Rivals of Aether - Official Thread

[JayTheUnseen]

I lack any controllers atm but I used the keyboard to check it out,and I can't WAIT to see what it's like when I can actually play lol.

One thing-I think Wrastor's down-b feels a bit odd without a sound effect.


I need them controllers ASAP.I need to play this game.

Thanks for accepting me as playtester.

 

[RoA_Zam]

I picked out some of the easier ones from the feedback from here as part of my "Next Playtester Build" tasks:

Will try do a few more things for next update too but I am balancing stomping bugs and working on balance while also creating new content :D

-Dan

Just do what ya gotta do man! No rush to anything. Take your time.

I'm currently excited for the next character. I absolutely love every character in their own way rn, so I'm thrilled for the next one's release so that I can pick it apart and complain about it

 

[T00nbink]

Thanks for accepting me as a playtester dan. I just as @ JayTheUnseen , not a proper controller atm because my ps3 controller broke a few days ago. So I'm gonna buy me a pc controller for now. (but I am still enjoying the game with keyboard right now).

(And one question. About the Earth Pillar from Kragg, does it actually stay there intill it is destroyed? Because I think it would be logical if it would dissapear after 30-60 seconds. Because you can actually spawn it offscreen, which makes it really difficult for some characters like zetterburn to break it.)

 

[Hatninja]

Being a ninja, i can't wait to see that new character!

 

[RoA_Zam]

Thanks for accepting me as a playtester dan. I just as @ JayTheUnseen , not a proper controller atm because my ps3 controller broke a few days ago. So I'm gonna buy me a pc controller for now. (but I am still enjoying the game with keyboard right now).

(And one question. About the Earth Pillar from Kragg, does it actually stay there intill it is destroyed? Because I think it would be logical if it would dissapear after 30-60 seconds. Because you can actually spawn it offscreen, which makes it really difficult for some characters like zetterburn to break it.)

If a player does Kragg pillar offstage, it's easy for zetterburn to deal with. All you need to do is go out and fair, ideally hitting both the Kragg and the pillar. Once Kragg hasn't touched the ground and gets hit like that, it's pretty much a guaranteed gimp. In newer versions, Dan is experimenting with Kragg upB by making it so that if you upB again before hitting the ground, Kragg gains height as if a new one is appearing, but the old one dissapears and another one does not appear. Then he goes into a fall state like every other upB in the game.

If you don't feel like going out to do an aerial, space side B's with Zetterburn to rack up small damage and try to force the opponent to come back on stage.

 

[T00nbink]

If a player does Kragg pillar offstage, it's easy for zetterburn to deal with. All you need to do is go out and fair, ideally hitting both the Kragg and the pillar. Once Kragg hasn't touched the ground and gets hit like that, it's pretty much a guaranteed gimp. In newer versions, Dan is experimenting with Kragg upB by making it so that if you upB again before hitting the ground, Kragg gains height as if a new one is appearing, but the old one dissapears and another one does not appear. Then he goes into a fall state like every other upB in the game.

If you don't feel like going out to do an aerial, space side B's with Zetterburn to rack up small damage and try to force the opponent to come back on stage.

I guess you are right with that one, I haven't fully tested this game to his limit because I have it just for not even a day. And another question. What happened to the tree stage from the first trailer?

Oh and btw, I was watching your stream yesterday and I saw your glitch if you pause the game the characters would all float with a pixel in the air. I had that problem with the only Kraggs rock, it was pretty weird because it happend 2 times in a row, but after that it never happend agian so I don't know what that was (and I don't know if this is already known by the playtesters).

 

[RoA_Zam]

I guess you are right with that one, I haven't fully tested this game to his limit because I have it just for not even a day. And another question. What happened to the tree stage from the first trailer?

Oh and btw, I was watching your stream yesterday and I saw your glitch if you pause the game the characters would all float with a pixel in the air. I had that problem with the only Kraggs rock, it was pretty weird because it happend 2 times in a row, but after that it never happend agian so I don't know what that was (and I don't know if this is already known by the playtesters).

The fire Capitol stage had a revamp. The Grass stage probably had some problems or required a revamp. Or likely Kragg's earth stage replaced it altogether since Kragg is more rock based than grass/tree based.

Glitch: It's known by Dan himself already, so that's all that matters.

 

[T00nbink]

The fire Capitol stage had a revamp. The Grass stage probably had some problems or required a revamp. Or likely Kragg's earth stage replaced it altogether since Kragg is more rock based than grass/tree based.

Glitch: It's known by Dan himself already, so that's all that matters.

Okay great, that is indeed the thing that is important

 

[likiji123]

@ RoA_Zam

Yup, I've been watching balance lately and have noticed Wrastor is an issue so will be looking at his Side Special in particular as something that can be hit.

I'll address some of your points though! Thanks for the feedback!

Hurtboxes being off - will look into those. If you see any that lag let me know. Hurtboxes are currently shared between air versions and ground versions of specials to make my life easier so on some specials they don't line up exactly but it was close enough that I did not feel the need to make a new one.

Zetterburn fire consume is actually a new hitbox with its own data, so its not a straight modifier. Damage, knockback angle, base knockback and knockback scaling are all set independently. Right now the scaling does pretty much double (.5 - 1.0) and the base knockback is almost double too. I can hit them individually though. I actually still consider Zetterburn to be balanced against Kragg and Orcane as of now, so won't be hitting his burnboxes unless I buff him in other areas (recovery for example)

The floating pixel thing for both rocks and characters is disconcerting and I have seen it before. I don't think its the characters themselves having the issue as the collisions are pixel perfect and I have tested that to confirm. I believe the issue is on where characters are drawn. I am doing some rounding to snap both characters and the ground pieces so pixels are retained but I think they are rounding in different ways and it is causing issues. I will solve it before ship but haven't squashed it yet.

I think I know the Orcane 2 puddle glitch. Get attacked out of an up special on the ground. . 2 puddles. Its on my bug list.

I'd have to buff Zetterburn's up b damage while moving damage to make that break a rock but its probably a good idea to do that. Will mark it as something to try.

Hitbox sweet spots were actually in the older builds too. They are just hard to see. I plan on giving wrastor some hitbox separation on his lingering hitboxes when I do a knockback pass. (Example: Nair being stronger and bigger on the first frame then reducing in size a bit and knockback on later frames). I want to get attacks across all characters scaling a bit more while still keeping the combo game intact. I will likely do that early next week as I don't feel super comfortable in GM Studio on my laptop and instead just work in Photoshop while traveling.

Here is a picture of some of my immediate tasks from my Trello. I picked out some of the easier ones from the feedback from here as part of my "Next Playtester Build" tasks:

Will try do a few more things for next update too but I am balancing stomping bugs and working on balance while also creating new content :D

-Dan

YESSSSSS I CAN CHANGE COLOUR'S, THANK YOU SO MUCH :D

 

[RoA_Zam]

@ 4nace
The art for the text of each character on the website is a bit inconsistent. Specifically I noticed it first with Orcane and Zetterburn having a different letter "R" than Kragg and Wrastor. I'm going to make what I assume would be a standard set of the two fonts used there incase anyone want's to use it for their own. Or to fix inconsistencies on the website.

If you were to use a strict lettering pattern for all letters based on the letter A and B, you'd come up with something like this, and it's kind of weird:

Most characters look fine with this pattern but some look off, including "I, J, T", and based on your point of view, letters like "V, W, X, Y, etc."

Obviously the lettering on the actual images isn't like this, but that shows off there there are some inconsistencies between lettering.

While I personally like the way the lettering is already set up, I personally also think that a standard should be set for all letters to make them much neater and more organized.

I dunno, just some of my thoughts on that.

-------------------------------------------------

ANOTHER thing about the website:

GIF's for characters need updating. Orcane and Zetterburn's are heavily outdated.

 

[TOGOpuff]

first of all thanks for sending me the game again. I working on more videos as we speak...

Hey. I was recording a video for the brazilian audience once again, doing a Zetterburn character specific and on the end of my video i had a match against a cpu Zetterburn. In this match two things happened that i didn't know possible. (i'm sorry if this is old news but i lacked time to read all posts here and for that i apologize, not only to you Dan but all the rest of the playtesting community that has been helping a lot)

So, one thing is a character specific i wasn't aware of but if Zetterburn hits an enemy with his up-b he can do it again midair. i have no idea if this is intentional or was before mentioned.

and the second one also happened after his up-b. He was able to do a walljump after it and up-b again. If this is intentional i found it amazing.

Both ways this game is developing to be a really skill based fighting game and i'm loving it.
I'll post the link to my video here, even so you know, it's in portuguese.

also one last minute question (it's ok if you can't answer but some friends who are interested in your game asked me) : why isn't it going to PSN ?

 

[RoA_Zam]

So, one thing is a character specific i wasn't aware of but if Zetterburn hits an enemy with his up-b he can do it again midair. i have no idea if this is intentional or was before mentioned.

and the second one also happened after his up-b. He was able to do a walljump after it and up-b again. If this is intentional i found it amazing.

Both of those are indeed intentional. Being able to walljump after a recovery special allows for added recovery and makes stages like Aether Fire Capitol and Basic Earth stage more ideal to play on.

It works for Zetterburn up B, orcane side B, and wrastor up B (Kragg doesn't have much of a need for it yet). You can also incorporate air dodges into that also to further extend recovery options!

 

[Burnsy]

Here's something that may not be intentional: Zburn can wavedash out of his "shine" and his up-b's startup getting parried if he is fast enough to initiate the jump cancel>airdodge before he gets put into the "parry lag/crumple". I would assume that this is also the case for Wrastor's dsmash and other options where it is possible to cancel the animation before it finishes normally.

As far as I was aware, the only options that are supposed to beat parry are Jab1 and Jab2

 

[AbbiDood]

Gonna try and get my thoughts on Wrastor and Kragg out by next week. Man this game is fun haha

 

[MrTurner]

@ RoA_Zam


Here is a picture of some of my immediate tasks from my Trello. I picked out some of the easier ones from the feedback from here as part of my "Next Playtester Build" tasks:

Will try do a few more things for next update too but I am balancing stomping bugs and working on balance while also creating new content :D

-Dan

Don't forget about where if you toggle training mode on at the CSS, all four slots will be filled up with Zetterburns.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

A small but odd glitch-hold left & right on the keyboard together and your character will turn back and forth in place rapidly.
Not a big deal,since it's not designed for the keyboard though.

 

[likiji123]

Don't forget about where if you toggle training mode on at the CSS, all four slots will be filled up with Zetterburns.

also if you do this and select green or black zetterburn before doing this then do this there will be 2 characters that have the same colours

 

[FadeAmmo]

also if you do this and select green or black zetterburn before doing this then do this there will be 2 characters that have the same colours

That should be an Easter Egg!.
Plz Dan, don't fix it XD
(You can tho)

 

[AbbiDood]

Can I just say something really quick, Dan. I absolutely love how easy it is to wavedash in this game. Makes the game feel super fast, characters like Kragg feel so mobile and it's just a lot of fun. Please don't consider making it, like, harder to perform, or adding more endlag to it or whatever. The current wavedashing in RoA feels absolutely AMAZING.


Quick question while I'm at it, is it possible to use tilts with the second stick in the current beta? Would prefer to be able to use regular aerials as Wrastor by just using the second stick. Understandable if it's not in the current beta though.

 

[DrMister]

I feel this game growing way more rapidly than other Alphas and I'm loving it . This game will be amazing, I just wish it was on PSN as well. Still PC + Dualshock 4 will do. If anyone needs help installing dont be afraid to hit me up on skype. RunnerUpScout, I'm part of the group :3
EDIT: Sorry I have been soo inactive. Destiny's got me really gripped. I've been playing RoA after I'm done playing Destiny, tho. Missed this Thread for the last 3 Days . Also, I'll go back to modifying Nhab after the new character is released! HYPE FOR CHAR 5!

 

[dquarius]

sry if ive been inactive lately. ive been showing this to a few more friends and got them hyped now. plus ive been addicted on risk of rain and ive been looking for other glitches but found nothing so far.
edit
cant wait for you 5 char
and gotten two new logitech controllers from best buy so i can finally play this with more friends at a time

 

[RoA_Zam]

Will get the next stream up after I go upgrade some stuff on my account as well as practice some more. My account will be strictly RoA Q&A/Fun stuff, SSBM practice, and YHTWTG speedruns, with priority of which will stream being in that order.

Until Zetterburn fire gets a nerf I'm probably going to be maining him while delving into the others some like usual, lol.

Based on my work schedule, I may have to have streams earlier in the day sine I might be put on closing at night for the next 3 weeks (until like 1am). And I'm not sure how streams will work when I'm at college again after that, but I have other social media accounts I can be at for people to discuss whats currently in the game and thoughts/ideas about what should be upcoming in Rivals of Aether.

 

[DrMister]

Happy New Years (sort of) to everyone whom is part of this great community, Smashers, Rivals and even Guests! Hope this game grows and becomes something amazing!

 

[T00nbink]

Happy New Years (sort of) to everyone whom is part of this great community, Smashers, Rivals and even Guests! Hope this game grows and becomes something amazing!

Happy new year indeed. I hope that this community will grow even bigger in 2015.

 

[likiji123]

Happy new year indeed. I hope that this community will grow even bigger in 2015.

Yep :D

 

[AbbiDood]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kunvASWq7Q0
Dunno if this is known at all, or if there's a video of it, but yea. Pretty cool little trick. Works as every character. Pls don't remove k thx <3

 

[4nace]

Happy New Years everyone! I can't wait to fly back to my apartment on Saturday and get back to work! Going to be crunching hard to get new content for March trade shows (PAX east as the main target)

Keep up the discussion and finding bugs. I'll have a ton to take care of next week!

-Dan

 

[Streetwize]

So I played Project M and this game with a friend, and I was so spoiled by RoA that I don't L cancel anymore. Worse yet I don't even use a GC controller to play RoA so my muscle memory seems like it shouldn't be affected. Eh, I'm pretty rusty in Smash Bros anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kunvASWq7Q0
Dunno if this is known at all, or if there's a video of it, but yea. Pretty cool little trick. Works as every character. Pls don't remove k thx <3

Already posted a video on it and I told Dan about it. He said along the lines of keeping it since it doesn't hurt the game.

Edit: @ 4nace : Zetterburn's smashes will become stronger regardless of which Zetterburn burns the opponent. I'd like to suggest adding a "team" tag of sorts with the fire to where only the Zetterburn of team who burnt an opponent can activate the stronger smash. This would not only prevent an accidental KO through friendly fire if Zetterburn is on both teams, but it also stops killstealing in FFAs. Just a thought.

 

[MrTurner]

So we're ready to go into variation characters, huh? I wonder what could be a reasonable variation to Wind. Thunder maybe? I also think it could be interesting to see a sort of "in between two types" sort of deal, like a sandstorm char representing both earth and wind. The whole concept of mixing elements sounds very interesting and I would love to see it implemented in some way.

 

[Rubica]

December Build Feedback (a bit later than I meant it to be, hope I didn't miss out on January Build already):

Kragg:

His Pillar feels a bit weak in its current state. The only buff I can think of to make it better is to have it last 2 hits instead of 1, maybe to help not get instagimped offstage.

He feels like his moves could use a very minor damage buff, 1-2% per move. He has good killing potential, but he's outpaced by the other three, even though two of them have equally good, if not better, killing potential themselves.

Wrastor:

Imo, the weakest in this build. He has solid combo potential and maneuverability, but his kill moves are lackluster and he's pretty easy to KO. Maybe give him back the dair spike and make Up B kill after 150% or so.

Orcane:

Feels very solid right now. Great kill options, great damage options, and just enough of a skill floor to make him not complete bull****. Don't change anything.

Zetterburn:

Easily the strongest in this build. Able to kill at very early %s with a flame debuff on the enemy, as well as the best combo potential (tied with Wrastor). As with Orcane, I can't think of much to change with him unless you wanted to rebalance his damage a bit. My only wishlist is for a way to "multishine" his Neutral B, since it already acts like shine, but that would require changing his Side B to Neutral, his Down B to Side, and his Neutral B to Down, since multishining is a byproduct of jump cancelling. That said, without shielding, multishining wouldn't serve any practical purpose outside of showing off.

Maybe take Zett's tippers and give them to Wrastor.

========================================

I know this is probably in the works, but a Stock Timer would be nice as well. So far, this game is definitely feeling 4 of 5 stocks and 6-8 minutes.

I also seem to get some weird grey stripes on Kragg's stage. I'm sure that's been reported before, but if not, I'll screenshot it when I get a chance.

 

[DrMister]

So we're ready to go into variation characters, huh? I wonder what could be a reasonable variation to Wind. Thunder maybe? I also think it could be interesting to see a sort of "in between two types" sort of deal, like a sandstorm char representing both earth and wind. The whole concept of mixing elements sounds very interesting and I would love to see it implemented in some way.

Check out my idea . Mainly tweaked by other members of this same thread <3

 

[Xanthus]

Gameplay Footage
I got a few good games recorded between me and someone who was relatively new to RoA (mabe got 1-2 hours of playtime before these matches), but he's a smart and good gamer so he picked it up quickly. He really took a liking to Zetterburn and to a lesser extent Kragg. Orcane he didn't immediately grasp / understand so he stuck with ones easier to use.

Gifs from below matches:
Orcane reverse fair: http://gfycat.com/NervousGoodnaturedEmperorpenguin
Zetterburns charged B Edgeguard: http://gfycat.com/SpecificEdibleEnglishpointer

1v1 Matches #3: Probably the best set of matches, this was the latest bunch of games we played before he left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fcJkPmmz5A

1v1 Matches #2: This he beat my orcane in a friendly bo3 with his Zetterburn at the beginning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjYU8W0Zf_U

1v1 Matches #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TWSrsFx2HA

3 way FFA stream with 1v1s at the end. This was before they had too much experience: http://www.twitch.tv/xanthus1/b/604350559

General Feedback / feel of balance
I have some quick thoughts on the general balance which ill expand upon. I think each character has a great strength that seems overpowered, but they have another weakness that balances it.

Zetterburn: Crazy easy early kill potential, but extremel easy to intercept recovery. If you pick the right options and cover him over and over, he WILL die off stage. But his charge neutral B is one of the best edgeguarding moves in the game.

Wrastor: Best neutral game with the wind, you can't handle his speed (tip for those who think he's the worst: NEVER APPROACH WITHOUT IT!!). And comboing out of his insanely fast side B is an easy approach. Fantastic combo game and you can combo into a kill, but sometimes it's hard to pull off a kill move (although neutral b off the top is easy if you combo them upwards). Also dies very early

Orcane: Pretty great all around imo. Maybe not a great recovery. A little harder for players to pick up because to use his toolkit effectively requires some knowledge and skill compared to the others.

Kragg: A lot of quick, strong , huge hitboxes (especially his specials). Fantastic edgeguarding, best recovery(pillar close and below the stage, pull rock, jump throw it. Or double jump /air dodge and side B). He's got a slow move speed I guess so you can more easily predict and space his movement options, but have to be keenly aware of his moveset and ready to parry that rock throw at an instant if it's not on stage. Once you get in his space and combo however, it seems like he has slightly more trouble getting out of combos (he needs a bit of space to abuse his moveset). I still think he has too much of everything though and is currently the best by a good amount, but spacing so that you can parry those huge incoming specials goes a LONG way for being able to approach with invulnerability.

Bug
There was a weird issue in one match where I parried Kragg's rock and it was destroyed with rocks in my direction after it landed (no hitbox hit it). Heres the timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fcJkPmmz5A&t=3m16s
I've noticed it on multiple occasions, and I think I remember at least oncegetting hurt by the rock bits (maybe he counter-parried it back to me and it broke). What's going on?

 

[RoA_Zam]

Had an awesome stream. Dan stopped by and we got to have some of the discussion I wanted lol. Great night for playing.

I found so many new glitches at once. It was amazing.

 

[RoA_Zam]

I think I broke your game, @ 4nace http://prntscr.com/5nvb5z

SUPER SECRET PREVIEW: Abyss Mode (LOL) http://prntscr.com/5nvg2w

 

[JCOnyx]

Hey guys, remember that artic fox concept I came up with. I finally got around to making a quick concept sprite, just a simple standing pose. I'm not much of a spriter so there are some novice mistakes like shading, general form and stuff but it gets my vision across. Anyways... here she is.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

Hey guys, remember that artic fox concept I came up with. I finally got around to making a quick concept sprite, just a simple standing pose. I'm not much of a spriter so there are some novice mistakes like shading, general form and stuff but it gets my vision across. Anyways... here she is.

Looks cool.

I'm afraid the controllers I ordered on TUESDAY didn't even ship this week,so I won't get them till next week at least.Sigh...

 

[TOGOpuff]

i was saving money for a new controller since mine got whatever . my cat broke my notebook screen now i need a new screen

so i'll have to *ugh* play on keyboard *ugh* for a little longer...

 

[DrMister]

Hey guys, remember that artic fox concept I came up with. I finally got around to making a quick concept sprite, just a simple standing pose. I'm not much of a spriter so there are some novice mistakes like shading, general form and stuff but it gets my vision across. Anyways... here she is.

Duuuuude! This looks AMAZING! Holy crap man. I like it . It fits the art style too, imo. Man, this is amazing I really am speechless.

Played RoA all day yesterday, and I cant believe I'm not that rusty. I love this game so much @.@. I got a second Micro-USB Cable and I managed to play Multiplayer. Twas pretty fun . CANT WAIT FOR CHARACTER 5 THO I WONDER WHAT IT IS. It's an illusionist sooo... Chameleon lol

 

[JayTheUnseen]

Hey guys, remember that artic fox concept I came up with. I finally got around to making a quick concept sprite, just a simple standing pose. I'm not much of a spriter so there are some novice mistakes like shading, general form and stuff but it gets my vision across. Anyways... here she is.

I think I came off as a bit short earlier.Let me elaborate...I love it!
I love ice,and I like foxes.And it looks to have a personality I'd like,whether it's male or female.

 

[Hatninja]

Hey guys, remember that artic fox concept I came up with. I finally got around to making a quick concept sprite, just a simple standing pose. I'm not much of a spriter so there are some novice mistakes like shading, general form and stuff but it gets my vision across. Anyways... here she is.

I actually do some spriting work. And i have to say that is better than most sprites i've seen.