Dear Aspirants!

Time for the second preview on The Spectacles Update -- this time we are revealing & highlighting some of the more Character-related features.

Physics Melee Bundle

Before we start, I'm super happy to announce our first bundle. We are teaming up with Hellish Quart, made by Kubold, another small indie. Its an amazing physics based fencing game, and if you like WWAATD you should definitely try it. If you already own one of the games you can still pick up the other, at a 10% discount!

This is also a fantastic way to share our games with others, since both of us very much rely on word of mouth. Please put out the word! Thank you <3

Click this image to be taken to the bundle page:

Skill Overhaul

The Spectacles Update introduces a Skill Overhaul. It tweaks and changes almost every area related to skills. The way Skills actually affect combat, AI skills balance and how training affects skill have been balanced/adjusted.

One big thing we wanted to do is make Stamina less dominant as a skill. While still important, Stamina is now less frustrating and overwhelming in combat, assuming you keep an eye on your character's loadout and general situation.

In the Armory, you can now switch between the Shop and the Character Overview panel, which is a nice QoL feature. This overview shows your characters current status.

AI Overhaul

I'm happy to reveal we have made some serious game-changing progress on the AI side of things.

Steering Behaviour

We've added something called Blended Steering Behaviors. (inspired by a study about wolf hunting patterns!) This solves the problem of excessive friendly fire, erratic movement and tons of bumping into each other.

We gave each NPC two rules to follow: They have to separate from their allies (red line) and seek their target (green line). Blending these two behaviors (white line), results in an emergent surround and much smarter and less reckless movement.

By tuning the parameters we can also make AI seem more aggressive or cautious. Some emergent dodging even occurred during testing.
While this affects all combat scenarios, 1 vs many scenarios now especially feel less random and more like a puzzle to solve.

Weight & Dynamic Turn Speed

Previously all equipment had a "Stamina Regen" debuff, we've taken that as a base and expanded it into the starts of a weight and encumbrance system.
Now this weight affects the AI in a new way.

One major flaw in WWAATD so far was the NPCs have a 100% sticky turn rate towards their target. In other words, you can't really flank them. Especially when that NPC is carrying a large shield, its particularly hard to find an opening. All that has changed now.
All NPCs now have a turn speed that changes based on the current action, skills and (especially) weight. (As you may have picked up, we designed all of these systems to work together and intertwine and allow for emergent gameplay in typical WWAATD fashion)

NPC's get a serious turn speed debuff (based on armor and weapon weight) briefly after an attack for example. A well timed movement or dash allows you to completely flank the enemy and hit their back opening up a completely new dimension to the entire combat system.

(We plan to further expand the weight system and have it affect the player in new ways too after The Spectacles Update)

This and other changes on top of heavy balancing have had deep ramifications on the overall flow of combat.

NPCs are generally much more competent at fighting - they land more hits, move more intelligently and combat flows much faster and smoother. The player also enjoys this increased pace and many other new benefits, so don't worry about difficulty!

You aint seen nothin' yet!

Its both exciting and scary to make such fundamental changes to a game while in Early Access. It sometimes feels like a whole new game. I can't wait until the community gets their hands on this.

Believe it or not, we haven't even revealed some main features of this Major Update yet. I'll make a video combat demonstration soon to showcase this and the upcoming reveals in action, and of course: Preview #3! Stay tuned for more!

And if that wasn't enough: to finish off, some new fun toys.