Dev Update #2

Hey everyone! I figured I'd drop a quick update on development and fill you in on what to expect in the next devlog.

So, let's hop in!

1) Corrections

So, a few things need to be corrected on some rigs still before they're 100% ready, and I luckily took time to think about future systems before finalizing everything (that's why all the animations are low quality, I threw most of them together in <10 mins in case I needed to do any final changes to the rigs)

The first thing I need to do is add a Camera bone to each rig. This way, I can create camera animations inside of blender for specific actions, and then export that animation as a bone to be read in Unreal. I can use this for reaction commands, cutscene transitions, and anything that requires the camera to change, really.

Additionally, I'm moving the hitbox bones from the sword skeletal meshes to the player skeletal meshes. Remember how I said Sora's hitboxes are disjointed from his Keyblade? Well, upon closer inspection, the distance between his blade and the hitboxes seems to vary depending on the attack being used. Therefor, I'm moving the sword hitbox bones to the player character, so that I can animate the distance between the bones and the sword. 

2) Next Steps

My next challenge is going to be creating an "Actions" system that handles what the player is currently doing and how inputs should be read. Basically, I'm going to create a library of moves with their own conditions and properties as independent components, so that I can add new moves to the game without having to modify any existing code.

Once my actions system is complete, I'll have to create a system for registering hits during attacks and have enemies react to being attacked. Then, I'll be creating the game's base three-hit combo.

3) Major Changes

The other big thing I'd like to get done by the next update is Blood Crisis' parry system. In KH2, Sora's guard is his primary defensive tool throughout the game, and I wanted to put a heavier emphasis parries, so I'm changing/replacing Guard with a quick parry which can be used mid-combo, but does not use up a hit in your combo. A successful parry will work much the same way a successful guard by providing the player with a short window of invincibility. Unlike guard, however, a successful parry can instantly be canceled to continue a combo or into another parry. Every time a parry is landed during a combo, it provides a slight damage boost for the rest of that combo.

This will offer a 3 layer risk-vs-reward option when dealing with enemies who have long, multi-hit combos: you could be safe and land a few well-spaced parries to keep you alive, you could weave parries into your combo to provide safety while attacking, or you could try to parry every single hit in the combo, giving you a huge damage boost on your follow-up attack.

This is a shit ton of work, obviously, so I'm not sure how much of this will end up in Devlog #2, but I wanted to give y'all a heads up on development and let you know what I'm working on. 

I'll be posting updates as they become relevant, stay tuned :)