Rivals of Aether - Official Thread

[CupOfTar]

Making an organized list with stuff from the thread that I deem important for Dan to see.

This way he can look on my list instead of wasting a lot of time on the thread when he doesn't have the time to.

If you have things you want added to the list. Quote or Mention me with your stuff.

Unless Dan has already completely ruled it out, a form of tech chasing would be awesome. I know it would take a lot of work because of the animations but it would seriously give the game a big depth boost without much tech skill required to use it.

The only other complaint I have is the characters. I feel like they are too similar right now.
Some things that could be more different from character to character:
-Fall speed
-Walk and dash speed
-Wavedash distances
-Rolls
-Parry times (just maybe)
-SIZE (I think this is important, future characters should probably have more drastic size differences)

Other than that the game is absolutely awesome and a blast to play! :D

 

[Kasado-Bit]

Unless Dan has already completely ruled it out, a form of tech chasing would be awesome. I know it would take a lot of work because of the animations but it would seriously give the game a big depth boost without much tech skill required to use it.

The only other complaint I have is the characters. I feel like they are too similar right now.
Some things that could be more different from character to character:
-Fall speed
-Walk and dash speed
-Wavedashes
-Rolls
-Parry times (just maybe)
-SIZE (I think this is important, future characters should probably have more drastic size differences)

Other than that the game is absolutely awesome and a blast to play! :D

Kragg in particular feels like he should be bigger than the rest of the cast.

 

[Boss N]

Since I said I would post these color edits, I figure I should maybe do it, yeah? So here's what I've got after messing around with this. It's pretty fun!

For some reason, Whitefire Zetter looks like a panda to me :3

 

[Sol_Vent]

Unless Dan has already completely ruled it out, a form of tech chasing would be awesome. I know it would take a lot of work because of the animations but it would seriously give the game a big depth boost without much tech skill required to use it.

I'm not totally sure I understand what you mean by this. Tech rolls are already in the alpha, and aside from that, predicting an opponent's air dodge after hitstun is basically tech chasing in the air. Are you basically saying that these actions should be more punishable?

 

[CupOfTar]

I'm not totally sure I understand what you mean by this. Tech rolls are already in the alpha, and aside from that, predicting an opponent's air dodge after hitstun is basically tech chasing in the air. Are you basically saying that these actions should be more punishable?

I mean that I would basically like to see the whole dropping-to-the-ground thing return. Right now teching is very different from smash and I feel like not teching at all is often not punishable enough, since you just stand there (it's 10 frames of lag you get from that, I think (you get 10 frames of invincibility and 10 frames of lag after those if you tech in place)), and are able to act so quickly. So yeah, I feel like players should get punished harder for not teching.

Maybe I just need to adapt, but tech-chasing has always been one of the most fun kinds of mindgames in the smash series for me.

 

[Yurya]

Unless Dan has already completely ruled it out, a form of tech chasing would be awesome. I know it would take a lot of work because of the animations but it would seriously give the game a big depth boost without much tech skill required to use it.

Tech-chasing is in the game knockdown isn't. I hear what you are saying about knockdowns, as without Ledge, Grabs and knockdowns the game hardly has any breaks which is a different pace from Melee. It forces a different way of thinking that is alien to a Melee vet. I think it should stay as it at minimum is different, and the reward for the player that keeps the pressure on is nice.

The only other complaint I have is the characters. I feel like they are too similar right now.
Some things that could be more different from character to character:
-Fall speed
-Walk and dash speed
-Wavedash distances
-Rolls
-Parry times (just maybe)
-SIZE (I think this is important, future characters should probably have more drastic size differences)

Other than that the game is absolutely awesome and a blast to play! :D

Your list if implemented will do a great deal of unbalancing the game. Right now with similar mobility options and sizes the game is very balanced. The Pichus and Bowsers are not good designs to maintain balance with. I do think that some variations in mobility could exist in a balanced game provided overall movement is roughly equal. (exchange falling speed/jump height for run speed).

 

[Sol_Vent]

I mean that I would basically like to see the whole dropping-to-the-ground thing return. Right now teching is very different from smash and I feel like not teching at all is often not punishable enough, since you just stand there (it's 10 frames of lag you get from that, I think (you get 10 frames of invincibility and 10 frames of lag after those if you tech in place)), and are able to act so quickly. So yeah, I feel like players should get punished harder for not teching.

Maybe I just need to adapt, but tech-chasing has always been one of the most fun kinds of mindgames in the smash series for me.

Yeah, alright. That makes sense. Most of the people I play with tech pretty much all the time, so I don't have much experience in that scenario.

Including the prone state or a suitable replacement would be very reasonable design-wise. I wonder how programming-intensive that would be...

 

[CupOfTar]

Tech-chasing is in the game knockdown isn't. I hear what you are saying about knockdowns, as without Ledge, Grabs and knockdowns the game hardly has any breaks which is a different pace from Melee. It forces a different way of thinking that is alien to a Melee vet. I think it should stay as it at minimum is different, and the reward for the player that keeps the pressure on is nice.

Hmm, I guess I probably just need to adapt. I also feel like this just comes down to personal preference. (I'm not even a melee veteran, btw. haven't been in the Smash scene for that long ^-^)

Your list if implemented will do a great deal of unbalancing the game. Right now with similar mobility options and sizes the game is very balanced. The Pichus and Bowsers are not good designs to maintain balance with. I do think that some variations in mobility could exist in a balanced game provided overall movement is roughly equal. (exchange falling speed/jump height for run speed).

I'm not trying to say he should go in the extreme like that. I just really don't feel like comboing a Zetterburn is that much different from comboing someone else, but that may just be due to me not being able to play really good players.

I also think I might have a weird mindset here in that I don't think the game should have a perfect balance. It shouldn't have any unviable characters, but I would prefer there to be characters that are all in all a bit weaker then the rest, which are still viable for competitive play.

 

[Conradical]

Hello Dan,
While playing the playtest build of Rivals of Aether, I found a glitch within the game. The glitch was that when the opponent parried and you did the first hit of jab (not the second or third), you wouldn't get "stunned". I hope this helped!
Conradical

 

[Conradical]

Hello Dan (sorry for the second post in 15 minutes),
I found out something very weird. I was testing around in debug mode and when I went into another match, the percentages and the 3,2,1 numbers that show up at the beginning didn't appear. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I turned the music off, however, I don't think that is the case since I switched it back on and it remains the same. I hope this helped!
Conradical

 

[Fox Ah TAA]

OH my BAGAH!
I want to play this so bad.
I just now heard of this. To play test I email them still or? How does this work?

 

[Boasting Toast]

The only other complaint I have is the characters. I feel like they are too similar right now.
Some things that could be more different from character to character:
-Fall speed
-Walk and dash speed
-Wavedash distances
-Rolls
-Parry times (just maybe)
-SIZE (I think this is important, future characters should probably have more drastic size differences)

Other than that the game is absolutely awesome and a blast to play! :D

I agree with this very much, this is something I addressed earlier.

 

[Barndo]

Not sure if this has been found already, otherwise I'm glad to have discovered it with my friend @ Charmilio .
I found something that resembles some poor AI interaction with Kragg's rock, or anything that blocks horizontal movement. It seems as if you are standing on Kragg's pillar at a lower elevation of the AI, and a rock is in their path, they will make no attempt to jump over it. Charmilio and I have confirmed this happens with all four characters, Zetterburn, Wrastor, Orcane, and Kragg. Credit goes to Charmilio for getting the footage together on these gifs.

This is replicable every time, 100%. It is confirmed to work for every stage, basic and aether. There is even a nice interaction on Fire Capitol where the AI can get caught while on the lower side of the stage if you are on the opposite side at a lower elevation than them.

All examples are below, with setup footage included. The Zetterburn gif is very large, just saying. All gifs were recorded on the basic version of The Rock Wall just for recording purposes, but it works on everything.

Wrastor: http://gfycat.com/InsistentDefenselessHorsechestnutleafminer

Zetterburn: http://gfycat.com/IndolentPepperyHectorsdolphin

Kragg: http://gfycat.com/FewWhimsicalFoxhound

Orcane: http://gfycat.com/FavoriteUnconsciousIndianabat

Extra Fire Capitol example: http://gfycat.com/VictoriousUnhealthyCrossbill

EDIT: Properly linked Charmilio's name on first sentence.

 

[RoA_Zam]

Since I said I would post these color edits, I figure I should maybe do it, yeah? So here's what I've got after messing around with this. It's pretty fun!

I like these. Just keep in mind that if you want to make a texture that could possibly be in the final version, all of the characters must have the same similar color scheme for that texture for it to work right. Hence why I only made two variations, White/Purple and Black/Cyan

 

[RoA_Zam]

For anyone who missed the stream and is interested in watching a 5 hour stream? This is for you:
http://www.twitch.tv/earthbones/c/5988509

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

Also NEW glitch guys. You know how Kragg's rock can be picked up with Neutral Special again by any Kragg?

Try standing next to it or on top of it with any character and pressing Neutral Special.

BLOOP

 

[SNEAKY_URKEL]

Anyone else feel like stage ceilings should be higher? It feels a offputting having such a low ceiling in comparison to how wide the stages are, and going for horizontal kills seems a lot riskier than just juggling towards the top of the stage a lot of times.

 

[Charmilio]

Anyone else feel like stage ceilings should be higher? It feels a offputting having such a low ceiling in comparison to how wide the stages are, and going for horizontal kills seems a lot riskier than just juggling towards the top of the stage a lot of times.

I sort of agree with this, but also on Wrastor's stage the ceiling seems to be just high enough to where there's about equal distance from the top and side blast zones, though I could be wrong.

 

[YardyHardy]

Haven't gotten a chance to play the new build but I'll try and a get a few games in soon. Stage music was really needed so I'm hype for that. Keep up the good work @ 4nace !!

 

[Sol_Vent]

I like these. Just keep in mind that if you want to make a texture that could possibly be in the final version, all of the characters must have the same similar color scheme for that texture for it to work right. Hence why I only made two variations, White/Purple and Black/Cyan

Yeah, okay. I mean, I wasn't aware of that (and don't really know what you mean), but these are mostly just experiments meant to be enjoyed in the short term. I thought about making the skins themed at first, but I thought it'd be better to play around with color schemes. That way I'd know what kind of themes I'd actually really want to execute.

Namely, an Indigo/Pink theme based on my Wrastor. I'm definitely doing that.

 

[Boasting Toast]

Brought RoA to a tourney today and played with a number of people. Everyone loved the game, found it very fun and found the mechanics very interesting. Job good, Dan. Though, everyone agreed that Orcane is too strong.

 

[4nace]

Good stuff guys!

The differences in character stats are definitely possible. Things have landed where they are because of a game feel issue more than anything. I want to make sure every character has a good feel that can lead toward the aggressive playstyle of Rivals.

Also the ceiling note is a good one. I think the ceilings are probably too low across the board. Fire Capitol has a pretty high ceiling but needs it for the platforms.

Changing the ceilings will affect the balance though for sure. Might not be too bad because a character like Wrastor dies off the top and kills off the top. (meaning his offense gets hit while his defense improves) Would probably nicely hurt Orcane and Kragg with their powerful Up Airs. I will definitely look into ceilings when I hop back on balancing

-Dan

 

[ShinyisSilent]

GLITCH: A damaged rock was sitting on a Kragg pillar over a platform.After breaking the pillar the rock fell onto the platform and recovered to its default state.

 

[Sol_Vent]

Speaking of Kragg bugs (as in 90% of the thread ), is Kragg supposed to be able to get a new pillar by grabbing a block, throwing it down, and picking it up again? I mean... He's not, right?

To clarify:

1. Use up-B.
2. Without leaving the pillar, use neutral-B.
3. Throw block down onto pillar.
4. Use neutral-B again to pick up the block.
5. You can now use up-B again without touching the stage.

 

[ThatGuyYouMightKnow]

Is it too late at all to submit an application? It'd be much too huge an opportunity to let this go by. I love pushing fighters to their limits, and I watched quite a bit of people playing this; looks great so far. I had just sent an email out.

 

[Beets]

Searching for "yoshi" and reading through the posts that mention him, I can now safely conclude that nobody has made a mention of the parries that Yoshi is capable of.

In SSB and Melee Yoshi has the strongest shield in the game, but can't jump or act out of it, in effect inhibiting him. It was only useful if you heavy shielded the instant he got hit, letting him act immediately out of his shield tuck animation, or light shielded, which pushed Yoshi across the map while he was in his shield, grabbing ledges if he fell off.

I didn't intend to lecture, so I will let aMSa do that if you care to know more.

And basically I merely curious were the idea of parrying came from. Was it inspired by Yoshi's parry in Melee? Was it inspired by Street Fighter III's parry? A quick search of the thread for "parry" and I come across ideas of an Air-Parry. Street Fighter III let you parry any move as long as you had perfect timing, whether you were on land or in the air. But Street Fighter III has more complex defensive options, including blocking high and low and parrying high and low. In this game, although I have not yet gotten the chance to play it, it seems like a universal counter button.

So maybe if I'm not being too much of a bother someone could explain the details about parrying in full. This forum is long, and not yet organized. Most posts seem to be about beta testers writing down bugs / information about the current build.

If parries work like perfect shield one-offs then that's cool. I love SSB and I would love to see combos realized like they were in that game.

Anyway thanks. Sorry if parries have already been divulged in full somewhere in this thread.

 

[Yurya]

Searching for "yoshi" and reading through the posts that mention him, I can now safely conclude that nobody has made a mention of the parries that Yoshi is capable of.

Lol

And basically I merely curious were the idea of parrying came from. Was it inspired by Yoshi's parry in Melee? Was it inspired by Street Fighter III's parry? A quick search of the thread for "parry" and I come across ideas of an Air-Parry. Street Fighter III let you parry any move as long as you had perfect timing, whether you were on land or in the air. But Street Fighter III has more complex defensive options, including blocking high and low and parrying high and low. In this game, although I have not yet gotten the chance to play it, it seems like a universal counter button.

So maybe if I'm not being too much of a bother someone could explain the details about parrying in full. This forum is long, and not yet organized. Most posts seem to be about beta testers writing down bugs / information about the current build.

If parries work like perfect shield one-offs then that's cool. I love SSB and I would love to see combos realized like they were in that game.

Anyway thanks. Sorry if parries have already been divulged in full somewhere in this thread.

Hitting Parry puts you briefly into a invincible defensive state. You cannot act during this state and there is a amount of lag at the end of the move. If you are hit by an attack during the state you will receive extra invincibility along with the ability to act, and the attacker receives stun at the end of their current animation. However, if it is a projectile you will instead reflect the projectile (obtaining ownership), and the sender won't receive stun. An interesting work around is that jab combos can escape this lag (intentional or not) as it is during the moves duration that you input the next attack. So you skip ending the first hit and receiving stun and instead can act normally once finishing the combo. The parrying player however still receives invincibility.

The end result is that most followups on the ground are not guaranteed, add to the fact that you can act out of an Air-dodge and it creates a strong defensive game in a very fast game. Parries are hard to time though so it is a bit inconsistent, but the potential to be perfect is possible.

64 combos, Melee movement, and potentially perfect defensive play.

EDIT: If you have anymore questions/something was unclear feel free to ask.

 

[Conradical]

Good stuff guys!
Changing the ceilings will affect the balance though for sure. Might not be too bad because a character like Wrastor dies off the top and kills off the top. (meaning his offense gets hit while his defense improves) Would probably nicely hurt Orcane and Kragg with their powerful Up Airs. I will definitely look into ceilings when I hop back on balancing

-Dan

Actually, I think I like the low ceilings. It makes the game different to other smash games and more rush-down oriented.

 

[Boasting Toast]

Good stuff guys!

The differences in character stats are definitely possible. Things have landed where they are because of a game feel issue more than anything. I want to make sure every character has a good feel that can lead toward the aggressive playstyle of Rivals.

Also the ceiling note is a good one. I think the ceilings are probably too low across the board. Fire Capitol has a pretty high ceiling but needs it for the platforms.

Changing the ceilings will affect the balance though for sure. Might not be too bad because a character like Wrastor dies off the top and kills off the top. (meaning his offense gets hit while his defense improves) Would probably nicely hurt Orcane and Kragg with their powerful Up Airs. I will definitely look into ceilings when I hop back on balancing

-Dan

I personally do not think the ceiling should be raised. Instead, I think you should weaken Orcane's up air and maybe his up strong, but I don't think Kragg's up air should be, his is useful because it can combo into itself, but that's entirely up to the other player's DI, so I think it should stay as is, because it's kill power alone isn't anything huge, not to mention it's probably the slowest aerial in the game.
Now, something to note, I think a new stage with a very high ceiling would be great for counterpicking purposes. I did testing, Zetterburn's up strong kills another Zetterburn at 73 on Air Armada, 75 on Rock Wall, and 84 (I think) on Fire Capitol, I think a ceiling of 95 on a new stage would be good, nothing too crazy like DL64, but still makes a difference.

 

[RoA_Zam]

@ Sol_Vent If you want, you can make a single texture for a character and I can do the rest of the theme for all characters if that's more convenient for you.

Example:

//Zetterburn Color (Fuschia/Green)
//Body
60
115
0
//Hands
150
255
70
//Body Shadow
25
75
0
//Flame_light
200
80
127
//Flame_mid
150
60
100
//Flame_outline
110
30
75

//Orcane Color (Fuschia/Green)
//Body
200
80
127
//Light color
150
255
70
//Body Shadow
165
60
90

//Wrastor Color (Fuschia/Green)
//Body
150
255
70
//Hands
200
80
127
//Body Shadow
110
215
55
//Belly
90
145
0
//Scarf Light
255
165
180
//Scarf Dark
230
135
150

//Kragg Color [Updated a little by Sanic] (Fuschia/Green)
//Rock Light
200
80
127
//Skin
150
255
70
//Rock Darkest
110
40
80
//Armor Light
90
145
0
//Armor Mid
60
115
0
//Armor Darkest
25
75
0
//Rock Second
175
60
100
//Rock Third
130
50
90

 

[TOGOpuff]

damn i randomly stopped receiving notifications for some reason...

my new controller will arrive this saturday and i'll starting testing the game both in a xbox controller and in a arcade stick (which i'm really excited to do) ...

haven't posted anything because i'm still travelling and internet isn't helping. As soon as i get home (by saturday) i'll try and bring some friends over and record some more videos...

 

[PabloTheDinamic]

Speaking of Kragg bugs (as in 90% of the thread ), is Kragg supposed to be able to get a new pillar by grabbing a block, throwing it down, and picking it up again? I mean... He's not, right?

To clarify:

1. Use up-B.
2. Without leaving the pillar, use neutral-B.
3. Throw block down onto pillar.
4. Use neutral-B again to pick up the block.
5. You can now use up-B again without touching the stage.

I will try to perform this, If I achieve to do it, I will try to gif it...

 

[RoA_Zam]

I will try to perform this, If I achieve to do it, I will try to gif it...

He's right. It works. I've noted it on my list of bugs and glitches for Dan to fix.

 

[Sol_Vent]

@ Sol_Vent If you want, you can make a single texture for a character and I can do the rest of the theme for all characters if that's more convenient for you.

That seems reasonable, but I wouldn't exactly say "let's do that" as a rule. Basically, any skin that I post should be considered open-source for anyone to edit or expand into a theme if they want. I'll probably make a point to mention this in the event of any future skin posts. I'll also mention whether or not I'm interested in making a theme out of a recolor.

Incidentally, that Kragg looks way better. I'm done some rudimentary sprite stuff before, but working with four levels of the same color is rough.

 

[4nace]

Hey Guys,

We are back with another Developer Update for January 2015!
http://rivalsofaether.com/blog/?p=198


We have some cool updates about the team in there and next month should be even cooler!

Thanks,
Dan Fornace

 

[DJLO]

Hey Guys,

We are back with another Developer Update for January 2015!
http://rivalsofaether.com/blog/?p=198


We have some cool updates about the team in there and next month should be even cooler!

Thanks,
Dan Fornace

cool update! btw you have the wrong link at first, it links to the previous update

 

[4nace]

cool update! btw you have the wrong link at first, it links to the previous update

Fixed! That's what I get for copying the previous set up. Thanks.

 

[InjusticeGods]

Hello Mr. Fornace. I know I'm somewhat late to the party but I'd like to potentially be a playtester for this game. Please let me know if that is an option that is available to me. Thank you for your time.

 

[RoA_Zam]

Hello Mr. Fornace. I know I'm somewhat late to the party but I'd like to potentially be a playtester for this game. Please let me know if that is an option that is available to me. Thank you for your time.

You email with an application to be a playtester.

How can I help?​

Rivals of Aether is still early into development. We do not have a public build yet. But we are hoping to build an audience of fans. You can help out firstly by spreading the word. We are hoping to bring the game to events and get it in the hands of pros to help shape the development from here on out.

If you think you have what it takes to assist the development, we are looking for passionate playtesters. Apply by emailing us here. In the subject line, put your 'Playtester Application - Your Smash Tag' then in the body explain in 200 words or less why you are the perfect fit to be a playtester. If you already applied through our frontpage post then you are still on our list as we increase our numbers but feel free to re-apply and explain why you are the perfect fit.

 

[Beets]

Orcane sound FX sound crisp! Could use more screen shake. Maybe. When like, people die.

 

[SgtFunShinebear]

Hey guys, I'm starting to make a new tutorial series for Rivals of Aether. Too often I'm asked "What's the difference" or "Who does this character play like?" and I want to make a series of video going through the characters and differences between this game and other smash titles. That being said, I'm horrible at naming things. Any ideas? I was thinking "A Taste of Aether" since my name within the fighting game community is "Flavored", what do you guys think?