Pirate Bash Brothers: Gladeators

[Shrooblord]

I think it's great, though I can see SA down being used much more than the other SAs as it seems to be much more powerful a move.

Possibly, but remember that building Nightmarish Fever is what it's all about as Jano and his down SA is the only attack that won't achieve this. Also, the Jano spawn will most likely be very weak. I did mill over in my head a few balancing issues concerning them, such as the yes-or-no spammability of them or if he needs some sort of inventory stock count of them or just a large cooldown on the ability/non-ability to use it while there's already a spawn on the battlefield.

Also, him having bat wings wouldn't work as
1. His arms are not connected to his body or hands, they all float a few centimetres apart instead of having bone joints, so the wings would not connect correctly.
2. His arms are made of bare bone, so wings growing from them would not make sense.

Did I mention they are shadowy insubstantial wings that fade away near their points of 'logical attachment'? But your remarks will not be forgotten!

[Bionichute]

I think we might have to lay out some extra grounding for the movesets, because some of what you've been writing for them is... confusing. Are the Basic Attacks separate actions, or are they just one big combo attack? Are the Overcharge attacks part of the special attacks, or are they a completely different command? Is there a Grab button? Do characters have a general aerial attack, or does that activate Floating? If we're going to write sets for the characters, these are important things to lay out.

Also, Jano seems pretty good, like the Nightmare Fever, but it'd be neat if it was a bit more fleshed out.

[Ambidextroid]

I think it's great, though I can see SA down being used much more than the other SAs as it seems to be much more powerful a move.

Possibly, but remember that building Nightmarish Fever is what it's all about as Jano and his down SA is the only attack that won't achieve this. Also, the Jano spawn will most likely be very weak. I did mill over in my head a few balancing issues concerning them, such as the yes-or-no spammability of them or if he needs some sort of inventory stock count of them or just a large cooldown on the ability/non-ability to use it while there's already a spawn on the battlefield.

Also, him having bat wings wouldn't work as
1. His arms are not connected to his body or hands, they all float a few centimetres apart instead of having bone joints, so the wings would not connect correctly.
2. His arms are made of bare bone, so wings growing from them would not make sense.

Did I mention they are shadowy insubstantial wings that fade away near their points of 'logical attachment'? But your remarks will not be forgotten!

Ah, I see. I still believe bird-like wings would be a better choice, even more so if they where of the properties you just described, but the decisions up you to.

[Shrooblord]

No, no, the decision is up to us. Though I guess the final vote may be in my hands possibly, I'll decide according to what the community favours most... or try. I'll probably be biased by what I want myself, too, but I'll always let you guys chime in - it's a community-made game after all.
But I'll think about it. I can totally see raven-like wings being pretty cool on him too. Floating spectral raven wings mmm

I think we might have to lay out some extra grounding for the movesets, because some of what you've been writing for them is... confusing.

I started writing these movesets a year or two ago on the two characters Lunette and Henchman. I created it for one and then adopted it for the next. Then I did the same for Jano two years later. I can imagine there being tuning points.

Are the Basic Attacks separate actions, or are they just one big combo attack?

The basic attacks so far enumerated my ideas of how the character will attack. A basic attack will be like a smash attack in Brawl. When you perform a basic or 'charged basic' (smash) attack, you will do one of the listed attacks. I haven't thought of how these attacks will vary (for example depending on the direction held) especially because I didn't value them much, but I realise that's a fault in my thinking! As of yet, the three movesets just listed some general ideas on how the character would 'basic attack' to give you an idea on how their playing style is. We should indeed flesh them out more; staying close to Brawl as my prime inspiration for most of the attack scheme, you can imagine how varied attacks can become by looking at characters like Snake. He has trip mines, upwards rockets, punches, jabs, kicks all in his basic attacks. Let's flesh out our characters in similar fashion.

Are the Overcharge attacks part of the special attacks, or are they a completely different command?

The Supercharge attacks (which run into the faulty Overcharge if charged too long) were in my mind a sort of channeling attack which was separate from any of the other attacks. The thing with it, though, is finding suitable ways to incorporate them. So far, I've just seen them as 'press and hold button, charge up' attacks, but that of course leaves the character extremely vulnerable. Of course they can release whenever they want, but the fun in Supercharging is getting that sweet 100% charge boost to your power. We'll need to discuss on how to implement this exactly. I've thought of stamina bars and the lot, but I don't want to make all the individual systems too complex with the Energy total and percentage gague and a stamina bar (and in Jano's case on top of that another gague indicating his Nightmarish Fever). I'm not too sure how to implement it just yet. Maybe I should draw inspiration from Brawl again - I'm thinking maybe of how Lucario's special directionless attack works. Got ideas yourself?

Is there a Grab button?

Not yet, but there could be.

Do characters have a general aerial attack, or does that activate Floating?

No, it doesn't activate floating. Floating, much like in the rest of the Rayman series, is a special power that all characters have while they are airborne. Activated, they can hover down more slowly and steer freely (or in Jano's case, glide swiftly to one side). While they are either airborne or using their floating ability, they can perform 'basic attacks' as per usual, except they will trigger a specific set of special, aerial attacks.

The common denominator in all aerial attacks is that the AA down causes the character to plummet down and attack anything beneath it, while the AA up move is basically another attack that also substitutes for a recovery move should a ledge be above them. The AA side is so far unique in all characters I thought of: Lunette simply moves sideways as he tries to harm an enemy, still descending as usual. The Henchman attacks to the side but also propells himself in the opposite direction and keeps himself airborne for a tad longer. Jano tries to hurt the enemy in front of his glide path and afterwards continues his glide in the direction he was going in.

As for a general aerial attack, I didn't think of one as I sort of see the aerial attacks as being airborne special attacks (though the original special attacks should still be available while airborne). They replace basic attacks with whatever is listed as the characters' aerial attacks.

Also, Jano seems pretty good, like the Nightmare Fever, but it'd be neat if it was a bit more fleshed out.

Granted. Movesets are just conceptual, of course. Many changes are still possible.

PS
I noticed that my current scheme for character movesets have no 'special directionless attack' though I can't recall if that's intentional or if I just forgot about it. I want to say that's intentional, but it would add to the variety (and (balancing) difficulty) of a character should there also be a special directionless attack.

[Rulez]

Whoaa, this is actually very yes! I gotta follow this thread way more

[Shrooblord]

Absolutely! And contribute! ;D

In other news, I've found some holes in between study work that I've used to get back into Unreal 4 and create a little test arena as I start setting up the basic movement of characters and the player camera in-game. As far as Jano goes, I have to finish the last bits of his model (eyelids urgh) and fix his skeleton to comply to Unreal's requirements (something I know how to do but am waiting to do until the model itself is finished (eyelids urgh)).

===

If you have any ideas (especially about questions I raise), please, do speak up. I enjoy building this game with you, even though some time passes between development iterations.

[Imco]

Hey Shroob, I want pictures.
If you could just send some to my home adress, that would be great.
That way I can imply I made them myself.
Oh, and a question of course, will you be adding Ly?

[Shrooblord]

Ly is listed on the front page as a playable character, yes!

But she hasn't been adopted by anyone yet... so we don't know what fighting style she'll employ! Now, I have some ideas of my own, but I'm already designing a few other characters' movesets and I'd like to see some incentive from your side too.
Notwithstanding that I won't (probably) be designing the finer details (character modelling, texturing, feel-of-play in game) myself (unless someone offers to help (please do!!)), but as much as I enjoy designing an entire game, this was supposed to be a community project. ;D

Yes, pictures, why not! So far, I've only really implemented walking on a planar axis and jumping and one attack, but you can already see the set-up for something I'm exploring here: multilayered battle arenas - you could be fighting in the foreground, the middleground, or the background - and all these places can also be used to evade your enemies!




It ties in heavily with my less-than-fully developed idea of the camera system. As opposed to the Super Smash series, which is specifically designed for local play on one screen and as such the camera always zooms out to put everyone on screen at once (also because of the way you KO people in those games), I may want to use local cameras that keep your fighter centred and zoom out when someone is nearby. This way you can have secret passages 'behind' the rest of the stage that you can be in, unseen by the rest, and pop out and join the fray at any time.

It's a possibility I'm exploring. I'll have to see if it's any good.

[Shrooblord]

Sorry folks - no video this week. Exams and exciting social things coming up and don't permit me much time to work on this this week or half of next. Maybe I'll have one for you by next weekend!

But instead, have this idea I had for Ly. Her basic concept is that she has two states in which she can fight: the somewhat ranged, magic-using upright stance; or the more beastly, melee and agile pouncing in and out all-fours stance. Her moveset is derived from one I intend to use for her in my other game but... eh... they're starting to blend together some common elements anyway, so I don't really care anymore at this point. Take a look:

Ly, upright
Basic Attack: Punch, kick, tail slap, energy sphere (mediocre range)
Special Directionless: Call the Lums – This ability knows two stages: Lum Selection and Lum Summoning; when first cast, the ability triggers a short time frame in which the ability can be recast any amount of times. While being cast or recast, the ability goes through a cycle of Lums available for Ly to summon. If the ability is not cast again when the time frame expires or if a basic attack is performed, the Lum selected is Summoned. Once a specific Lum has been summoned, it cannot be summoned again for a defined amount of time. The selectable Lums are:

• Purple Lum – this creates a Ring for Ly to grab on to, giving her a 'foothold' in mid-air and something to dash towards using side specials to quickly close in on enemies at large distances. When spawned, Ly sprouts the Lum up from the ground and has it hover some feet above her head. The Purple Lum disappears after a while.
• Red Lum – this heals Ly for a certain amount of Energy. It is consumed when she conjures it.
• Green Lum – this makes Ly's shield regen faster. It is consumed when she conjures it. The effect lasts a few moments.
• Yellow Lum – this gives Ly Foresight; when consumed upon summoning, the next attack within 1 second will be countered.

Special Attack Side: This ability is chainable in a three-step combo. If executed with the correct timing, Ly kicks in front of her in quick succession twice, before launching herself airborne and coming down with a devastating downwards kick.
SA Up: Ly bounces up into the air at high velocity, shooting up further than most can, but performing no attack in the process.
SA Down: Ly empowers her fists with glowing Energy, slamming down on her foe and knocking them prone. The move leaves her on all-fours.

Ly, all-fours
Basic Attack: Bite, claw, jab, circle kick
Special Directionless: Ly's nails glow white and extend into claws with which she swipes in front of herself twice.
Special Attack Side: Ly pounces towards the indicated direction, pinning down whoever she tackles.
SA Up: Ly shoots upwards in a vortex of fury, damaging surrounding enemies.
SA Down: Ly attempts to grab the enemy in front of her with her tail and wrap it tightly around them. If she's succesful, she quickly unwinds, making them spin on their heels while she slaps them from side to side thrice before giving a mighty uppercut, sending them flying. Using this move leaves Ly upright.

Float Method: Ly's tail revolves around rapidly like a helicopter.
Aerial Attack Up: Ly performs an upkick in the air.
AA Side: Ly performs a combat blink – she dashes through her enemy on a medium range, damaging it and reappearing behind it.
AA Down: Ly plummets to the ground with a firm kick that can break defences (but naturally the attack can be dodged).

Supercharge: Meditative Recovery – Ly enters a state of trance, hovering in mid-air in lotus position. When the effect finishes charging, Ly will attempt to use the Energy gathered to remove herself from the battlefield entirely. She reappears rejuvinated and detached from physical pain... for a while.
< 25% charge: Ly recovers up to 2% of her maximum Energy (0% for most of this interval to counter spam-healing).
25% charge: Ly recovers 5% of her maximum Energy.
50% charge: Ly recovers 8% of her maximum Energy.
75% charge: Ly recovers 13% of her maximum Energy and is immune to all damage for two seconds after the channel completes.
100% charge: After the channel, Ly teleports away in a display of light. She reappears on the battlefield with 60% of her maximum Energy restored and she's immune to damage for five seconds.
Overcharge: Ly's trance carries her too far from reality. She loses conciousness and collapses onto the floor, asleep. Her tormented dreams damage her in the process.

Final Move: Ly conjures and then consumes a Silver Lum, her hair washing white and her eyes sparking with Energy. She gains massive movement speed, her attacks gain range and her combos are more punishing. Some of her attacks auto-chain into rapid combat blinks that keep a target stunlocked for the duration. She reverts to her regular self some moments later, exploding with fury that can burn enemies.

I also fleshed out beebo's idea for Mr. Dark...

Mr. Dark
Basic Attack: Short-ranged explosive blast, use robe to swipe down enemies, tear off a regenerating bead from brim hat and throw it up, causing flak explosion above him
Special Directionless: Mr. Dark disappears. After a short frame of input directions, he reappears at the place of choosing, landing with his fist on the ground and creating a small blast of fire in his wake.
Special Attack Side: Mr. Dark conjures a fiery projectile that shoots diagonally down towards the ground. Upon contact with the floor, it creates a pillar of flame that travels very slowly in the direction the original projectile was going until it fades away or hits the end of the platform.
SA Up: Mr. Dark curls up into a tight ball, sparking with lightning. Shortly after inputting the special, he will shoot either up or any other direction the player inputs after triggering the attack. He is harmful to the touch.
SA Down: Calling down the fires from the skies, Mr. Dark sends down a meteor from above. The meteor remains in place and burns a short while after impact, before exploding in a small, hurtful blast zone.

Float Method: Mr. Dark allows his robes to flow gently in the wind, making him glide through the air.
Aerial Attack Up: Mr. Dark shoots an arc of lightning skywards.
AA Side: Dark Claw - Mr. Dark contorts space around his hand in a blackened flame of darkness, swiping the air around him and hurting those he faces.
AA Down: Form Lightning - Mr. Dark's body assumes the form of lightning, shooting straight down and electrocuting the ground below upon impact, when he reforms.

Supercharge: A vortex through space and time begins to form at the touch of Dark's glove that grows in size as the charge wears on. At the end of the channel, its torrent is unleashed and surrounding enemies get sucked towards its centre. If they are swallowed, they take a good amount of damage. The longer the vortext charges, the more elemental chaos releases outwards into the world: lightning, dark bolts, cracks through spacetime – they protrude from the vortex to additionally wreak havoc to its surroundings.
< 25% charge: The vortex is smaller than Mr. Dark's hand and only slightly damages enemies from up to two feet away.
25% charge: The vortex is half the size of Dark's brim hat. Surrounding enemies up to five feet away get tugged.
50% charge: The vortex is the size of Dark's brim hat. Lightning shoots out of the vortex during the channel. Enemies feel the pull of the void from up to eight feet away.
75% charge: The vortex is as large as Mr. Dark is himself. Lightning arcs out, dark matter bolts fly through the air and enemies up to fifteen feet away are sucked towards the darkness.
100% charge: The vortex is one and a half times Dark's size. Enemies up to twenty feet away get pulled instantaneously towards its centre. Arc lightning and dark bolts shoot through the sky during the channel. When the enemies are pulled in, the vortex collapses, expelling all enemies and tearing the skin of spacetime around itself, causing damaging energies to leak out for a few seconds before the scars heal.
Overcharge: The vortex swirls out of control. Mr. Dark is pulled into the void himself, disappearing into it as it collapses in on itself. Tears in spacetime damage the surroundings and dark is expelled through a small warp in dimensions, set completely ablaze and left to run around hysterically, hands flailing, for a couple of seconds. He ends the effect by stopping, dropping and rolling. The tears mend and he gets up, dusts off and carries on like nothing ever happened.

Final Move: Mr. Dark laughs maniacally as he conjures up to three shadow bolts that circle him a short while before slamming into the ground, where they become shady clones of his opponents. The clones try to run themselves into their original selves. Upon impact, the clone is annihilated and the opponent takes massive damage. Clones leave behind them a mist of darkness in which enemies take damage over time that lingers on the battlefield a short while.

... and Clara's idea for Razorbeard:

Razorbeard
Basic Attack: Punch, kick up with peg leg, swipe around the ground with peg leg.
Basic Attack with sword: Lunge forwards, slice the air above, swipe quickly about his feet from left to right.
Special Directionless: Razorbeard detaches his beard and chucks it forwards, sending it flying like a saw-form boomerang. It returns to him and reattaches itself automatically after a few seconds.
Special Attack Side: Razorbeard takes off his hat and swings it in front of him, deflecting the incoming attack.
SA Up: Razorbeard furiously swivels his arms around like a circular saw. The speed of rotation causes him to fly up into the air. After the attack, he automatically transitions into his Float.
SA Down: Out of Razorbeard's pants comes a cutlass. Or he puts it back if it was already out. He changes his basic attacks from fierce melee attacks to nimble but less damaging attacks that have somewhat increased range.

Float Method: Razorbeard's arms swivel about his body axis, making him helicopter down.
Aerial Attack Up: Razorbeard turns upside-down, detaching his peg leg and throwing it upwards a small distance. When it comes back and reattaches itself, he turns himself upright once more.
AA Side: Razorbeard's arm joints extend to their upper limits, giving him a slight amount more range as he punches sideways towards his target.
AA Down: In a graceful pirouette, Razorbeard gets out his sword, performs a corkscrew and starts spinning about his length-wise axis as his tornadoes through the air, sword down. He lands with it stuck in the ground... or his enemy!

Supercharge: Razorbeard gathers materials to build himself a small fighter ship. As he channels the attack, he throws together better and better items to create a tougher, longer-lasting pod. When he unleashes the attack, he hops inside and becomes airborne, assaulting the ground below him with laserbolts while he darts around above. The ship loses durability over time and can be damaged on top of that. When its durability is depleted, it will crash land, ejecting Razorbeard and causing a small explosion at the site of impact.
< 25% charge: The pod lasts upwards of two seconds. It's equipped with a basic laser cannon.
25% charge: The pod lasts upwards of five seconds. It's equipped with a basic laser cannon.
50% charge: The pod remains stable for ten seonds and deteriorates rapidly over three seconds thereafter. It's got an advanced laser that shoots powerful bolts.
75% charge: The pod can remain airborne for up to sixteen seconds. After that, it rapidly loses durability over four seconds. It's equipped with an advanced laser that shoots powerful bolts.
100% charge: The pod can remain airborne for thirty seconds and loses durability rapidly over five thereafter. Its advanced laser cannon can be charged to release a beam of energy. Using this high-powered attack decreases the ship's durability.
Overcharge: Razorbeard accidentally gets too excited throwing together parts and creates an unstable reactor in his pod! As soon as he hops inside, the ship explodes violently, sending him flying and shooting harmful debris around itself.

Final Move: With a swift call to his Superbot Salesman, the Grolgoth lands by his side within a fraction of a second. He hops into it and can now attack and move as the Grolgoth. This robot has missiles, lasers, jet boots, its legs are programmed to squish running victims... in short, it does everything but the dishes. When the attack ends, Razorbeards hops out of the machine shortly before it explodes, damaging surrounding enemies.

===

And also a question for you all:
Would you enjoy the idea of replacing the Baby Globoxes as a playable character by Ba-ba-ba ba Barbara-Ann?

[Bradandez]

No. Bring on the Barbara.

[Shrooblord]

Hi folks. Want to keep posting here to give you a heads-up of current affairs. I promised you a video and I haven't been able to get enough development done on my end to make it worth showcasing video material. I'm still very much active on my side but I've got three weeks of exams to look forward to and afterwards I'll be moving house so I don't think it'll be coming any time soon this month. Expect some content maybe in May.

Because you love Barbara so much, Brad, would you enjoy the idea of maybe coming up with a moveset for her like I have for some of the other characters so far? I'd appreciate it, especially because she's not really a character I'm too familiar with. You can find some examples in my previous post.

So far I've implemented the multi-layer system and some basic animation/attack transitions, but there's some real glitchy collision stuff I want to get sorted out before I get round to shooting a vid. I'll have a little more time after the exams (but not loads - study carries on immediately after). I'mma try to crank out a little bit of dev time each week if I can!

[DandyGuy]

Any pictures you could show us this week?

[Shrooblord]

Nothing more than what I've posted already; it all still looks the same, but the underlying mechanics and gameplay are improving. Working on the physics and input first - no exciting visuals yet - sorry!

[Bradandez]

Because you love Barbara so much, Brad, would you enjoy the idea of maybe coming up with a moveset for her like I have for some of the other characters so far? I'd appreciate it, especially because she's not really a character I'm too familiar with. You can find some examples in my previous post.

Oh it would be my pleasure!

[AndréGoodlum]

Wow that what I have read is pretty awsome and nice Ideas, progress?
This is really cool and amazing how many members you have attracted it has do be a good game if it's finished!

You said in the first post you will show a video on the 7th march, have I overread it or isn't it done?
Sorry, I don't want to stress, but the game would be so cool from what I have read

[Shrooblord]

Absolutely - thanks for showing interest! There will be a video coming soon, but when I posted that, I was just heading into exam season and lost time to do anything on this. I'm in the middle of moving house right now and some more exams and busy things happening the coming week(s), but I'll be sure to work on a video for this as soon as I can find the time!

Sorry for the wait, folks.

[AndréGoodlum]

thats totally ok!

I know that,... Iam also working really hard and long at the moment, so I also haven't much time on my project, but like you
Iam working on it, but it's your turn,...cool I will wait for the video,...IAM SO INTERESSTED! A rayman fight game,...awsome!

I know your team is big and so,...but if you need something (models/gameobjs/,...cinamatic things please tell me,
Iam not mad if you don't need something, I just want to help and hope this is going well!

[Imco]

Hey Shroob! This is apart from the project involving the things you showed me, right?
Any progress on that? I'm quite interested!

[Shrooblord]

By "that" you mean my adventure game? Yeah, steady progress as always. Still fleshing out the story and writing the level scripts. I've also got a website which is like 70% ready for launch but my dad and I need to find some time together to work on the serverside and haven't been able to for a long while. I'm also mid-move now and study is taking up a lot of time.

But the project is always on my mind. I sing a new song idea or write a little thematic concept down every single day and sometimes, when I have a few hours free, I sit down and write out a few pages worth of gameplay script.

I'm trying to juggle my free time between all the things I've set up here and that project - and of course other stuff like going outside and hanging out with friends and family - maybe I've spread myself a little thin. But I'm almost done with the RPG thread and I hope that will carry itself once I've hosted my own season - and I plan to work on Gladeators some more after my moving house - and in the background, slowly progressing to completion, is my adventure game and its website. Expect a thread to pop up here on the RPC soonish to 'within a couple of months' xD

You should see a sig change come round when that happens, too...

[Jewish Candy]

maybe I've spread myself a little thin.

Dude. The amount of stuff you've taken on is tremendous, and for any ordinary human being that 'maybe' would be superfluous Seriously, you have inspirational levels of drive and I hope you don't feel pressured with regards to things like the RPG thread etc.