0.5.0

Combat

Physical Binding

I had touched on how fluid movement is important for engaging gameplay in a previous post, failing to realize that the way binding would freeze you in place was contradictory to that point.

The previous approach to binding was a matter of programming limitation rather than technical. I couldn't figure out a way to allow blade movement tangent to another blade without tunneling issues, since weapon movement was only relative to the character, rather than relative to its own collisions.

The solution was to enable a minimal amount of physics to control the blade, torqued by an angular force enough to keep the weapon oriented upright, while base movement would still use kinematics. It will only be in play when another object is acting upon it, rather than be the driving force of the weapon (unlike that one physics melee "game" that's shilled everywhere). This meant that in the event of a bind, the weapon would align itself to the blade it's bound with, and as demonstrated in the video, maintains the pressure necessary to keep the weapon in contact without tunneling.

With a more stable and consistent binding mechanic I was able to unrestrict weapon and character movement, allowing for a new combat paradigm where opponents would wrestle each other for the most ideal attack angle.

Blade "Recoil"

To add another layer of reactivity, the blade that receives the attack would "recoil" opposite to the direction of the blade that struck it as demonstrated in the video.

This technique allows you to strike your opponent’s blade to create an opening for an attack. It's based on a real sword-fighting strategy where, instead of targeting the opponent directly, you first displace their defense by "beating" their blade out of the way.

Combat Movement

A new set of root motion animations for combat have been added to accompany the more aggressive AI. In previous versions, NPCs wielding shorter swords rarely stood a chance against those with larger ones. But now, a katana wielding gladiator can stand his ground—even without chest armor—against an opponent armed with a zweihander, and go on to win the rematch. In summary: size doesn't matter (anymore).

The only current limitation left is how to handle dynamic target locking. It's fine when you're in a 1v1 duel, but against several enemies, especially now that each team gets up to 8 people in the arena, then it becomes an impediment rather than an advantage.

Models

Armor

Speaking of chest armor, the Lorica Hamata (chainmail) is now part of the gladiator loadout. As far as Roman themed items go, this might be one of the last to be added.

Spears

Spears have been a near universal weapon in the ancient world, yet rarely receives representation in games in comparison to swords, likely something to do with the fact that it’s really overpowered. I included it irregardlessly because I wanted to experiment with a new melee control system.

Spears do not rotate like swords, instead it only pans, where the panning controls the spear tip. It’s the perfect weapon against armored opponents or for fighters who prefer fighting from a distance with precise thrusts.

Just keep in mind that spears still inherits the drawbacks of its real life counterpart.

Scripts

LAN Play

Networked gameplay—something that’s been on the backburner for a while, and something I’ve always wanted to implement—have now been developed into something barebones but functional.

To start a LAN game, it’s as easy as choosing LAN in the arena dropdown, and if you’re starting the game, choose the host or server and share the IP address that is displayed to your clients.

The host will have to spawn in the arena before clients can join.

Story Mode

The starting town in Story Mode is composed of simple, geometric structures, built with the Placeable system.

Not every buildings will be created with this system, but a good portion of generic buildings will be, so apartments, barracks, or anything with a blocky form. Unique or curved structures, like the Colosseum, will be modeled instead.

Banking

Money (gold) in the world of Blade Ballad will have tangible weight, so it wouldn't be smart to go adventuring while hauling your entire fortune everywhere, as it will slow you down and draw unwanted attention from bandits, thieves and scam artists.

Instead, you would make use of the many banks and deposit boxes located throughout the world to store your coin, whether earned or stolen. These banks would allow deposit, withdrawal and transfers to other banks, and will attempt to keep your wealth safe, with varying degrees of success.

However, ancient banks (which were not globally centralized) came with their own problems. One would be its vulnerability to raiders. Since FDIC wasn't a thing, your money is effectively gone if it was looted. Corruption would be present as well (no different than modern banks) and would come in the form of "misplaced" funds, usury, embezzlement, preferential treatment to families of bankers, etc.

This is intended to help you realize that you don't need all that gold. In most open world games I've played, I've always finished it with a massive pile of money in my inventory. All that time finding and selling items and I ended up not spending most of it anyways.