Changes
Back again with another update! We've pushed a lot of these updates already this week, but it's about time to catalogue all of the changes that we can remember. You'll find new, fun physics mechanics, better hit feedback, and a more clear loadout menu among other things in this weeks push.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8VcIoWkF4M
Taking Advantage of the New Ragdoll
If you've familiarized yourself with our poise system in The Rebellion; then you'll know that it's possible to completely knock down units, turning them into a ragdoll temporarily (this same effect happens on death as well). Up until now, we haven't really put much attention into the ragdoll physics, so units used to kind of just turn into gelatin then collapse after being poise broken. Units would also tend to fall through the world; fortunately we've completely fixed this bug. Furthermore, we've had a breakthrough and improved the rag dolls to be in a much more acceptable state.
Knocking someone over with the new ragdoll
Now with this change, we've decided to take advantage of UE4's physics system. When breaking or killing an enemy, the impact of the weapon will fire an impulse out, pushing the ragdoll in the direction of the force. The strength of the force is determined by the weight of the hit unit and the force of the weapon used; with the heavier weapons, this can get a little ridiculous (fun!).
Sending some foes into the trench below
This is something we're really excited about; and with such a big project it's not every day we get to spend time on a fun mechanic like this. But since we have, it's gonna open up a lot of opportunities for interesting gameplay later on, too.
Clearing a wave of enemies; the true power of knockback!
Better Hit Feedback
As we transition into the combat revamp we'll be doing this month, we felt it was a good time to add in some UI feedback for hitting or being hit while in third person mode. The primary goal here was to make it more clear when an attack hits, deflects, or partially hits a target. Now an icon will show up on the target's health bar, indicating the type of hit the enemy has received.
The new hit notifiers; first a partial hit, then a deflect, and finally a full hit.
We've applied this same concept to being hit as well. When hit, the borders of your screen will flash for a short time in order to display what kind of hit was received. White means total deflection, orange means you've taken a partial hit, and a red splatter mean's you've taken a full hit.
The new hero danger notifiers; first a deflection, then a partial hit, lastly a full hit.
Balancing
We've listened to player feedback, and after testing a lot ourselves we've come to the conclusion that Wave Defense is still a bit too difficult; especially for beginners. These changes should make the mode a bit more forgiving.
- Decreased Brute starting health to 300 from 350
- Decreased Brute starting poise to 200 from 300
- Added new NPC defenders at several locations
- The preparation timer has been increased and will change depending on difficulty. -Easy : To 12 minutes from 5 minutes -Normal : To 10 minutes from 5 minutes -Nightmare/Hard : To 8 minutes from 5 minutes
Other Changes
The new loadout menu should make things a bit more clear.
-Fixed up the loadout menu so that it gives better feedback and more information
-Players will now start in RTS mode instead of in third person
-Made tree leaves look a lot better
-Improved the rock material
-Trained peasants will now move to a default location if a rally point is not set
-Fixed a bug where heroes would appear to be constantly falling through the world on client after respawn
-Slightly improved the overhead slam hitbox of the Hammer
-Fixed a bug where overhead selection widgets would display in third person when
switching cameras
-Clients will now properly display the visuals of the fog of war