Rising Thunder Changelog

What's new in Rising Thunder Patch 01.27.16

Jan 28, 2016

Chel:
Enabled normal crouching hurt-boxes during last 9 frames of c.H recovery, to prevent Chel from ducking under mid-height attacks such as Vlad’s far s.M.
Stabilized F+M airborne coordinates, so interrupting it doesn’t launch her quite so high.
Crow:
Extended close s.L range slightly, to ensure it connects consistently after close s.L or c.L chains.
Pulled back Crow’s standing high hurtbox very slightly to better match head position.
Dauntless:
Extended far s.M and c.M hurt-boxes to better match their active hitboxes.
Edge:
Stabilized F+M airborne coordinates, so interrupting it launches him to a more consistent height.
Talos:
Increased backdash distance by 25%.
Dev Notes: This was by far the most requested change from Talos players, and he was always meant to have a decent backdash, so we’ve made the change. However, this probably won’t alleviate Talos’ weakness against dealing with light attack pressure, since most characters can punish backdashes even after whiffing a light attack – which is intentional.
Extended far s.M hurt-boxes to better match its active hitboxes.
Reduced far s.H recovery by 2 frames.
Vlad:
Extended far s.M hurt-boxes to better match its active hitboxes.
Game loading/connection issues:
Fixed issue where some players were unable to connect with each other due to loading timing out.
Loading will now ping the other player to inform them they are still there. This should fix most issues around never connecting to a player and disconnects when a player leaves.
Spectating:
Game should no longer cut off at the end (this fix is happening server-side on Thursday 1/28).
You can now kick people from a lobby without having to ban them permanently. Should help for AFKs/ghost connections.
Game Flow:
Tightened up round flow by shaving off almost a full second from round transitions.
Audio:
Added sliders in the options menu to change the volume level for sound effects and voiceover.
3 new in-game fight tracks!
Bug Fixes:
Edge’s S3v1 overhead and wallbounce now inflict block damage properly.
Fight after fight, Zib can find no solace… his favorite ball is lost, never to be found. If there is no joy, even from fighting, what is left? Lighting crashes through the pounding rain. In his darkest moment, a knock on the door. Has someone come to play? Is this the companionship he so desires? Zib opens the door, and is met face to face with the only one who could drive him any lower.
Patches stares deeply into Zib’s sullen eyes. Soaked to the bone, he says, “Pull yourself together, Zib. We have work to do.”
Visual Improvements:
Overhauled VFX for Vlad’s S1 rockets, jetpack afterburners, and hover meter. Note that the afterburner effects get in the way of the meter sometimes — we’ll be looking into this for the next patch.
Slight pose improvements to Vlad’s uncharged S2v1, to extend his fist further into the active area.
Crow now has textures!

New in Rising Thunder Build 1541 Alpha (Patch 12.15.15) (Dec 16, 2015)

Chel:
Increased S2v2 cooldown from 4.5 seconds to 5 seconds.
Dev Notes: Since we introduced extra scaling for invincible starters, the damage potential gap between Chel’s S2v1 and S2v2 shrunk considerably. S2v2 is an extremely versatile reversal in its own right and Chel herself is quite strong in the current meta, so increasing its cooldown makes sense. Going forward, 5 seconds will probably be the minimum cooldown for invincible reversals – unless they have some built-in disadvantage, such as Vlad’s S2v1.
Crow:
Increased Overdrive projectile duration from 2 seconds to 2.5 seconds, and redistributed damage from 25×6+50 to 20×6+80.
Dev Notes: This minor change provides a slight boost to Crow’s anti-air damage, and spices up a few Kinetic Advance juggle extensions. Overall it makes things a little more interesting for advanced Crow players without any major complications or balance repercussions.
Edge:
Reduced S2v2 cooldown from 6 seconds to 5 seconds.
Dev Notes: S2v2 is still underused compared to Edge’s S2v1. Reducing its cooldown by 1 second provides another meaningful difference between the two variants.
Increased base Stun from 900 to 950.
Dev Notes: The recent flood of Vlad dizzy combos against Edge highlighted the danger of having a significant disparity of dizzy limits. While having some variety is always nice, limiting the range to 950-1050 makes sense at the moment.
Talos:
New S3 variant! Magnetic Snare pulls airborne opponents toward Talos, maximizing his damage potential at the cost of ground game utility.
Dev Notes: TIME FOR MAGNETIC CUDDLES
Video Player:
Increased c.M range slightly.
Reduced close s.L startup from 7 frames to 6 frames.
Dev Notes: One of the design goals for Talos was to build around a slower than average jab, so we want his far s.L and c.L to remain at 7-frame startup. It keeps our design space broader than constraining all light attacks to the same speed. However, it’s less important for his close s.L to be quite so slow – since it whiffs over crouching opponents, and most punishable attacks push Talos out of close s.L range anyway.
Reduced charged S1v1 range slightly.
Reduced base Health from 1200 to 1100 and reduced base Stun from 1200 to 1050.
Dev Notes: Having different health amounts adds flavor and variety to the roster, but we don’t want to rely on it too much as a balancing mechanic. 1200 health was simply too much of a disparity from the rest of the cast. Landing an Overdrive against Talos became pretty unsatisfying due to how little damage he seemed to take. The extra health also didn’t help Talos players feel any stronger, especially in difficult matchups. If it’s not fun to play against and doesn’t make Talos players feel powerful, then the extra 100 health is basically disposable. In general, 900-1100 is about as far as base health values should vary. Anything beyond that should be a major exception, and Talos isn’t meant to be that much of an outlier.
Vlad:
Reduced close s.H, far s.H, diagonal j.H, and neutral j.H dizzy amounts from 200 to 150.
Dev Notes: The recent addition of Bolshoi Bash (S3v2) created a number of practical 100% dizzy combos from a simple jump-in. The whole point of the dizzy system is to increase tension after a combo, which never happens with single-combo dizzies. 200 dizzy is simply too much for hover-cancelable attacks, so they’ve been reduced to 150 across the board – and we’ll readjust if necessary. We’ve taken that precaution for other chainable heavy attacks like Talos’ claps and Edge’s standing M/H. It’s just time to do the same for Vlad.
Increased (close s.M ->) H meter gain slightly for standardization.
Fixed several Hover bugs and improved hover-cancel input buffering.
Hurt-boxes have been adjusted to better match the character model.
Dev Notes: This change is experimental and will likely lead to crazy combos and need to be retuned. Have fun!
Game Modes:
Sped up health and meter regeneration rates in Training Mode.
Dev Notes: Since we don’t have lifebar-based damage scaling, there’s no reason to test combos at specific lifebar intervals. Generally if a player is waiting for the training dummy’s lifebar to recover, it’s because they want to see how much damage a combo inflicts from full health. This change eliminates unnecessary waiting time.
Visual Improvements:
New sparky VFX for dizzy opponents.
Accentuated VFX to convey Talos’ B+M range more clearly.
Improved VFX for several Talos specials.
Slight pose improvements to Dauntless’ F+M.
Slight pose improvements for Talos’ forward run.
Shortened Vlad’s match win animation to closer match other characters.
Game Flow:
Improved detection for players leaving during loading or match start.
Performance:
Numerous improvements to CPU performance. These will be most noticeable in high rollback games.
Further improvements to ping calculation to support better rift calculation.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1541 Alpha (Dec 1, 2015)

Chel:
Stinging Wind’s (S3v2) initial hit range has been reduced slightly.
Dev Notes: Stinging Wind still combos consistently from triple light attack chains, but sometimes misses after c.M at long range. Frankly, this variant had more range than needed to serve its purpose, and remains extremely useful without the extra conversion coverage.
Supernova (OD) invulnerability has been reduced by 2 frames.
Dev Notes: This change forces Chel to become vulnerable for 1 frame before kinetic-canceling Supernova, which creates some interesting counter-play options. Capitalizing on it requires good positioning and strict timing, since the projectile is guaranteed to appear. Chel may still come out on top in most cases, but the possibilities are expanded.
Crow:
Aerial Core Slicer (S2) damage has been reduced from 100 to 90, dizzy has been reduced from 150 to 100, and meter gain has been reduced from 120 to 80.
Dev Notes: Crow simply generates too much damage/dizzy/meter from midscreen combos and loops, and Aerial Core Slicer is a big part of that equation. These numbers are more appropriate for such an effective and versatile tool.
Dauntless:
Charged Piston Tremor (S2v2) damage has been reduced from 150 to 140.
Revolving Hook (S3v1) damage has been reduced from 150 to 135.
Dev Notes: The power hits system pushed Dauntless’ damage output a bit too high. These changes should allow her to retain above average damage potential, without going too far overboard.
Due to server cleanup, Dauntless users may notice their variant selection has been reset. Re-selecting variants should save them again. We don’t expect any further issues.
Edge:
Reduced Merciful Gust (S3v2) knockback slightly, to improve midscreen S3v2 -> OD consistency.
Talos:
Walk forward and walk back speeds have been increased by 10%.
Dev Notes: Talos needs to play footsies in order to close distance and put his opponent in the danger zone. Increasing his movement speed should help him get to his preferred spots.
Meteor Breaker (S1v1) and Titan Smash (S2v1) now reach max charge after frame 25 rather than frame 50. (This is an experimental change.)
Meteor Breaker (S1v1) charge is now throw invulnerable during its first 5 frames. Uncharged Meteor Breaker is still throw invulnerable during startup frames, but not during active frames.
Charged Meteor Breaker (S1v1) is now a power hit, mainly to make it more viable after dizzying opponents.
Dev Notes: Despite their damage potential, the charged versions of Meteor Breaker and Titan Smash rarely impacted high level matches. These changes should make them more prevalent in Talos’ gameplan, hopefully without oversimplifying the interaction between players.
Titan Wreck (S2v2) now auto-faces opponents until frame 6.
Dev Notes: F+H works well against frontal jump attacks, but Talos suffered a bit too much against crossups. This change gives him a more reliable option against repeated crossup pressure, especially when cornered – although using it properly still requires good timing.
Magnetic Buster (S3v1) damage has been increased from 50 to 85.
Dev Notes: Even though Magnetic Buster is extremely useful as a setup tool for S1/S2 mixups, Spartan Rush (S3v3) actually has more utility in the current meta. To compensate, Magnetic Buster damage deserved a bump.
Aerial Magnetic Attract and Aerial Spartan Rush meter gain has been increased slightly, to match Crow’s Aerial Core Slicer.
Vlad:
New S3 variant! Bolshoi Bash goes through projectiles and sends opponents off the wall, but has slower startup than Clobbering Rush (S3v1).
Bug Fixes:
Ground throws no longer trigger juggle scaling when used on dizzy opponents.
Standardized landing frame properties in ground attacks with airborne frames, such as Chel’s S3v2, Crow’s F+H, and Edge’s S3v1 overhead.
Dev Notes: There were some inconsistencies in when these attacks were considered airborne or grounded. Now those attributes should all match their animations and frame data exactly.
Visual Improvements:
New Vlad textures for shinier spinning!
Stylish new VFX for all of Chel’s blade and projectile attacks!
Slight pose improvements to Chel’s c.M.
Talos’ walk animations have been toughened up.
Under the Hood:
Updated to Unreal Engine 4.9. If anything breaks or acts funny, let us know in the Bugs and Glitches forum.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1484 Alpha (Oct 29, 2015)

System Changes:
Overdrive meter gain has been increased by 10%.
Kinetic Advance meter gain has been reduced by 20%.
Starting a combo with an instantly invincible or armored attack now applies 50% damage/dizzy/meter reduction to the rest of the combo.
Instantly invincible and armored attacks now generate much less meter.
Dev Notes: The ability to make invincible reversals safe using Kinetic Advance is an extremely powerful tactic, which can feel fair if properly costed. However, Kinetic Advance meter wasn’t precious enough at the previous build rate. Also, the utility of kinetic-canceled invincible and armored attacks is simply too high for them to function as full-damage combo starters. Therefore, the damage output of combos starting from instantly invincible and armored attacks has been greatly reduced. We’ll continue to refine these systems as necessary.
Juggle combo reduction now drops as low as 15%, rather than stopping at the 20% minimum.
The following attacks have been marked as power hits, increasing their minimum damage reduction to 33.33% and ignoring the juggle damage penalty, similar to Overdrives:
Dauntless’ Diesel Strike, charged Piston Tremor, Revolving Hook, and Vandal Hook
Chel’s Crush Breeze ender and Soaring Wind
Crow’s charged Devil’s Halo and Soul Cleaver
Edge’s Judgment ender, Reckless Lightning ender, and Relentless Tempest
Talos’ Titan Smash and Titan Wreck
Vlad’s Revolutionary Rocket and charged Cosmonaut Liftoff.
Dev Notes: Several of our variant designs are based on the tradeoff of increased damage at the expense of reduced utility. However, Rising Thunder’s steep damage reduction curve makes it difficult for high-damage attacks to stand out during even slightly long combos. Introducing power hits gives us a way to highlight the damage potential of these attacks, without increasing their base damage.
Kinetic Deflect meter gain is now tied to lifebar percentage loss, rather than hit point loss.
Pre-match UI timing is more consistently timed, especially in rollback situations.
Crow:
Riposte forward dash is now invulnerable during the first 6 frames.
Riposte backdash invincibility has been increased from 8 frames to 12 frames.
Dev Notes: While Crow players have been finding lots of uses for the neutral jump version of Riposte, the forward dash and backdash versions still haven’t seen much play. Adding a little invincibility to Riposte forward dash should open up some new avenues for innovative tricks, and extending Riposte backdash invincibility should get Crow out of some nasty situations.
Backdash invincibility has been increased from 8 frames to 10 frames.
Dev Notes: Crow’s normal backdash invincibility has been increased slightly, since he struggles on defense without an instantly invincible attack. This should make it a little easier for Crow players to evade pressure and bait other characters’ invincible reversals.
Charged Devil’s Halo discs no longer hit crouching opponents during their first 6 active frames.
Dev Notes: Crow players found a particularly nasty corner trap involving Crow’s c.H canceled into charged Devil’s Halo. It was especially effective against characters without invincible reversal attacks, such as Talos and Crow himself. This change preserves the intended usage of Crow’s c.H -> S1, while eliminating that loop.
Aerial Core Slicer now has three different forward impulses, one for each jump type: forward, neutral, and back.
Aerial Core Slicer forward reach has been reduced slightly.
Dev Notes: The forward jump version still travels far enough to retain all of Crow’s old Devil’s Halo kinetic-cancel combos. The neutral jump version stays in front of opponents more consistently at close range, so it whiffs over opponents less often. The backward jump version still travels forward, but not quite as far, because it simply covered too many options before.
Edge:
New S3 variant! Merciful Gust is an advancing strike which deals good damage and knocks opponents away, clearing some breathing room for Edge.
Dev Notes: Merciful Gust synergizes well with Tranquil Thunder, creating separation after basic combos without putting S2 on cooldown. S3v2 also synergizes with Kinetic Deflect, since it cancels directly into Overdrive without requiring a dash-cancel.
S3v1 slide recovery has been increased by 2 frames, S3v1 overhead recovery has been increased by 1 frame, and S3v1 wallbounce recovery has been increased by 1 frame.
Dev Notes: S3v1 simply didn’t have enough drawbacks to compensate for having a built-in high/low mixup that led to significant damage. Making S3v1 slide unsafe adds more compelling risk management to the equation, and Edge still has ways to make it safe. Also, the new S3v2 is (just barely) safe on block and leaves Edge close to opponents, so he can still play the same pressure guessing game using S2 if he wants – just without the high/low mixup. These changes may finally cause Edge to surrender his title as the strongest character in the game, but we don’t expect him to drop very far – and he’ll be more interesting to play as and against!
F+M recovery has been increased by 1 frame.
Dev Notes: Increasing Relentless Cyclone recovery necessitated this change, to retain distinct risk/reward roles for both overheads. Otherwise, F+M would be strictly better than S3v1 overhead. Anyway this move is so useful that it would remain strong even with 5 additional recovery frames.
Standardized c.H dizzy to 150 (previously 125).
Talos:
Close s.H damage and dizzy have been increased, and pushback has been reduced slightly.
Dev Notes: Since F+H range was reduced in a previous patch, it began whiffing after close s.H -> close s.H from certain distances. This change restores Clap-Clap-Boot consistency, and gives Talos a few extra pressure options. The other upgrades are meant to improve his damage output, specifically from combos involving close s.H – because finding an opening to land such a slow attack typically requires skillful play, which should be rewarded.
F+H damage has been increased slightly, and active area has been extended downward to reach low profile attacks such as Edge’s S3v1 slide consistently.
Backdash invincibility has been increased from 8 frames to 10 frames.
Dev Notes: Talos’ backdash is meant to support his close-range throw mixups, by evading invincible reversals and staying close enough to capitalize with full combos. This change should make it slightly easier to execute that gameplan, without going too far overboard and making it the dominant option.
Vlad:
Revolutionary Rocket dizzy amount has been increased from 100 to 125.
GGPO Performance:
Ping calculation is a more accurate representation of actual ping during a match.
Improved correction when the rift between two clients is high.
Bug Fixes:
Dauntless’ charged Piston Tremor now applies block stun properly.
Talos’ Overdrive no longer grabs opponents during backdash throw invulnerability frames.
Spectating should no longer be desynced when joining a match that is past the first game.
Spectating dialogs have been updated to reflect the current state of the game, and where it will send you.
Loading screen now provides a bit more information after loads are complete.
Dogs around the world breathe a collective sigh of relief. No matter how much grass they roll in, how many trash cans they ravage, how many strange new friends they make, their skin remains unblemished. No bites, no itching, no pain. The flees are gone, and the world is bright. The Patches Industries collar is the revolution of the century. And Zib has never felt so alone.
Crash Fixes:
Received an update from Unreal to potentially fix XAudio crash that happens occasionally during gameplay.
Dev Notes: We’ve been unable to consistently reproduce this crash, so we can’t verify that it’s fixed. We’ll be monitoring crash reports and player feedback to see if it resurfaces.
Fixed crash that would occasionally happen when doing a ping test with potential opponents.
Fixed crash in the UI when the escape menu was slow to come up and was brought up again.
Visual Improvements:
Corrected Crow’s disc rotation in several animations.
Disc glow added to Crow’s round win animation.
Slight recovery pose improvements for Crow’s Devil’s Halo.
Slight pose improvements for Edge’s jump animations.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1437 Alpha (Oct 14, 2015)

New in Rising Thunder Build 1423 Alpha (Oct 7, 2015)

Game Modes:
Lobby player cap has been increased to 8 players! When two players are done with their game, the winner will continue playing while the loser will drop back to the bottom of the play queue. The next player up will have a shot at the winner.
Spectating has been added to lobbies! If you’re not participating in the fight currently going on in a lobby, you’ll automatically spectate the current match.
Dev Notes: Spectating is still a little rough around the edges, but it’s a work in progress. There are a few known issues, such as some audio stacking when catching up to real time. Also, the loading screen does not accurately reflect that it is waiting for the game to start before spectating. Lastly, joining a lobby during the variant selection phase of a match will cause the replay to desync from what is actually happening.
Crow:
New S2 variant! Dire Sting is quicker than Core Puncture and creates some juggle opportunities in the corner, but it’s slightly less damaging and more vulnerable if blocked.
Dauntless:
Reduced forward throw launch height to avoid dashing under opponents when using Kinetic Advance in the corner.
Dev Notes: Previously, dash-canceling Dauntless’ forward throw caused inconsistent behavior against different characters. This change should keep Dauntless out of the corner consistently against the entire cast.
Edge:
Reduced base Health and Stun from 1000 to 900.
Dev Notes: Fighting game characters with high mobility, damage, and mixup potential traditionally have lower health, so we feel this change suits Edge’s play style thematically. These numbers are experimental, but Edge has remained a dominant character for quite some time now, and this gives us an opportunity to introduce more health/stun diversity into the roster.
Talos:
Increased Magnetic Buster stun and meter gain slightly.
Increased Aerial Magnetic Attract range, damage, stun, and meter gain slightly.
Dev Notes: Magnetic Buster is underused among Talos players, compared to Spartan Rush. These changes are meant to make S3v1 a slightly more enticing option.
Increased base Health and Stun from 1100 to 1200.
Dev Notes: Talos has been struggling a bit since the recent changes to S1v2 and S2v2 armor startup. Boosting his durability gives him a few more chances to take risks, without forcing players to choose a specific variant. We feel that Talos’ S1 and S2 variants are much closer to equal viability now, so we hope players start getting more use out of all of them.
Performance:
Numerous performance fixes that help frame rates for all players. Our min-spec laptop in the office has been able to more consistently maintain 60 fps and most of the time runs over.
Frame rate of the game has been uncapped from 60 fps to allow players to match their monitors refresh rate more accurately. You can still turn on VSync to cap the frame rate at your monitor’s refresh rate.
Dev Notes: This should have no impact on actual game play. Even though we render the game more often when running about 60 fps, gameplay-related updates still occur at 60 fps.
New client support for additional ping filtering settings. We’ll be adjusting the settings and monitoring the data throughout the week.
After meeting with his old friend and colleague, Zib’s head remains clouded. “Patches couldn’t… he just couldn’t. But he was so dismissive… so defensive….”
Visual Improvements:
Slight recovery pose improvements for Crow’s far s.M and B+M.
Slight camera transition improvements for Talos’ Overdrive initial grab.
New look for dust VFX across most of the game.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1391 Alpha (09.23.2015 Patch) (Sep 24, 2015)

Game Modes:
Training Mode now supports opponent behavior states: Stand, Crouch, Jump, Record, and Playback.
Dev Notes: To record an input sequence for the training dummy, select Record from the drop-down menu, then click Reset Level. The opponent will become controllable for 20 seconds. After you’re done recording, select Playback from the drop-down menu and click Reset Level to play back the recorded inputs on loop.
Training Mode now supports opponent blocking options: Don’t Block, Auto Block, and Always Block.
Dev Notes: Don’t Block is clear, but Auto Block will cause the dummy to take your first hit, and then try to block afterwards. This is useful for discovering interesting ways to follow up a combo, and more. Always Block will make the dummy block every single thing you throw at it.
Chel:
New S1 variant! Solar Flare is slightly quicker than Night Sun, travels faster, and knocks down opponents – at the cost of shorter range and longer cooldown.
Dev Notes: Solar Flare’s startup is 1 frame shorter than Night Sun, making it a true block string when canceled from medium attacks at close range. It’s designed to be a better pressure tool for close-quarters offense.
Reduced F+H recovery by 2 frames (on whiff only).
Crow:
New normal move: Back+Medium performs a closer-range three-hit disc attack.
Dev Notes: Crow’s new B+M provides a more consistent anti-air command, without the worry of accidentally performing close s.M when far s.M was intended. Far s.M also received a new animation to help distinguish it from the new attack.
Edge:
Adjusted Judgment hit volumes to function more consistently against air specials, but reduced its horizontal range by roughly 3%.
Dev Notes: Judgment is meant to be a strong anti-air option compared to Reckless Lightning’s anti-ground superiority. This change reinforces those roles, by making it harder to avoid Judgment using air specials.
Dauntless:
Increased Cold Drill and Diesel Strike pushback on block, making them safer at max range.
Dev Notes: This change mainly affects Cold Drill, since Diesel Strike was already safe on block. Cold Drill is still punishable by most light attacks if performed up close, but can be made safe with perfect spacing.
Reduced (far s.M ->) H recovery by 2 frames.
Talos:
Meteor Slam and Titan Wreck armor now activates on frame 3 rather than frame 1.
Dev Notes: Meteor Slam and Titan Wreck were simply too effective as reversal options, especially against beginner-level players. While Meteor Slam is no longer armored during the first 2 frames, it’s still throw invulnerable during frames 1-6. Talos players will be forced to be more creative in wakeup situations, which may prove to be a blessing in disguise. This is an experimental change, but we feel it’s a good direction for the overall metagame.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a bug that prevented Vlad’s round loss audio from playing every round.
Fixed a memory leak that occurred after resetting in Training Mode.
Patches Industries announces their own ZPE Flea Collar. Could it be a coincidence? Could Zib’s old friend really be behind such a nefarious plot?
Visual Improvements:
New Talos textures, made for the people!
Audio Improvements:
Characters now voice their displeasure when getting hit by attacks after the round ends.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1391 Alpha (Sep 24, 2015)

Game Modes:
Training Mode now supports opponent behavior states: Stand, Crouch, Jump, Record, and Playback. ◦Dev Notes: To record an input sequence for the training dummy, select Record from the drop-down menu, then click Reset Level. The opponent will become controllable for 20 seconds. After you’re done recording, select Playback from the drop-down menu and click Reset Level to play back the recorded inputs on loop.
Training Mode now supports opponent blocking options: Don’t Block, Auto Block, and Always Block. ◦Dev Notes: Don’t Block is clear, but Auto Block will cause the dummy to take your first hit, and then try to block afterwards. This is useful for discovering interesting ways to follow up a combo, and more. Always Block will make the dummy block every single thing you throw at it.
Chel:
New S1 variant! Solar Flare is slightly quicker than Night Sun, travels faster, and knocks down opponents – at the cost of shorter range and longer cooldown. ◦Dev Notes: Solar Flare’s startup is 1 frame shorter than Night Sun, making it a true block string when canceled from medium attacks at close range. It’s designed to be a better pressure tool for close-quarters offense.
Reduced F+H recovery by 2 frames (on whiff only).
Crow:
New normal move: Back+Medium performs a closer-range three-hit disc attack. ◦Dev Notes: Crow’s new B+M provides a more consistent anti-air command, without the worry of accidentally performing close s.M when far s.M was intended. Far s.M also received a new animation to help distinguish it from the new attack.
Edge:
Adjusted Judgment hit volumes to function more consistently against air specials, but reduced its horizontal range by roughly 3%. ◦Dev Notes: Judgment is meant to be a strong anti-air option compared to Reckless Lightning’s anti-ground superiority. This change reinforces those roles, by making it harder to avoid Judgment using air specials.
Dauntless:
Increased Cold Drill and Diesel Strike pushback on block, making them safer at max range. ◦Dev Notes: This change mainly affects Cold Drill, since Diesel Strike was already safe on block. Cold Drill is still punishable by most light attacks if performed up close, but can be made safe with perfect spacing.
Reduced (far s.M ->) H recovery by 2 frames.
Talos:
Meteor Slam and Titan Wreck armor now activates on frame 3 rather than frame 1. ◦Dev Notes: Meteor Slam and Titan Wreck were simply too effective as reversal options, especially against beginner-level players. While Meteor Slam is no longer armored during the first 2 frames, it’s still throw invulnerable during frames 1-6. Talos players will be forced to be more creative in wakeup situations, which may prove to be a blessing in disguise. This is an experimental change, but we feel it’s a good direction for the overall metagame.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a bug that prevented Vlad’s round loss audio from playing every round.
Fixed a memory leak that occurred after resetting in Training Mode.
Patches Industries announces their own ZPE Flea Collar. Could it be a coincidence? Could Zib’s old friend really be behind such a nefarious plot?
Visual Improvements:
New Talos textures, made for the people!
Audio Improvements:
Characters now voice their displeasure when getting hit by attacks after the round ends.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1372 Alpha (Sep 16, 2015)

Crow:
New S3 variant! Activating Riposte sends Crow into an armored parry pose. If he is struck in this pose, he can go either into a forward dash (F+S3), a backdash (B+S3), or a neutral jump (S3 with no direction pressed).
Dev Notes: If Crow has excellent timing and Ripostes the opponent’s move within the first 5 frames of his activation, he can cut the Riposte’s cooldown in half.
Devil’s Halo no longer defaults to the neutral version after tapping F+S1 or B+S1.
Dev Notes: Kinetic-canceling the directional versions should now be easier to perform. This was simply an input buffer bug that took longer than expected to track down and fix.
Dauntless:
Reduced charged Piston Tremor recovery by 1 frame.
Dev Notes: This minor change is intended to make certain charged Piston Tremor followups slightly easier. It shouldn’t impact matchups otherwise.
Overdrive now resets the juggle count when it hits airborne opponents.
Dev Notes: Dauntless isn’t meant to have easy juggle combos into full Overdrive, but having it connect once after a juggle combo felt unnecessarily weak. With this change, it’s still preferable to save her OD meter for ground combos, but she can generate a little extra damage at the end of certain juggles too.
Talos:
Reduced Overdrive active frames from 3 to 2.
Dev Notes: Colossal Crush is meant to have some anti-air capability, but we felt the timing was slightly too lenient. This change makes it a little stricter, and less effective against well-timed backdashes.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a bug that caused launch reactions to land improperly under certain conditions.
Fixed a Talos uncharged S2v1 bug that caused extreme corner pushback under certain conditions.
Kinetic-canceling Talos’ S3 clothesline ender should no longer negate his dash velocity.
Zib is furious and crushed that his ZPE collar prototype has been stolen. Who wouldn’t want the world to be a better place?!
Visual Improvements:
New launch reaction for Dauntless’ charged Piston Tremor and Edge’s fully charged Reckless Lightning, to differentiate them further from uncharged versions.
Comprehensive polish pass on nearly all air reactions.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1341 Alpha (Sep 9, 2015)

Game Modes:
Custom Matches are live:
Players can now play unranked matches directly with friends.
Simply click Custom Match to create a game lobby, then give the Lobby Code to your friends so they can join! (Currently only two players can join a lobby.)
Dev Notes: This is an early alpha implementation of the lobby system. We wanted to get it up and running as quickly as possible to enable matches with friends. More features are on the way!
System Changes:
Kinetic Advance forward dash no longer enables attacks 2 frames before blocking is enabled.
Most invincible specials are now -4 or -5 on block after Kinetic Advance forward dash.
This change should have relatively minimal impact on Kinetic Advance juggle combos, but may affect certain ground combos.
Dev Notes: Kinetic Advance forward dash can still make invincible moves safe on block, by the slimmest possible margin. However, doing so should surrender initiative to the opponent. This was always our intention, but it became apparent that -2 or -3 wasn’t enough of a frame disadvantage to shift momentum. Now the defender’s first action after blocking should easily win out, and the dasher has to respond – with their invincible special on cooldown.
Crow:
Dev Notes: We know people have been requesting Crow updates. He’ll be getting some next week!
Edge:
New S2 variant! Reckless Lightning has more horizontal range than Judgement, but less vertical coverage.
Dev Notes: Reckless Lightning can be powered up using Edge’s S1 attacks. It stays on the ground until the ender, which leads to some new Kinetic Advance combos without requiring full sword charge.
Judgement’s horizontal range has been reduced slightly, to further differentiate its role from Reckless Lightning.
Dev Notes: Judgement still has the longest forward reach of any high-hitting invincible special, and it’s now more effective against crossups. Its old range simply covered too many bases without enough drawbacks.
Added an extra frame of hit stun and block stun to close s.H -> H and S3 overhead.
Dev Notes: These updates preserve some of Edge’s ground combos, after the system-wide changes to Kinetic Advance forward dash. As an added bonus, the change to close s.H -> H also opens up some new Tranquil Thunder combo possibilities.
Talos:
F+H range has been reduced slightly.
Dev Notes: We’ve been scaling back the ranges of invincible and armored moves over the last few patches, and it’s Talos’ turn now. This update shouldn’t change the way he’s played up close, but should make it harder to use F+H from safe ranges.
Magnetic Buster’s initial hit stun and block stun have been increased by 2 frames.
Dev Notes: Canceling blocked Magnetic Buster into Meteor Breaker or Titan Smash now guarantees that Talos can become armored before he’s interrupted by a light attack. Charging is still risky because the opponent can choose to throw instead of using a light attack, but this change makes the guessing game more balanced.
Bug Fixes:
The Launcher should now open when the Windows user account contains non-Latin characters.
Round end now correctly accounts for characters who only have recoverable health.
Characters become vulnerable immediately upon touching the ground after KO.
Adjusted Chel’s Dancing Wind air collision to restore close s.H follow-up consistency.
Hitting Edge during Judgement no longer causes strange launch trajectories.
Zib plans to mass-produce his ZPE anti-flea collar to make the world a safer place!
Visual Improvements:
Improvements to the look and performance of the current level.
Dev Notes: Our first level is still a work-in-progress. There will be ongoing improvements and polish updates coming soon.
Slight pose improvements for Crow and Talos’ knockback reactions.
Slight motion improvements to Talos uncharged Titan Smash reactions.
Audio Improvements:
Characters no longer yell multiple times due to delayed hits after losing a round.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1330 Alpha (Sep 2, 2015)

System Changes:
Armor damage rules have been overhauled to provide more interesting gameplay in low-health situations:
While armored, block damage from special moves is now taken up front, with remaining damage applied as non-lethal recoverable health.
Armor damage now recovers 50% faster, after a slight delay.
Throws don’t negate recoverable health until they inflict damage, so escaping throws now preserves recoverable health.
Performance:
The pre-match loading bar should no longer stall out for long periods of time. There can still be a slight pause of up to 30 seconds on some low end computers, but we are looking into further enhancements to this system.
The load progress of the other player is now displayed.
We’ve made a couple changes that should improve performance on machines across the board.
While it isn’t significant enough to lower our minimum specs, we are noticing fewer frame drops on our low-end test machines.
High-end machines which currently get 60fps with occasional drops should more consistently hit 60fps.
Chel:
Increased Soaring Wind base damage from 100 to 120, and reduced cooldown from 7 seconds to 6 seconds.
Adjusted Soaring Wind juggle properties to ensure that all three hits connect after the first hit (in most cases), but removed the guaranteed follow-up after the wall bounce.
This is an experimental change.
Dauntless:
New S2 variant! Piston Tremor is a bit slower than Dust Breaker, but stays invincible longer and deals more damage – especially when charged.
Edge:
Tranquil Thunder now gains meter without requiring full sword charge.
This is an experimental change.
Talos:
Reduced Meteor Slam active frames from 3 to 2, shortened range slightly, and increased whiff recovery by 3 frames.
Reduced Titan Wreck active frames from 5 to 3, shortened range slightly, and increased whiff recovery by 3 frames.
Fixed a bug that allowed Talos to escape ground throws during Titan Smash and Titan Wreck active frames.
Vlad:
Air Sputnik Missile now deals block damage properly.
Reduced startup of c.M by 1 frame.
After days in his lab, Zib successfully created a zero point energy collar to eradicate fleas once and for all.
Visual Improvements:
Slight pose and positioning improvements for air flip and wall bounce reactions.
Slight pose improvement for Talos’ Titan Wreck.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1312 Alpha (Aug 25, 2015)

Chel:
New S3 variant! Soaring Wind opens up new juggle opportunities, especially after Chel’s Crush Breeze.
Slightly reduced horizontal ranges of c.H, Crush Breeze, and Spiral Eclipse.
Slightly lowered damage inflicted by far s.H, F+H, Crush Breeze, Dancing Wind, and Stinging Wind.
Increased Spiral Eclipse recovery by 2 frames.
Expanded F+M hurt-boxes downward just enough to get hit by common mid-height attacks.
Crush Breeze and Spiral Eclipse now inflict reduced damage and stun after their 3rd active frames.
Simplified Night Sun cooldowns to 1.5 seconds across all speeds (previously 1 second for fast version, 1.25 for medium, and 1.5 for slow).
These updates are intended to soften Chel’s effectiveness at the beginner level, with relatively minimal impact on her play style at higher tiers. Her core gameplan should remain mostly unchanged. She just needs a few more clean hits to win!
Talos:
New S2 variant! Titan Wreck becomes armored immediately, but cannot be charged or kinetic-canceled like Titan Smash.
Standardized Titan Smash reactions for all characters, so follow-up juggles should behave more consistently.
Pose and camera movement improvements for Talos’ Titan Smash, along with slightly quicker recovery after a successful grab.
Vlad:
Air Sputnik Missile and Revolutionary Rocket now deal block damage properly.
Revolutionary Rocket no longer pushes Vlad away from cornered blocking opponents.
Air Revolutionary Rocket no longer fails to spawn the target when landing just before it fires.
Zib got fleas.
Bug Fixes:
Characters land on the correct side of the opponent more consistently after cross-ups.
Edge’s Overdrive no longer resets the combo count if it connects on the frame the victim hits the ground.
Standardized Dauntless’ reaction to her own forward throw, so she no longer has unusual combos limited to mirror matches only.
Visual Improvements:
Pose improvements for Talos’ Overdrive startup.
Pose improvements for Dauntless’ landing roll.
Edge upgraded his sword’s tech.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1301 Alpha Hotfix (Aug 24, 2015)

New in Rising Thunder Build 1292 Alpha (Aug 20, 2015)

System Changes:
Legend tier players will now see their ranking among all players.
The UI will now display both Kinetic and Overdrive meters for both players.
Performance:
AMD processors should no longer have extreme FPS drops when dealing with audio.
UI platform has been integrated with the Unreal renderer, clearing up some cases of UI flickering, UI not updating, and UI that never appears.
Dauntless:
S1v2 punch recovery has been reduced by 1 frame, making it (just barely) safe on block.
Edge:
New S1 variant! Tranquil Thunder allows Edge to charge up his sword and Kinetic/Overdrive meters without hitting the opponent.
S3 overhead is no longer cancelable into Overdrive.
Vlad:
New S1 variant! Revolutionary Rocket calls down a missile strike from the sky. Vlad decides the timing in advance, but that information is hidden from the opponent.
Vlad’s Overdrive now destroys all his projectiles when it connects, so they can no longer knock opponents away from the remaining Overdrive hits.
Vlad’s hover meter now refills between rounds, and disappears properly when full.
Vlad’s Sputnik Torpedo cancel window has been standardized to match other projectile specials.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a bug that allowed throws to be performed while holding Down+Back.
Fixed various bugs caused by projectiles connecting on the same frame as throw attempts, causing characters to become attached or warp away.
Fixed a bug that prevented Crow’s c.H disc from following his hand properly.
Fixed an issue that caused certain items, such as Edge’s sword and sheath, to flip the wrong way at the end of a round.
Standardized Edge’s reaction to Vlad’s forward throw, to make him fall at the same rate as everyone else.
Visual Improvements:
Edge’s model is now textured! Who will be next?
Round icons have been added to the in-match HUD.
Overdrive meter moved from below the lifebars to the bottom of the screen.
Slight pose improvement for Edge’s F+M.
Slight pose improvement for Talos’ uncharged Meteor Breaker.
Talos’ Meteor Slam and Meteor Breaker whiff animations have been shortened slightly to better convey their true recovery frames.
Zib has a new small flag.
Audio Improvements:
Cooldown refresh sounds no longer play after KO.
Note:
We consider the new Vlad variant to be a highly experimental move. As you’ve already seen, we’re doing a lot of fine tuning during our Alpha test, but we’re also excited to try out some new things that you might not have seen before.
This move may be too weak, or it may be too strong, but we need your help to figure out its possibilities and limits. We hope you’ll enjoy the chance to have some fun together and try new things!
As always, your feedback is not simply appreciated, it literally makes it possible for us to make the game its best.

New in Rising Thunder Build 1263 Alpha (Aug 12, 2015)

System:
Block stun frames on many anti-air moves reduced to 15 frames. It’s still safe to Kinetic Advance forward dash these moves after they’re blocked, but the opponent will have frame advantage.
Block stun on several other moves reduced to 17 frames, making them roughly even after a Kinetic Advance forward dash.
Chel:
S2 block stun reduced to 15 frames.
S2 no longer hits opponents behind Chel.
Dauntless:
New S1 variant! Diesel Strike hits high, but opens up new combo opportunities.
S2 block stun reduced to 15 frames.
S3 block stun reduced to 17 frames.
S2 no longer hits opponents behind Dauntless.
Edge:
F+M has been overhauled with an updated animation, slightly longer startup and recovery, and more accurate hurt-boxes.
S2 block stun reduced to 15 frames.
S2 no longer hits opponents behind Edge.
S3 slide block stun has been reduced by 2 frames. It is still safe on block, but the opponent has frame advantage.
S3 overhead hit is no longer cancelable into specials.- S3 overhead hit stun has been increased by 1 frame
Talos:
New S1 variant! Meteor Slam becomes armored immediately, but it cannot be charged or kinetic-canceled like Meteor Breaker.
F+H block stun reduced to 17 frames. Talos is slightly negative after kinetic-cancelling this move into a forward dash.
F+H no longer hits opponents behind Talos.
Fully charged S1v1 has been overhauled with an updated animation and extended ground bounce to allow free follow-ups, similarly to fully charged S2v1. To compensate, its damage has been reduced from 250 to 225.
Vlad:
Uncharged S2 block stun reduced to 15 frames.
Charged S2 block stun reduced to 17 frames.
Bug Fixes:
Standardized all normal air reaction hurt-boxes, so most juggles should work consistently against the entire cast. Remaining custom throw reactions will be standardized soon.
The last hit of Dauntless’ forward throw now connects consistently.
Talos’ air throw distance against Edge and Vlad has been corrected to match the other characters.
Visual Improvements:
Eye gleam added to Edge’s Overdrive attack.
Dauntless’ steam power is now operational.
Raised Talos’ fist slightly in c.L animation to better convey that it can be blocked high.
Cleaned up Talos S1v1 whiff and S2v1 whiff animations.
Enhanced impactfulness of Talos normal throws by 200-800% (in metric units, of course).
Cleaned up camera cuts in Talos and Vlad’s Overdrive attacks.