Hello ForzeBreakers! Sorry for the long wait but as the saying goes “good things come to those who wait”, and boy do we have some good news to share! First things first, if you didn’t get the chance to watch our first tournament ever, make sure to watch it as there are going to be some spoilers below! Here is an article by one of our commentators aabicus as well as the link to the actual tournament footage:
SPUF Article:
https://spuf.org/2018/05/19/forzebreak-tournament-results/
Youtube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjIpRwZK0Xk
Alright now that we’re here let’s get into the highlights of the tournament as well as all the new and juicy content along with it!
New Power Ups
New Vehicles
Improved Scoring system
More VFX
Old school overhaul
The new and improved armory
On our last update we mentioned that we started working on some new power ups as they provide that unpredictable edge during gameplay as long as one is able to overcome the risk of collecting them. The new weapons that we introduced last week have been updated and adjusted as needed. The first example would be our Hot Potato, in its first iteration players who collected it had to bump into their opponents to pass it on to them and then they could detonate it remotely whenever they wanted it. While it provided some room for strategizing and timing to get the best of it once players knew how it worked, the problem lied in that players would rarely get to that point. Meaning that while it had an interesting mechanic it was not as intuitive and players got more annoyed with trying to figure it out, sometimes they didn’t even get the chance to try it out properly. To address this issue we made the Hot Potato to be time based while still retaining the aspect of having to pass it to other players. In other words now it lives up to its name and one has to make sure not to have it before time runs out (a.k.a passing along a ticking bomb just like in the good old days cartoons).
The next one modified was our boxing glove. This one of the most rewarding powerups to use, specially when a player hits another one from across the map and a big “K.O.” pops on their screen. We didn’t make any drastic changes (sorry Street Fighter fans we have no plans for Shoryuken or Hadouken), we mainly focused on balancing its stats so that it wouldn’t be too OP while still retaining that wallop. We also made it so it grows bigger after launched so it doesn’t take too much screen space while aiming (kinda like a boxing arrow) and finally announcing that iconic K.O. after connecting with someone.
During the weeks before our tournament our talented programmers created brand new power ups that would create a lot of variety and different strategies on how to play on the field. Starting with our new trap type power ups we have two new ones: The Decoy and the Spring Trap. The first one, just like the name implies, is meant to trick your opponents into thinking this is a power up collectible but they get blasted off instead. So just like the fake Mario Kart upside down ‘?’ trap, our decoy is meant to fill a similar role.
The second one would be the spring trap. This one is more like a mine in the sense that once a player sets it up on the field it is hard to see until someone steps over it and gets blasted away.
As always some of these power traps might need more tuning to make them more effective and useful in the late game (after a while a player can learn to avoid them).
Next up would be an item that is a combination between a trap and a offensive power up, the EMP field. This one requires the player to aim it and then launch a lightning grenade that will explode and stunt everyone within its radius. Not only that but it will also remove any item that they had equipped at the time. This makes it the ideal tool to hunt opponents just right before they have collected a powerup on the edge of the arena as this not only makes them unable to move but also removes any sort of chance at immediate retaliation.
Following this trend of unique items with different uses would be our grappling hook. For those of you who may have seen the original pitch of this game (the link would be posted for those who haven’t), this power up was one of the crazy ways that you could just grab an opponent and toss them out. Like many other things since then it has been revised to fit better the current style of the game. Don’t worry that doesn’t take out what made it awesome in the first place, it just now requires a bit more skill and experience to pull out those cool stunts. The way it works now is that once a player acquires it they aim it like any other projectile weapon and fire it to hook/link the attacker and the receiver. If it connects the two vehicles will now be ‘chained’ to each other while constantly being pulled together (like a rubber band). To our delightful surprise the meta for this item became to grab another player and then drag them with you as you drove off the stage.
Last but not least would be the black hole. Not much needs to be said about this powerup except that as one can probably imagine, this baby pulls everything around it once launched from the player the picked it up and has everything that comes within its grasp floating helplessly until a big explosion at the end sends everyone, even the player that activated it, flying in different directions. So in brief this is a nice AOE weapon that one doesn’t want to get close to, but on the brightside it provides every player with some fun mayhem as they speculate who will survive.
Spirit in the Sky…
Rev your engines ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, because ForzeBreak now has five different vehicles that players can choose from to wreak havoc and drive to their favorite playstyle! So let's get to them!
The War Buggy
This is the all rounder of the mix. It has good balance between speed, damage it inflicts as well as the punishment it can take. One of the best vehicles to try out when first learning the game but always a good choice even for veteran players.
The Dust Buster
This vehicle is all about speed on the ground, hence the name. Very good controls and maneuverability with the catch of not being a very big damage dealer or damage taker. In other words this is a good vehicle to be a scavenger and use hit and run tactics to keep your opponents on the edge without knowing what hit them.
The Stream Breaker
The saying goes “slow and steady wins the race” but in this case it can win you the fight. The Stream Breaker might be the slowest vehicle with limited acrobatics but its shear might more than makes up for the performance of this powerful beast. Speed is a small price to pay compared to the punishment this one can give and receive.
MR. Hover
The most dynamic and unique vehicle from the game so far as it handles a bit different from the others. As the name implies this is a light hover vehicle that rivals the speed of the DustBuster but the difference is that you can take the fight to sky temporarily. Instead of boosting forward, this vehicle can increase in altitude and giving brand new angles to attack opponents from on top of its incredible speed.
Proto-Jouster or Proto Tank
I guess one could say that this would be our version of including an easter egg to the classic gameplay style of ForzeBreak, at least for us the developers. The Proto-Jouster or Tank shares similar stats to our WarBuggy as a vehicle with a good balance of speed and power. It’s a bit trickier to handle and though similar in size to the StreamBreaker it doesn’t deal or resist as much damage. Either way this is still a Forze to be reckoned with.
Camera, lights, particles
As one can probably see in some of our recent videos and showings *cough* tournament *cough*, the team has also been polishing some of our visual effects to further sell that experience and make the game even better. In some cases particle effects are a must have as in the case of our EMP and Black Hole effects, without them players would be severely confused as to why out of nowhere they stopped moving or are floating helplessly in midair. That being said other visual effects to little details such as sparks flying around during clashes or bits of static with some stunt effects can make such actions even more rewarding to our players.
Getting the show on the road
This last few weeks have been mainly about getting most of what we wanted in our game to be implemented as the week of the tournament marked our Alpha milestone, meaning that no new things to the game will be added. We’re now in a transition of polishing and bug fixing to show our game in a couple of important upcoming events!
(Congratulations to Ahmet’s benchwarmers and a big thank you to everyone who participated!)
The first one would be the Sammy Showcase which would be where we showcase our game along with the rest of the games that the students of UC Santa Cruz Games and Playable Media program have worked on for the past five months. It will be open to the public so this will be the first chance for many outside the program to get some hands on experience with this and many other fantastic games.
The second one which we are really excited about would be The MIX (Media Indie Exchanged) during the week of this year’s E3. We are still receiving the details but this will be a great opportunity to finally promote our game out there into the world.
All of this is pretty exciting but it also means that we are even more determined to make this game the best it can be within this last three weeks remaining (this is also one of the reasons we haven’t been able to keep up our weekly updates. We sincerely apologize)
That being said, tune in next time as we will have some more post-tournament thoughts and changes to the game as well as more details of how the events will unfold. Until then!