Digital Watches

Meh, this argument can be had at any level of the game design spectrum. "Psh, you're using (RPG maker/Unity/SDL/The C Standard Library)? Why don't you just write your own?" Ultimately, there has to be a balance between the two extremes: Reinventing every wheel every time you do a project (Okay, so no one goes to the FULL extreme and writes their own computer architecture when setting out to write a game, but working in like C without any libraries is a decent "extreme" to talk about), and using full-on cookie-cutter frameworks like rpg-maker or whatever. People can make good things with whatever set of tools given enough time. That something was made with a given toolset only shows that it is possible, not that the toolset is convenient or useful for that purpose. If they think they can get it done in RPG maker, great. But it sounds like they'd like not to.

Alright, I tweeted at them.

I'll twitter if I have to but surely someone on their team has a damn email address.

Ugh twitter. Surely there's a better way.

@InWithTheAshes From what I can tell, their contact page simply does not exist. The link results in a "Not found"

Yup. It's also worth noting that having an engine that isn't RPG maker allows you to modify the engine code as needed. At any rate, someone should get me contact information for these folks.

I was more asking if anyone here knew anyone on the project, but that works too. EDIT: No it doesn't. The contact information section on that page is lacking.

Do they need a new engine? I have an open-source one they can use if the funding doesn't come through (Or rather, they can use it either way, obviously). How does one get in contact with these folks?

Made hella notes in the doc.

Priority 1: Learn to block. Learn to keep blocking even when you've been blocking for a while. Learn to very quickly recognize what you can do to get out of pressure. You have some options to break out, but they're straight up worse than most characters. Learn to live with this. Until you do, you will do badly against people. Learn when to housoubako out. It's good practice because it's a much better move in +R. Priority 2: Simple BnBs. You need to be able to turn basically any air hit into (A few normals) j.H->j.D Kokuugeki, or (a few normals) -> H benten->Followbomber. Most ground hits with 25% meter should net you pretty much the SAME COMBO, but with a rensen FRC to start it. Get this down before you learn any other combos, being able to get it every time is key to your ability to be a threat. Priority 3: Bomber loops. Just start with simple ones. (Whatever) into 2S jD bomber x 2 into rensen->2. The damage only goes up from there, but we can optimize later. Make sure you have this *down*. Priority 4: Start thinking about tech and burst traps. This is a major strength of Axl and a major reason he's scary at higher levels. If they are bursting or teching your combos, you want to make them die from it at least about half the time. Priority 5: Get your ground mixup SOLID. Learn to TK bomber (Okay, granted, this is pretty much no longer a thing in AC+R), learn to TK Kokuugeki, learn to use 3P, 2K, 2H, 2D, 5D, 5H, 6H, and f.S to mix up your opponent, in that order by importance. These are your mainstays for your mixup game. Then move on to learning how to use 2K and Raeisageki to work toward a solid throw game. Then learn to mix in rashousen. If you learn it in that order, you will have way less bad habits than otherwise. Priority 6: The gimmicky shit players like Niiyama and Nekomimi use. Stuff like falling j.P for oki, Kokuugeki as a poke, benten FRC. All that shit will improve your game ONCE YOU ARE ALREADY SOLID Priority 7: The even gimmickier shit that players like me use. Minor optimizations like JI raei mixup and combos, more damaging bomber loops, weird tickthrows. This stuff will not win you games if you're not doing everything else right, but it will give you a bigger toolkit to surprise people with. Japanese Axl players who do well (Udei, Syuuto, arguably Niiyama) mostly play solid, but have a bag of tricks that gives them an edge against experienced players, against whom being unpredictable is more important. I admit that I rely on this shit way too much.

Only if you don't like powerleveling. If you play someone that good for a set or so and refuse to be frustrated or give up, your game is immediately step'd the fuck up.

Is there a widely available translation of the patch notes?

Alright, so I'm pretty confirmed for this at this point. Also: Poverty eh?

So wait, is 1.1 an arcade patch or +R on console? Is this common knowledge?

The fact of the matter is that nothing but full transparency (at least at the level of the running state of the contest) suffices for us to assume good faith. It's perfectly legit to say "No refunds, this is for breast cancer and you're donating from the getgo." It's actually kind of skeezy to say "Here's a contest to see who donates the most, we'll tell you who wins in January." It would both be more hype and more fair to publish a counter of donations by game, so people could see who's ahead at any given time. There's currently no reason to believe they'll even necessarily go by who donates the most (Since no one could hold them accountable), and gives no one an idea of what kind of money is going to make a difference.

I might be in fresno for about a week for some training for work. If I can finagle staying over until sunday, I'mna try to make this month's dogfight.

If this works on stick, it should work on pad, mostly because going from down-back to back on a stick will keep the switch for "back" pushed through the whole motion on any stick I've ever seen or used. Also: In Guilty Gear (And most but not all fighting games), blockstun is a state where you're stuck in the block animation, meaning that even if you let go of the stick entirely, you will automatically block any attack that the same block animation you're stuck in would block. Note that unblockable attacks (Not throws, because again blockstun has throw invuln) will still hit you, as of course would any low attack against a high block, or vice versa.

AFAIK the mechanism for throw invuln after wakeup is the same mechanism as throw invuln after blockstun/hitstun. Essentially from a blockstun/hitstun state, you are invulnerable to throws for 5 frames after you come out of stun. This is true to varying extents in every fighting game I know of, and is pretty damn necessary, since it prevents perfect tickthrows. Also: I realize I'm hella late doing this, but since people asked, I'm promoting that post on block types to an article. Turns out if you're a mod and *actually logged on* instead of lurking like a lazy person, DL has a button for that.

Yup. It's your go-to combo tool for just about any situation you got a solid hit and couldn't get a combo before. Abare like a boss!

DAA has kind of a shitty hitbox compared to like, most DAAs, but that's always been possible.

There's probably one somewhere, but it's such a situational/"game instincts" kind of topic that a static tutorial may not do you much good. I could try to give some advice on it here if you want. Basically, in order to understand how to apply FD and IB, you have to have a strong idea of what they actually do. FD: Blocks chip damage Causes the defender to take MORE blockstun Costs a small amount of meter Increases pushback for the attacker Cancels whatever you're doing instantly (IF you can FD) Can block air-unblockable moves Whereas IB: Causes the defender to take LESS blockstun Improves your meter gain slightly Decreases pushback for the attacker Core Usage: Escaping/Punishing Pressure The most important use of FD/IB is creating holes in the opponent's pressure. To do this well, you have to know about the opponent's character: What are they doing right now? What can they do from it? Is the string they're doing solid, or is it part of a false gap mixup? How much stun is each individual move putting you in? How much pushback is each individual move doing? With this in mind, you can start trying to get out of pressure in a few key situations. Most of the time, your opponent needs two things to keep you locked down: They need to be close enough to hit with an attack, and they need to be able to do another attack before or shortly after you're out of blockstun. With this in mind, try to think of situations where your opponent needs to connect in order to continue their pressure. This is true of most normal moves, since they need to connect to cancel to the next thing, but is often not true if the next thing they're going to do is move to close the gap (With a run, jump, or airdash, or with some special move that carries them forward) or throw a projectile. Places where your opponent needs to connect to continue their pressure are places where they can screw up. Next, you need to identify which of these critical points are vulnerable to IBing or FDing. If a string of attacks will barely be close enough to connect, you can FD a single hit, or sometimes a few hits, leading up to that critical point, forcing them further away, and if you were smart about it, causing them to whiff (Or, against a smarter opponent, just stop attacking before they'd whiff). On the other hand, sometimes a string of attacks will have a point that barely keeps you in blockstun. If a string or a link almost lets you out of blockstun, but doesn't, or lets you out of blockstun, but not long enough to do something, it's a good time to instant block. This allows you some time to reversal, backdash, or even jump out sometimes. Often, an instant block will allow you to throw your opponent, because not only are you in less blockstun, but you are closer to your opponent than they expected you to be. Being able to identify these situations comes with experience, and often differs greatly between individual characters you'll be facing. It never hurts to go into training mode and try out a string you're having trouble getting out of. See where it's vulnerable, and what you can do to break out of it. What move in the string do you want to interrupt, or avoid? What move should you be looking for to FD/IB? Alternate Use for FD: Cancelling Movement Since FD causes you to block immediately, it can be used to cancel a number of things. The most specifically useful ones are jump startup and run animation. One Frame Jump: Jumping takes a few frames (3 for most characters, more for some) to get off the ground, during which you're fully vulnerable. If you FD during your jump, you will get in the air instantly. This is useful not only for jumping more safely, but for getting off the ground quicker, and works with superjumps as well as normal jumps. Dash cancel: For every run in the game, there's a short "sliding" animation that plays when you stop running. During this time, you can cancel into any attack, but you're completely unable to block or throw. But, if you FD while running or sliding, it will cancel it instantly, and allow you to do either. Note that airdashes cannot be cancelled by FD (But they can be cancelled by Slashback) Animation cancel: Any ground normal, as well as most characters' j.Ds, can be cancelled into FD on the first 2 or so frames. This is usually pretty much entirely useless in most cases. However, you can sometimes psych out an opponent with the sound of an attack you don't end up doing (Audible overheads, for example). Cancelling j.D is also a way to option select airthrows into FD if you don't have burst (By pressing 4H+D and then instantly FDing, you get the throw if in range, and D->FD if you aren't.). This is a lot of effort for fairly limited utility, however. Situational Uses for FD and IB when you can't escape When you're pretty sure you're going to be unable to escape pressure, there are still uses for FD and IB. You probably already know that FD cancels chip damage, and IB will gain you meter faster (While also allowing you to improve your familiarity with the rhythm of your opponent's strings). Another weird use of FD is cancelling the animation of a failed slashback. For reasons I'm not quite sure of myself, holding FD with, for example, K+S, and tapping H will allow you to attempt more slashbacks in the same amount of time than you'd be able to otherwise. This is pretty much only useful in theory, since anyone with the execution to do it reliably in a way that's useful could probably just time the slashback in the first place. But, you know, kinda cool.

I'm kind of surprised by the green boxes, if those are collision. It doesn't seem like you can for example airdash through people that low. I've gotta try that out.

Darago: Sorry, been a bit preoccupied. I'm referring specifically to four main things: 3P being two hits, Rensen cranking guardbar again, 2H going into 2D, and the new FB. Basically, all of them make Axl more threatening on the offensive. 3P has always been a good poke, but now it's more dangerous for longer, can go into rensen more realistically (Since there's now enough hitstop to get the charge) and overall just seems stronger (Pulling them in certainly helps with that). And now 2H is a legit part of Axl's pressure rather than a good poke with no mixup behind it (With the option to continue into a rensen, you keep pressure up, and previously there was nothing low you could cancel it into, meaning the overhead was always predictable, or there was a wide gap after it in your pressure). The FB means not only that there are more spacings where there's a combo threat, but also that blocking something in Axl's midrange approach isn't as advantageous. Horokei: Fuck. Yes. Everyone in this forum take note: If you are having trouble with defense, watch a ton of Syuuto. Those matches show him setting up trades like a boss, timing DAAs and backdashes perfectly, baiting out bursts and techs all over the damn place, and just generally keeping his head on straight when stuck in the shitty situation of being pressured as Axl.

Fuck yeah! That AX v. DI match really showcases how a bunch of little changes make Axl a lot scarier on the offensive this revision, which is especially cool since that's kind of a problem matchup for him in AC

Sure looks like Niiyama. No other Japanese player does mixup that well or drops that many combos. :p