[Hero Arena] Warrior Souls II v1.17 (8-29-2018)

HeartCardian · Jul 28, 2017

For this topic I'll be using numbers instead of directions. If you're confused, just look at your numpad. In Example:
236F= Down,Down+Right,Right, {F} key.
414D= Down,Down+Left, Down, {D} key.
5F=Neutral(no directions pressed), {F} key.

Current Version : v1.17
"~Patching Holes with Uranium~ Edition."

Lemme jump right into what this is:
- 1v1 3D Fighter based on the 8wayrun style of Soul Calibur.
- You have 8 buttons(6 functional atm):

{Q} = Jump
{W} = Parry (not functional)
{E} = Grab (Not functional)
{R} = Jab
{A} = Quickstep
{S} = Guard
{D} = Horizontal Attack
{F} = Vertical Attack
Arrow Keys = Move around.

- Functional gravity&velocity engine to handle Jumping{Q}, Short Hop{S+Up), Quickstep{A}, along with knockback from moves.
- Conditional inputs allowing the {D}/{F}/{R} keys to contain dozens of different moves based on which arrows you're pressing and in what order you use each key.
- You win by taking out all of your opponent's Health, knocking them out of the ring, or having more health remaining when Time runs out. Win three rounds to win the match.
- Ring-outs can only be achieved by inflicting enough velocity(knockback) on the target, you can't simply walk off or shove them off with a tickle.
- Enough vertical velocity from juggles or moves on airborne opponents can cause slams against the ground, dealing extra damage.
- Enough horizontal velocity will slam opponents against the walls of some stages.
- Stages affect the gravity(minorly) and weather of the match, even affecting knockback.
- Characters can select alternate weapons that change their attacks slightly(IE length/damage, but not speed), likewise affecting their weight.
- Characters can select alternate outfits also affecting various aspects of their gameplay minorly.
- Weight is important as the gravity engine works off weight significantly. Making a character heavier or lighter will affect how high they jump, how quickly they fall, how much they are knocked back, etc. Albeit minorly in most cases.
- Weight also affects how far they dash using the {A}Quickstep and how quickly they walk.

And on a personal note:
Because of how the engine is designed, adding new moves is incredibly easy and all handled from a single trigger [per character]. In fact any given character is only truly used in a few glossary triggers basically.
This also means that adding a new character is INCREDIBLY easy on the engine itself and requires only adding about 4 new triggers to account for an entire new character with dozens of moves.

Use -movelist in-game to see all moves.

{R} Jabs : (5R) | (6R) | (6F,R) | Crouch(2R) | Air(5R) | Air(6R)
{D} Horizontals : (5D) | (6D) | (4D) | (4D...D) | (4D...D...D) | (5F,D) | Air(5D) | Crouch(2D)
{F} Verticals : (5F) | (5F,F) | (5F,4F) | (6F) | (6F,F) | (236F) | (48F) | (42F) | (4F) | (214F) | (Air,5F) | (Air,6F) | Crouch(2F)
{S} Guard : Press Down to crouch guard. Or crouch then press guard.
{A} Quickstep : Can be used to escape followup attacks after being hit.

Use -movelist in-game to see all moves.

{R} Jabs : (5R) | (6R) | (4R) | (63R) | Crouch(2R) | Air(5R) | Air(6R)| Impaler(5R) | Impaler(6R)
{D} Horizontals : (5D) | (6D) | (5F,D) | Crouch(2D) | Air(5D) | (4D=Impaler Stance) | Impaler(6D) | Impaler(5D)
{F} Verticals : (5F) | (5F,F) | (4F) | Crouch(2F) | Air(5F) | Air(2F) | Impaler(5F) | Impaler(4F) | Impaler(6F) | Impaler(6F...F)
{S} Guard : Press Down to crouch guard. Or crouch then press guard.
{A} Quickstep : Can be used to escape followup attacks after being hit.

Current amount of content:
- Versus: 2 Playable Characters, 3&4 selectable outfits.
- 28 unique attacks per character.
- 4 selectable weapons per character.
- 7 selectable stages
- CPU Practice mode (But not CPU VS yet). (Includes CPU select)

Known Problems
The following problems are all very minor, should not actually interfere with gameplay, and will be fixed in v1.17

The Camera doesn't track well if BOTH players are in the air.
The special effects for Unblockables&Guardbreakers don't disappear until you do any other animation.

Basic Controls & Showcase:

All Four Stages & Minor gameplay:

v0.8 Showcase:

v1.01 Showcase:

v1.10 Showcase:

Topic will be updated with each major new version.

The map is currently on it's own hosting bot(/whois DiscordBot) if anyone wants to try it out. It's easy to start a match since only two people can play, so it doesn't take long to get started.

Eat_Bacon_Daily · Jul 31, 2017

Looks really cool

HeartCardian · Aug 25, 2017

Download Link : Warrior Souls II (v0.5) - Warcraft 3 Maps - Epic War.com

Warrior Souls 2 v0.50
~ Vaguely Enjoyable Beta Release ~

This version aims to:
1. FIX so many problems with the previous release. Mostly surrounding Movement/Hitboxes/Physics/Round Resets/Animation bugs. Aka 80% of the game.
2. Introduce the Select Screen which is 50% a teaser(Character/Outfit selection), 25% partial(weapon select, but not for online play), and 25% actual content(Stage Select).
3. Show off how the gameplay changes from alternate weapons by allowing three different weapons when playing single player.
4. Show off how the gameplay changes from alternate stages' wind&gravity affecting things.
5. Introduce Aerial moves (Air 5D and Air 5F).
6. Make the game [end] by adding a round timer, win counter, and the match ends when either player gets 3 wins.
7. Make the game ACTUALLY somewhat enjoyable. Three stages gives reason to replay despite there being only one character. Three weapons gives reason to fiddle around solo and get excited for later on.

Here are some screenshots of things like:
NOTE : All screenshots are using the hitbox display system which is [not] enabled in public releases. While I considered taking screenshots without it, I did feel it was atleast somewhat useful for showing how the hitbox varies from low/mid/high on the character and how the game does account for different stage height correctly.

Aesthetic Note : The lightning in the stage is randomly generated every round. While this means lightning will always strike the same places during a round, the places it strikes will change with each new round.
This should help the stage's background lightning from getting overly predictable.

* Note * : Stage 3 (Molten Cave) has not yet been finalized and remains in a very rough unfinished state. It was important to make sure the changes from stage to stage were polished to not damage camera/movement/htiboxes before finishing a third stage.
Nevermind, done and finished until the next version atleast. Yes, I know the stage's platform texture is garbage, deal with it for now.

Aesthetic Note : The stage has 3 small gaps in the environment where debris floats around the stage in the lava. These all feed into a single exit gap, and the type of debris is randomly generated from one of 9 types.
If you're lucky, you may see two rare types of Debris as an easter egg. One of which is the previous lifebar model.

~Gravity~
The gravity of each stage varies just slightly from the base amount. This isn't a ridiculous amount and is actually quite close to Earth's gravity variation across the globe with only a very small degree of exaggeration.
The base gravity(Stage 1's Gravity) is 9.8/ms^2, same as earth. Stage 2(Storm Guide)'s gravity is 9.5, slightly less gravity than mount everest, and Stage 3(Molten Cave)'s gravity is 10.5, roughly the same as being in a magma chamber of an active volcano.
Since this information is by itself useless. Let me explain this visually by SHOWING how much this affects vertical velocity, this applies [equally] to both [Jumping] or [Being Launched/Juggled]:

It's not a MASSIVE difference on it's own, but combined with the weight system it can produce quite different results.

The following is a HIGHLY abridged changelog of things you'll ACTUALLY be able to notice if you played the last version:
Only IMPORTANT noticable changes are listed here.
A full(excessively massive) changelog can be found here: Viewing Single Post From: V0.5 Announcement & Pictures

~ Overall the engine is significantly smoother with less memory leaks. : No more need for task manager.
~ Completely rehauled the hit detection. : It now works.
~ Fixed most movement problems.
~ Changed UI to be easier on players. : Also all buttons now list all possible working input combinations with them.
~ New Healthbar, both for aesthetic reasons and to allow a win counter display.
~ Changed some hit physics : Also you can no longer be hit while performing a {Handspring} or {Wakeup}, they provide complete invulnerability until you have standing control.
~ Round Start has been GREATLY improved. : It is both MUCH faster, less visual bugs, and transitions much smoother.

+ Added Win Counter&Round Timer systems : First to 3 wins.
+ Added {Handspring} to wakeup options.
_____- Pressing forwards still performs the normal quick wakeup, standing you back up in-place.
_____- Pressing backwards when knocked down now performs a Handspring, which takes longer but pushes you away from where you are.
+ Changed Stage1 {Ocean Emblem} to a custom created Platform instead of WC3 Terrain.
_____- This should fix some problem with movement near edges, health bar resizing issues, camera problems, among other things such as movement smoothness&ring-out animations.
+ Added two additional Stages : {Storm Guide} and {Molten Cave}
_____- The new stages vary by size, gravity, windflow, and appearance. That is all.
+ The game now starts right into a Select Screen
+ Selection is actually very open in controls, making it very convenient for however you want to select stuff. Players can:
_____- You can select things with the arrow keys, {Q,W,E,R} keys, or clicking with a mouse. You can only confirm with the {C} Key.
_____- Note that your stage selection is not private. They will know exactly the kind of degenerate you are for the stage you picked.
+ The First&second alternate weapons : "Thorned Love"&"Hare Tie" have been added. The following are the stats for all three weapons for comparison:
_____Matios Tail: |Length=100%|Width=100%|Thickness=100%|Weight=0.6acb|Damage=100%|Velocity=100%|
_____Thorned Love: |Length=120%|Width=150%|Thickness=200%|Weight=2.0acb|Damage=110%|Velocity=70%|
_____Hare Tie: |Length=80%|Width=100%|Thickness=100%|Weight=0.2acb|Damage=80%|Velocity=80%| Weapon Effect : Reduces total weight by 15%.
__________NOTE: The alternate weapons are only selectable if there is no Player 2 in a match. You cannot use them in Versus until v1.5

! v0.5's stage rendering engine is not perfect. : At SPECIFIC angles and SPECIFIC distances, the stage may become invisible.
_____Also Stage 3 {Molten Cave}'s background often unrenders itself.
_____This will all be fixed in v0.6
! The healthbars are not great anymore. : Due to MASSIVE changes to MANY systems, they don't scale or position as well as they once did. This will be fixed in v0.6
! It is impossible to perform any attack while sidestepping other than possibly 3R. : This is because of how the attack inputs work and how few moves there are atm.
_____This will be fixed in v0.6 or v0.7
! {236F} might seem "buggy". You can begin using other attacks before it's animation ends : This is because a {Jump Cancel} mechanic has not yet been added that would let you chain this move into aerial attacks. So it's not bugged at all, it's commit is just less than the actual animation until the next version.

So at this point, I deem the game "Vaguely Enjoyable" but also "Fully Playable". It's not great, there's not a lot of content, but it works smoothly and there's enough to enjoy if you want to.

With that being said I am HEAVILY interested in feedback on the moveset&controls at this point since there's nothing particularly wrong with any of them.

HeartCardian · Sep 23, 2017

Warrior Souls 2 v0.60
~ Aesthetically Audibly Better Edition ~

This Version is meant to fix SOME problems and mostly make the game overall run smoother and more aesthetically pleasing:

Here are some screenshots of things like:

A new endless stage with no edges.
The stage also greatly increases knockback&quickstep distance.

v0.5 model versus v0.6 model:

v0.6 Model facial expression range:

v0.6 about to use {5R} neutral jab.

The following is a HIGHLY abridged changelog of things you'll ACTUALLY be able to notice if you played the last version:
Only IMPORTANT noticable changes are listed here.
A full(excessively massive) changelog can be found here: Unabridged Changelog nobody cares about

!+! Added a functional sound effect engine.
_____Attack sounds are influenced [dynamically] by which attack it is, if the player is guarding, and what armor class they have.
__________So the sound of {5F,F} being blocked is not the same as {6F} being blocked.
__________Nor would it sound the same if either hit Mina or Kellette(Sundress) instead of Kellette(Default Dress).
_____Attack sound effects are also dynamically affected by how heavy the weapon is and if it's a counter hit or not.
__________Both change the pitch of the sound.

~ An improved Stage Rendering System.
_____{Stage 3} was retextured and now renders better. You won't notice much difference in rendering honestly.
~ Kellette Model Revamp
_____Eyeballs. Like...She has them. And Eye bones for that matter. And Eyelids. And Eyebrows
~ Adjusted EVERY SINGLE ANIMATION ON KELLETTE
_____Because of the Eyeballs/eyelids/eyebrows.
_____Several animations received some alterations to improve the overall appearence OTHER than eye adjustments.
_____Every single {Knocked Down} animation was tweaked for hair&breast&Skirt changes, as they were created before there were hair&breast&double skirt bones.
~ There is now a "Rare" Idle animation when standing.
__________Every 3rd idle loop, Kellette will blink.
__________Every 7th idle, Kellette will be cheeky.
~ New Animations : There is now an animation for being hit when knocked down.
__________Being hit after jumping now results in a knockdown, so that needs no animation of it's own.
~ Hitting an enemy now PROPERLY cancels their attack in-progress.
~ You can use the "-azerty" or "-qwerty" command when in-game to swap the controls.

+ Added AI test commands for single player practice. (PLAYER1 ONLY)
F1 = Opponent will use Kellette's [4D...D] move instantly without charging. This is to let you test out being knocked back/knocked down.
F2 = Opponent will use Kellette's [5F,D] combo. This lets you practice crouch guarding to block the first hit and duck under the second.
_____F5+F2 will use Kellette's [5F,F] combo instead.
F3 = AI will Guard.
_____F5+F3 = Makes the opponent use a Crouching Guard instead.
F4 = AI will jump
_____(F4 if the oppnoent is knocked down causes it to stand back up.)
_____F5+F4 = AI will step to their right around you constantly.
_____(F5+F4 if the oppnoent is knocked down causes it to use {Handspring}.)
F5 = Toggles alternate F1~F4 commands.

These five commands should allow you to be able to fiddle around aptly in single player practice.
It will also let you explore the alternate weapons and how they change your knockback/Handspring/Juggles/etc.
+ Added 4th Alternate Weapon : Lunar Ray
_____Stats: |Length=130%|Width=80%|Thickness=80%|Weight=0.9acb|Damage=95%|Velocity=95%| Weapon Effect : Increases Jump power by 20%.
+ Quickstep has been greatly altered to the point where it provides new features to the game.
The "Universal Cancel" mechanic intended to be abused with attacks has been removed entirely.
The button now simply thrusts a character in whatever direction is currently held using the horizontal knockback system.
_____This also means your weight will now dynamically reduce your quickstep, making weight MORE important.
Can still be used while in a Standing Flinch or guarding, cancelling both states if used. Doubles the cooldown.
Now clears all inputs upon use. This means that the very moment you tap {A} all arrow inputs are reset to neutral(5).
+ HealthBars now display your Username under them.
_____NOTE: It ain't perfect. Because Text is created [to the right] of where you put it, not [centered].
+ All new Fourth Stage {Glacier Field} has been added!
_____This is an unending infinite zone stage.
__________There are no edges for ring outs, nor walls for wall slams, nor environment hazards.
_____This is the first Stage with it's own [Stage Effect].
__________which means that dashes/handsprings/horizontal knockback are all increased and go further.
+ Counter Hits now exist.
_____A Counter Hit is any hit landed when an opponent has "Attack Commit" remaining(from trying to attack).
__________This counts if you (intercept an attack before it hits you) or (hit right after it ends but before the other player can move).
_____Counter Hits deal an additional 20% damage, 20% knockback, and flinch 30% longer.
+ Added empty win counters which are displayed from the start of the round.
_____These NATIVELY tell you how many wins are needed.
__________Which also makes it look more satisfying when wins ARE achieved.
+ Added a new Loading Screen, which also acts as a SEMI-Tutorial / Game Manual.
_____This should give new players SOME bearing on the game BEFORE their first fight.

! Movement animation is STILL buggy and doesn't always play.
_____Fixing this requires restructuring movement as a whole. Feasible, but too lengthy a process atm.
! Knockdown is STILL buggy. Although it should mechanically work fine, it can be visually deceptive.
_____This is just a general casualty of the current state of the engine.
! Rolling to your right does not animate correctly when knocked down.

With all these changes, the game should actually be somewhat fun now.

LordDz · Sep 23, 2017

Looks really cool!
A minor thing: You should replace the button click sound with a silent sound, so that the effects of the gameplay will be heard instead of the button clicks.

Lt_Hawkeye · Sep 23, 2017

Looks nicely done so far. Do you think you would add like observers slots and allow people to switch places with fighters like in pepperman's chess?

HeartCardian · Sep 23, 2017

LordDz said:
Looks really cool!
A minor thing: You should replace the button click sound with a silent sound, so that the effects of the gameplay will be heard instead of the button clicks.

Probably going to in a later version. Mind you the only things that HAVE sound atm are Swings/Hits/Selection choices. There's a loooot left to add just in sounds. This, much like the moveset, is something that will grow with each version a little at a time probably.
That being said, I will see if I can do that for the next version. Shouldn't be too hard.

Clanzion said:
Looks nicely done so far. Do you think you would add like observers slots and allow people to switch places with fighters like in pepperman's chess?

I might in a far future version if the map gets popular. There's a two big reasons to keep it out for now:
#1. Keeping it purely down to two slots really helps to get people into the map since waiting around for just one random pub to join isn't hard.
So the idea of rotating players as they lose matches would slow down how often new players have a chance to find the game.
#2. A BIG problem is that the map still needs a lot of internal cleanup. You shouldn't notice any problems in the state it's in now, but that's also because it's focused to keep the strain to a minimum.
Doing more than a single match isn't possible yet, you would always have to use task manager to kill WC3 directly after the second match. Quitting simply won't function after that many rounds.
The second match, when I tested is, actually DOES run smoothly without any problem. It's just that you can't quit after that long.
It's also why the timer for each round is 60 seconds and can't be increased yet. around 5minutes of fighting is about as much as it can handle for now.

Most likely, before a Player Rotation system is added, you'll see an update that allows players to have several matches in a row first. But that seems a fair ways off from where the map is right now.

HeartCardian · Oct 15, 2017

Warrior Souls II v0.7
~Orbital Strike Maid Cleaning~ Edition.

This release is focused majorly around severe clean up to the engine to make it...
Well...overall smoother, faster, less buggy, and less leaky.
This version introduced:
-MASSIVE leak cleanup and code optimizatino all around. This...Truly cannot be described accurately how significant it was.
- Way more Sounds
- Added {Air,6F} to Kellette. A aerial slam move that, if used on a target that is {descending} after being launched, will cause a slam on the ground(dealing extra damage).
- Semi-implemented the first alternate Character "Sobresto". Ultimately this...is not ACTUALLY worth mentioning until v0.8
- Outfit system is now FUNCTIONAL (Single player, Sobresto-only).
- Stage 3 now a Lava-Edge stage hazard (Damages you if you're too close to the edge).

A few quick things to cover:

1. Click here to view the Pscyhotically overly long Changelog if you want to see every change.

Humanly Noticeable Changelog:

!+! Second Playable Character : Sobresto has been added (Single Player Only)
_____A Heavier, Taller, and more Durable character.
_____ArmorLV3, 2500HP, Base weight of 34(42 using default).
Kellette for Comparison: ArmorLV2, 2000HP, Base weight of 20(21.8 using default).

_____Input combos are as follows:
_____{5R} = Shield Slap
_____{5D} = Sword Slash (Horizontal)
_____{Air,5D} = Identical to {5D}
_____{5F} = Sword Slash (Vertical)
_____{Air,5F} = Identical to {5F}

* It's garbage til the model is re-boned from the ground up in v0.8

!+! Outfit Selection is now available (Sobresto Only)
_____This shows off the outfit system and how it can affect things overall.
_____The Armor level(affecting hit sound effects), Air Drag(affecting being juggled), and Weight(dat gravity).
__________All of these and the appearence varies from outfit to outfit.
_____The following are Sobresto's four initial outfits:
_____{Drinker Seeker}__: 6acb | 0% Drag | Armor LV3
_____{Silver Impaler}__: 3acb |10% Drag | Armor LV2 | EFFECT : Increases EdgeProtection stat by 50%. Also Comes with a pretty cape!*
_____{Victory's Glory}_: 5acb | 0% Drag | Armor LV1 | EFFECT : Regenerates 1% of Max Health every second.
_____{Obsidian Judge}__: 16acb| 0% Drag | Armor LV4

_____Silver Impaler's Edge Protection bonus raises the minimum velocity required to be ringed out
__________from 200 to 300. But that's IF you're standing.
__________Still won't save you from Kellette's {4D} in your face against the edge.
__________It DOES, however, raise the minimum velocity to ring out in the air from 50 to 75.
__________THAT could save you.

_____* The cape does nothing. This is just to show that some outfits can actually get subtle changes.

!+! Slams have been added to the game.
_____A slam occurs when you hit the ground with negative vertical velocity equal to:
__________-800 + {(Character TotalWeight * 1300) / Character Height}
In other words : Only Kellette's {6F} move can slam anyone ever.
_____Bonus Note : The special effect for a slam occuring depends on the stage.

!+! Slams deal {5*(Weight%)}% of the target's Maximum HP.
_____Meaning 5% increased by the percent of your weight over your base amount.
This is based on the listed "Default Weight" on character select screen. Which uses Outfit #1 + Weapon #1 to calculate.
IE Kellette's Default weight is 21.8(20+1.2+0.6), Sobresto's is 42(34+6+2).
5% of each character's max health would be : Kellette(100/2000), Sobresto(125/2500).

~ Engine Improvements out the ass.
_____Basically things run smoother and leak memory less.
~ Fixed Kellette's shield tracking...Player 1 constantly.
~ Stages now all minorly affect a character's color tinting. Barely at all times.
_____The following is how each stage affects vertex color tinting on all characters:
_____{Ocean Emblem} : No change.
_____{Storm Guide} : ALL*0.8 (Character's appear 20% darker than normal)
_____{Molten Cave} : Green*0.9, Blue*0.85 (Character's appear more orange)
_____{Glacier Field} : Red*0.85, Green*0.95 (Character's appear more aqua)

_____This is a VERY minor change and you honestly should not notice it. Infact, that's the point.
__________This is purely to help characters blend in more with the environment juuuust slightly.
~ Fixed the "Random" option to include {Molten Cave} and {Glacier Field}.
~ Selection process is MUCH smoother now and should be way less glitchy.
~ Fixed the movement animation of trying to sidestep to your right(either player).
~ Rebuilt how being hit while in the air works.
_____Fixed a fair bit of problems regarding Juggling opponents and being hit while in the air.
~ You no longer regain control after being launched in the air until you touch the ground. Even if Flinch expires.
~ There are now special effects for being knocked out of the ring.
_____These are unique to each stage.

+ Kellette has gained a new attack.
_____{Air, 6F} : Perform a SLAM DUNK on an airborne target with your sword.
_____120dmg|-600j(v)|50j(h)|KD|
__________If used while the target is already falling, this will achieve Slam Velocity.
_____* The KD tag means Knockdown. This means if the move is used on a standing opponent, it knocks down.
__________It will not slam a standing opponent though, as Knockdowns do not trigger vertical velocity.
_____* This aerial move is also unique because it completely zeros-out your vertical velocity when used.
__________Meaning the moment you hit the button, you will STAY at that height til you begin descending.
__________This really helps to land the move in general.
+ Stage 3 {Molten Cave} now has a unique stage effect: {Searing Edges}
_____Players will receive minor continuous damage whenever they are too close to the edge of the ring.
_____This is visually signified by a small fire at the player's feet.
+ The following have gained sound effects
_____- Being Knocked out of the ring(Sound depends on stage)
_____- New Round Start/End narrator.
_____- Quickstep/Dashing
_____- Jumping up. The sound is altered slightly for short hopping.
_____- There is now a sound effect for landing after a jump.
__________This sound varies based on your armor class.
_____- There is also a sound for hitting the ground while falling (hit while airborne or juggled)
__________This sound varies based on the stage chosen.
_____- This sound is also changed if you hit the ground with Slam Velocity.
_____- I have removed the clicking sound from hitting buttons.

# Edge Protection while airborne increased from 20% to 25% of base EP.
_____In most cases, this changes the needed velocity to ring out someone in the air from 40 to 50.
__________Doesn't seem like much, but there are cases where it saves you if you're not already against the edge.
_____Makes a larger impact when combined with EP increasing outfits/weapons.
# Kellette's {Air,5F} has now hangs you in the air for 0.3 seconds upon use and then begins descends.
_____This DOES mean that you can no longer continue ascending once you hit the button.
__________However it DOES mean the move GENERALLY works better now.

- Whenever you successfully slam a target, it will show a single line of text indicating such.
_____This will be removed in v0.8 but...Ehhh, it can stay for now. It's not a big deal. Causes no problems.
- For that matter, I accidentally left the hurtbox detection text enabled. I would normally make an emergency patch to fix this...But it's not a big deal.
_____It's not actually that obnoxious, it doesn't hurt the game as it is now, and it does actually show off the precise measurements of any given move's hurtboxes. So it doesn't LOOK good, but it does show how well-built the game is on that particularfront.

2. Sobresto is a {Basic} character, whereas Kellette is a {Complex} character. So the Psychotically longer Changelog explains precisely what a {Complex} character is, but if you don't want to read that here's the important summary of it:
- {Complex} characters are proper fighters. They have custom animations for every function in the game, dozens and dozens of different moves, multiple outfits and weapons, and so on. Kellette is a perfect example of this even though she's still incomplete.
- {Basic} characters are outright inferior. Most won't have custom models, NONE will get the same animation treatment. IF they get ANY custom animations they'll be done lazily. Outfit&Weapon selection are unlikely.

Obviously the question is...Why even bother including literally intentionally inferior characters?
I. {Basic} characters will be VERY useful for other modes later on, especially VS CPU modes.
II. {Basic} characters cost almost no filesize, making them an easy resource for extra content.
III. Most importantly, it allows {Complex} characters to be added in before they're viable. IE If Mina were added with only five moves, she wouldn't stand a CHANCE against Kellette and her 15(now) move roster or the 30+ move roster she'd have by the time Mina would be implemented. However, she might be able to hold her own against Sobresto(3moves atm, 12 by the time Mina is added) and other {Basic} characters. She can be turned INTO a {Complex} character once she had enough moves/content to stand a chance against Kellette&Other {Complex} characters.

It's not just more inflated content. It's later content getting added essentially in a playable preview format.

3. Despite there not being a lot of ENJOYABLE new content, here's something to get at least a tiny bit excited about:

~Sobresto~

~Kellette's New {Air,6F} move & Slams~

You'll notice that this update goes without a lot of hype surrounding it. I have no intention of making a video update for this particular version.
There are a few simple reasons for this:
1 - Because of Blizzard's incompetence with the Captain model's animation&bones...I am now forced to REBUILD the unit's animations which mean that Sobresto's original 10move roster was cut down to...Fucking three. This is a good thing in the long run, since it means that (despite the animations GOING to be lazy) Sobresto will be a bit less lazy than original intended in his move roster.
2 - Because certain content is going to radically change between v0.7 and v0.8, I have no desire to make a comprehensive video to cover a lot of things. Sobresto himself is among this damn list.
4 - The biggest change to v0.7 despite the MASSIVE amount of new additions&content added is still the CLEANUP of the engine and just how smoothly the game [WORKS] now. This is not something that can be very well shown off in a video, as nearly all the major visual problems were worked out in either v0.5 or v0.6
5 - But the major problem is the new content:

5a. Sobresto, despite his actual lazy intentions, is effectively too incomplete to be worth showing off. He is EFFECTIVELY only good for showcasing the outfit selection...And his outfits aren't that worth showing off as-is.
5b. The new {Molten Cave} stage hazard, all the new sound effects and sound improvements, the improved stage render&stage lighting effects&SFX for being ringed out...Those are all cool...Not worth an entire video on. Again, v0.8 can show this off WHILE showing off other things.
5c. So the most major addition to the game are Slams and Kellette's Air {6F}. Which is actually awesome and it does showcase the SECOND move to be tied to {F} while airborne, showing that combos function the same in-air as they do on-ground and that there is no extra struggle to use them.

Basically v0.8 is going to be so much better than v0.7 that there's really no point making hype videos for a map nobody plays that's going to get another major update around the start of September.

Until next time! Hope you enjoy if you actually played. If not; hope you keep looking at updates til it looks good enough to play.

HeartCardian · Oct 22, 2017

Not a full update or anything this time. Just wanted to do a small hype post for next month's v0.8
I mentioned that v0.7 got very little hype material and no trailers because of how much some things will change in v0.8

One of those changes is Kellette's model getting one final massive revamp. There will be no more improvements to the model for the far foreseeable future.

On the left will be the old model&texture used in v0.7 and on the right will be the new model with it's new texture:
New hair, new shoes, more ribbons, redone open collar, better lightmapping, newly made mouth&lips, mouth articulation, improved textures.

And of course, for those wondering. Don't worry. v0.8 has more ACTUAL content as well. I was just really excited about this.

The model had ooooone more major change to it.

It might have gotten finger articulation.
But shhhh
Don't tell anybody.

HeartCardian · Nov 21, 2017

Warrior Souls II v0.8
~Oh God the Fireworks are on Fire~ Edition

This update was meant to:
...Uh...
IT WASN'T MEANT TO DO JACK ANYMORE.
Everything MEANT for this update was added to v0.7 at the last minute.
SHAZBOT.

~ PRETTY FIREWORKS UPDATE INSTEAD ~
- Opening taunts & victory animations Unique to each character.
- Massive UI improvements.
- 2 new moves for Kellette for hitting Sidestepping heathens.
- Despite all the insane amount of increased model size, new animations, more articulation, and so on and so forth...The map is actually only 60KB larger post-compression.
v0.7 was 1.77MB and v0.8 is 1.86MB. THIS IS GOOD NEWS, size is less of a concern than initially thought.
- Kellette final model upgrade(Hair,Collar, Face, Shoes, Arms, Fingers).

And of course lastly :
v0.8 Abridged Changelog of noticeable things

!+! Matches now begin with opening taunts and end with Victory animations.
_____Each Character will have atleast ~~two~~ possible opening/victory animations and several possible dialogue lines.
__________Dialogues depend on who the character is fighting.
_____Characters will have THREE victory animations.Random #1, Random #2, and "Critical Win" victory.
__________Critical Win animation plays when a characters wins the match with either:
_______________A. A score of 3-2
_______________B. Health under 25% in the final round.
!+! Opening Taunts are...Actually slightly dynamic in a way.
_____- The opening dialogue varies based on who your opponent is. This includes mirror matches.
_____- More interesting is actually Player 2's opening dialogue. They sometimes are RESPONSES to P1's opening dialogue.
__________Meaning that P2's Dialogue B will only play if Player 1's dialogue was randomly chosen to be Y instead of Z or X.

~ Prototype Skybox implementation
_____Something you'll immediately notice with the new selection screen is that there is now a moving skybox.
_____This has not been implemented in any stage yet, as it's purely a flat surface atm.
__________If nothing goes wrong, this will likely be included in v1.0 or shortly therafter.
~ UI Improvement #1 : Selection Screen
_____Both players now share the selection screen and can see each other's picks.
_____This is...Not a simple thing to explain so let me hit on it:
_____- This is aesthetically far more pleasing and conveys the game to new players better.
_____- The advantage to hiding your selection...Doesn't actually matter in PVP yet, because there are no selections.
__________Except stage, which is announced anyways.
~ UI Improvement #1b : Outfit Spin
_____During outfit selection, outfits will spin in a full 360 until selected.
~ UI Improvement #2 : Opening Information
_____Opening Animations now serve to tell you precisely:
_____- What oufit the opponent is using AND what general effect it has on that character (ie ATK+, Weight+, etc)
_____- What weapon the opponent is using and what effect it has on that character.

_____This is completely useless atm since PVP still allows Defaults only, but it may be useful in the future.
~ Model Improvement : Kellette(All Outfits)
_____Kellette's model has undergone what should be her final aesthetic update. Consisting of:
_____- Seperated the arms from the torso, no more polygon tearing in some animations.
_____~~- Improved hair texture.~~
_____- Rebuilt the hair entirely.
_____- Improved collar region.Now shows the transition from chest to neck. Really just looks better.
_____- JAW ARTICULATION.
__________Again this is another thing important for future models and the Knight's Pledge spinoff.
_____- Also teeth now. For obvious reasons...
_____- Added cheek&lip articulation for better facial expressions.
_____- Added 10 finger articulation, a vast improvement over the previous OvenGlove-tier articulation.
_____- Rebuilt shoes entirely.
~ Texture Improvement : Kellette (All Outfits)
_____- Among the corrections are:
__________* Eye balls getting hardshading alongside their lightmapping. Barely noticable.
__________* The face's skintone now matches the rest of the body. No more ghost face.
__________* Lips were improved. No more black line since she has a proper mouth now.
__________* Because of the finalized lightmapping, Several things have had texture shading removed or reduced.
~ A few bug fixes.
_____- Player 2 can now win matches...Like actually win them.
_____- Round end/start is faster now and less finnicky about special effects.
_____- Health bars now scale down faster, which makes them far more accurate in the midst of damage.
_____- They also drop to zero instantly upon an edge now. Don't know why I didn't do this.
_____- They also continue to drop even if the round timer is up or you're killed.

+ Several new Ground Attacks for Kellette:
_____{8F} : Vertical Slash to Kellette's left, does not hit anyone infront of her. Turns to her left.
_____{2F} : Vertical Slash to Kellette's Right, does not hit anyone infront of her. Turns to her right.
__________These two moves should help radically punish the overuse of sidestepping.
__________This is also because they are THE fastest moves in the game, landing a hit after only 0.3 seconds.
_______________This means they are actually FASTER than any jab.
__________This is fine however, because neither move should (reasonably) hit anyone infront of her.
_______________Unless they're pointlessly walking into her and doing nothing else.
_______________At that point, you deserved to be hit.
__________Both of these moves can be practiced used the AI F5+F4=Sidestep functionality.

HeartCardian · Mar 3, 2018

Warrior Souls II v1.01
~Launch~ Edition

This update was meant to:
LAUNCH THE GAME

[big]~ NUCLEAR CONTENT UPDATE DETECTED ~[/big]
- You can pick your CPU dummy to slap around. And their outfit/weapon.
- Massive UI improvements. See what you're actually doing wrong with inputs.
- 100% Functional Hitbox detection for Low/Mid/High hitboxes.
- Crouching&Shorthopping are now tied to arrows. They are not a part of the guard button anymore.
- 6 new moves for Kellette
- Outfit and Weapon selection for PVP (Kellette Only)
- A fifth stage was added "Salt Prison". IT'S A CAGE MATCH.
- Each stage has it's own unique ambient noise. AND has selected it's own background music(Ctrl+M to disable).
_____NOTE: They suck. This is WC3's music, and it's not great. If development continues, expect them to be replaced.

[big]Stage 5 - "Salt Prison" & Outfit 2 "Sundress"[/big]

I had a lot of fun making this stage.
...As a matter of fact.
I had TOO much fun. There's WAY too much to this stage that you can BARELY see through the cage bars.
I intend to make a new cage model for v1.1 if I ever make that version. But I also intend to do a lot of things with the stages if I ever make a v1.1
So who knows?

v1.01 Abridged Changelog

!+! CPU Character Select has been added.
_____If the game is single player, then after you pick your Character/Outfit/Weapon
_____You will then pick out the CPU's Character/Outfit/Weapon.

_____NOTE: CPU F1~F5 Key commands only work best when the CPU is Kellette.
_____Sobresto&Mina will both be glitchy as hell when used with them.
_____Sobresto doesn't even have a crouch animation.
!+! Kellette's 2nd Outfit "Sundress" has been added!
_____{Matios Dress}____: 1.2acb| 15% Drag | 2000HP
_____{Sundress}________: 0.4acb| 10% Drag | 1850HP
!+! Outfit&Weapon selection are now available in 2Player mode.
!+! Hit Region detection has been fully implemented.
!+! The 5th Stage "Salt Prison"
_____You cannot be ringed out in this arena, no matter what...But on the otherhand...
!+! Wall Hits
_____For stages that have walls, knocking an opponent into those walls with atleast 150j of knockback is a "Wall Hit".
_____- The damage dealt is 3% of the character's maximum life. Unaffected by Weapon Damage.
_____- You deal an ADDITIONAL bit of damage equal to 10% of the velocity remaining on the character when they hit the wall.
__________Tapping the {S} Guard button within 0.15 seconds of hitting the wall will reset you into a Standing Guard.
__________Tapping too early will disable this feature until you are fully on the ground...And too late does nothing.

~ UI Improvement #1 : Stats screen
_____Where a hero's STR/AGI/INT would be displayed in WC3, player will now use this for useful information:
_____- Velocity (V) - : Shows how much velocity (vertically) is on your character atm.
_____- Velocity (H) - : Shows how much velocity (horizontally) is on your character atm.
_____- Flinch - : Shows how many milliseconds are remaining on your flinch OR Attack commit duration.
_____- Health - : The exact amount of health remaining on your character.
_____- Mana - : Unused thus far.

_____Note that this is just helpful information. You can ignore it.
~ UI Improvement #2 :
_____- Armor - : Displays your current arrow input.
__________This can help you get a better grasp on the timing for inputs overall.
_____Likewise it can help you know if you've input something incorrectly without using it.
~ Model Improvement :
_____- Better facial expressions and figure Proportions
_____- Shading looks better than in v0.8
~ Crouch&ShortHop are no longer button combinations. Sidestepping is now minorly altered.
_____- Crouch is now performed by tapping the Down arrow. Currently crouch-Guards(will be altered later).
_____- ShortHop is now performed by tapping the Up arrow.
_____- Sidestepping is now performed by tapping Up or Down [while] you are already moving left or right.
__________You can release the left&right arrows once you start moving and still be able to sidestep.
~ Standing Guard no longer blocks moves that ONLY hit your Lower hitbox zone(below thighs).
~ Crouch no longer blocks moves with Negative Vertical Velocity.
_____Think of this as "if it hits your head before your body, you can't crouch guard it".
~ New Animations
_____- Wall hit animation
_____- Many animation improvements.
~ Input Engine
_____- Now inputs register [no matter what] is going on.
_____- The input engine & Crouching now works FASTER and MORE ACCURATE.
_____- Inputs are no longer held indefinitely by holding down the button. This caused a lot of problems.
__________Arrow inputs now work same as most fighting games. They last 0.25 seconds after you push them.
__________Thus 0.25 seconds without a button input resets them to empty.

+ Several(6) new Ground Attacks for Kellette:
_____{6F,F} : Backstep + Instant Knockdown on the target. High Damage
_____{6F,R} : Followup low-damage forward kick dealing 400j knockback (nearly same as 4D).
__________This WILL ring out if used against the edge EVEN if guarded.
__________Both of these moves can only be used after SUCCESSFULLY landing {6F}.
_____{6D} : Low swipe. Low damage. Low knockback.
_____{Crouch,2D} : Crouch horizontal attack (magic).
_____{Crouch,2F} : Crouch vertical attack.
_____{Crouch,2R} : Crouch jab. *Previously {3R}.
_____{5F,4F} : Powerful followup Slash. Knockdown, High Damage, Unblockable, Slow as balls.

HeartCardian · Jun 22, 2018

Warrior Souls II v1.10
~An Update that has Ascended past an Update~ Edition

This update added:
- 1 new outfit to Kellette
- 5 new moves to Kellette
- 2 new stages with unique effects
- Guardbreakers
- The second playable character : Sobresto Valiet
- Four weapons, Four Outfits, 27 moves for Sobresto.

This also marks the end of this project at this time. My situation has changed and I'm moving on to creating bigger things.
If people want to see Warrior Souls 2 receive further updates, I've created a Patreon page for it they can pledge to. If there's enough demand, I'll keep pumping out more content: HeartCard is creating Warrior Souls | Patreon
I'll also be pushing the map publicly for once during the next week to give it a fair chance to catch people's attention.
But if nothing happens, then this is the end. I can say that I've done what no one else has with Warcraft 3, and I'm damn proud of that.
I was certain this project would break me long ago. That I simply couldn't do some of the ideas I wanted to. I've succeeded beyond my own expectations, so I have no regrets ending it here.

n00b · Jul 13, 2018

Played this a few times so I'm gonna dump my thoughts here, also I don't know a single thing about fighting games so feel free to take this post with a grain of salt

overall the game feels unresponsive at times, possibly due to the inherent arrow key input delay, but sometimes it feels like your character just doesn't move at all even when pressing the arrow keys

not really a fan of how the directional input resets to 5 after a short period. For instance you can't do a 6D/F/R move by walking forward for a couple of seconds then pressing D/F/R. Instead you have to press the direction and the attack button at roughly the same time which seems pretty unintuitive to me (then again I don't play fightan games lel)

everything about this game feels extremely sluggish, including the movement speed of the player and the speed of the animations; everything is so goddamn slow that it feeds into the feeling that the controls are unresponsive even more. As I've said, I don't know a thing about Soulcalibur, but watching a gameplay video of it makes me think you should speed up literally every player action in Warrior Souls by about 2x

animations aren't very good, mostly because they lack any sort of impact/force. All I can really say is that you should study the animations in Soulcalibur more and try to closely emulate them. I think my biggest gripe with your animations is the lack of detail you put into leg and torso movements, but I'm not gonna go much into detail at risk of being too fucking long-winded lel

visual effects and sound effects are totally lacking. Tbh I'm just watching this random Soulcalibur gameplay there are sound effects for just about everything: slightly different swing sounds for each character, differing impact sounds for kicks/swords, ground impacts, and probably some more shit. While I'm not expecting your map to have AAA levels of sound/sfx design, your map's effects should at the very least convey that your character is swinging a sword and not a potato. Also BristlebackMissileLaunch or whatever it's called is not a good swing sound effect at all lel

map is also seemingly leaky as fuck seeing as how you get stuck in a black screen when it ends. Give me an unprotected version and I could check your map for leaks but I'm lazy

there's also a bunch of glitches that aren't necessarily game breaking, but rather they're just obnoxious. Some examples:
- sometimes your character ends up rolling for no particular reason
- you can roll through walls on the cage stage
- in the character/stage selection screen, sometimes the game doesn't allow you to confirm your selection for whatever reason
- animations can be REALLY fucky at times, here's an example in one of your videos

anyway I can at least appreciate that you've made an 'alternative' map instead of making the n millionth generic hero arena/TD/vampirism/AoS/risk/etc. in existence, but I'd say this map needs a lot of work

also i'm gonna dump another 3d fightin map here which I think you could take some pointers from. I haven't even played this map more than 2 times but I think its controls are noticeably better and the pacing of the gameplay is pretty gud (i.e. it's not slow as all fuck). movelists of the characters aren't nearly as detailed but watev
[Minigame] - Fighting for Azeroth 3D

cant think of anything else to say ok bye

HeartCardian · Jul 15, 2018

n00b said:
also I don't know a single thing about fighting games so feel free to take this post with a grain of salt
everything about this game feels extremely sluggish, including the movement speed of the player and the speed of the animations; everything is so goddamn slow that it feeds into the feeling that the controls are unresponsive even more. As I've said, I don't know a thing about Soulcalibur, but watching a gameplay video of it makes me think you should speed up literally every player action in Warrior Souls by about 2x

This is something I want to hit on first, and that's your own personal bias here.
Most attacks hit between 0.4~0.6 seconds into their animation, much like Soul Calibur has it. The guard&flinch amounts are also based around this same time frame.

What I mean by bias is simple; If you almost never play fighting games, then they surely seem faster-paced to you than they actually are. When it's you controlling it, however, the game will feel slower because your brain is compensating for it so that you can react in time to things. It's just like how DDR/ProjectDiva seem very overwhelming to people who don't play DDR/PD.

n00b said:
overall the game feels unresponsive at times, possibly due to the inherent arrow key input delay, but sometimes it feels like your character just doesn't move at all even when pressing the arrow keys

1. Much like Soul Calibur, there is a 1/10th of a second delay between pressing an arrow key and actually beginning to move. This is intentional so that you won't mess up your spacing for moves that require arrow inputs such as 236F,4F, or 214F on Kellette.
2. There are many situations where you CANNOT move at all by design. All the moves have a commit to them that prevents movement. Likewise when you are hit, you will be able to guard BEFORE you will be able to move.
All of #2 can actually be covered by the UI showing you precisely when you can move. The INT stat was replaced with "Flinch/Commit", when that is ZERO you will be able to move(after 0.1 seconds).
3. The animation engine is not perfect, and idle animations&walk animations take the largest hit from it since they are handled separately. This means that you will sometimes move without any animation until it's time to loop the animation...However, if you pay attention to the background of the stage or the floor or your opponent then it will be very easy to see that you are still moving even though the animation isn't playing for it.

n00b said:
not really a fan of how the directional input resets to 5 after a short period. For instance you can't do a 6D/F/R move by walking forward for a couple of seconds then pressing D/F/R. Instead you have to press the direction and the attack button at roughly the same time which seems pretty unintuitive to me (then again I don't play fightan games lel)

Much like Soul Claibur your arrow inputs will reset after 0.25 seconds without a new input.
Likewise the idea of storing an input was discarded as of v1.01 since it caused a host of internal problems.

n00b said:
animations aren't very good, mostly because they lack any sort of impact/force. All I can really say is that you should study the animations in Soulcalibur more and try to closely emulate them. I think my biggest gripe with your animations is the lack of detail you put into leg and torso movements, but I'm not gonna go much into detail at risk of being too fucking long-winded lel

Kellette has three outfits now. The last of which is just her underwear...You can pick that outfit to see just how [absurd] the amount of detail in every animation actually is. There are almost no frames where [any] part of her body is not moved by her actions.
And if you want to compare the animations of WS2 to Soul Calibur, look no further than any animation of Kellette on the ground while rolling/backrolling/etc.
Unlike Soul Calibur, her sword [never] goes beneath the ground. It is kept level with her heel [at most] in all animations on the ground, rather than just going THROUGH the floor the way Soul Calibur does for nearly every character even in as late an installment as SC5.

n00b said:
visual effects and sound effects are totally lacking. Tbh I'm just watching this random Soulcalibur gameplay there are sound effects for just about everything: slightly different swing sounds for each character, differing impact sounds for kicks/swords, ground impacts, and probably some more shit. While I'm not expecting your map to have AAA levels of sound/sfx design, your map's effects should at the very least convey that your character is swinging a sword and not a potato.

What more visual effects would you want exactly? There's already effects to distinguish Normal/GuardBreaker/Unblockable moves. Dashing or being knocked back with enough force creates a dust cloud on the ground. Hitting the ground with enough velocity makes a shockwave that's stage-specific to signify the impact damage you take.

The sound system for WS2 is DYNAMIC and a LOT of things change it, it's been this way since the sound system was added around v0.6
- The weight of your weapon affects the pitch of the sound effect for both swing&hit.
- Counter Hits(during your opponent's Attack Commit) deal more damage ALONG with having a lower pitch and higher sound volume.
- The sound pitch goes lower and the volume goes higher during the last 10 seconds of a round AND if your health is under 20%.
- Each individual move can also set it's own unique pitch&volume to the sound effects.

This is on top of the sound effects themselves being cycled between 3+1 categories of Slash/Impale/Hit/Magic. Of which, each has a "Light" and "Heavy" category with 3 sounds each. From there, individual moves can change the pitch or volume to further diversify them. In essence, Kellette's moveset uses {[(3)x2]x3}=18 different sound effects not counting magic attacks. This is dynamic for both the [swing] and [hit] sound effects, mind you.

Again, what more do you want? The only way to enhance this further would be to add custom sound clips for swing&hit sound effects...Which is going to quickly bulk up the filesize.

n00b said:
there's also a bunch of glitches that aren't necessarily game breaking, but rather they're just obnoxious. Some examples:
- sometimes your character ends up rolling for no particular reason
- you can roll through walls on the cage stage
- in the character/stage selection screen, sometimes the game doesn't allow you to confirm your selection for whatever reason

This would actually be helpful...If you had elaborated on it. WHEN does a character roll out of the blue? Are you doing anything at that moment? Does it just happen while standing perfectly still? Is it right after rolling a moment ago? Is it as soon as you hit the floor?
It's clearly not something I encountered while solo testing, so unless there's context I cannot do anything about it.

n00b said:
- animations can be REALLY fucky at times

The instance you're talking about is a problem with the way the camera works more than the animation. Which is something I've said for quite awhile needs a lot of work to fix.

n00b said:
also i'm gonna dump another 3d fightin map here which I think you could take some pointers from. I haven't even played this map more than 2 times but I think its controls are noticeably better and the pacing of the gameplay is pretty gud (i.e. it's not slow as all fuck). movelists of the characters aren't nearly as detailed but watev

What exactly would I take pointers from this map on? Should I sincerely double the animation speed of WS2? Is that it? Make it so that attacks hit after just 0.2 seconds after they start, leaving no time to guard/crouch/shorthop to avoid the damage?

n00b · Jul 15, 2018

Fair enough on some of those points, as I've said I don't know a shit about fighting games so I can't really criticize the mechanics, but I still think the game is slow as fuck, and I'm pretty sure my perception isn't being distorted as you seem to think m8

I'm just watching this random ass soulcalibur 5 gameplay and it doesn't really take an expert to see how fast the pace of the game is in comparison to your map. At the very least, in WS2 where it feels like nobody has any mobility whatsoever, I think you should increase movement speed and not make dash slow as piss. It also doesn't really help that most attacks keep you planted in the same position, even when they should otherwise make you step forward a bit. As far as I can tell, SC5 has all these subtle movements on each attack which is kool and definitely seems to make the characters a bit more mobile

Probably my biggest gripe with this game is just the visual/audial details. As much as you want to boast about how much detail is in the character animations, it doesn't really change the fact that they look INCREDIBLY stiff. I'm just gonna use Kellette's 5F as an example: there's like no fucking sense of weight to the swing at all, which I'd attribute most to (a) how pitifully slow she's swinging the sword, (b) the not so good leg posing and (c) all the missed opportunities where you could've rotated the chest bone to make certain keyframes look a lot 'stronger'

Like in the windup of the swing (frames 29300/29350) you could've rotated the chest bone like 60 degrees z-axis wise and it'd look better m8. Right arm could be rotated back more to exaggerate the windup even more. Leg posing looks pretty weak, could exaggerate by making the left leg bend at like a 90 degree angle (which you'd then obviously have to rotate the right leg to accomodate this change). Pretty sure frame 29500 could benefit from rotating the chest bone by like 30 degrees y-axis wise, along with other adjustments. The apex of the swing (frame 29900) kinda looks shitty just because her arm just abruptly stops moving. The arm should either have some recoil due to the sudden change in speed, or it should gradually come to a halt. The leg posing in this frame looks slightly dumb due to the legs being rotated inwards. Also I'd probably make the legs spread out just a bit more. I could go on for fucking ever and I'd probably be better off just making my own rendition on how I think the 5F animation should look like, since it's hard to describe an animation in words (too bad I'm lazy as shit lel)

Anyway, compound that with the fact that you're using BristlebackMissileLaunch as a swing effect, which isn't really befitting of a sword swing whatsoever (sounds more throwing knife/dart-like), the attack just looks and sounds really lame. A lot of the sound effects that you've chosen don't really give me the impression that any of these attacks have any weight to them, and then there's some sound effects seem outright fucking wrong, like using fan of knives hit for kicks (wtf). tbh only advice I can give to you is to just study the sound effects used in soulcalibur and try to emulate it as closely as possible

Other than unblockable moves I don't really see you using much sfx at all; pls throw in some on-hit effects, some swing trail effects, or literally anything that could add any sort of flair to the currently barren visuals. Again, even sfx can contribute to an attack's feeling of weight which most attacks in the game are utterly lacking in

anyway i sincerely doubt that using imported sound effects is gonna bloat the map's filesize too much unless you import like fuckin 50+ files. And even if you do, you have like 128mb to work with

as for the random rolling glitch, it happens in this replay Replay also pretty sure redruby is you anyway :^)

noob2 · Jul 15, 2018

"What exactly would I take pointers from this map on? Should I sincerely double the animation speed of WS2? Is that it? Make it so that attacks hit after just 0.2 seconds after they start, leaving no time to guard/crouch/shorthop to avoid the damage?"
0.2 seconds seems a sufficient time.
some fighting games are a lot faster than others.

HeartCardian · Jul 15, 2018

n00b said:
Fair enough on some of those points, as I've said I don't know a shit about fighting games so I can't really criticize the mechanics, but I still think the game is slow as fuck, and I'm pretty sure my perception isn't being distorted as you seem to think m8
I'm just watching this random ass soulcalibur 5 gameplay and it doesn't really take an expert to see how fast the pace of the game is in comparison to your map.

Siegfried - Frame Data - SC5
The IMP(frames til impact) of most of Siegfried's moveset is 18~34, which is equivalent to 0.3~0.55 seconds.
Counting her Jabs, that's the same timeframe most of Kellette's moveset will hit in.

n00b said:
As much as you want to boast about how much detail is in the character animations, it doesn't really change the fact that they look INCREDIBLY stiff. I'm just gonna use Kellette's 5F as an example: there's like no fucking sense of weight to the swing at all, which I'd attribute most to (a) how pitifully slow she's swinging the sword, (b) the not so good leg posing and (c) all the missed opportunities where you could've rotated the chest bone to make certain keyframes look a lot 'stronger'

But 5F isn't a "Strong" move to begin with. It is, at best, a glancing blow. It deals mediocre damage, terrible knockback, and does not launch anyone. Because 5F is something you use to transition into [5F,F] or [5F,4F] or [5F,D]. It's the [neutral] vertical move, it should not be a significant move on it's own. You could have done this comparison to [236F] or [214F] or [4F...F...F] or [Air,6F] or even [Air,6R] and yet...You didn't. You picked 5F. You're complaining that a slap doesn't have the animation of a shoryuken...but it's a slap.

[5F,D] is also worth noting, because it's a move that you complained about not existing: One that moves you from using it. [5F,D] moves you slightly forward and [6F,F] makes you hop backwards. There's also [7F] and [1F] that move you left/right after use, since they're meant to counter sidestepping.
Excluding Aerials and Crouch moves, Kellette has 4 of her 13 ground moves make her change her position. If the map were developed further, it's natural she would gain more moves. Going by that rate, everytime she gets 3 new moves; 1 of them would move her.

n00b said:
Anyway, compound that with the fact that you're using BristlebackMissileLaunch as a swing effect, which isn't really befitting of a sword swing whatsoever (sounds more throwing knife/dart-like), the attack just looks and sounds really lame. A lot of the sound effects that you've chosen don't really give me the impression that any of these attacks have any weight to them, and then there's some sound effects seem outright fucking wrong, like using fan of knives hit for kicks (wtf). tbh only advice I can give to you is to just study the sound effects used in soulcalibur and try to emulate it as closely as possible

How would I emulate it more closely with WC3's sound library? Again, the ONLY solution better would be to add in my own custom sounds.
You're talking about adding 18 new sound clips to the map just to cover the swing sound effects. That's not counting the hit(which is intended to be separated by armor level) or guard hit(separated into three types as well) sound effects. Yes, that would be around 50+ sound clips.

n00b said:
anyway i sincerely doubt that using imported sound effects is gonna bloat the map's filesize too much unless you import like fuckin 50+ files. And even if you do, you have like 128mb to work with

128mb is a dead map on bnet. The average person is not going to sit around to download that for a 1v1 map they've never heard of just to try it out. The MORE the filesize gets bloated, the LESS inclined people will be to try something.

n00b · Jul 15, 2018

good thing I wasn't talking about attack startup times?? again I was talking about the movement speed/mobility of the characters

anyway, just because it's a light attack doesn't mean it should look weak as fuck man. I'm not sure what more I can even say if you honestly believe WS2's animation work is amazing as you think it is. this is coming from someone who makes a shitton of custom animations for his maps and has been doing so for a while
I'm not a fucking expert whatsoever but I can just intuitively tell most of your animations are totally lacking in emphasis in many keyframes. Pretty sure even a person who doesn't pay attention to animations would tell you how stiff they look. I'm watching some moveset videos and EVEN THE LIGHTER STRIKES have a decent amount of emphasis on their windups and torso movement and such
You may not see it since some animations in SC5 are pretty quick, but a good keyframe that appears for even just a split second can change the quality of an animation pretty easily. I've had tons of these epiphanies where I'd just make a minor change to a keyframe and it'd make the animation look 10x better overall. In your case you could prob change the torso movements in your animations and they'd look a bit better (although I still think there's a ton of fundamental issues with your animations that can't just be quickly fixed up)

Pls study the animations of soulcalibur more my man. Download a goddamn moveset video and look at each animation frame-by-frame and compare them to your animations. After you do that, if you honestly think your animations can't be improved further then I'm just gonna give up m8 i'm getting too lazy to write these replies anyway

also, making the sound effects better isn't even a matter of spamming the fuck out of custom sounds dude. Layering wc3 sounds + custom sounds together is more than enough. My map doesn't use any more than 15 custom sounds and it's like 7mb, which would be halved if it wasn't for the music

HeartCardian · Jul 15, 2018

Either you're lazy, or you're not. Pick one. You've invested a pretty substantial amount of effort for someone trying to claim they're lazy.
I've heard what you have to say, and your "laziness" deters me from considering it further. Most of what you've said is too easily refuted to take seriously. If that's because you're too lazy to open the map in single player to make sure of what you've said, then why would there be any validity to what you say? And if that's not why, then it means you have not engaged me genuinely...which still means there is little validity to what you say.
Frankly, it's hard to tell which is the case here since most of your arguments seem like strawmen. Oh, your magical ultra instinct just instantly tells you my animations are wrong? Well, let me just yield full agency to your magical instinct that you cannot so much as validate to me.

Like this:

n00b said:
good thing I wasn't talking about attack startup times?? again I was talking about the movement speed/mobility of the characters
previous posts
- (a) how pitifully slow she's swinging the sword,
- everything about this game feels extremely sluggish, including the movement speed of the player and the speed of the animations; everything is so goddamn slow that it feeds into the feeling that the controls are unresponsive even more. As I've said, I don't know a thing about Soulcalibur, but watching a gameplay video of it makes me think you should speed up literally every player action in Warrior Souls by about 2x

Ah, I suppose I should look up the definition of "everything" then...Or you're just backtracking.

I can't help but notice that you're still on about [5F] and still not saying anything about [214F], [236F], [4F], [5F,4F], [4F...F...F], [6F,F], [Air,6F], or [Air,6R]...It's almost like you're focusing on the literal oldest move in the game because it's the ONLY one convenient for your argument.
Also can't help but notice you've yet to address what I said about Kellette while on the ground compared to Soul Calibur...Or make ANY comment about the way the hair/dress/breasts move during attacks despite the fact that it has to be manually animated since we have no physics engine...Something Soul Calibur cannot claim.
MOST of what you have to say can honestly be dressed down to just "I don't like it", such as your reaction to there being a 0.1 second delay before starting to walk around.
Hell, you called the dash slow; yet a close-range dash can be used to literally get behind someone before they can turn around. Kellette's dash in the sundress can actually cover 20% of most of the maps per use...Unless you've been picking the default outfit with the "Thorned Love" weapon, thus adding weight and slowing down your dash. Pick the Unprepared&HareTie outfit+weapon and you'll see just how far that dash can take you...Of course you'll also be equally easy as hell to knock out of the ring because of that same lack of weight.

So sincerely; If you're going to be lazy, then commit to your laziness and put 0% effort out. If you're not going to be that extent of laziness, then engage me genuinely. Balls out or pants up, lad.

Reputation Generator · Jul 17, 2018

i have only one question: do gravity and wind strength in stage affect on something?

HeartCardian · Jul 17, 2018

Reputation Generator said:
i have only one question: do gravity and wind strength in stage affect on something?

Absolutely, yes.
Gravity affects how quickly an airborne character falls. This means, for stages with higher gravity than normal:
- You won't jump as high & your jumps won't last as long.
- Your launchers won't launch as high and you'll have less time to juggle off them.

The same is true for "wind strength", but for knockback/dashing instead of launchers/jumps. High Wind means:
- You won't dash as far
- Your moves won't knock your opponent back as much.

The best comparison to see this with is "Molten Cave"(high gravity, low wind) compared to "Storm Guide"(low gravity, high wind).
"Glacier Field" is also fun to mess with though, because it has negative wind. Making knockback [much greater] than in other stages.

HeartCardian · Jul 29, 2018

The map is now autohosted if anyone wants to try it out. Just do
/whois DiscordBot
To find out the current room name.

HeartCardian · Aug 15, 2018

v1.15
~Patching Holes with Uranium~ Edition

So with WS2 v1.1 being the first version to actually get some play-testing online, a few things needed to be fixed.
This patch does exactly that...And a lot more...

As always, this is an abridged changelog. The full changelog can be found here : Warrior Souls II v1.15

The following are all changes that affect the game to it's very core.
@ Guard Delay
1 - Initial Guard Delay has been lowered from 0.35 seconds to 0.15 seconds(-0.20).
2 - End Guard delay has been maintained at 0.30 seconds(Due to Guard Success Cancel mechanic).
@ Time Out Wins
The HP of both players is now compared as a PERCENTAGE, not as flat numbers.
This means that characters with larger HP amounts do not win by default anymore.
@ Weight Impact (Knockback)&(Quickstep)
The value of weight when reducing knockback&quickstep has been reduced by 50%. Making Sobresto not a solid rock anymore.
@ Stage Floor Traction
To combat the reduced effectiveness of weight, all stages have gained a "Traction" stat.
This stat reduces knockback while you are NOT airborne.
@ Stage Wind changes:
- Now reduces your fall speed by 20% of stage wind.
- Does not reduce Positive Velocity. This means it no longer affects Quickstep.
@ Juggle Changes
- Whenever you are hit; your velocity will immediately be reduced to 50% BEFORE applying new velocity.
Both allowing EASIER juggles and making slams more difficult to perform.

!+! Guard (Success) Cancel - (GSC)
Whenever you SUCCESSFULLY block a move, any attempt to cancel your guard will result in an [Instant] guard cancel.
Meaning your guard will end after 0.05 seconds instead of 0.30 seconds.
This will allow you to punish far more effectively.
!+! Weight now affects walk speed.
Effectively, your walkspeed is multiplied by |{[(current weight-default weight)/default weight]/2}-1|.
Ergo Kellette using default outfit+Thorned Love weighs 106% of her normal weight, thus walks 3% slower(97%,3.88units)
Kellette using Unprepared+HareTie weighs 17.2acb 79% and thus walks 13% faster(113%,4.52units)

~ Sobresto Moveset Changes~
{Impaler,6F} : Dash increased from (200|400) to (300|500).
~ Movement Engine
Character walkspeed increased by 25% if you are only holding forward or backwards.
~ Minor internal data cleanup.
~ Lightmapping for Kellette's "Unprepared" outfit has been redone in a simplified(but better) form.

~ #2 Storm Guide :
- Platform size increased by 10%, from 300 to 330
- Gravity lowered from 97% to 95%
- Ambient lightning&thunder effect added, a bolt of lightning will strike next to the stage and light it up for a second.
The screen will shake and if any player is currently mid-air, it will flinch them.
Deals no damage, +200vertical velocity, but does knockdown.
Does nothing to players already flinching or standing still.
Specifically this will always happen at 50/30/10 seconds remaining in the round. It is not random.
~ #5 Salt Prison
- Camera improved so that the correct wall is always transparent.
- I cannot stress enough what a change this was to make.
~ #7 Twisted Field
- Gravity lowered from 92% to 89%

+ Character/Outfit/Weapon/Stage selection now has text displayed over the current selection for stats.
Stages show Size/Wind/Gravity
Weapons show Attack/Knockback/Weight/Size
Armors show ArmorLV/Weight/Air Drag

^ Previously, any player selecting a Character/Outfit/Weapon/Stage would sometimes lock out the other player from picking.
This has been fixed.
^ In general, the large variety of glitches that can cause you to be suddenly treated as knocked down have been fixed.
Of note is that this only applied once you were knocked down at least once in a match...In 2P mode only...
^ Jump Attacks no longer cause you to be knocked down afterwords.
^ Some attacks looping their animation once has been fixed.
For most attacks this was purely a visual bug.
STRANGELY ENOUGH, this was an ACTUAL attack loop for 6F if you just spammed F before the animation ended.
I was honestly tempted to keep this as a legitimate move...But it was dumb.
^ Kellette's magic attacks such as 236F or 4F sometimes did not play their special effect in 2P mode.
An attempt to fix this has been made, it's success cannot be known yet.
This is because there was simply no obvious reason for it to bug in the first place.
^ Some minor bugfixes have been applied to the sound engine.
Most of these will go unnoticed as they involve the dynamic changes.
However, many of these changes prevent sounds from being lost entirely due to glitches.
^ Severe internal changes to the input system should make it more consistent and reliable.
^ Fixed a slight typo causing Kellette's "Thorned Love" to have 270% knockback velocity instead of 70%.
^ You no longer start the match with the "restand" animation(rarely occured in v1.10)
^ You no longer start ANY round in a Knocked Down position(occured whenever you ended a round Knocked Down).
^ Counter Hits now display correctly same as they did in the version that introduced them.

Map is available on epicwar : Warrior Souls II (v1.12) - Warcraft 3 Maps - Epic War.com
And also has a bot hosting it on bnet! Just use "/whois DiscordBot" to find the current room name.

HeartCardian · Aug 29, 2018

v1.17
Patched version #2

~~This is a simple update to cover things that v1.15 failed to address due to...Well...Lack of playtesting.~~
This is an actual update that added major changes, rebalanced moves, and some severe QOL changes.

Sum up:
1. Added Armor system.
2. Both characters had their movelists rebalanced significantly.
3. Fixed some major bugs.
4. Cannot fix the sound problems, because that's up to Blizzard to fix.

TL;DR patch notes as follows. You can find the unabridged patchnotes...Elsewhere...

!@! Knockback is no longer PRE-EMPTIVELY reduced by your weight&mass formula before applying.
Thus it is now only reduced only WHILE being knocked back.

This is a pretty major change in the long term, because having this mechanic meant that heavier characters not only got knocked back less...
But rather that even in cases where they move ZERO distance, they still have an advantage.
A perfect example is how Ring-Outs work : You need to have ### horizontal joules when you hit the edge to be ringed out.
The problem with this example is that Sobresto will require [more] joules than Kellette does for a Ring-Out.
Because his weight&mass reduces any hit received more than Kellette would.
Even though RingOuts should serve as a COUNTER measure against characters with high HP&Armor...
Thus it has been corrected.
!@! The required knockback to achieve a ring-out has thus been raised by 50% to compensate for this.
Now a sane person might think it would make more sense to just reduce the knockback of all moves to compensate for this.
However, this allows larger knockback moves WITHOUT making ringouts so abundant.
!@! The armor LV system is now functional.
Once again, damage taken from hits(not the environment) is reduced by this formula:
105%-(10%*ArmorLevel).

Level:_____|LV4____|LV3____|LV2____LV1____|LV0
Reduction:_|-35%dmg|-25%dmg|-15%dmg|-5%dmg|+5%dmg
DMG Taken:_|65%dmg_|75%dmg_|85%dmg_|95%dmg|105%dmg

~ Kellette Moveset Changes~
_____{5F,F} "Ever" : Ending Lag increased from 0.1 to 0.2 seconds
_____{6F} "Butterflies" : Ending Lag increased from 0.3 to 0.5 seconds
_____{6F,F} "Too Shy" : Damage reduced from 100 to 80
_____{6F,R} "Expunge" : Damage reduced from 70 to 50

~ Sobresto Moveset Changes~
- Base Health lowered from 2500 to 2400.
- Overall damage of most moves reduced slightly(-5% to -15% depending on the move)
_____{5F} "Slash" : Damage reduced from 130 to 100.
_____{5F,F} "Chin Lift": No longer hits knocked down or crouching.
Launch reduced from 600 to 500.
Damage reduced from 110 to 90.
_____{2F} "Camp Nail" : Damage reduced from 110 to 100.
Ending lag increased from 0.5 to 0.7 seconds
_____{Impaler,6F} "Shield Breaker" : Ending lag increased from 0.2 to 0.5 seconds
Charge time increased by 33%.
_____{Impaler,6F...F} "Vampire Breaker" : Ending lag increased from 0.2 to 0.7 seconds
Charge time increased by 33%.
Damage reduced from 300 to 250.
Both moves have had hitbox corrections to be more accurate.
_____{Air,5F} "Stake Climb" : Damage reduced from 130 to 80.
_____{Air,2F} "Sun Ray" : Damage reduced from 150 to 130.
Can now only be performed if you have between +100 & -200 Vertical Velocity(apex of jump).

~ For AI Practice mode : F1 now makes the AI constantly walk toward the player if F5 is used first.
~ For AI Practice mode : The game now lists your current walk speed and that of the AI player as Gold/Lumber respectively.
Note that this value changes anytime something would affect your walk speed, such as walking forward/back or sidestepping.
~ The opening text when a match starts has been reduced.
This is honestly just to make it both less cluttered AND catch people's eye to the correct details. Like...
Map Name
Map Version
Discord link
~ "Your opponent has selected a Character/Outfit/Weapon" text has been removed.
This is...Pointless text. Like...OBVIOUSLY they picked something, or your selection would still be waiting for them.
And there's no MYSTERY to [what] they picked, since the screen in this version SHOWS you what they're about to pick.
~ When the arena is ACTUALLY chosen, the game will pause for a brief second and say which player's choice was used:
1. This makes it clear that it was RANDOMLY selected from both players.
This prevents new players from feeling like their choice just didn't matter.
2. This also gives a brief window to let the game NOT fuck up variables while loading shit.
Because THAT'S a thing for SOME reason.
~ The minimap now functions correctly showing "Warrior Souls II" correctly.
It also now shows the Discord link. Meaning the discord link is ALWAYS visible when playing the game.
~ Along with this came a dramatic change to the presentation of character select.
1 - The Character Select screen now has a visible background.
2 - The selection tile is now Snow instead of pure black. This provides better visibility.
3 - Background blue fog&clouds have been adjusted to be visible again.
4 - The overall visibility and brightness was tweaked to allow what you're picking to stand out more.
5 - This almost doesn't affect playable stages. However Ocean Emblem has a noticable shine increase on it's horizon.

^ Most bugs during selection regarding floating text have been fixed.
This was mostly just Mina & Stage #8 appearing as if they're selectable already when they...are not.
^ Fixed a timer bug where the timer would not display correctly until the other player made a selection.
Didn't actually cause any problems, but not visually appealing to see.
^ Fixed the input engine so that Player 2 can finally use diagonal inputs correctly such as 236F.
Specifically, for some bizarre reason, any input that involved the up&down arrows gave a reversed input.
So trying to do 236F would actually input 876F and thus nothing would happen.
^ Max HP is now set by the new functions rather than unit abilities.
There is no discernible difference other than a very minor reduction in memory leaks.
^ Fixed a bug with Kellette's {6F} move when trying to use a D input after; the move would loop by mashing D.
This is an oversight because {6F,F} was originally going to be {6F,D}. It has been corrected.

Map has been updated on the public hosting bot.

[Hero Arena] Warrior Souls II v1.17 (8-29-2018)

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