Mar 4, 2021

Gorilla Tag - Lemming

Hey guys! It's been about a week since the last update, I don't quite have the next one ready, but I wanted to talk a little bit about the near term future of the game. Basically, things have kept exploding, and I'd really like to keep up the momentum. I think I might really have a once in a lifetime opportunity here, so I want to take it seriously. I've been working on a few things so far this week (although I've also been really busy at work, so I haven't been able to get as much done as I wanted), but one of the primary things is some cosmetics! I've talked about them a bit in the last few updates, and wanted to let you guys know that now I am taking some time to get them in the game. Right now what I am thinking is I will have this initial set of cosmetics, which will include some things that you will keep permanently but will also be available to other players in some form in the future (like the cowboy hat and sunglasses), and the Early Access Supporter Badge, which will be exclusive to this DLC and won't be available anymore once this Early Access period is over. Here is what I have so far:

I'm planning on adding a few more things (people in the discord mentioned that these are mostly male focused cosmetics which is totally accurate lol), so this isn't the complete set, but the cosmetics will be something along these lines. I'm also not sure how much I should charge for it; I was initially thinking $5, but I've also had a bunch of people suggest it could be more. I don't want to be greedy and charge too much, but I also don't want to leave money on the table unnecessarily. I think I've already made a mistake by not having anything available for sale at launch, and I want to try to be smart about it. What do people think is more fair? What if I did something like charge $10, but have a discount for the first few weeks or something? I'd really like your guys' feedback on this, because I want to make sure people don't feel like I'm taking advantage of them.

Another problem is that for right now, I can only really sell something on Steam, so the Quest players are going to be left out for a while unless they play through Link. I feel pretty bad about this, because it seems unfair to only let some people get access to the cosmetics for now. The problem is that for the Quest, since I'm trying to get onto the Oculus app store through their App Labs, if I did that I wouldn't be able to apply something they bought on a third party store to that account, or at least at this point I don't think I can. My plan would be to make sure that no matter what, I have a way for people on Quest to get access to the cosmetics at some point. I'm posting this on both the Steam page and the Sidequest page, so hopefully you guys can give me some feedback on this as well. Would you Quest players be alright with Steam players having access to these cosmetics before you do? Should I wait until I can sell it everywhere at the same time? I wouldn't make it so you could only get the Early Access badge on the Steam store, but I also don't know how long it would be until it would be available. Like I said, I'm trying to make sure people feel like I'm being fair, and from my perspective I want to start selling something sooner rather than later. Every day I'm not I feel like I'm missing on an opportunity.

Anyway, cosmetics aside, I'm also working on some important features like being able to join public rooms with more friends at once (so basically you'd join a private room together, and then you could choose to join a public room all at the same time), as well as another queue for players who are trying to match against other people who opt in to that queue as a way for better players to match together more easily. I'm also adding some other features like push to talk/push to mute, a speaker icon on the scoreboard that shows up when someone is talking, as well as the start of a better account system so I can keep track of what cosmetics people have access to on the back end. I'm hoping to maybe have all this stuff available by Friday next week or so. I'm also starting work on a new canyon map, although I can't say for sure whether or not that will make it into the next update. I will probably do some changes on the Cave map first that I think will help flesh it out a little bit more.

Thanks again for all your feedback and excitement around the game. I'm extremely happy that everyone's enjoying the game and having a good time playing together. I'll keep working hard at it, and please do let me know what you think about the cosmetics situation. Thanks!

Mar 4, 2021

Fault - Weekly Update 3/4/21

Fault: Elder Orb - Ryan Red

Welcome

Hello again everyone and welcome to the next weekly update post!‍We have more great content to show off while the team continues the grind on update 13.0, which contains not only the long-awaited H.U.D, but a ton of QOL changes for the game itself. Internal testing is underway and going well, and we will call a Dev stream closer to the patch to announce the date and showcase everything live to our community while we take any questions you may have about the game itself.

New Icons

With the HUD and UI update comes an entirely new set of icons, we wanted to provide some of these for everyone to study before implementation occurs. We will provide a full list of the new icons before patch 0.13.0 goes live.‍

Website Changes

We decided a new look in-game calls for a new look everywhere! Our website designer has been working hard to update the look of our webpages, which works towards unifying the aesthetic experience in-game and out. Below you will find a couple of examples of these changes.

New Hero Page

New Item Page

Gameplay Changes

We want to show an example of some of the major gameplay changes coming with the patch, if you are new to Fault check out the first weekly update where we went over many of these QOL changes coming with the update. Below we touchback on a couple of these changes while giving examples of how they will affect your gameplay.

Ability Casting System Rework

With our new reworked casting system, the cast time for most abilities will not be interruptible, meaning that once an ability has started to be cast, the gameplay effect will still occur after the cast time has elapsed even if an "Interrupt" crowd control effect took place during the cast time.

Certain abilities, such as Gideon's black hole shown below, will just need to be recasted if interrupted during this casting phase. This is to prevent the Ultimate from still going through if you were be stunned during the brief cast time. Once the gameplay effect starts, both cooldown and mana cost are then applied to the hero.

SFX Rework

We wanted to give everyone a small taste at some of the new sounds coming with the SFX/VFX rework, below we have examples of raptor and orb prime being taken in the distance.

Prime Helix Death

Raptor Slain

Riktor Skin Concept Poll

As we had shown in the last weekly update, the art team has been working hard on some upcoming content while the main dev team has been focused on patch 0.13. We provided a tease of a skin you will see more of soon, but we wanted to get feedback on a current concept for another future skin, cast your vote in the poll below and let us know what you think! Vote here!

Conclusion

We are taking our time to ensure the largest patch the game has seen is worth the wait, and as we stated above all of our progress is going great, and we cant wait for everyone to experience all the changes coming with the next patch. We are getting close Fault fam, see you next week!

— Strange Matter Team

Mar 4, 2021

Zizaran’s Class Gauntlet Event Starts on March 13th!

Path of Exile - CommunityTeam_GGG

On March 13th PST, community streamer Zizaran is organising a 10-day Class Gauntlet Event. Racers will compete and earn points by leveling characters and killing bosses to see how all of the classes fare in some of Path of Exile’s most difficult encounters. The event will take place in a Private HCSSF Ritual League with all damage mods and increased monster life active. The prize pool is funded by the community and Zizaran's sponsor.

Start Time and Information on How to Join

Start time: 2021-03-13 07:00 PST. The event will last for 10 days.

Players will be able to join the event from 2021-03-11 07:00 PST (a countdown is available here) on a first come, first serve basis up to the maximum of 10,000 slots. The invite link will be posted in the Racing Discord which can be found here.

Prize Pool

The prize pool is crowdfunded by Zizaran's sponsor and community streamers such as Alkaizerx, RaizQT, Nugiyen, Baker, DS_Lily, Octavian0, Zizaran and more! In addition, streamers and their communities will be able to create a bounty with the money they fundraise for the event. Bounties are a custom prize that can be awarded to players for achieving a specified goal in the event. Keep an eye out on their social media for announcements regarding when their fundraisers are taking place and what they will be!

Zizaran's sponsor will be matching all donations to the prize pool (up to $25,000). The total prize pool will be split as follows:

Operational Costs: 5% - To be distributed amongst Community Developers who’ve helped with the event.
Minus bounties placed by streamers and their communities during the fundraisers.
1st: 16%
2nd: 10%
3rd: 8%
4th: 6%
5th: 4%
6th-10th: Mageguard Armour and Hood
11th-15th: Gore Raven Wings and Blood Guard Portal
Top Scion: 8%
Top Shadow: 8%
Top Witch: 8%
Top Templar: 8%
Top Marauder: 8%
Top Duelist: 8%
Top Ranger: 8%

Random Draw

Leveling your characters to certain thresholds will also make you eligible for the randomly-drawn prizes made up of both merchandise and microtransactions provided by Zizaran's sponsor and Grinding Gear Games! The general prizes listed below will be randomly drawn from all appropriately leveled characters except for the Level 90+ Armour Pack prizes, which will be drawn per class. You can gain more than 1 ticket per account for the microtransaction/physical prizes, however you cannot win more than one prize per category below:

Where to Watch

You can catch exciting moments from the event by checking out Zizaran’s Youtube Channel where Skryah and OMGitsJousis are teaming up to deliver some epic highlights!

Click here to learn more about joining the event, the rules in place, the point system, prizes, or to contribute to the event.

Special thanks to community members Faderon, MrMadakey, ManWithHat, Skryah, OMGItsJousis and Viyro for their contributions to this event.

Good luck to all those participating!

Mar 4, 2021

The Season Pass 1 First Day Update

Skullgirls 2nd Encore - Liam

Hello, Liam here.

Welcome to the first Early Access Annie patch!

This patch includes Annie, and the first round of changes for the upcoming balance patch. You can play with all of these changes in the BETA version of the game. The main (retail) version of the game is unchanged right now.

For more details about how the beta mode works, check out the previous Hidden Variable post.

MAJOR CHANGES

Updated hurtboxes on the ant spawned from Peacock's cMK to be more accurate.
The ant spawned from Peacock's cMK can now be destroyed by Robo-Fortune's cMP, and her Air Theonite Beam (L).
Fixed a bug where Peacock's ant spawned from cMK would vanish before it was fully off camera.

OTHER CHANGES

Added Annie.

LINUX SUPPORT UPDATE

We are so close to getting Linux fully operational again, but unfortunately the build is not quite ready for this release.

We expect the Linux build to be released very soon, and we'll post again once it's ready. Thanks so much for your patience!

GENERAL BALANCE & TUNING - DAY 1

Please note this is NOT the entire balance patch, this is literally just the first day. The prioritization of which changes were implemented first is mostly related to what changes are going to be the most contentious that need the most time to test and go through the standard Skullgirls beta feedback and tuning cycle.

Just because a character received (or didn't receive) changes, it doesn't mean they're not receiving tuning later for this update.

REVERSAL WINDOWS (EXPERIMENTAL!)

When exiting hitstun or waking up from a knockdown, the reversal window (which only impacts Specials, Supers, and Throws) has been increased from 3F → 4F, back to its original value before it was changed in 2014. That's a 4F buffer, plus the 1F where you gain control, for a total of 5F.
Heavy normals now have a 3F* reversal buffer from hitstun and wakeup. For medium normals, it is a 2F* buffer. For light normals, it is a 1F* buffer.
When exiting blockstun or performing a PBGC, the Special, Super, and Throw reversal buffer has increased from 1F to 2F.
All normals have a 1F* buffer from exiting blockstun or performing PBGC, up from 0F.

*If you are holding any up direction the normal will not be buffered, to make jumping buttons out of hitstun or blockstun the same as before. Remember, for same frame jump + button, jump has priority.

VFX

"Stab" hitsparks (the straight line one) are now randomly rotated slightly.
When exiting hitstun on the ground or in the air, the recovery spark is more pronounced and easier to see. In addition, characters now flash white briefly.
When ending a pushblock with blockstun remaining, characters will faintly tint green to point out the PBGC window.
Any burstable hit which is always safe to burst after (a projectile, or 90F has passed since the first burstable hit started) will now be GOLD instead of green or red.

BURSTS

Bursts taken 90F after the first burstable hit started (which are always safe) will now keep your Undizzy instead of clearing it.

FILIA & PARASOUL

First pass at implementing "lenient button dashing" has been done for Filia and Parasoul. During the first frame of any (P) normal, you can press another (P) to cancel into a dash as long as you would normally be able to dash using the previous logic.
Numerous bugs and exploits have been taken care of up front, including meter gain being moved to frame 2 instead of 1 for affected normals, plink dashing being impossible, etc.
If this implementation has no bugs or issues, I'll do it for all characters. Please let me know if you come across any exploits or differences in dash behaviour for these two!

PAINWHEEL

In the spirit of the above lenient button dash changes, Unfly now has 1F leniency when hitting PP as well.

CEREBELLA

Fixed a bug with Diamond Deflector where the projectile would pass through opponents without hitting them.
Diamonds are Forever is now post flash blockable on DHC by clearing hitstop from the opponent on DHC if they are not attacking, blocking, or in hitstun.
Added a buffer for the first follow up punch in JLP, making it feel like other chained normal cancels.
JdMP always goes through its start up before going active, removing a bug where J2MP could come out in a single frame if done too close to the floor.
JdMP advances the combo stage to stage 2, making the follow up hits stage 3.
JHP's forced damage scaling (75%) has been removed and restored to 100%, but it is now a mid hit.
Normal throw leaves Peacock and Valentine closer to Cerebella.
Pummel Horse hitbox slightly lowered to hit all characters OTG reliably.
Note: The previous two changes give Cerebella universal midscreen normal throw conversions. Throw → Pummel Horse connects on everyone.

ELIZA

cMP recovery reduced by 4F. -6 → -2 on block. 0 → +4 on hit.
Osiris Spiral (M) metergain greatly increased.
The 2nd hit of sMK is a restand rather than a knockdown.

SEKHMET (GENERAL)

Sekhmet (and related mechanics) have received some big changes. I realize this may come as a shock to some, but this "rework" is intended to make Sekhmet feel more interesting to play with, and against. Hopefully, Sekhmet now feels more like a complete tool in Eliza's kit. Please approach it with an open mind and give it time. I expect further tuning will be required.

Sekhmet no longer drains meter over time when attacking. Instead, she drains life over time, and loses chunks of health when using attacks.
Her life drain over time starts small but ramps up the longer Sekhmet is active. Hitting the opponent with any Sekhmet attack resets the drain back to its minimum value.
As an assist, she will always lose life at the fastest rate, and this also locks her assist out for longer as if it was hit.
Any hit from an armor breaking move (Sweeps, Cilia Slide, etc) revert Sekhmet to Eliza form and put her in a special trip state that allows combos. This also applies to her assists.
The recall to anchor input is now QCB only, instead of QCB or QCF.

SEKHMET (NEW MOVES)

Sekhmet can now backflip to safety during any normal that makes contact (hit or block) with a backdash input. This drains a huge chunk of life, but can be used to keep her attacks safe. (Play Sekhmet neutral for as long as you want, but the longer you go without getting a hit, and the more your hits are blocked and cancelled into backflip, the more life you'll lose. If that's not your style, just using Sekhmet moves to bait opponents is safer at the cost of health.)
Sekhmet has a new Lv1 Super (QCF+KK) that performs a jumping hitgrab neck bite, crumpling the opponent, creating blood, and healing for the damage dealt. It also repositions the anchor nearby so she can convert into Eliza combos even if she was far from the anchor previously.

SEKHMET (BLOOD MECHANIC)

"A" Blood Mechanic, but perhaps not "The Blood Mechanic"

Any Sekhmet attack involving her red blood weapons creates blood if it hits a character, which flies somewhere behind them. Blood can go off camera, but not off stage.
Only 25 blood drops can be out at once, and each one lasts for 15 seconds. Collecting a blood drop restores 200 health to Eliza. (Tips: Use LLL and M to make a lot of blood to create health positive combos and situations at the cost of damage and granting meter to your opponent. Opponents, try and stop her from getting to the blood to heal!)
Eliza's taunt pulls all blood in front of her for easy collection, as long as it's within 1400 units. All other taunt effects are removed.

PEACOCK

Lonesome Lenny's hitstop doesn't carry over on DHC anymore.
While Lonesome Lenny is active and Peacock is the point character, meter gain is reduced to 33% like Painwheel's Hatred Install, Robo-Fortune's Systemic Circuit Breaker and Double's Cattelite Lives.
The Hole Idea (H) will become The Hole Idea (M) and teleport in front if used while any of Peacock's assist are on screen attacking, removing cross-up teleports for all assists rather than only keeping it for slow ones.
Bang! (M) recovery increased. It's now -17 on block, previously -9. Knockback on block reduced. Knockback on hit slightly reduced.
Bang! (M) hitbox lowered to prevent characters low profiling it.
George (L)'s very good hitbox reaching far behind only appears for 1F when George spawns. If the opponent is in hitstun, the good hitbox stays out to keep her combos (ex: GDO loops in the corner) the same as before.
George (L)'s lob height slightly reduced. As an assist, Peacock spawns in front of the point character instead of behind.
Fixed a bug where Peacock's bombs would only vanish if they hit something, not when they are hit. Most notably, this fixes a bug where two bombs couldn't be destroyed by a single projectile.
Peacock's Air Throw leaves the opponent slightly closer for more consistent and stable conversions.

ROBO-FORTUNE

Robo-Fortune has a two frame double jump lock out when jumping, this removes her "Instant Double Jump Cancel" overheads. (This change will come for other characters as well later)
Increased Magnetic Trap's hitstop before active frames from 4F → 6F. Opponents can't act before the active frames now if it's released immediately.
Danger! (M) will stagger when it is used outside of a chain, like Beowulf's sHK or Cerebella's sMP.
Danger! (M) is now -17 on block, previously -12.
Danger! (M) has bonus hitstun against assists, allowing them to be hit by Catastrophe Cannon after.
All hits of Danger! (L) knockdown now.
Grounded (L) Theonite Beam, and ground and air (M) Theonite Beam are 25% wider.

SYSTEMIC CIRCUIT BREAKER

Similar to Sekhmet, Systemic Circuit Breaker has received some big changes. The design direction for Circuit Breaker is now more "all in" towards accomplishing an offensive gameplan with appropriate strengths and weaknesses. Again, I ask that you please approach these changes with an open mind and give it time. I expect further tuning will be required, as Circuit Breaker Robo-Fortune is extremely powerful right now.

She loses access to her double jump but gains access to an air dash.
Her remaining time until detonation is displayed on new art over her head.
Once per combo, Magnetic Trap will floor bounce the opponent for a combo opportunity, and she no longer automatically explodes at the end of it.
L and M Beams (Ground & Air) have less recovery and tuned frame data.
L and M Beams (Ground & Air) have special hit properties once per combo, similar to Painwheel's Hatred Install Buers.
Fixed a bug where one second on her timer was 70F instead of 72F.
Circuit Breaker's timer counts down at half speed if the opponent is in hitstun, reflected by the slower animation on the timer. (I suspect this will be too much, but we'll start with it.)
The explosion vacuums opponents towards Robo-Fortune on hit, instead of knocking them away.
IPS and Damage scaling are reset on her explosion if she's hit out of the recovery, but Undizzy is still frozen.

WARRANTY EXTENSION

Robo-Fortune has also received a new move, "Warranty Extension" that helps her maintain Systemic Circuit Breaker's benefits for a longer time, at the cost of health and heads. Being a "Systemic Circuit Breaker specialist" requires you to find time (or build team compositions) to create Heads, and sacrifice life, heading towards a "glass cannon" paradigm.

QCB + P during Systemic Circuit Breaker will make Robo-Fortune consume one head and self inflict 750 damage.
Each consumed head adds 6 seconds to her detonation timer. The detonation timer cannot exceed 20 seconds.
LP / MP / HP determines the number (1 / 2 / 3) of heads consumed at once.
Robo-Fortune's meter gain penalty (x0.33) increases towards x1.0 by 0.15 for each head consumed. After consuming 5 heads, her meter gain penalty will be fully removed for the remainder of Circuit Breaker.

There you have it, day 1!

If you're looking to talk about the update with other Skullgirls players, I recommend you join the official Discord and look at the various channels there - I'll be around. If you have a bug to report, you can post it in the #2e-beta-bugs channel.

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts!

- Liam