DracoFighter's game balance was worrying, but an update became a lot more pressing after the discovery of a game-breaking bug.
GENERAL CHANGES:
- Stance transition bug removed (affects Draco, BiOS) which allowed them to essentially have Super Armor when buffering moves out of a stance
- Hitbox display included when Debug Mode is turned on
- Block toggle in training can now be triggered without the mouse (Tab on keyboard, Select on controller)
- Linux version created!
DRACO:
- airAttack startup 6 > 8
- airAttack lifetime 18 > 16
- airAttack hurtbox added to remove disjoint; hurtbox appears before hitbox
- airAttack hitbox decreased
- airAttack animation changed for clarity
- airGrab FAF 20 > 35
- airGrab startup 12 > 16
- airGrab hitbox decreased horizontally
- airSpecial hitbox shrunk
- airSpecial angle changed
- airSpecial momentum shift lowered
- aerial options available ~19 > 25
DRACO GOALS: Draco's aerial abilities have essentially no counterplay at a higher level. I wanted to make his aerial options a bit more reactable, and for his aerial grab to be risky as originally planned. His airSpecial nerf should make it a weaker option at close range, and airAttack should not destroy anti-air projectiles. I still want Draco's aerial options to feel good to play as, but hopefully this will add more risk to it while making his grounded options more appealing.
BiOS:
- nAttack knockback lowered
- nAttack blockpush increased
- fSpecial hurtbox size and duration increased
- bSpecial is no longer counted as an attack and can now be grabbed
- bAttack second hitbox shrunk
- bAttack animation speed adjusted for clarity
- bAttack blockpush significantly decreased
- nThrow knockback slightly decreased
- BiOS' idle animation moves faster just because
BiOS GOALS: BiOS seems like he's at a good spot with very pronounced strengths and weaknesses. He has smaller adjustments to enforce his nAttack vortex while rewarding players that guess correctly, while bAttack has been fixed to be less jank. I also had a friend request that I speed up BiOS' idle, and could not turn it down.
PLEXIE:
- bSpecial FAF 58 > 52
- bSpecial blockstun increased 17? > 25
- bSpecial knockback (knock-forward?) decreased
- bAttack FAF 69 > 67
- bAttack0 knockback adjusted
- bAttack0 hitbox width increased inwards
- bAttack0 startup 20 > 15
- bAttack0 blockstun 15 > 25
- bAttack1/2 timing adjusted, longer active frames and hitlag lowered
- bAttack animation adjusted
- nAttack0 hitstun 20 > 45 (plus on hit if it doesn't connect)
- nAttack hitbox width increased inwards
- nAttack blockstun 22 > 28
- all grabs decreased vertical hitbox
- all grabs startup 20 > 16
- nSpecial delay 30 > 23
- nSpecial angle and animation adjusted
- BUG: Plexie's projectile is now properly referred to as nSpecial instead of bSpecial in training
PLEXIE GOALS: Everybody seems to agree that Plexie is the weakest character! I've given her a huge assortment of buffs, mainly to fulfill her identity as a defensive fortress and to make her less punishing. Most Plexie mains seemed disappointed by her bSpecial, bAttack, and nSpecial, so hopefully these should help. bSpecial won't be punishable but it will still put you in a worse spot, bAttack is MUCH faster so it works better as a reactive anti-air but nothing more, and nSpecial has faster startup with more focus on it being an anti-air instead of a horizontal pressure tool. nAttack is also not punishable on block, but still minus. Grabs are also faster so they're not useless by being completely reactable. Hope this all helps!
CYRUS:
- bAttack FAF 65 > 60
- bAttack0 startup 18 > 16
- bAttack1 startup 30 > 25
- bAttack1 active 5 > 7
- bAttack1 hitstun 20 > 30
- bAttack1 vertical knockback improved
- fAttack momentum increased
- fAttack linking hitbox improved
- fAttack0/1 hitstun 20 > 50 in case it doesn't link
- fAttack2 hitstun 20? > 30
- nAttack blockstun 15 > 20
- nAttack blockpush decreased
- bSpecial projectiles hitstun 10 > 20
- bSpecial now has vertical knockback
- all grabs have FAF set to 45 (prev. 50 for f/bGrab)
CYRUS GOALS: Cyrus is a bit more difficult to judge because not many people play him! I made some adjustments to fix his jank with bAttack second hit and fAttack not linking, and buffed his bAttack to be like Plexie's (quicker, anti-air focused). These will hopefully improve his game feel. His nAttack is also not punishable like Plexie's, but has less pushback so he can't get distance for free, and his bSpecial has better knockback/hitstun so they don't ruin juggles.
Thank you all very much for your continued support! DracoFighter 2 is in the works, but it will most likely take a long while...
Oh, and a secret character got a rework where half his moves were overhauled. You might guess him as the worst secret character.