There are a lot of things that still need work in the Planet Explorers alpha, but I think going into a0.9, we all knew that we needed to upgrade the combat system dramatically. We started with the animation and went from there. Pretty much all the key animations have been changed, now the player character will have different animations for hit, run, dash, different weapon types (staff, crossbow, dual wield, etc.), and much more. We’ve also included IK and ragdoll animations to give variety to all the different animation sets. We tried to make it so that the player isn’t fighting with the controls. One thing we’re making optional is the ability to attack where the player clicks.
On the AI side, we rewrote/modified the entire behavior tree, plus lots of new animations as well. We want the AI to feel smarter, to be able to dodge swords and bullets, to engage the player more naturally instead of always facing the player and throwing different attacks at a percentage rate as before. We also added in IK hit detection so that each hit from the player generates a visual response from the body of the AI.
Finally, we wanted the combat to have more oomph. Players getting hit by large attacks will fly a long way. Players getting hit with a smaller attack will show reaction from the part of the body that’s been hit. We’re still in the progress of modifying the camera and the UI so that they show a corresponding reaction with each hit, we’ll show off these as they come online. With all of that added together, we hope the combat will become a more satisfying experience for everyone.