_pressed` is only set to `true` (triggering cancels and such) when `can_attack` is true, bringing them closer to base cast behavior.
Because of the above note, workshop characters can now buffer reversed Forward Tilts like base cast characters can.
Workshop characters now properly react to being buried, flashbanged and crystalized (buried will use the file "buried" if found, otherwise using "hurtground".).
The crystalized sprites now rely on the owner's small_sprites, not the victim's. This fixes unusually small crystals on some workshop characters.
Hit FX now use image_alpha for drawing, meaning manually changing it in scripts now lets you make them transparent.
Workshop characters now have the variables "dust_shade" and "hit_shade" that control which color slot dust FX and generic hit FX use.
SCRIPT CHANGES:
Draw scripts in players are now ordered like so: `other_pre_draw -> pre_draw -> regular drawing -> post_draw -> other_post_draw`
`other_init.gml` now runs on playtest NPCs.
`css_update.gml` now no longer runs if the player slot is inactive or loading.
NEW FUNCTIONS:
`will_die_from_kb(instance, power, angle, hitstun)`. This lets you simulate a single launch angle to see if it kills.
`trigger_hit_shockwave(instance, disable_hitstop)`. This lets you manually trigger the event that runs on strong hits, spawning the VFX and checking if the hit is a guaranteed kill on the player (using their horizontal and vertical speeds), spawning the galaxy effect and increasing hitstop if it does.
`set_kill_bg(x,y,type)`. This lets you manually trigger a galaxy effect just like a guaranteed kill does. the `type` lets you use different galaxies as well (normal, sylv-red, tetherball, etc).
CHANGED FUNCTIONS:
Added `event_user` as an alias for `user_event`.
`set_hit_particle_sprite()` now has an optional argument that lets you toggle off recoloring for particle sprites. The formatting for that is `set_hit_particle_sprite(num, sprite, uses_shader)`.
`get_color_profile_slot_r`/`g`/`b` now returns `-1` if the color slot is out of range, instead of crashing.
`get_local_player()` now returns `noone` instead of `0` when offline.
`spawn_hit_fx()` now skips sprite initialization if the hit fx type is set to `noone`.
Fixed `get_state_name()` returning `INVALID_STATE` for buried, flashbanged and crystalized.
We're here in 2024, a full 10 years after Dan's first trailer for Rivals of Aether. I don't think anyone ever thought this game would carry on as long as it has. We're excited to present a new balance patch to kick off the second half of 2024! We intend to catch up the Switch ver
We're here in 2024, a full 10 years after Dan's first trailer for Rivals of Aether. I don't think anyone ever thought this game would carry on as long as it has. We're excited to present a new balance patch to kick off the second half of 2024!
We intend to catch up the Switch version of the game in the coming weeks. Updating the console can be tricky due to a number of reasons so a hard date is not guaranteed, but rest assured, we are working diligently to bring it up to date!
Without any further adieu, let's dive in:
Now that development on Rivals of Aether is slowing down, we have heard many new fans asking about skins. We have been releasing skins for events for years. Many are inaccessible now that there is not an active RCS running and others have been retired for a long time. We want these new players to be able to obtain these skins while celebrating the long-term players who got them when they were new.
Therefore we are introducing Skin Packs to Steam. There are nine new packs that contain a varying amount of skins at a deeply discounted price. If you own a skin through a Skin Pack instead of the original skin, then you will get a much less prestigious cardboard box icon on the Character Select Screen instead of the standard premium star icon. This way you can pick up packs for just the skins that you missed while still feeling like the veteran star that you are when using your original skins.
These skin packs are available as Steam DLC today and are even on sale for 30% off for launch! But if you are a completionist and still want your stars for any remaining Steam skins, we are leaving the individual Steam skins up until the end of July so you have one last chance to grab them.
Here are the 9 new Skin Packs that you can grab today: ARCADE SKIN PACK
Includes all Arcade skins originally created for summer events.
Includes Arcade Clairen, Mollo, Maypul, Elliana, plus the Kraggling Buddy.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
Some Arcade taunts are playable minigames!
CHAMPION SKIN PACK
Pack includes all Champion Skins created since 2016 (16 total) excluding guest characters.
Includes Champion Mollo, Clairen, Zetterburn, Forsburn, Pomme, Wrastor, Absa, Elliana, Olympia, Sylvanos, Maypul, Kragg, Hodan, Orcane, Etalus, and Ranno.
The Champion skins for our two guest characters have been added to the game for all players, free of charge.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
COMMUNITY SKIN PACK
Includes various Community event character skins, buddies, plus a stage skin.
Includes Excalibur Zetterburn, Grassroots League Orcane, the Tony Tailslide buddy, the Frostbear cub buddy, and the CEO Ring Stage Skin.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
GENESIS SKIN PACK
Includes all Genesis skins originally created over 7 years of Genesis events (Genesis 4 - X).
Includes Genesis Clairen, Etalus, Forsburn, Hodan, Kragg, Sylvanos, and Zetterburn.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
HEAT WAVE SKIN PACK
Includes Heat Wave Clairen, Forsburn, Olympia, Wrastor, plus the Sunbert Buddy.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
LEGACY SKIN PACK
Includes hard-to-find skins from a wide range of events.
Includes Shine Zetterburn, Tuxedo Ranno, High Roller Absa, Dreamscape Forsburn, and Collegiate Wrastor.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
Tuxedo Ranno features a full resprite so he's suited up in every sprite, not just his taunt!
POOL PARTY SKIN PACK
Includes all Pool Party skins originally created for summer events.
Includes Pool Party Etalus, Kragg, Orcane, Pomme, and Ranno.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
STEAMPUNK SKIN PACK
Includes all Steampunk skins originally created for Rivals esports events.
Includes Steampunk skins for Absa, Orcane, Sylvanos, and Zetterburn, plus the Loxobot Buddy.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
SUMMIT SKIN PACK
Includes all Summit skins originally created for early Rivals esports events.
Includes Spangled Wrastor, Summit Orcane, Summit Kragg, Panda Maypul, and Panda Etalus.
Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
NEW Tower of Heaven music from flashygoodness to celebrate a decade of Rivals of Aether development. This song can be found in menus by normal means, but it can be found in-match by clicking the Aether High variant of Tower of Heaven rapidly five times, then selecting Endless Abyss to play a new platformless variant of Tower of Heaven that features the new song.
The game now attempts to force GPU usage instead of the OS defaulting to integrated graphics, which should help lower end PCs run the game better.
Bug Fix: Fixed a visual bug with Golden Etalus’s sprite on the Custom Colors menu.
Bug Fix: Fixed Arcade Mollo not using the unique explosions when using a custom color.
Bug Fix: Fixed a visual bug with Orcane’s portrait in Story Mode leaderboards.
Workshop: Added the variable “ignore_camera” to players, which makes the camera not follow them.
Workshop Bug Fix: Fixed a bug making certain palettes of certain characters unselectable.
Workshop Bug Fix: Fixed a bug when searching workshop characters while selecting one for a CPU.
Workshop Bug Fix: Fixed the workshop mod list appearing to cap at 999 per category.
HOTFIX Added the script "pre_update.gml" to players. This runs before most other per-frame update code.
HOTFIX Added the script "set_state.gml" to players. This runs every time the player's state is changed.
HOTFIX Fixed Dreamscape Forsburn being available to everyone with the bundle stamp.
HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Fixed some skins not being included in bundles.
Wrastor is one of the strongest characters in the game, with a unique and expressive combo game that we love to watch. We took the opportunity to really dive into some of his most problematic behaviors and take a crack at making his disadvantage state just a bit more punishing.
Walljump: Horizontal and vertical speeds changed, 6 hsp 7 vsp > 7 hsp 6 vsp. to make Wrastor's Walljump less viable as a recovery option when other resources are depleted
There's something disheartening about seeing a Wrastor use every jump and airdodge just to walljump backair onto stage without committing to a resource. We are putting the heart back into Rivals of Aether.
Forward Special: If Wrastor is hit by a physical attack or by a projectile that does 8% or more damage while in his own air current, the current is destroyed and Forward Special’s remaining cooldown is set to 2.5 seconds.
This change aims to make Wrastor a little more careful with his slipstream usage due to the risk of losing his resource. This will also help attacking enemies keep Wrastor offstage since he will lose his airspeed boost the get back quickly.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug in which nairbouncing restored double jumps.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug in which landing on the pillar for one frame before it breaks would restore airdodge but not double jumps.
HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Increased the cooldown on Wrastor's Forward Special if destroyed early, 2.5 > 5.0 seconds
HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Fixed a bug where multihits would repeatedly destroy Wrastor's windcurrent.
Down Air: Landing lag changed to previous values, 8 > 6
Down Air: Lowered Hit 1 and 2's hitstun modifier, 0.8 > 0.7
These changes will bring back the speed associated with comboing the early hits of Ranno Down Air, while reducing hitstun on opponents to allow for better escape options than they had before the initial endlag nerf a few patches ago.
Shovel Knight is getting a couple fun additions to his kit this patch with a way to secure previously unattainable treasure and a cool new way to combo off of dust knuckle.
Neutral Special: Getting a purple screen on a guaranteed K.O. while you have the Coin Capture Neutral Special now auto-triggers it at triple range to help collect offstage gems.
This buff will help Shovel Knight line his wallet and purchase items quicker since a lot of his K.O.s come from ledge and offstage combos, where gems would be previously unattainable despite a well timed strike.
Forward Tilt: Shovel Knight can now cancel Forward Tilt into other tilts and jab on hit while maintaining a small amount of momentum.
Forward Air: Shovel Knight can now cancel Forward Air into other aerials on hit while maintaining a small amount of momentum. This does not cancel into Dynamo Mail strong attacks.
Because Shovel Knight has a single hit jab that often knocks away, we wanted to add more variety to his punish game through dust knuckle. He also gets a fun movement tool and new combo trees for Shovel Knight mains to master.
HOTFIX Fixed being unable to cancel Forward Air into Back Air via the right stick if it's set to Strong.
Mollo is getting some help with his up strong connectivity and a small QoL for dealing with Kragg's rock.
Up Strong: Added a body hitbox to the final hit to help it connect better in some cases.
Jab 1: Angle changed, 40 > 361
This change allows for rock shards to be sent directly forward, while keeping the utility of the move against opponents.
Bug Fix: Fixed a crash involving using the paint bomb abyss rune while online.
Hodan is in a pretty good spot overall right now, with players like Plushy Panic! really pushing him to his boundaries. This patch is primarily focused on making his sweatwhirls more useful, while squashing a few bugs along the way.
Forward Special: The Level 2 and 3 sweatwhirls are now projectile-immune.
While the upgraded versions of Forward Special add utility as multihits, we wanted to make them feel more powerful for Hodan. These projectiles will no loger break to weak projectiles such as Maypul's seed and Elliana's default missiles.
Forward Special: Reduced cooldown, 10 > 5
Since removing Hodan recovery infinites once and for all, we realized the previous cooldown to Forward Special could be partially removed. The new cooldown allows Hodan players to buffer the next throw during endlag, while making sure the move itself is not too spammy in neutral or edgeguarding.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where walljumping out of Up Special would not destroy a grabbed spirit in some cases. This also causes Down Special to properly remove spirits when moving through a sweatwhirl.
Bug Fix: Fixed the ability to instantly cancel Neutral Air on hit in certain frame windows.
Bug Fix: Fixed a crash when a sweatwhirl gets bashed as it is created.
Jab 1: Angle changed, 35 > 361
This change allows for rock shards to be sent directly forward, while keeping the utility of the move against opponents.
Down Strong: Hitbox extended slightly lower so it now break cancels.
Pomme has been a difficult one to balance when it comes to her projectiles. In this patch we are attempting to rework Neutral Special to be more fun for her AND her opponents.
Neutral Special: You now only lose notes on hit if charging or firing them, similar to Ranno needles.
Neutral Special: After throwing a note or losing notes, there is a 30-frame cooldown before you can summon more notes.
This note rework is an attempt at making notes more committal to use, while reducing the spammyness often associated with them. Pommes will no longer have to fear losing charges to stray hits, but they will lose the ability to dominate an edgeguard with a constant stream of music.
Bug Fix: Fixed notes not being knocked off when hit by Orcane bubbles.
HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Fixed a bug that would not apply Neutral Special cooldown properly on single note throws.
There were so many incredible entries in the Workshop contest that we can't resist gushing about it some more. Join developers Giik, SBS, and Etalus for a casual dev stream right here on Steam (or your choice of the Rivals Twitch or YouTube pages) where we highlight more great ch
There were so many incredible entries in the Workshop contest that we can't resist gushing about it some more. Join developers Giik, SBS, and Etalus for a casual dev stream right here on Steam (or your choice of the Rivals Twitch or YouTube pages) where we highlight more great characters and chat about the contest.
Last year we announced a one-of-a-kind contest where Rivals Workshop creators had the chance for their own character to be officially added to Rivals 2. Creators had six and a half months to design, animate, and code their creations before submitting them to our dev team for a ri
Last year we announced a one-of-a-kind contest where Rivals Workshop creators had the chance for their own character to be officially added to Rivals 2. Creators had six and a half months to design, animate, and code their creations before submitting them to our dev team for a rigorous judging process. Today, on the one year anniversary of the contest, we're finally revealing the winner and 4 runner-ups!
We were incredibly impressed with the over 80 submissions we received featuring creators' completely original characters. We could clearly see the love and hard work that went into them, and want to thank everyone who entered. If you haven’t gotten to play these amazing characters yet, make sure to try them yourself by filtering in Steam Workshop with the “Rivals 2 Contest” tag.
Our Official Winner
Our official contest winner is La Reina, The Crowd Magnet by Sa-v and Onyx! This acrobatic grappler grabbed our attention from the get-go, and topped our developer panel in all categories including Gameplay, Visuals, and Character Background. Sa-v and Onyx have taken home the first place prize of $5,000 and as shown in the trailer, we’ve already begun some early work on La Reina in 3D. She won’t be playable any time soon, but we’re looking forward to sharing updates on her as we make progress.
"La Reina was one of the highest rated characters among our development team after we did our initial judging. What really pushed her over the edge for our team was her undeniable style and her strong roster fit. The original Rivals of Aether doesn’t have a true grappler, which makes sense in a game without a lingering shield or block. But La Reina feels like a grappler cranked to 11. Her playstyle is fun and unique and we are excited to adapt her gameplay and expand her moveset with the new options that Rivals 2 features.” -Dan Fornace, Studio Lead
The Runner-ups
We can’t stress enough how many amazing entries there were in this competition. Choosing just one winner was a tough job. Here are the next four runner-ups from our judging process. These characters will receive special recognition with an exclusive character icon for each creator/team to give out in Rivals 2.
Yono, The Carrier’s Honour
Yono, by FuZZ_lol and garebear, was one of our favorites because he oozes style and personality. He was one of our top ranked lore characters and we love the webcomic that the team created. We were impressed by the backstory behind the Postmen’s Guild and the stage that the team created for Yono. His roster fit was also very strong as he is an awesome and creative take on the air element.
Bhadra, The Golden Vagrant
Bhadra, by PJ and Hemuth, was immediately identified by our team as one of the highest quality entrants. Right when the contest closed, we found ourselves gravitating toward this well-crafted Shiba. While he wears his inspiration on his sleeve, the execution and creativity in converting him to a platform fighter was top notch. We also really liked his elemental fit of Gold as well the wandering samurai lore in his backstory.
Helios, The Unstoppable Peace
Helios, by Goomboo, was our other top ranked lore character. We were blown away by the trailer that Goomboo created. It fit right into the world and we wanted to learn more about Helios and his relationships with the inhabitants of Julesvale. The moveset and elemental fit into fire also earned high points from our team. Like Bhadra, there was clear inspiration, but the moveset felt right at home in a platform fighter. After playing him for even a short period, Helios felt like a character that was always in Rivals.
Awatsu, The Saponaceous Serpent
We can say it. Awatsu, by Selrate, was Dan’s favorite character in the contest while also ranking highly with many of our developers. When it comes to adorable creatures that creatively manipulate their element, Selrate may have outdone Dan himself. The character is so unique in its visual style and the way it moves. The animations and effects are also beautifully executed. When you combine its visuals with the intricate but intuitive bubble system, the character really stands out from the rest.
Thank You
Thank you to everyone who created characters, supported workshop devs throughout the contest, and even those who simply played some of the entries and interacted with the community’s creations. It’s always amazing to see what passionate people can create, and as game devs ourselves, it’s an honor to see other talented devs make their mark on the world of Aether.
We're back with a bugfix full of bug squashing and a few QoL changes for Hodan. This is a smaller patch leading up to our potential final patch with more balance changes and a Switch update in the next few months! Bug Fix: Fixed custom color skins applying to Story Mode due to so
We're back with a bugfix full of bug squashing and a few QoL changes for Hodan. This is a smaller patch leading up to our potential final patch with more balance changes and a Switch update in the next few months!
Bug Fix: Fixed custom color skins applying to Story Mode due to some skins causing issues in gameplay.
Bug Fix: The Rollback Settings button is now unclickable while readied up.
Bug Fix: Fixed various skins displaying a Santa hat for 1 frame when hit.
Bug Fix: Landing during Neutral Air now gives resources back. This should only affect cases where he lands on a Kragg pillar that breaks while Wrastor still in landing lag.
Bug Fix: Fixed a replay bug that would show Forsburn losing a stock on the bottom tracker if clone died in a blastzone.
Bug Fix: Fixed multiple instances of teammate projectiles being deleted in the Down Special plasma field. (Mollo bombs, Pomme field, Orcane bubbles).
Bug Fix: Fixed being able to counter a Mollo bomb that wouldn't hit Clairen normally.
Bug Fix: Parrying a petal wave over a flower now properly removes the grass around the flower.
Mollo had a lot of bugs related to his bombs still rattling around prior to this patch that we were able to pinpoint thanks to a wide net of community feedback.
Bug Fix: Bombs hitting an opponent the same moment they are parried will now apply knockback.
Bug Fix: Parrying a bashed bomb now sends it at the Ori that bashed it.
Bug Fix: Landing out of Tumble no longer sets off primed bombs.
Bug Fix: Getting hit by a 0 hitstun move such as Ori Neutral Special no longer detonates primed bombs.
Bug Fix: Kragg hitting a bomb with Forward Special now only gives him the article jump cancel window.
Bug Fix: Hitting a bomb downwards through a platform now always sends it through the platform.
Bug Fix: Bombs clipping into the stage the frame they're thrown no longer teleport to the other side of the stage.
Bug Fix: Fixed bashed firecrackers only hitting Mollo once.
Bug Fix: Fixed reverse-DI from flashbang only applying to grounded opponents.
Bug Fix: Fixed the splash hitbox of Charged Down Strong not triggering if the parry landed on the last frame.
Up Strong: The spike hitbox now buries opponents when they hit the ground. (Grounded hitbox still bounces them upwards.).
A general consensus was that using Hodan up Strong on platforms (on stage) could be a bit detrimental since players could simply tech out. Given the massive size of the move, having the throw bury opponents gives Hodan a chance to follow up on his attack, while not making the move too powerful.
Bug Fix: Players grabbed by Up Strong can no longer walltech before the move throws them.
Down Special: Dodge cancelling now works at any point in hitpause.
Down Special: Slam hitboxes now have hit lockout for the rest of his recovery frames (24 frames).
Down Special: Slam hitboxes no longer make opponents immune to mud waves.
These changes to Down Special should keep the odd double bury situations from previous patches out of the game, while fixing the side effect of getting hit, then freely moving through mudwaves across the stage.
Bug Fix: Fixed crystalizing appearing wrong in playtest.
Bug Fix: Crystalizing now must be moving downwards to break off the ground. This fixes a rare case where Kragg could avoid crystalizing by being inside a rock on that frame.
Bug Fix: Fixed aerial stall decay not being applied if cancelled in-field.
Bug Fix: Fixed being able to use Neutral Special during a parried gem's break animation.
Bug Fix: Neutral Special projectile no longer has hitpause scaling.
Bug Fix: Gem now gets bashed properly.
Bug Fix: Fixed being unable to turn around when cancelling the windup of Down Special.
A new buddy is available today in Rivals of Aether: introducing Mawson from Cross Blitz! Mawson is the beloved chief of the Mawpaws – a cat-like race of creatures that live deep within their island’s mana mines. He’s one of the few Mawpaws who are brave enough to communicate with
A new buddy is available today in Rivals of Aether: introducing Mawson from Cross Blitz!
Mawson is the beloved chief of the Mawpaws – a cat-like race of creatures that live deep within their island’s mana mines. He’s one of the few Mawpaws who are brave enough to communicate with outsiders, and looks to be adventurous enough to have made it all the way to Aether to be your next battle buddy.
You can unlock Mawson by owning both Rivals and Cross Blitz on Steam.
Cross Blitz is an RPG deckbuilder by our good friends at Tako Boy Studios featuring fast-paced tactical combat with loads of cards to collect and synergies to wield. Make sure to check it out if you're a fan of Creatures of Aether or other deckbuilders, especially while it's on sale for the Deckbuilders Fest.
Join Dan and Trevor over on our twitch this Thursday at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT as they play contest entries and chat about the process behind the scenes for adding a character to the Rivals universe. As always, questions are welcome in the chat. At the start of this year, we c
Join Dan and Trevor over on our twitch this Thursday at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT as they play contest entries and chat about the process behind the scenes for adding a character to the Rivals universe. As always, questions are welcome in the chat.
At the start of this year, we closed submissions for our Workshop Character Creation Contest, a contest where we asked the community to make their own characters with the winner eventually being officially added to Rivals 2!
Since then, we've been hard at work behind the scenes and posted an update earlier today about when people can expect for a winner to be chosen and more.
Hello to our beautiful Rivals Workshop enjoyers today! We’ve got a small update to announce when we plan to reveal a winner as well as a few other events related to our Workshop Character Contest. Contest judging is well underway and we’ve combed through almost one hundred charac
Hello to our beautiful Rivals Workshop enjoyers today! We’ve got a small update to announce when we plan to reveal a winner as well as a few other events related to our Workshop Character Contest.
Contest judging is well underway and we’ve combed through almost one hundred characters to make sure the winner and four runner-ups are chosen with care. We plan to choose the winner and get them signed and ready for an announcement on the one year anniversary of the contest – which is July 3rd, 2024. Don’t forget that this character isn’t planned to join the Rivals 2 roster for some time.
On the way to that announcement we’ll keep everyone up to date with a few streams – starting with one this Thursday on March 28th at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT. Join Dan and Trevor as they play contest entries and chat about how the process is going behind the scenes so far. As always, questions are welcome in the chat. The stream will take place on the official Rivals twitch.
We’ll also be highlighting a few characters per month again like we did when submissions were running to showcase entries. There’s so many good submissions that deserve a spotlight, and anyone can play them right now. Make sure to check them out by using the “Rivals 2 Contest” filter on Steam.
Rivals of Aether and all of our cosmetic DLC is on sale for just one more day at 50% off! Don't miss out on the end of the Steam Spring Sale. It's the perfect time to get your friends in for Rivals Workshop, or just pick up the game at a discount if it's something you've had your
Rivals of Aether and all of our cosmetic DLC is on sale for just one more day at 50% off! Don't miss out on the end of the Steam Spring Sale. It's the perfect time to get your friends in for Rivals Workshop, or just pick up the game at a discount if it's something you've had your eye on.
Get an exclusive Rivals of Aether skin when you back the Rivals 2 Kickstarter HERE . We have some Early Bird Specials, so be sure to back before it’s too late!
Get an exclusive Rivals of Aether skin when you back the Rivals 2 Kickstarter HERE. We have some Early Bird Specials, so be sure to back before it’s too late!
Today we’re kicking off a competition with one of the coolest prizes we can think of – a chance for your own character to officially join the Aether Universe! We’re inviting the community to create their dream character in our new contest and share it with the world for a chance
Today we’re kicking off a competition with one of the coolest prizes we can think of – a chance for your own character to officially join the Aether Universe! We’re inviting the community to create their dream character in our new contest and share it with the world for a chance to be added to Rivals 2.
If you’re new to Rivals or the Rivals Workshop and want to get involved, we’ve got great news because Rivals of Aether is currently on sale for 50% off! You can pick up the game at a discount (or any of our games) during the Steam Summer Sale for the next 2 weeks through 6/29/23 – 7/13/23.
Ever since we added Steam Workshop support, our community has created over 3,000 characters and even more stages and buddies. It’s become such a fan-favorite that Workshop side events are now held at all Rivals Majors. On top of that - Workshop has even become such a core part of Rivals itself that we selected and adapted four of the best community-made characters to add as a free official update to the game in 2022. Now we’ve decided to turn our attention to our upcoming sequel with a public competition!
Starting today, 7/3/23, you’ll have until the end of the year to create and publish a brand new character with the chance to get it included in Rivals 2! We want to spur fresh ideas from the community, so we will only be allowing characters created and published after 7/3/23. Submissions are limited to one character per person and can be officially entered using our Google Form and publishing your character with the “Rivals 2 Contest” Steam Workshop tag. First place will receive $5,000 in exchange for rights to the character, while the winner and four runner-ups will receive exclusive cosmetics in Rivals 2.
While we're on the subject of community-made characters, be sure to check out the amazing characters featured above in our trailer: Lukastar, Rykenburn, and Zephrie.
Official Rules
As mentioned above, to enter you will need to create and submit a completely original character (with the “Rivals 2 Contest” tag) during the contest period of 7/3/23 – 12/31/23. This means entrants should not use movesets or sprites from previous works. In addition, any submissions contributed to by a team must be submitted and represented by a single individual that owns the character. Judging will be done by the Aether Studios dev team based on a number of criteria including:
Gameplay [1-10 points]
Visuals [1-5 points]
Character Background (Element Fit/Lore) [1-5 points]
The top choice will be awarded $5,000 in exchange for character rights and will guarantee the character’s inclusion in Rivals 2 sometime post-launch.
While the competition’s underway we’d love to show off what our community is cooking. Working on something? Use our Highlight Form as many times as you’d like to submit video of your progress, process, or playtesting of your creation. You might be featured on our social media or game spotlights.
We hope everyone has fun with this competition and is excited as we are to see some awesome new characters make their way to the Rivals Universe. If you have any questions about the contest feel free to ask in the comments below, or on twitter, discord, or any of our other social media.
Well-known indie game developer and publisher Chucklefish is celebrating its anniversary this year with a commemorative Steam sale. There are heavy discounts on many of their most beloved titles, ranging from the older Starbound to the newer roguelike hit Wildfrost . With everyth
Well-known indie game developer and publisher Chucklefish is celebrating its anniversary this year with a commemorative Steam sale. There are heavy discounts on many of their most beloved titles, ranging from the older Starbound to the newer roguelike hit Wildfrost. With everything from single-player games to multiplayer, the titles included offer deals to a wide range of players. If you are a fan of fast-paced fights and pixelated adventures, then this birthday sale is definitely worth a look.
Get ready for our first online event of Season 7! start.gg/RCSJune Prizes Champion Olympia skin for ALL participants. $1000 in prize money provided by start.gg for premier RCS events! Our first ever event on rollback netcode features Rivals Singles on Saturday, June 11th where al
Get ready for our first online event of Season 7! start.gg/RCSJune
Prizes
Champion Olympia skin for ALL participants.
$1000 in prize money provided by start.gg for premier RCS events!
Our first ever event on rollback netcode features Rivals Singles on Saturday, June 11th where all participants will earn a brand new Champion Olympia DLC skin and a chance at $1000 in prizes provided by start.gg. Compete for glory, League Points, and cash prizes in our first online major of Season 7.
Time & Dates
Registration Deadline - 6/10/21 @ 11:59 PM PT
Check In: All players must check in before bracket start so we can confirm attendance. This helps everything run smoothly because we can generate a bracket with only people who are online and ready to play - less waiting for everyone! Check-ins are available up to 30 minutes before bracket start by going to the event page.
Entrants must show up and participate to be eligible for the Champion Olympia skin code. Codes will be emailed to players the week after the event after brackets and prizes are verified.
Last Friday we officially announced the sequel to Rivals of Aether through a trailer packed with fast-paced gameplay, beautiful stages, and even a tentative release date to look forward to. Zetterburn, Ranno, and Wrastor were revealed as the first three characters in the game, al
Last Friday we officially announced the sequel to Rivals of Aether through a trailer packed with fast-paced gameplay, beautiful stages, and even a tentative release date to look forward to. Zetterburn, Ranno, and Wrastor were revealed as the first three characters in the game, along with promises of more favorites returning.
We have an admittedly bad habit of making our biggest announcements on April 1st, so to assure you that you weren't having a fever dream on Friday - here's the serious news on our sequel's announcement and currently released details.
Our big reveal trailer capped off the Rivals Direct on Friday with the official announcement (and name reveal) of Rivals 2. Our release date is currently set in 2024. We know fans will have tons of questions, so we put together a page of answers to Frequently Asked Questions we've received so far as we teased development.
Game Details and Live Q&A
We also ran a live Q&A session that started with Dan and Trevor going through the FAQ and adding a few insights before taking questions from any twitch viewers who stuck around after the Rivals Direct 4.
You'll also want to make sure to sign up for our Rivals 2 newsletter on the new website to stay up to date on development. Updates won't be frequent yet since we're still deep in development, but you won't want to miss important announcements like the launch of closed beta testing. Sign up to make sure you have a chance to be one of the first to get your hands on the game.
Be sure to check out the official press kit if you want to get some high quality renders of characters, stages, and our new logo. More will be added as updates release.
Jobs at Aether Studios
To make this project a reality, we've been building a bigger team over the last few years to bring our dream platform fighter to life. Along with the game trailer, website, and Rivals Direct on Friday we also announced 4 new positions on our jobs section of AetherStudios.com. If you'd like to work with us and are able to work remotely please apply.
If you're excited about Rivals 2 so far, you can be sure we're just as excited to be making it! We know it's still a long way out but you can believe the wait will be worth it. Our team is small but our ambitions are high, and we aim to compete against the best games on the market. There is a lot that we want to build to make Rivals 2 the best fighting game that it can be and we know we can reach that goal with time.
Feel free to leave us a comment here or on social media with any questions about the game.
After over a full month since the release of our four free newcomers, we are back once again with another round of balance changes! Last patch aimed to clean up some obvious troublemakers and mechanics. This time we intend to really dig deep and focus on fine-tuning our new frien
After over a full month since the release of our four free newcomers, we are back once again with another round of balance changes!
Last patch aimed to clean up some obvious troublemakers and mechanics. This time we intend to really dig deep and focus on fine-tuning our new friends. This is not by any means our final balance patch, but this will be our last balance touch-up before Genesis 8 and Low Tide City in April. Players looking for changes for our earlier 14 characters can get excited for our next balance patch coming later this year, where we plan to continue work on our newcomers while giving some elbow grease to some of our other favorite Rivals!
Matches no longer desync when switching between rollback and non-rollback modes online.
Fixed Orcane’s explosive bubble rune crashing.
Fixed keyboard controls causing unintentional up/down hard presses while online.
WORKSHOP
Added attack property AG_NO_PARRY_STUN.
Added newcomer names to get_char_info.
As for balance changes to our four newcomers, there are a LOT of updates on this round, so please check them out on our website.
MOLLO: Mollo no longer gets stunned from parrying his own Finisher. Bombs now push out of each other correctly. When hitting mollo with a primed bomb in his hand, the timer should now reset on each hit (meaning it won't interrupt your combo) . Thrown bombs no longer teleport to t
MOLLO:
Mollo no longer gets stunned from parrying his own Finisher.
Bombs now push out of each other correctly.
When hitting mollo with a primed bomb in his hand, the timer should now reset on each hit (meaning it won't interrupt your combo).
Thrown bombs no longer teleport to the center of Mollo during the throwing animation.
HODAN:
Fixed Hodan getting stuck in his Up Tilt animation in rare situations.
Charged Up Tilt: Sweatbox hitstun multiplier decreased, 1.5 -> 1.0 (The increased hitstun is supposed to make up for the low KB values on the other moves, but it lead to situations where players knocked offstage would fall further than intended).
OLYMPIA:
Olympia's Forward Special jump cancel now works with tap jump.
WORKSHOP:
Fixed skins having misaligned VFX.
The small_sprites variable should now work correctly. (It now prioritizes init.gml, then config.ini, then the default value).
Attack scripts should no longer run multiple times on subsequent reloads.
NETCODE:
Fixed Mollo and Olympia's jabs causing desyncs.
Various fixes to rollback netcode that was causing several inconsistent crashes.
MISC:
Fixed Aether Mode version of Treetop Lodge's plant monsters not actually dragging players down into the blastzone.
Fixed Kragg's pillar occasionally leaving a false indicator when disappearing in the bottom blastzone.
Fixed the Down Special part of Mollo's tutorial being impossible to complete.
Fixed Pomme going invisible at the start of some Neo Julesvale matches.
Fixed a single red pixel on Pomme's custom color sprite.
The previous_live_branch has been updated to version 2.1.1.0
A few weeks ago we added a whopping FOUR new characters to the PC and Switch versions of the game for free. Since then we’ve been able to collect feedback and bug reports from the community, allowing for our first balance patch since their release! While this is by no means the f
A few weeks ago we added a whopping FOUR new characters to the PC and Switch versions of the game for free. Since then we’ve been able to collect feedback and bug reports from the community, allowing for our first balance patch since their release!
While this is by no means the final balance patch these characters will see, our intention with this round of changes is to hit the big troublemaker moves of each of the four. Buckle up, this is a big one.
Mollo is really close to how we want him to play – an aggressive and unpredictable character who can rushdown or zone while using everything at his disposal. Our main goal when updating Mollo was to add more counter play to his bombs – particularly the finisher bomb. We also fixed some bugs and updated a couple of his normals.
FINISHER BOMB
Finisher Bomb countdown increased, 30 -> 50
Spamming a massive kill move was never the intention of the finisher. A longer fuse means Mollo players will need to set up for the big reward.
Finisher Bomb reduced weight, 1.25x -> 1.6x
For reference, other bombs take 1.8x base knockback.
Adjusted explosion VFX layers of Finisher Bomb to primarily appear behind players.
This allows players to see where they are in relation to the explosion, helping with reactionary DI.
FLASHBANG
Increased Flashbang damage, 0% -> 5%
This bomb should not have been dealing 0% in the first place but it was particularly noticeable when Mollo could use it to stall off stage.
Bug Fix: Fixed flashbangs not applying full hitpause to attacking players.
DEFAULT BOMB
Hitpause increased, 6 + 0 -> 8 + 1.0
BKB 10 +1.0 > 8 +1.0
Default bombs were killing light characters a bit too early off the top. Peeling off some base knockback allows us to reduce those surprise KOs while still keeping it a KO option when your opponent passes 150%.
GENERAL BOMB FIXES
Primed bombs now properly explode in Mollo’s hand when hitstun ends.
Held bombs will now continue their timer when Mollo is in hitstun.
One of the goals of Mollo’s bombs was inspired by Kragg holding a rock. Mollo should feel more powerful with a bomb in hand but also at risk. Due to some bugs and timing, this goal was muddy at launch. We have made some adjustments so opponents can effectively use Mollo’s bombs against him. If you can catch him with a bomb, you can combo him while it primes and now effectively use the explosion to extend your combo or even KO Mollo!
Bombs will not bonk players in hitstun moving faster than 6 pixels per frame.
It was a frustrating experience to land a KO attack on Mollo only to have an errant bomb bonk him and negate all the knockback. We introduced a hitstun velocity where once above the threshold, characters will ignore the bonk. You can still use bonks for cool combos at lower speeds but bonks won’t be invalidating your hard work when it comes to KOs.
Bug Fix: Bombs that explode on bonk should now assign the hitboxes to the last player that hit it, and not just the Mollo that made it. (Meaning bonking a mollo with their own bomb should properly blow them up.)
Mollo finally gets a taste of his own medicine.
Reduced bonk hitpause, 12 -> 7
Bonks had enough hitpause to lock opponents in place for too long. This was especially problematic getting hit by a bomb whose fuse was running low causing a likely KO with a finisher bomb. The hitpause has been adjusted to better reflect the bonk and reduce those sticky situations.
Down Special now causes bomb detonations 1 frame earlier
Bat hits shouldn’t be overridden by bomb explosions anymore.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug causing bombs to occasionally float in the air.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that allowed several unique explosions when Mollo’s primed bombs blew up in his hand.
FORWARD TILT
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that allowed opponents to crouch cancel at any percent.
It was pretty funny though.
Hitpause increased, 6 + 0.6 -> 8 + 0.9
Reactionary DI should be much easier now.
A few properties leftover from an older version of the move have been snuffed out.
UP STRONG
Cleaned up Ustrong’s animation.
Reduced KB on the last hit, 10 + 1.0 -> 8 + 1.0
Increased Ustrong’s endlag, 12 -> 17
Up Strong is a great anti air tool and Mollo’s strongest grounded KO option. The attack was designed with a large and long-lasting active window to catch fast moving aerial opponents. But the final hit was too strong for his kit and the attack lacked the recovery frames to be able to punish it. We have remedied both of these.
The strongest hitbox had less hitpause frames due to the attack’s previous functionality. Now the hitpause has been updated to reflect the attack’s knockback and improve DI opportunity.
RAPID JAB
Repeated attack inputs should keep spraypainting more reliably.
Removed hitpause scaling to prevent stunlocking (was at 0.6x previously).
The move should feel better to use and to get hit by.
DASH ATTACK
Hit one now breaks Kragg’s rock.
The hitbox meant to grab bombs did not function as a normal hitbox, making interaction with rock a bit puzzling.
NEUTRAL AIR
Fixed an error causing hitboxes to be arranged incorrectly.
Hodan certainly is a funny monkey. His playstyle is surprising and wacky and unlike anything Aether has seen. Hodan’s unique charge mechanic is a hit but it has been hurting hands and driving players to unusual control setups – we saw that taped down dpad! Our changes to charge have made it easier to use it optimally without feeling like you could be charging more. We also looked at Up Special, Forward Air and Forward Special which were his 3 charged moves causing the most monkey frustration.
CHARGE FUNCTIONALITY
Charged moves now reset the charge amount as long as you’re using one.
Charging takes 15 frames, so now back to back charge moves will require those extra 15 frames to execute.
Starting a charged move disables the ability to charge until you let go of Down.
This excludes down strong due to the direction of the move matching the direction required to charge.
Starting a dash disables charging until you let go of Down.
These last two changes make sure that Hodan can be played optimally with either the standard controller settings, the dpad or the keyboard. To be able to dash with a standard controller, you have to let go of down. But a keyboard or a dpad could hold down through that motion and retain the charge easily without having to move the stick back down like a controller would. These requirements for a new down press get all the controllers on the same playing field and also make it easier on your hands for players who were tempted to claw both the analog stick and the dpad for their monkey madness.
UP SPECIAL
Charged variant early hit BKB and KB scaling reduced, 10 + 1.2 -> 9 + 1.1
For how fast this attack is and the places you can use it, it was KOing too early. This change should bring the kill power to a healthier level.
Charged variant early hit active duration reduced, 6 -> 2
Uncharged variant early hit active duration reduced, 6 -> 3
The start of up special is the sweet spot but with how long it lasted, it didn’t feel very sweet to get hit by it. We reduced the duration on both versions. Charged and uncharged variants travel at different speeds, meaning the active frames cover different distances. Both variants now reach similar distances. Example: A grounded up special’s first hit can no longer hit Tower of Heaven’s top platform.
Late hit angle changed, 50 -> 60
Charged late hit angle changed, 50 -> 80
We updated the angles on the late hits of each Up Special to match the angles of the sweet spots which makes DIing the attacks more consistent.
FORWARD SPECIAL
Forward Special endlag increased, 20 -> 28
We are increasing the recovery of Forward Special to reduce Hodan’s spam and also to remove his stalling technique when combined with Up Special. We opted for a recovery hit over a cooldown implementation because we want Hodan to be punished for using his projectile in inopportune situations rather than being able to parry or move away.
Charged Forward Special endlag increased, 14 -> 28
While Forward Special spam was formidable, the amount of sweat you could swirl by repeating Charged Forward Specials was devastating. This recovery change brings both versions in line.
Sweatwhirls can now only absorb new spirits after 40 frames, once the spirit’s spawn animation has finished.
This helps players escape several whirls being chucked at them in a row.
Bug Fix: Spirited sweatwhirls are no longer transcendent.
Attacks that beat projectiles can now destroy all sweat whirls.
A moment of silence for the Kraggs that lost their pillars to this bug.
FORWARD AIR
Charged Forward Air landing lag increased, 8 -> 10
Charged Forward Air endlag increased, 14 -> 16
The move is meant to be big and strong, so we targeted endlag in conjunction with the new charge mechanics to make it much harder to combo more than one in a row.
UP TILT
Bug Fix: Charged variant’s (Splash Kick) final 2 hitboxes moved to the correct window, removing the four hitbox overlap it had before.
SPLASH YA LATER!
UP STRONG
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where players under very specific platform heights (Treetop Lodge’s upper platform) would not be thrown properly.
Pomme is a flashy popstar who introduced a float double jump to Rivals of Aether! Pomme didn’t require too many updates in this first balance patch. We did target some of her problematic stalling options in addition to her lack of recovery frames on her strong attacks.
FLOAT MECHANIC
Getting hit while floating now removes any remaining float time.
There is a 6 frame forgiveness window at the beginning of a float.
Up Special now only restores float time to a maximum of 45 frames.
Pomme leaves the ground with 150 frames of float time. If her remaining float time is above 45 frames when using Up Special, the remaining time will be available as a second float.
Fixed being locked out of fastfalling when using a move out of float.
In addition to a sweet spot KB nerf, the sour spot and sweet spot angles are now identical, making DI less of a guessing game.
Bug Fix: Fixed a momentum bug related to a floating Forward Air in Pomme’s Harmony Field.
FORWARD SPECIAL
Increased Forward special damage, 0% -> 8%
We told Vince to stop holding his punches. The Rivals aren’t fans of Pomme. Well except for Kragg. He owns all her albums. This should also prevent crouch-cancelling causing some odd trajectories.
Forward Special Cooldown has been increased from 15 frames after Vince disappears to 55 frames after Vince disappears.
Now that Vince is not holding back, we have to deal with those times when Pomme is too reliant on him. This cooldown increase should keep Vince as a combo starter while reducing him as a spam option.
Vince’s whiff endlag reduced, 40 -> 30
This change makes Vince block projectiles for a little less time but also allows Pomme to use Vince sooner effectively reducing the increase in cooldown above from 40 frames to 30 frames.
DOWN SPECIAL
The harmony field now moves towards the stage if it’s far away enough from solid ground.
We saw the videos of the Pomme stalling from launch week. This attempted solution should keep a floating Pomme away from the edges of the blastzone, while also giving the Harmony Field more utility near stage.
STRONG ATTACKS
Fstrong endlag increased, 12 -> 18
Ustrong endlag increased, 10 -> 15
Dstrong endlag increased, 10 -> 15
Pomme’s strong attacks were incredibly hard to whiff punish especially considering they pack quite the punch for an Air character. These changes should bring her closer in line to the rest of the cast.
UP TILT
Bug Fix: Removed an extra hitbox from Utilt that was spawning later.
A relic from an older animation that added a lot of disjoint to her attack.
MISCELLANEOUS
Slightly increased harmony field opaqueness.
Bug Fix: Fixed crouching using the standing hurtbox.
Bug Fix: Up Special now has a walljump cancel window during active frames.
Olympia is a fan favorite! But more importantly, she is a Dan favorite. He told us not to nerf her so please don’t link him these patch notes. We took a good look at her Forward Special and a couple of her aerials for this first balance patch.
NEUTRAL SPECIAL
Reduced Neutral special’s break hitbox size, 284 x 284 -> 270 x 270
This should remove scenarios where someone gets crystalized while barely touching the field.
Nspecial’s projectile now resets its despawn timer when parried.
A parried projectile will now reach the Olympia that threw it.
Crystalized sprite is now bi-colored.
FORWARD SPECIAL
Forward Special now includes the gauntlet as the hurtbox.
Forward Special’s hitbox moved inwards, 12 -> 6
Forward Special’s endlag is now 28 to 36 frames, depending on charge – was 20 to 36.
These changes to Forward Special will make contesting the move less dangerous and whiff punishing the move easier at low charge. Forward Special still has IASA frames on hit and it starts 25% of the way through the recovery which means the IASA at low charge is slightly slower now.
Reduced the amount Forward Special can push up when hitting a ledge, 40 -> 32 pixels
Olympia will still get a boost onto stage, but now it won’t be so much that it’s visually jarring when she pops up onto the ground when hitting the wall.
UP AIR
Uair landing lag increased, 5 -> 8
Uair endlag increased, 7 -> 10
Uair 2’s base knockback increased, 6 -> 7
Up air should now be a little less powerful when used in hitfall strings, while also sending opponents further out, making follow-ups a little more difficult.
DOWN AIR
Dair sourspot knockback reduced, 6 Base + 0.8 Scaling -> 4 Base + 0.6 Scaling
Dair sweetspot knockback reduced, 10 Base + 1.0 Scaling -> 7 Base + 0.8 Scaling
Dair sourspot hitpause reduced, 6 Base + 0.8 Scaling -> 6 Base + 0.6 Scaling
Dair sweetspot hitpause reduced, 20 Base + 1.0 Scaling -> 12 Base + 1.0 Scaling
Those Down Air numbers were pretty intense, huh? It turns out when sending downward, gravity only adds to your speed. The numbers have been adjusted to be in line with other powerful spikes in the game.
BACK AIR
Reduced Bair’s second hitbox active frames, 14 -> 11
Reduced Bair’s active window, 14 -> 11
Increased Bair’s endlag, 2 -> 5
Back Air’s hitbox now ends when Olympia’s art changes, giving the move more endlag while keeping the total frames the same.
Adjusted Pomme’s tutorial so hitting all 4 nspecial notes should be easier.
Adjusted Olympia’s tutorial so hitting bair into another aerial should be easier.
Fixed a typo in Mollo’s tutorial.
Bug Fix: Updated Pomme’s portrait colors to match shaders better. (Also got rid of a red pixel on her custom color sprite.)
Bug Fix: Fixed Olympia’s custom color screen only having one color slot on the diamond.
Bug Fix: Olympia’s crystalized effect should use consistent colors instead of blinking between swapped colors.
Bug Fix: Removed a black line on Mollo’s landing sprite while holding a bomb.
Bug Fix: Removed a white pixel on the start of Mollo’s parry.
Bug Fix: Fixed the Flashbanged double-visioned effect not displaying correctly.
Bug Fix: Fixed various issues with Ori bashing Mollo bombs.
Bug Fix: Ranno’s Dspecial hitboxes now ignore rock as per hitbox properties instead of being hardcoded. While this doesn’t actually change how ranno interacts with kragg’s rock, some newcomer articles (like Mollo bombs and Olympia gem) rely on this property when checking for hitbox collisions.
Bug Fix: Fixed odd animations when moonwalking as Olympia, Pomme, Mollo, or Hodan.
Bug Fix: Fixed the preferred palettes of Olympia, Pomme, Mollo, and Hodan not saving to profiles.
Bug Fix: Fixed selected palettes not saving.
Bug Fix: Fixed Olympia, Pomme, Mollo, and Hodan not getting an animation when you unlock their milestone.
Bug Fix: The Random Stage button should now be able to choose from any stage skins you’ve unlocked.
Bug Fix: Closed up a gap in collision boxes on Neo Blazing Rail that let players go under the main ground.
Bug Fix: Fixed workshop buddies crashing on load.
Bug Fix: The RCS Season 5 name color now has its trim back.
WORKSHOP
Added the following macros for characters: CH_MOLLO, CH_HODAN, CH_POMME, CH_OLYMPIA
Added the following macros for player states: PS_FLASHED, PS_CRYSTALIZED, PS_BURIED
The time has come! Last April, we announced the inclusion of four community-created characters into the base cast of Rivals of Aether. After an intense year of development we've worked internally, with the original creators, and with our closed beta team to finally bring these ch
The time has come! Last April, we announced the inclusion of four community-created characters into the base cast of Rivals of Aether. After an intense year of development we've worked internally, with the original creators, and with our closed beta team to finally bring these characters to life in our free update today!
The workshop character pack is filled to the brim with new content. Each of our four new characters come with their own stages, music, and Abyss Runes right out of the gate. Players familiar with their Steam Workshop versions will find updated kits, animations, sound effects, and much more.
Players who already own Rivals of Aether on Steam will automatically receive the Four-Pack update for free.
Check out that fancy new Character Select Screen!
Mollo
The Smoldering Rage from the future is here! Mollo is taking a break from the rebellion against the treacherous Loxodont to utilize his explosive arsenal of weapons in an all new battlefield. Item management and stage control are key to mastering this moth, as he can do serious damage from a distance, or up close and personal.
Hodan
The Hot Springs Sage cannonballs into Rivals of Aether! Hodan uses his expert technical abilities to empower himself when the time is right. Build charge by holding a downward directional input, then unleash the beast with powerful secondary versions of key moves.
Pomme
The Superstar Songstress has arrived on the scene and is ready to put on a show! Pomme's unique understanding of sound waves allows her to quite literally float through the air, making her a potent threat in even the hardest to reach corners of the battlefield.
Olympia
The Amethyst Fist puts her deep understanding of martial arts to the test as she brawls her way through Aether! Olympia is a fundamental warrior with a clear game-plan of hitting her opponents hard and making each hit count. Stand your ground and strike fear into your opponents, because this one is going to hurt.
Rollback Netcode
Finally, we are excited to announce that Rollback Netcode is leaving our open beta branch to officially become part of the base game with the February 3rd update. Experience the Workshop Character Pack in all its glory with the launch of the long awaited rollback netcode update on PC.
We hope you check out the newest additions to Rivals of Aether today. Thank you to our wonderful community for being with us on this journey. These new characters would not have been possible without the fantastic Workshop community that has blossomed over the years. We hope everyone will have as much fun with them as we have.
