Greetings, As of our ongoing work to rebuild Winterfall by reimplementing, improving or fixing our old mechanics, during the past week, we have been updating the Combat build on several points.
To secure and speed up the release pace, and minimize the occurrence of such delays, you can support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/winterfallgame
Here is the list of updates. We are tackling broader issues as we want to release a more fleshed out "Open World"/Exploration alpha. While it will not contain a full gameplay loop initially, we still want it to contain some playable smaller loops and gameplay segments.
Combat Mode & Controller
- Combo7 Functionality restored on all Combat Stances. Combo 7 is a knockdown combo
- Combo 3 4 9 and 10 inputs deactivated, leaving 6 attack inputs (from 10). Will reactivate once timings are fixed
Cloudedness & Defeat
- Max Cloudedness triggers a Cloudedness Hazard. Currently simple placeholder event (very angry bot spawn)
- Excess Adventure Damage leads to Misadventure (defeat type)
- "Retreat" considered a Woe. Converts pending Weariness into Spent Weariness.
- Defeat Screens for all 4 Defeat Types: Defeat, Misadventure, Grief and Failure
Hearth & Fire
- Hearths (and player-made fires in general) now check whether they have Cover against rain or are Exposed
- Covered/Exposed status indicated beneath Hearth
- Fires now deplete faster, through both real world time and in-game time
- Objects now tagged as Fuel. Increase Fire/Hearth HP
- Each 120hp Increase increases visible Fire level by 1
- Fire objects destroyed at -120hp (120 below 0)
- Fuel object "destroyed" when fed into Fire
- Fixed Fire Fuel pickup objects for shoulder carry
- Small edit to fire prefab for better lighting
World
- Further tweaks to environments to restore it for Open World update
Known Issues & Short Term Plans
- Finish fixing timing Issues on the remaining Combat Attacks (inputs 3 4 9 and 10) - Move Tools inputs from Mousewheel to number keys
- Cooldown for Tool switching - Firekit usage and fire placement unreliable at times. Investigating - Gauntlet Mode Goals and Circumstances, paving the way for implementation as Open World Hazards:
Goals
- Boss Duel
- Transport/Lead # of objects to Destination
- Destroy Number of Objects
- Reach Location
- Escape Area
- Complete Interaction
- Defeat All Spawned Bots
- Protect Object from Destruction
Circumstances
- "Until Time Runs Out"
- "Before Time Runs Out"
- Horde Mode
- Implement Sprint Stamina Cost & Passage of Time
- Camera Tweaks
- Implement basic "Monsters" for Cloudedness Hazard
Original Combat Alpha Build here (does NOT yet contain above updates): https://www.patreon.com/posts/52531521
Updated: Jul 16, 2021
Greetings, As of our ongoing work to rebuild Winterfall by reimplementing, improving or fixing our old mechanics, during the past week, we are updating the Combat build on several points.
This work goes towards the next Combat Build release.
To secure and speed up the release pace, and minimize the occurrence of such delays, you can support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/winterfallgame
Input Timings
This week involved a lot of ground work on rebuilding the combat input to animation timings mechanics. Up until this week, combat attacks would be triggered as of their input being activated and independently of the ensuing animation. While this meant high fidelity as far as getting your feedback from your input, it also meant that most of the time, you'd be left watching an attack animation that had fulfilled its purpose from the very first frame, and so besides looking nice, had no real point. It also hindered the use of dual attack animations, since only the first attack would hit.
This is typically the kind of work you're not so excited to take care of because it's going to take a lot of work and won't offer a lot to show for it, where new mechanics or more flashy things feel more rewarding to finish. However, it's also precisely the kind of stuff that is necessary, because it's what makes the gameplay feel more responsive, immersive and visceral.
So a solid half of the week was spent digging into that task, and offered some nice results already. You can watch a summary here:
Defeat
The other big piece that received significant attention deals with the defeat mechanics. This requires a bit of explanation, for the defeat mechanics in Winterfall are, as are many other system, quite particular and hinge on several concepts.
First, Winterfall doesn't deal with defeat & death as do most games where they're either final (defeat means death), or anecdotical (defeat means try again).
Weariness
In Winterfall, those concepts are based upon another metric, which is called "Weariness".
Weariness is raw experience, acquired from the hardships and overstretches of existence. The main ways to cumulate Weariness are by ignoring a little too long the vital needs of your character. As they go over threshold, Weariness collects on your Character. Other stimuli may also increase Weariness.
Cloudedness
Weariness is an interesting resource to accumulate on your Character because ultimately, it translates into Experience. However, before it gets to that, it also clouds your Character's perspective through a mechanism called Cloudedness.
Cloudedness is a state where the world gets literally foggier and foggier as the Character's turmoil focuses them inwardly, and their fears, burdens and torments shift into perspective, in the form of ghostly and monstruous creatures. The Character will ultimately "shift" into a kind of netherside world, as a curtain of darkness falls over all for a limited time, presenting threatening challenges.
Cloudedness also makes the Character quite vulnerable, as their torments impede their will to carry on. Some Characters may be more equipped than others to deal with such a state, but going through it is always quite an ordeal.
Those are the things we worked on this past week, to be fully finished mechanically next week.
Thank you for your interest!
Original Combat Alpha Build here (does NOT yet contain above updates): https://www.patreon.com/posts/52531521
Greetings, As of our ongoing work to rebuild Winterfall by reimplementing, improving or fixing our old mechanics, during the past week, we are updating the Combat build on several points.
This work goes towards the next Combat Build release, initially scheduled for the 28th but delayed a bit for safety.
To secure and speed up the release pace, you can support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/winterfallgame
Here is the list of updates:
Game Modes Selection
- We have begun implementing Game Modes selection from the Menu Screen
- Gauntlet Mode is a combat-focused mode where you have to beat challenge after challenge
- Sandbox Mode currently loads the Dev Scene, where all game systems currently reside
- It is uncertain whether we will release Sandbox mode as is. We will most likely reshape it a bit
- Future modes to be implemented are Survival (not too distant) & Campaign (quite far off)
Gauntlet Mode
- Gauntlet hides all UI unnecessary for Combat
- Gauntlet goal starts as of first bot aggro
- If Player walks out of range, goal is paused or not generated
- Bots do not leave their predefined area
Hearth
- You can now turn a Fire (player-made, from Fire Kit; or World) into a Hearth
- A Hearth sets your Character's respawn point for Defeat events
- Only one Hearth can be active at a time
- Hearths have a finite lifetime and lose "HP" per Game World minute
- Uncovered Fire/Hearth incurs HP loss/time modifier from Rain/Snow level
Hearth Plans
- Dropping Fuel (Wood) into Fire/Hearth increases its HP
- Hearth HP increase increases Fire Level as per Firemaking
- Fuel burns, lowering Fire HP
- Raycast above Fire/Hearth to check for Cover
- Limit usability of Fires as Hearth to avoid inappropriate respawn spots
- Hearth Camping Interactions
Defeat & Respawn
- Defeat Threshold brought to -15 Stamina and modifiable by Traits
- New Defeat Screen
- Defeat Screen now offers you 3 choices
- Retreat respawns your Character at your active Hearth (if any)
- Recover respawns your Character on spot, if you have enough Grit ("extra lives")
- Let Fate Decide checks some numbers to find out what happens to your Character
- Retreat wipes Weariness Progress
- Recover expends 1 Grit
- "Let Fate Decide" incurs risk of "Loss" (debuffs) or "Total Loss" (character unplayable until rescue)
Defeat Plans
- Losses incurred from Fate, clearable:
- By Shrine Meditation
- By spending Satisfaction at Hearth
Character
- Customizable Character now has a full face rig supporting Facial Animation
- Additional bones added for better animation/physics
Controller, General
- Sprint Implemented in Locomotion Mode
Combat
- Suspend Passive Stamina Regen while Combat Running as a Default
- Upgrade Bots to the ability to Combat Run through the Bot Traits system
Mechanics
- Sprint Implemented in Locomotion Mode
Known Issues & Short Term Plans
- Fix Timing Issues on Combat Attacks, ruining some of the attacks/combos, particularly the double attacks - Fix unreliable Kicks
- Reimplement Fire/Hearth Fuel & Hearth Cover Check
- Implement Sprint Stamina Cost
- Camera Tweaks
- Hyperventilation (Stamina Recovery) tweaks
Original Combat Alpha Build here (does NOT yet contain above updates): https://www.patreon.com/posts/52531521