We're getting closer to the full game release of Underboard, and we have improved a lot of the look and feel of the game across our updates, but combat FX are a major aspect that has remained mostly the same from all the way back to our earliest playable version. We decided it was time to bring our combat FX quality to a higher standard that better fits all the other improvements we've made along the way.
Improved Combat FX
All player characters and enemies now have improved combat FX, our focus was to make them look cooler in general, but also to increase how noticeable they are, especially for skills since identifying enemies with deadly skills is a big part of the game's learning curve.
We wanted to nail down the new style first and we feel it came along great for this update, but we still have to bring bosses and player spells up to the same level, so those improvements will come in shortly. You can also expect all the other content in the full game release to have the same level of quality.
Pinnacle Boss Balance Changes
We released our first pinnacle boss a little while ago and we've been looking at how difficult it was to beat. The intention for pinnacle bosses is that they should be the last and hardest challenge of a run, but the third map boss was usually harder, so we decided to do a balance pass.
The pinnacle boss encounter is now slightly harder at phase 1, and now each phase is balanced to be harder than the previous one.
The Undertaker just appeared in the Underboard!
Die for the Lich is a great game that also shares our Newgrounds roots, and we're now thrilled to have a couple of their characters be in Underboard.
Since we wanted to add a playable character, we decided to make a new "rare" character, similar to how Pico and Cordelia works. We initially thought of the Undertaker obviously, but Dante was also a good fit.
Here's how you'll be able to get them in your team:
You can now find the Undertaker among other characters in any bonfire.
He is treated as a "rare" character, meaning that you'll see him less often than other characters, but you can expect him to be a bit stronger from the get go.
To get Dante you'll have to level up the Undertaker to level 3.
Since they are a unique character, they have their own skills themed around dice from Die for the Lich.
We hope you'll like making teams with them, and congrats to Die for the Lich for their recent Early Access release!
Make sure to check it out in case you don't know about it:
As a little extra bonus, Pico is now playable here on Steam too!