Hi everyone! It’s been a while since the last update on the game, so this will be a long one! 'The Combat Update', as the name may allude, is introducing a few major updates to combat (as well as some additional features) so I'll get right into it!

Combat Overhaul

Damage

In the current demo there isn't too much incentive to save up energy for stronger moves (with two Weak attacks being just as effective as a Strong attack). In the Combat Update, calculations for damage has been completely redone. With the new damage calculations this will not be the case and there will be more incentive to save up your energy for those Stronger moves. This will also make different stats more important and type weaknesses play a more critical role in battle, so there will hopefully be a bit more thought involved instead of just pressing attack until you win.

Across the board all HP's have been increase to line up with the new damage changes. More tweaks and changes are being made to this, and will continue to be made, but I think the new systems in place are much better!

Guarding!

Along with 'Attack' and 'Switch', the third combat option is being changed to 'Guard'! If you chose to guard, you will not be able to use any moves that turn, however this will not spend any energy. When Guarding your defence will be significantly increased for that turn, an increase which is dependent on your 'Evasion' stat. This means that like the old 'Dodge' mechanic, Chicken cards will be great at Guarding, while Fox cards are not so good at it. With differences between card types and damage being increased, the idea is Guarding will sometimes be an important strategy in battle.

Dodging changes

The Dodge mechanic was meant to provide a better way to get more energy, however the risk wasn't particularly worth it. With the new Guard system being a better alternative for it, 'Dodge' as an option is being removed and is being reintroduced as a passive move which can happen at any point. The chance of dodging will still be dependent on the evasion stat, but this chance will be a lot lower than dodging was before. It won't happen very often but when you do get to dodge an attack you wont take any damage, which will feel pretty good!

Stat Moves

In the Combat Update, the way Stat changing moves work is being redone as well. In the demo the changes they made in a battle did not feel significant enough to justify using them. In the Combat Update, all stat moves will feel much stronger and have a much greater impact in a battle.

Battle Sounds and Animations

More sounds and animations have been added for a variety of moves. There is also a few new backgrounds for different battle locations and times of day. This all should make battles feel a bit more lively, and as the game develops there will be more added.

Specials

This is more of a bug then a change but Special Moves have been reprogrammed to work better, as well as having some values adjusted to make them more important.

Other Changes

Cars

If you played the demo, you probably have encountered the infamous cars which would often run over your shoes and into walls. I have adjusted how the cars work slightly so they will not be as crazy. As a result you may see less cars in the world, but I'm going to be working on this as there is still some improvements that can be made.

New Location

Starzone Arcade is now open for business! This was originally meant to be in the original demo, but was cut because it wasn't finished in time. However the arcade is now complete and has some interesting games in it for people to check out.

SAVE THEM

Bug Fixes

There is a few minor changes being made to fix a few of the bugs found in the demo. Some of these are small, but one big issue I'm looking to address is a bug where the first cutscene will break, stopping someone from progressing past this point. This has happened to a few people and I'm struggling to find the exact cause, but hopefully will be making some changes which will resolve it.

Demo Update Release Date?

As for the release of this update I don't have an exact date at this point, but hope to get it out for around the end of August. I will be making further posts with a more specific date and the future of development but I think this will be the last major update to the Demo.

I never really planned on making any major demo updates but seeing as the battle changes are pretty big, I wanted to make sure the demo stayed as close to the final product as possible. There will continue to be some balancing and bug fixes in minor updates, but not much more content will be added to the demo. But rest assured the main game will have a lot more to explore! :D

This has been quite a big update post so thanks to everyone who has read this far and hope you enjoy!