Dev Update: Quanta/PAX East/Merch and more! (Patreon)

Howdy! SB here, we've been quiet but busy as we're a few hours away from heading out for PAX East, wanted to give everyone a final update before we head out. This latest dev push was heavily multiplayer focused, so here's a few updates!

Quanta is now feature complete! Pending balancing she's our first proper advanced skill character. Why? A few reasons.

-Quanta doesn't dash, but blinks: As a cosmic being Quanta doesn't physically interact with her world, so she displaces herself instantly. From a gameplay standpoint in which most characters dash from point A to B, she skips the middle completely. This means she can place herself instantly, but timing a blink wrong means overshooting the disc as well.

-Two Quantas for the price of one: Quanta can split into two (As seen above) and control a ton of the playspace as her ultimate, however you'll need to control two characters simultaneously during the hype phase which requires a lot more skill than the average ability.

-Low movement speed: To compensate for her instant blinking, Quanta is penalized with a much lower movement speed. Players will need to get a good feel for her blinking and be able to compensate when to use it.

We think she contributes a very interesting kit to the existing roster. As our 6th character we're starting to enter into very interesting player kits. We'll be observing how players react during PAX East, which we treat as heavy playtests.

Kiera Gets A Major, Angery Rework!

Our initial pass on Kiera was deemed incomplete, so during these last few months we set out to reimagine her as we originally intended. We deemed that the differences between her Blue form and Rage form were too similar so we rebuilt her to be a proper comeback character.

-In Blue Form: Kiera is handcuffed, and suffers a myriad of stat debuffs. Bad throw speed, low movement speed and in general feels weakened.

-Kiera now builds hype negatively: By being scored on and losing, Kiera's rage and meter grows. This is in complete contrast to how other characters build hype.

-In Rage (Red) Form: Kiera becomes locked to side stepping and loses her dash ability. Instead, it is replaced with the incredibly powerful Swipe ability that enables her to counter any type of throw with a powerful reversal

-Swipe: While crazy powerful, it can still be reversed and it now uses a chunk of hype meter every time it's used. It can no longer be spammed so players have to be strategic with how they use it. An average player will get 4-5 swipes in with this iteration.

Our previous version was time based and we noticed players would just spam it without much penalty at all, which felt underwhelming. This gives it more impact and cost.

Knockback Reborn!

(Volley's BunkerBuster cranked up to 12)

-Dramatic Knockback: We had some issues with knockback, a state that allows you to knock players into the goal if certain conditions are met. Previous iterations had been a little bit janky or suffered from inconsistent behavior, so we rebuilt the code for more consistent behavior. This makes knocking players into the goal feel way more satisfying now, and as a result it's much more dangerous.

This is mainly intended to counter players that turtle near the goal line. While most knockback can be reversed/countered- This system is intended to punish overly defensive players.

New Level: Badlands!

-Badlands is now complete and integrated as a new stage. As one of the smaller arenas, this one offers chaotic close quarters conditions. We will be observing and gathering feedback during PAX. I still have some thoughts on this one, and we will be making further tweaks post PAX.

Compared to the concept, we are still missing one feature- which will be the dynamic moving minecart that will zip around the arena and eventually run through the middle of the stage as a dynamic hazard. We just ran short of time and will be implementing this post PAX.

Merch/Diamond Backer Notes:

As of now we've begun putting together Diamond Backer care packages for everyone. They will be shipped in early April. Status on merch is as follows.

-Playmats are completed and delivered

These are all in our posession and look dope! They're XXL playmats and can double as both a playmat or mousepad.

-Shirts were completed on 3/17 and delivered

Myself and Rigman went and sourced these yesterday in person from a local silk screening shop here in Austin. They're dope! A nice heavy blend that would work well for Spring and Wintery weather. Will be perfect for the cold Boston weather.

With silk screening, this means the design is applied multiple times and will be resistant to washing and properly soaked into the fabric.

-Pins are complete and in transit

The extra merch will be sold at PAX East to recoup costs related to the con. These ran behind schedule so they are being shipped directly to Boston. They're 2.25" designs featuring art by @MissIcyArts.

In Summary:

And that's all! Keep track of our trip on the Discord, where we'll be posting plenty of behind the scenes of this very chaotic trip northeast. If you happen to be at PAX East, come by and say hi to the team! Thank you.

Wait...

...What the hell is this?! RIGMAAAAAN!!!