It's late here but I just finished the Orc Brute and Orc Spellcaster special attacks and wanted to show them off!

Orc Spellcaster Fireball


Similar to the Goblin Spellcaster, the Orc does a charge up animation and yells before unleashing the attack. In the gif above I narrowly dodge the Orc Spellcaster's fireball using a roll. It might be hard to see in the gif, but just before I roll, I had clicked the attack button to hit the Orc again. I am able to interrupt my own attack to dodge out of the way of the fireball at the last second.

In the current dodge system I wouldn't have rolled until my attack completed and would have taken a hit from that fireball. Using the roll keys is more immediate now and feels much better. I don't damage the Orc I was going to attack but I also avoid taking damage myself. I really like the timing of everything in that gif as it shows how much more dynamic combat is now!

You can view a higher quality version of the Spellcaster .gif on my Twitter feed.
(https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios)

Orc Brute Smash


Here we have the Orc Brute's Smash attack. In the gif you can see that I try to block the attack, but that doesn't work out too well for me. :) This attack is similar to the one you get when you play as an Orc in the Orc quest, so now the monsters can do it too! The Orc Brute yells and his hammer gets a rocky/dusty particle effect before he does this attack. The effect also appears above his healthbar.

You'll also note that the Orc healthbars turn Orange. In addition to particle effects and sound effects, the healthbars for Brutes and Spellcasters will change to Orange when they are using a special attack or casting a spell. This gives another indicator that you need to react to something.

Next up I want to get the Skeleton Spellcasters and Brutes working. I'll likely release the new monster and updated combat system once those are done so I can get your feedback on how it all feels before I go too far down this path with the Ratmen and MushroomMen.

I also have to update the "How To Fight" screens to explain the new system. In addition to appearing before your first fights, I'll make those viewable from the ESC screen so you don't have to start a new character to view them.

The goal is to add one Spellcaster spell and one Brute special attack for each of the five updated monsters that are supposed to have them. Then I can add additional spells and maybe additional special attacks for some variety within each monster type.

I'm also hoping to have another monster related announcement soon, so stay tuned!

Got the Goblin Brute attack working and wanted to share!



Before he does a special attack, the Goblin's sword catches fire. A fire effect also appears above his health bar and there is an "ignite" sound effect that plays before he attacks. Right now he starts his attack too quickly after the fire appears, so I'll likely add a few more blinks to the health bar before he attacks.

Note he hits fast, but the damage is low. Also, I'm purposefully letting him hit me so you can see it. I could have rolled much earlier. The Goblin does move while he's spinning so just running backwards would actually have resulted in another hit or two while the roll happens fast enough that I get out of his reach much faster. Since he does chase you while he's spinning sometimes you have to roll twice or roll and then run to stay out of his attack.

A Goblin Brute powers up his weapon and is about to begin his Spin Attack


Now that the combat system and monster AI system both support spellcasters and special attacks I can focus on adding more spells and more special attacks for the other monsters.

I'm also working on making rolling more responsive. Right now you have to wait until your attack, block, or other animation finishes before a roll will start. The new system will allow you to interrupt an attack (except a power attack) or a block with a roll.

Notice in the .gif that I roll away from the spell after taking damage. Had I stayed still, I would have taken damage again and again as long as the spell persisted.

But rolling moves me out of the spell and since the monster does not turn to face me (spellcasters cannot move at all when casting), I avoid further damage. You can also just run out of a spell, but rolling is faster.

The gif is a little small, so I took a couple of screenshots to illustrate how it works. You can also see a larger version of the .gif on my Twitter feed.
(https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios)

Goblin Spellcaster charges up his spell indicated by his animation and the particle on his hand. You have about two seconds to react once he starts doing this. Note also the Goblin Spellcaster's shirt is yellow and the melee Goblin's shirt is blue.


Despite blocking the melee attack from the Goblin Grunt, I still take damage from the spell since spells cannot be blocked. This is indicated by a yellow number rather than the red numbers used for melee damage. The spell persists for about 4 seconds and if I remain in it, I will continue to take damage.



In addition to the animations and particles, there will also be sound effects to let you know when a spellcaster is charging up a spell and when it is cast.

All five of the new monsters are set up and built for the new AI system I am working on so I wanted to share a group shot I took and give you an update!


(click to see larger image)

First, I'm beyond happy with how these turned out, from the concept art to the 3D model and textures. I'm very lucky to have such skilled artists working on these for me.

We did find some errors in their rigs that need to be addressed so I can set them up with their new animations. For example, in the shot above you can see that the Ratman has his left foot way off the ground. That's his two-handed weapon idle pose, so his foot is supposed to be a lot closer to the ground. You can't see it, but his hands also don't line up quite right on the sword's handle.

For the new monster AI, I've decided to rewrite it so I can do more with it. Here's what I am currently working on. Note some of this may change as I work on it and test it out.

Monsters will have two or three different types that can be encountered.

• Regular versions of monsters (called "Grunts" in the code) attack as normal. Health bar blinks, the run in if they aren't in melee range, and then attack. These attacks can be blocked. These monsters always have one weapon and sometimes a shield. Monster spawners always create at least one Grunt before deciding whether to create another type.
  
• More powerful versions of monsters (called "Brutes" in the code) attack as normal too, but also have special attacks that cannot be blocked and must be dodged. Brutes will stand out from Grunts based on their weapons. This can be a large two-handed weapon (like the Ratman in the image above), dual wielding weapons, or other setups. When a Brute is about to perform a special attack there will be a visual and audio cue to let you know in addition to the healthbar blink. I'm still working on this part.
  
• The final type of monster are Spellcasters. They can use a variety of spells for both attack and defense. Spellcasters are unarmed and sometimes may have some other visual cue so you can tell they are a spellcaster. Attack spells will generally have a "charge" and a "shot" so you'll have time to react to the spell before it is cast. Hitting a spellcaster will not interrupt its spell.

Some monster types will have a Brute class. Brute doesn't mean that they are necessarily bigger or stronger, just that they are more elite and more dangerous.

• Orc Brutes - Wield a larger hammer, have additional hitpoints and can perform a smash attack. Smash attacks do additional damage and can knock you down.
  
• Goblin Brutes - Dual wield daggers and can perform a sneak attack causing a "disarm" adding a timer before you can attack again.
  
• Ratman Brutes - Wield two-handed swords with a special attack that adds a "bleed" effect to you, causing additional damage over time.
  
• Skeleton Brutes - Wield a two-handed weapon and will perform a special attack that will do something cool once I decide what it is. :)

Some monsters have spellcasters that can cast various spells. Projectile spells cannot be blocked and therefor must be dodged.

• Goblin Spellcasters - can cast a direct damage attack, a shield spell, and a damage debuff.
  
• Orc Spellcasters - focus on damage, can cast a direct damage attack and a damage (strength) buff for other Orcs.
  
• Skeleton Spellcasters - can cast a direct damage attack and can sometimes summon another skeleton (this might be in a phase 2)
  
• Ratman Spellcasters - can cast a poison attack that causes damage over time and a shield spell.
  
• Mushroom-Man Spellcasters - not really a spellcaster in the traditional sense, but can spit a stream of fire or other element that damages you the longer you stay in it.

Shield spells must be damaged with attacks to bring them down so you can damage the monster again. They can be cast on the spellcaster and/or on its allies. This kind of works like a heal in some ways as it means the monster must take damage beyond its starting hitpoints to kill it. I'm avoiding traditional heals for now and using shields instead because of the way the monster health cubes work. They were never set up to be put back after a monster takes damage and they fall off.

Other monsters such as the Elementals, Scarecrows, and Ghosts won't have Brutes or Spellcasters yet. I want to focus on the new monsters first. My hope is to change out some of the remaining monsters and then add more to them too. The Necromancer's spells and damage invulnerability will remain the same. Golems will also keep their special attack (basically they are all Brutes) but will have the visual cue added similar to other Brutes.

As you can probably tell, all of this combined is a really big change, but I think it'll go a long way to making combat in HammerHelm much better. Right now I think combat is a bit of a weak link for HammerHelm so I want to put some real focus on it to make it a lot more fun and engaging.

Some progress on the new MushroomMen and the Ratman. The MushroomMen are being created by the monster spawners now. The Ratman image is an animations, lighting, and mood test to finalize his model and texture.

New MushroomMen In Game

click to see larger image

New Ratman Lighting Test

click to see larger image

My plan is to get all three of the remaining new monsters all set up and in game and then continue on the monster AI updates to add spellcasters and monster special attacks.

Making some good progress getting the new monsters in the game!


(click to see larger image)

I'm having the artist make some small edits and fix a couple of minor issues that are noticeable when they are set up to animate. Also playing around with their size. They'll likely be slightly shorter than the Dwarf characters, but not by a lot. They look odd when made much smaller.

Hoping to get them in soon though as I continue to work on the monster AI updates.

Got a look at the Ratman work-in-progress and wanted to share. I think he looks great - can't wait to see him when he's done!



The Mushroom-man and Goblin are coming along nicely as well. I had some feedback for their textures that is being made now, so should be able to get them in the game in a week or two.

Quick update to turn on the holiday lights on the Storehouses and the Santa hats for the townspeople (workers and farmers).

Also, the holiday tree is available to be crafted at the Carpenter again.

I've been a bit quiet the past week, mostly stuff unrelated to HammerHelm. So I wanted to post a quick update to let you all know what I am working on for the near future.

• Get the last 3 new monsters in the game.
  
  • The MushroomMan, Goblin, and Ratman.
    
  • I'll likely replace the Ghosts in the tutorial quest with the Ratmen as well as having them be in the sewers and other areas.
    
  • The MushroomMan and Goblin are almost done and the Ratman is in the early phases of modeling.
• Monster AI 2.0
  
  • More on this later but basically it's ranged attack monsters as well as spellcasters who can heal and/or buff.
    
  • Potentially add more special attacks that can't be blocked and must be dodged too.
    
  • Overall I'm happy with the player part of combat, but now the monsters need some updating too.
• Add some more quests. Both repeatable and Story quests.
  
• Add "tips" to the loading screen.
  
• Rework the combat tutorial UI as it's a bit busy.
  
• Bug fixes.

I'm working on a few other things as well, but these are my main focus.

Also, thank you again everyone for coming along with me on this ride. I can't say this often enough...I'm very grateful for your support!

This update includes an improvement to the way the Power Attack works.

In this new system, once you have a power attack activated, pressing the Power Attack button (middle mouse button or the R key by default) will immediately start the power attack even if you just started another normal attack.

Prior to his change, if your character started a normal attack you'd have to wait for it to finish before the power attack would start. This often resulted in either taking damage from a monster you should have killed or the power attack timer running out and missing your opportunity to do a power attack.

The new system will interrupt a regular attack if you have a power attack available and press the power attack button.

This update also fixes the bug where clicking the power attack button would completely fail to start a power attack at all.

This was a fairly significant change to the power attack system and in my testing it felt MUCH better.

I would love to hear what you think of the new system!