Beta 13.3 - Improved New Player Experience
Developer commentary
Practically every single system was looked at with the intent to improve how we onboard a new player to the game.
Gameplay
-Improved tutorial to show each mechanic one at a time in a more logical progression
-Arcade mode first two levels spawn enemies specifically to teach the player basic controls mechanics
Removed "bleeding edge" difficulty, replaced with new values:
-Cutting edge (Normal): 4x health, 2x damage, this is the same as the original easy mode
-Experimental (Hard): 2x health, 1.3x damage, this is slightly easier than old hard mode but harder than old normal mode
-Standard (Insane): 1x health, 1x damage, this is the same as the original insane mode
-Gave taekwondo a drawback: if the passive buff isn't active, your next attack takes 1.25x the regular energy cost.
-Kyokushin given drawback: cannot animation cancel to start its parry. Go all in.
-Added a random event system to breakout mode
-Arcade mode rewards taper off, giving a logarithmic growth to your number of gene mods
-Temporarily removed sandbox mode, as it is insanely outdated. Will be re-added at a later date.
-Added a short "pick up weapon" animation
Progression
-Arena Mode level requirement for unlocking Breakout Mode lowered to 15
-Tutorial is no longer a requirement to unlock Arcade mode: the first two levels of Arcade mode should teach the player the bare basics: dodging, turning around, attacking, weaponry.
-Style and character unlock rework: each one has a simple skill check
-Made non-clairvoyant have a secret unlock condition
-Arena requirement wave to unlock Breakout mode lowered from 15 to 10
UI/Aesthetic
-New character/style selection UI: select character and style every time before starting arcade/breakout mode instead of it being buried in the customization menus
-CUSTOMIZE renamed to CHARACTER as you no longer select your character from this menu
-Updated most UI assets
-Epi-C renamed to "Energy Shot" in game
-Morphine-II renamed to "Healing Stim" in game
-Removed arcade mode score multiplier, since each difficulty tracks its own score
-Clarity changed to range from 0 to 2000 instead of -1000 and 1000, start at 1000 at base. Functionally identical, but less confusing since 0 is now the lower bound.
-Danger indicator static circle made slightly less opaque, and grows to become opaque as the timer runs out. This should help further clarify which indicators will hit first.
-Updated move icons for jump kick, parry
-Mod icons have a thicker border when evolved, instead of just having 1 or 2 next to the icon
-Added option to turn off stance indicator pulse effect
-Added progress floaty text in tutorial
-Added "current objective" to breakout mode to explain what the current objective is
-Hovering over the clarity bar only shows the best clarity sources for the character
-Added dialogue box for routing enemies through the fear meter
-Added dialogue box for getting a healing stim in arcade mode
-Added floaty text for weapon breaking
Fixes
-Fixed cyborg boss not counting toward concurrent enemy count
-Fixed snake style animation interrupt damage always being applied even if the fighter hit was not in an animation
UI comparisons
