itch.io

I would like to make a public Discord at some point. I don't know a whole lot about server moderation, though. I might set one up sooner rather than later. I'd love to hear your ideas, my discord handle is: jazz_boy

Noted, thank you!

Jay is heavily WIP. All of his stuff will get touched-up/fixed in the future. Thanks for bringing this to my attention though! (Also, I'm very interested to know  how you modded the game.)

A proper training mode will for sure be added at some point, but it takes a while to get one set up. There's a bunch of small things that a good training mode needs, and I'm aware that it's annoying to have to play a VS match in order to practice with different characters.
As for EX moves, I plan to use the campaign mode to demonstrate different game mechanics, but I also want to do more than just make a glorified tutorial.
Thank you for your suggestion!

GDC Edition Balance Changes

Russel:

Overall changes include damage cuts, adjusted hurtboxes, and changes to his super.

-2L:

    Increased Hitstop (Regular: 6f -> 8f) (Counter 8f -> 10f)

    Move now cancels into itself

-5M:

    Decreased damage on counter hit (10 -> 8)

    Decreased meter on counter hit (12 -> 10)

-5H:

    Decreased damage (Regular: 12 -> 10) (Counter: 20 -> 13)

    Increased meter gain on counter hit (12 -> 13)

-2M:

    Decreased damage (First Hit: (Regular: 10 -> 7) (Counter: 12 -> 8))  (Second Hit: (Regular: 10 -> 6) (Counter: 12 -> 8))

    Decreased meter gain on counter hit (First Hit: 12 -> 8)  (Second Hit: 12 -> 10)

    Decreased horizontal air knockback of the second hit during a counter hit (4.0 -> 0.5)

-2H:

    Increased damage (10 -> 12)

    Increased meter gain (8 -> 12)

    Increased safety on block (-17 -> -10)

-6M:

   Extended hitbox downwards

-j.M:

    Decreased damage (Regular: 8 -> 6) (Counter: 10 -> 7)

    Decreased meter gain on counter hit (12 -> 7)

    Adjusted launch angles

-j.H:

    Decreased damage (Regular: 12 -> 10) (Counter: 16 -> 12)

    Adjusted meter gain (Regular: 8 -> 10) (Counter: 20 -> 12)

    Decreased combo scaling (Regular: 2.0 -> 1.0) (Counter: 2.0 -> 1.0)

    Changed particle effect that displays when landing the move

-5S:

     Enhanced:

        Decreased Meter gain (Regular: 4 -> 0) (Counter: 6 -> 0)

-2S:

    Adjusted damage (Regular: 12 -> 15) (Counter: 20 -> 18)

    Decreased meter gain (Regular: 18 -> 15) (Counter: 20 -> 18)

    Decreased combo scaling (2.0 -> 1.0)

-6S:

    Decreased damage on the first hit (10 -> 8) 

    Enhanced:

        Enhancer now transitions immediately

        Decreased Meter gain (Regular: 8 -> 0) (Counter: 12 -> 0)

-8S:

    Increased damage (13 -> 15)

    Increased meter gain (9 -> 10)

Beverly:

Overall changes include new animations, increased range on side special, adjusted counter hit properties, and adjusted hurtboxes

-5M:

    Move now keeps momentum from running

    Updated counter hit properties

-5H:

    Decreased travel distance

    Decreased total duration (40f -> 28f)

    Decreased damage (Regular: 15 -> 10) (Counter: 23 -> 12)

    Decreased blockstun (21f -> 10f)

    Adjusted launch angle on counter hit

-2L:

    Updated counter hit properties

-2M:

    Updated counter hit properties

Version 0.4

Key Changes:

-Added Tutorial Campaign mode stage. Accessable by selecting "Campaign" on the main menu

then walking to the first Red Circle and pressing A

-Added Slopes and Semisolid platforms

-Refactored Destructable objects. They now use GM's variable definitions to make creating

new objects easier

-Added Cutscene triggers. These activate when a player touches them, and can be programmed

to do pretty much anything.

-Added Fight triggers. These activate when a player touches them, spawning an enemy

and locking the camera

-Added Quarters. These act as the game's main collectable and currency

-The UI now changes in singleplayer. It now only has 1 health bar, a coin count, and

a timer

-Added Level Ending screen. This plays every time the player completes a level

-Added Round Win and Round Lose player states (no animations yet)

-The game is no longer "paused" during a round start or level start. This allows players

to follow physics during these times.

-The "Round Start" text can now be delayed for singleplayer levels. This allows custom

cutscenes to play before the text appears.

-Completely reworked menu controls. Menus will always use the left stick to navigate,

A to select, and B to deny. These controls are seperate from the player's combat controls

and cannot be changed.

-Added D-pad Support for controllers

-The game now saves each player's controls between play sessions. It also seperates

Keyboard and Controller settings.

-Added infrastructure for AI opponents. They require 3 parts: a playerController object

(the character to be controlled), an AIController object (sends inputs to the player

controller), and an AIBehavior object (processes AI logic.)

-Characters can be disallowed from running and blocking. This is used to make the first

enemy easier to fight.

-Added new NPC: Construction Guy 

-Adjusted controller deadzones

Projectiles:

-Fixed several bugs with projectiles. They should now be more stable

-Projectiles that bounce will no longer travel along the floor

System changes:

-Players will now face their attacker when getting hit (unless they are being thrown).

-Players will no longer turn around while in hit or block stun

-Fixed an issue where players would not build meter in singleplayer

-Beverly can now cancel Jumping Medium Attack into her Down + Medium Air Command Normal

Beverly:

-new Jumping Light animation

-Adjusted properties of Jumping light to match the animation, including a different hitbox,

frame data, etc.

Version 0.3

Stuff we changed:

-Volume settings now persist between menus

-Fixed some issues with Options menu controls

-Projectile Data has been updated

-Updated Main Menu Graphics

-Made controls for the Main Menu smoother

-Implemented changes to Russel's specials that didn't get included in the previous update

-Fixed an issue with the Combo Counter not going away

-Fixed several bugs relating to Smooth Criminal

-Attacks with a base damage of 1 can now be scaled down to decimal values

-You can no longer get the early version of the Arcade in Random Stages

-Holding back when backdashing no longer forces the player to keep backdashing

-Made adjustments to how dash inputs are handled. Dash inputs are now a lot more precise

-Added Sound FX to Main Menu, Character Select, and Results Screen

-Added proper palette masks to Beverly's attacks

-Added proper animations for Beverly's Crouch Light and Crouch Medium

-Changed default run button from left Ctrl to left Shift

-Player 2 can now cancel Stage Select

-Added Wallbounce. Certain moves cause the opponent to splat against the wall

-Updated Options Menu Graphics

-Added "Voice" as a sound option

-Added Rush Cancel Sound effect

-Added Gunther. He is in very early stages and does not have much official art

-Russel Standing Medium

Reduced Hitstun (21f > 18f)

Now +2 instead of +5 on hit. The plus frames didn't do much for him,

since he could cancel into a lot of things anyways. Plus, he could

combo into down special, which I didn't like because it felt weird.

-Russel Standing Heavy

Reduced Knockback to allow the move to connect with side special more easily

Reduced Damage (14 > 12)

Now wallbounces on counter hit

-Russel Jumping Heavy

Added an extra hitbox to the move to increase its range and versatility.

-Russel's Enhanced Neutral Special

Added Final Animation 

Increased attack range

Decreased movement range

Increased total duration (21f > 27f)

Increased combo scaling (1 > 2)

Added a hurtbox to the move

Move now hits later (5f > 9f)

Adjusted Hit Spark

-Russel's Down Special

Starts falling sooner

Added Russel's Enhanced Down Special (623)

Follow up overhead at 14f

Frame trap on block

More unsafe

Decreased Damage (14 > 12)

Increased Blockstun (13f > 16f) (-17 instead of -20 on block)

Decreased Hitstop (20f > 14f)

Adjusted Launch angle

Increased duration of extended hurtbox

Enhancer now wall bounces on counter hit

-Russel Side Special

Adjusted functionality to Enhanced Side Special

Added final animation for Enhanced Side Special

Adjusted hitstun and launch angles to allow enhancer to connect properly.

Enhancer now connects after counterhitting the opponent with the second hit

Now starts moving immediately to allow it to connect better from Stand Heavy

Changed damage distribution. First hit does 10, second does 4

The move does the same amount of total damage, but I made this change

because it was common in air-to-air situations for only the first

hit to connect, causing the player to lose out on damage. This change

increases the reward for using this move as an air-to-air.

Changed meter distribution. First hit gives 8, second gives 2

Same explaination as above

Ver 0.2.2 Hotfix:

-Fixed crash involving projectiles. Counterhitting the opponent with a projectile will no longer crash the game

Ver 0.2.2:

-Fixed crashes involving canceling certain moves during hitstop

-Players can more easily jump over small obsticales

-BGM now stops when exiting singleplayer levels

-Increased controller deadzones

-Added Rush Cancel. Performed by pressing Run + Special. Can hold up to go high, in

air causes you to fastfall to the ground

-Adjusted how blocking works. Should now be more reliable

-Players properly run in the right direction after waking up with their head to the

opponent

-Hitboxes and hurtboxes no longer disapear during hitstop

-Fixed an issue where canceling a move would sometimes cause an extra hit.

-Damage Scaling now works properly

-Fixed a bug where the super meter would overflow

-Moves performed in the air can no longer hit low. Attacks that would hit low hit mid

instead

-Moves that have non-integer knockback no longer cause the opponent to oscillate

-Autoblock now properly gaurds against lows

-Adjusted player collisions

-Time out now rewards the player with the higher % of hp remaining

-You can now buffer arials out of jumpsquat

-Debug Mode now displays combo damage. It is the 4th number from the top

-Characters can now support multiple movesets

-KO text now appears behind players

-Fixed animation bug when enhancing specials

-Counter Hits now properly display their hit effect

-Added EX flash for enhanced moves and Rush Cancel

-Fixed issue with enhanced moves skipping their 1st frame

-Added Block sfx

-Updated Credits

-Updated Stage Select

-Added a few alternate palettes for Jay

-Added more placeholder moves for Jay

-Enhancers now require meter

-Updated meter HUD element

-Added Meter Scaling. Using a move that requires meter or RC will prevent you from

building meter for the rest of the combo

-Reworked Hitstop

-Projectiles no longer cause their owner to enter hitstop

-Players can now hit multiple objects at once

-Fixed issue where performing a Rush Cancel after a forward throw would cause the

opponent to behave strangely

-Adjusted how hitstop works

-Added new sound effects for running, walking, jumping, landing, and hitting

-Added Smooth Criminal and Spirit Functionality

-Added more placeholder sprites for Jay

-Knockback is now based on the victim's direction rather than the attacker's

-Updated Russel's Forward Medium command normal

-Added Results screen. You can now instant rematch at the end of a fight

-Options menu now properly adjusts sound volumes

-Russel's Enhanced Neutral Special

Added Final Animation 

Increased attack range

Decreased movement range

Increased total duration (21f > 27f)

Increased combo scaling (1 > 2)

Added a hurtbox to the move

Move now hits later (5f > 11f)

Adjusted Hit Spark

-Russel's Down Special

Starts falling sooner

Added Russel's Enhanced Down Special (623)

Follow up overhead at 14f

Frame trap on block

More unsafe

Decreased Damage (14 > 12)

Increased Blockstun (13f > 16f) (-17 instead of -20 on block)

Decreased Hitstop (20f > 14f)

Adjusted Launch angle

Increased duration of extended hurtbox

-Russel Side Special

Adjusted functionality to Enhanced Side Special

Added final animation for Enhanced Side Special

Adjusted hitstun and launch angles to allow enhancer to connect properly.

-Russel Forward Medium Attack

New animation

Altered move properties to fit the move

-Beverly Standing Light

New animation

-Beverly Standing Medium

New animation

-Beverly Standing Heavy

New animation

-Jay

Too many to list lol

Hey Lumina! So glad you wanted to reach out to me. I've gotten a lot of questions as to how the game itself is programmed, but I haven't had the time to make a detailed walkthrough of how everything works. We're still changing things around and adding new features, so the code base is a little messy at the moment.

Basically how the game works is that there's an ENUM (enumerated list, where every entry has a constant value) that contains every state the player could possibly be in. This includes things like being Idle, crouching, attacks, getting hit, getting up, intros, etc. On each frame, the game uses a switch statement to process the code that correlates to each state. This allows states to have their own logic that's separate from other states. Some states like Idle, Crouching, and Hitstop are processed outside of the state machine, since doing so inside the machine would cause 1 frame delays between player input and game action.

That's a bit of an oversimplification of how it works, but that's basically the gist. 

Here's an image of the code. the states themselves are collapsed to show how many there are, as some states can have quite a lot of code.

As for contact, here's my Discord if you wanna inquire further. jazz_boy (originally jazz_boi#6109) Hope this helps! Sorry it took a bit for me to respond.

Ver 0.2.1 - The Motion Input Update:

General Changes:

-Added background music to the game

-Added a hit sound effect

-Players can now Run by double-tapping a direction as well as using the run button

-Enhanced specials have been added

-Command Normals have been added

-Rekkas have been added

Russel:

!6M 

-new command move 

-25f startup overhead 

-can give full combo on hit 

!down special 

-New animation

-effectively a new move. 20f overhead 

-when used midair, slams downward quickly 

jH 

-hitstun slightly increased 

neutral special

!-added 236 enhancer launcher 

side special 

!-added 214 enhancer pressure reset followup 

-changed launch angle to be slightly more upward

Beverly 

!j2M 

-new command move 

-13f startup stop-drop dive kick 

!side special 

-new rekka series 

-effectively 5 new moves

 -rekka 1 is a slight forward moving jab, can go into rekka 2, rekka high, rekka low, or rekka launch

 -rekka 2 is a fast stomp, punishable on block but can go into rekka high, rekka low, or rekka launch 

-rekka low is fast and safe, gives hard knockdown on hit. low damage -rekka high is a slow overhead that uncombos but deals good damage and goes a good distance 

-rekka launch is a fast-ish option which is very unsafe on block but gives a full air combo sL1 -minor hitbox and hurtbox adjustments 

-increased knockback 

*sL1 is +1 on block meaning its a very solid mash option sL2

 !- can now be cancelled into sH; not a true combo 

-minor hitbox and hurtbox adjustments 

-less hit stun

 -less knockback 

-made horizontal speed a feature rather than a bug; speed looks a lot less janky 

*sL2 now lets you make the decision of going into sL3, sM, or sH. 

*sL3 is true and gets you more space & knockdown, sM is true and gets you more damage, sH is NOT true but is a solid frame trap sL3 

-minor hitbox and hurtbox adjustments 

-minor adjustments to frame data to make the move feel better; no effect in practice 

-is now -7 on block instead of -9; in line with russel's auto combo 

-slightly more knockback on hit 

sM 

-minor hitbox and hurtbox adjustments 

-decreased blockstun; now +1 on block instead of +2 

-increased pushback on block 

*now better as the poke its meant to be 

sH 

-hitbox and hurtbox adjustments 

-motion adjusted to be more fluid 

-increased damage 14->15 

-slower startup 12f->14f 

-recovery 39->40 

-hitstun 14->15 

-blockstun 20->21 

*slightly worse on whiff but same on hit and block

 -decreased pushback on block -decreased knockback 

-counterhit now has stronger knockback & damage 

cL 

-minor hitbox and hurtbox adjustments

 -adjusted startup 4f->5f 

cM 

-hitbox and hurtbox adjustments 

!* now the furthest reaching normal instead of the second shortest

 -startup 7f->9f 

-damage 10->8 

-decreased blockstun 

-decreased knockback 

-increased recovery time 

-hurtbox now retracts slightly as move finishes 

*these read like major nerfs but the move feels stronger due to range 

cH 

!- first hit now vortexes slightly 

*makes the second hit consistent and also means the first hit can special cancel in interesting ways 

-hits slightly more active (1f->2f) 

-second hit slightly more blockstun (8f->10f)

 -second increased knockback 

-reduced meter gain 

-slightly reduced range 

-damage changed from 5,5 to 3,9 

-counter hit no longer deals an absurd 30 damage

 jL 

-recovery increased 10f->16f 

jM 

-startup 10f->9f

 jH 

-startup 12f->10f 

down special 

-damage 15->10 

neutral special 

!-removed kick hitbox 

-hurtbox shrink

 -ball comes out slightly earlier 15f->14f

Jay

Adjusted animations across all specials

Adjusted animations for standing light 1 and standing heavy

Up Special

-New move

-Multi-hitting.

Ver 0.2:

-Added Support for Projectiles

-Added Up and Downs Specials

-Added full support for character editor

-Added support for command grabs

-Adjusted visual for super meter

-Added instructions text to menus

-Added Palette Data to Beverly

-Levels can now be selected from the campaign mode

-Added Jay as a playable character. At the moment, he is a carbon copy of Russel with less health, but we will give him his own moveset at a later data.

Russel:

-Added up and down specials

Beverly:

-Replaced old neutral special with a projectile

-Added remaining specials

-Added extra palettes

Ver 0.1.5

System:

-Major move refactoring behind the scenes

-Added Counter hits. Hitting the opponent out of a move results in a unique counter hit state

-The counter hit properties for each move have not been finely tuned yet

-Added Super Jump and Double Jump support

-Added ability to Run by using the Run button

-Auto-block debug feature has been moved to the Alt key

-Characters now have traction with the ground, providing smoother stops

-More collision fixes

-Increased minimum combo scaling from .1 to .4

-Revamped the camera system

-TIME'S UP now displays properly

-Player's shadow now changes based on the player's height off the ground

-Added support for destructible objects

-Updated Russel's Stage background

-Updated Jay's Stage background

-The game now properly ends when either player reaches 2 wins

-Added a new main menu

-Added Campaign to the main menu. This takes you to a small test room

-Added support for singleplayer platforming stages. Select "Training" from the main menu

-Added Controller Remapping. Select "OPTIONS" from the main menu

-Added a credits roll. Select "Credits" from the main menu

Russel:

Side Special:

-Animation complete

-Adjusted momentum

Neutral Special:

-Now hits closer to him, allowing players to use the move in the corner

Standing Light 1:

-Doesn't push Russel back as far

Standing Light 2:

-Now pulls the opponent in

Crouching Medium:

-Launch hitbox now has more range

Beverly:

-Added full mock-ups for every move

-Functionality and feel is still being tested.

-She can now super jump by pressing down then up

Ver 0.1.4:

System:

-Added 3 new stages

-1st is Russel's, which is selected by default

-2nd is Beverly's, selected by holding Shift and starting a match

-3rd is Jay's, selected by holding Ctrl and starting a match

-Added combo scaling, where the longer a combo goes on for, the less damage each hit does

-Added a super meter to the bottom of the screen. It doesn't do anything yet.

-Beverly is now selectable! She currently has an Idle animation, and she shares her moves with Russel at the moment.

-Improved collision between players

-Round Start and KO text appear properly in the middle of the screen

-Behind the scenes, we've got a move editor in the works

Russel:

-Finished Neutral Special Animation

-Added Combo Scaling to every move

-Standing Medium

damage : 10 > 6

-Standing Heavy

damage : 20 > 14

Ver 0.1.3:

System:

-Added 2 special moves: Neutral Special and Side Special. These are performed with the new "Special" button.

     -";" key on Keyboard

     -"A" Button on Xbox Controller

-Fixed an issue causing all moves to come out 1 frame later than they were supposed to

-Adjusted how buffering moves out of hitstop works. Should be more accurate

-Refactored cancel system code

-All aerials can be canceled into Specials

-Fixed an issue where the combo counter would immediately cancel if you connected a move on the last possible frame.

-Added two new characters to the character select screen: Beverly and Jay. These characters are not currently in the game, but will be added in future updates.

-You can no longer be grabbed out of your jump squat frames

-The floor is now slightly lower down than it was before by about 8 pixels

Russel:

-Short Hop now travels faster. This makes his instant overheads much more prevalent.

-All Light Attacks have a new hitspark

-Standing Light 1

     -Increased hitstun : 8f > 9f

-Standing Medium 

     -Now moves him forward by 1 pixel

-Standing Heavy

     -Increased hitstun : 8f > 14f

     -Increased Hitstop : 15f > 18f

     -You can no longer cancel the move early by walking

-Crouching Medium

     -Changed launch angle when hitting an opponent who's in the air

Ver 0.1.2:

-Added Round Start Text

-Round timer now no longer dissapears after hitting 0 seconds

-Game now ends when the timer reaches 0

-Made Russel's standing jab combo more consistent

          -Extended range of Russel's standing light 2 (19px > 25px)

          -Extended range of Russel's standing light 3 (21px > 27px)

-Added Intro animation for Russel

Ver 0.1.1:

-Added Backthrow

-Added Getup

-Added ability to short hop by pressing up quickly

-Russel now has 5 pre-jump frames instead of 3

-Added Low Blocking Animation

-Fixed an issue where opponents who were crouching would not get launched properly

-Russel Standing Light now has 8 frames of hitstun rather than 7

-Added Combo Counter

Leave any suggestions for gameplay additions or changes here!

For any bugs, please give a detailed setup for replicating the bug and how it affects gameplay.

I love this game! It so perfectly manages to encapsulate elements of both Isaac and PvZ. It has stuff for new players and veterans alike! I feel like there's so much potential with a game like this, as each run makes you do a different strategy. One thing that got annoying with PvZ was that you could just repeat the same strategy over and over and beat every level. With this game, I feel like you can make it so that every level has some unique enemies that force you to use different strategies. 

One complaint I have with this game is that after completing the first loop of the game, you can't get new babies. It would have been cool keep picking new babies to try out new strategies, as right now the game is pretty short, and you only get to pick 6 babies total. It also feels like pills aren't that strong, and they become more of an annoyance than anything since you have to keep using them to get new ones, especially with the bad pills.

I think only having 4 slots is actually fine for a game like this. It gives each slot more weight and importance, and the player has to make tougher decisions and carefully select what babies they use.

I think having different characters that you can pick at the start of the run could be a cool mechanic to bring over from Isaac. Different characters could have different playstyles and start with different items. For example, Isaac could start with the D6, Magdalene could start with Yum Heart (an active item that gives 200 hearts when used), Cain could start with an extra slot for babies, etc.