Kiseki Development Update [02/19/19]
(Before you begin reading, I would like to state that I will be using this blog for more in depth information regarding certain development updates. This is mainly due to Twitter's limited character limit and image compression. Might as well use this before Twitter inevitably burns to the ground.)
It's been almost a year since Destiny and I have started working on Kiseki CTF+ and strangely enough, the only time we've ever showcased any content within Kiseki CTF+ is through posting screenshots on Twitter and giving a brief description of what we're making without any further context or details. So what better time than to do it now when we're reaching the end of development for the beta version of Kiseki?
The reason why we called it Control The Flag Plus rather than something simpler like Kiseki is because of our initial design being centered around Flags (it's a bit obvious since the original was just CTF) and Destiny is planning a true sequel to Kiseki that might have the same name. So it's best to call it Kiseki CTF+ to avoid confusion.
Besides, it sounds pretty good.
The Spawn System (dubbed "The Wave") is a special type of spawn system that allows you to spawn in different locations. On the right side of the screen is a list that shows which "waves" you can spawn in. Each map will have at least 1-3 spawn waves to choose from. This map that you see here only has a maximum of two extra waves to spawn on. The way to obtain new spawn waves is by capturing more flags. The more flags you have, the more waves are unlocked. Waves reset after every round though, so use them as much as you can!
You may have also noticed another wave in the list called "Slipgate #1". That's because we changed how the Cultist's "Slipgate" ability works. Instead of it being two teleporters, it's a way for your teammates to spawn in a completely different location. The only problem being that you will gain the "Decay" debuff for a few seconds while having no Forcefield on you.
In addition to this new spawn system, we've also added a bit of a "subsystem" to prevent the winning team from being overpowered. In Valve's Team Fortress 2, there's a spawn system that increases the amount of time you have til you can respawn depending if you're team is winning or losing. This spawn system is only used in CTF and KOTH maps, but I took note of this and implemented it into this new spawn system.
Due to this new Spawn System though, we had to scrap ALL of the maps that were available in Alpha version. Which is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing being more unique maps instead of just slightly modified maps and the curse being more work for us to do. Currently, we only have two available maps in Beta, but we will soon be expanding to a few more maps if we manage to get everything else done. The map you see in the screenshot above is called "Lost Safari" and it was made by me. While the other map is called "Flagstone", which was created by Pokemaster73.
Even as early as Alpha, we planned to add a weapon layout system that allowed you to change weapons. And now that we're here in Beta, we've finally made it real. Weapons (that aren't considered Active Abilities) are now divided into two categories. Category #1 is Primary Weapons and #2 being Secondary Weapons. All the default weapons are unlocked but they are only usable by certain classes. We looked back into the past and dug up this table that explains which classes get what weapon. But thanks to the addition of new classes and weapons, we have to do some slight adjustment to this table.
As soon as we're done with the rest of the planned content in the Beta version, we will also include class exclusive weapons to classes such as the Butcher, Cultist, Sensation Man, Shinobi, and others as well.
Around December of 2018, when the Beta version of Kiseki CTF+ was initially planned to be released, Destiny and I discussed about how the gameplay was tedious and bland due to its repetitive nature. We came up with some ideas that can hopefully spice up Kiseki's gameplay. Two of the things that came in mind were the new respawn system and special classes.
If you ever played Star Wars Battlefront before, you may recall a system where a player can become one of main cast members from the original Star Wars Trilogy (like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, etc). We essentially did the same thing for Kiseki. The idea was to help the losing team turn the tides so they could potentially win the match. These special classes have their own unique specials, weapons, and cosmetics. For an example, the class you see above is called "The Officer". Although the Officer has a revolver, he can use his Heliograph to "Spot" enemies that are within a 100 stud radius and his Artillery Beacon to summon a storm of bombs around the area.
There are two other special classes that will be included in the Beta. The first one being called "The Raider" and the other being "The Samurai". The Raider is a heavy armored class that is resistant to headshots from AMR's and can use his shield to block incoming damage. The Samurai is like the Shinobi with the major difference being that the Samurai has a Katana that can one shot any target.
There will be more special classes in the future, but hopefully these three will be good enough for Beta!
Earlier in this post I mentioned that we've categorized all regular weapons by making them either Primaries or Secondaries. This was mainly the reason why we did such a thing. We wanted to make it where players have to manage their own ammunition for their primary weapon. This is, of course, due to balancing reasons.
In the Alpha version (and even in the original Kiseki), there was to ammo boxes or anything like that! Which caused some classes to become a lot more viable than others. So to keep the game balanced, we included ammunition packs that players can obtain to keep their primary weapons from losing all of their ammo. Of course, we didn't want to make it where secondary weapons did the same thing. So we made secondaries have no ammunition limitation, but they're weaker than primary weapons (excluding the Chainsaw, Sickle, and Ninjato).
But this left us with another issue: Kiseki doesn't have a class that can give ammunition to teammates. So we decided to create a new class dedicated to filling that roll.
The Supplier is a pure support class that can give teammates ammo and health packs. He can also scavenge through corpses to find more ammo and health packs. Unlike other classes, he is also equipped with a Flash Grenade Launcher (FGL for short) that shoots a mini flashbang pellet that blinds all enemies looking at it within a 30 stud radius.
General Stats:
- 105 Base Health
- 110 Armor
- 100 Damage Output
- 18 Walkspeed
- Primary Weapon: FGL
- Secondary Weapon: Compact SMG
Passive Abilities:
- Ammo Magnet: Whenever you kill a player (or get an assist kill), a box of ammo drops from their corpse.
We also included another class just because we thought it was a good idea.
The Hunter is a defensive support class that can turn invisible by standing still. He can also place down Bear Traps that stuns an enemy once it has been touched. He's the second class that can make their own body translucent. The only difference being that his body only stays translucent when he doesn't move or shoot. Otherwise, he's very noticeable.
General Stats:
- 120 Base Health
- 95 Armor
- 100 Damage Output
- 17 Walkspeed
- Primary Weapon: Mosin Nagant
- Secondary Weapon: Crossbow
Passive Abilities:
- Camouflage: Standing still for 3 seconds will make your body invisible. Shooting or moving will revert back.
In our strive to improve the overall gameplay of Kiseki, we plan to buff a few classes that are currently being underused. One class in particular, known as the Tinkerer, is one of them. This was an idea that I proposed to Destiny and he approved of the idea. The idea in question is to give the Tinkerer a new variation of sentries.
The original sentry was now going to be known as the "Tactical Sentry" (aka the Compact Sentry). This sentry is gonna be weaker than the other two that you see above. It's an easier build and can be used in a lot of scenarios. Of course, we decided to redesign it so it'll fit with the other sentries. And according to someone I know, the design looks cute.
The sentry with the minigun barrel on the front is known as the "Offensive Sentry". This sentry is gonna be a powerful, fast shooting sentry gun that has weak defense. The idea is to prevent players from coming towards the front line so easily. The design is to reflect how powerful the sentry gun is.
The final sentry gun on top of the part is known as the "Defensive Sentry". The sentry's role is to defend certain areas from enemies coming towards it. Despite its sturdy stature and capability to tank incoming damage, its fire rate is not that great and it takes longer for the weapon to turn towards a player. Its design reflects an M1 Browning with a shield in front of it.
Thanks to this new idea, we also want to include a "Metal Capacity" meter (similar to the one seen in Team Fortress 2) that allows the Tinkerer to heal up their sentry and to prevent players from spamming sentries. The meter automatically refills by 2 every .65 seconds and the maximum is 200. The Tactical Sentry will cost 50, the Defensive will cost 100, and the Offensive will cost 150. These stats might change but this is what I had in mind.
We will also make the Wrench its own melee weapon (instead of being a thing for summoning a sentry) and make the sentry summoner its own mesh. It's a pretty good idea and we hope this will get more people to play as the Tinkerer.
Ideal Stats:
"Sacrifice your Sensation Bugs to gain a 20 second boost on speed, jump power, and attack power. You also gain Dual Chainsaws and 5 seconds of total invincibility."
Requirements:
- 3 Kills / Sensation Bugs
Buffs:
- 20 second boost on speed, jump power, and attack power (by +6)
- 5 second Forcefield on start
- Given Dual Chainsaws
- Immune to Duress, Afterburn, Pacifism, and Disarm
Debuffs:
- Current Sensation Bugs are destroyed
- Cannot gain Sensation Bugs while on Sensation Time
- Chainsaw Bounded: Cannot use LAW while in this mode
- Sounds Of Hell: Constant music is playing while in Sensation Time
- Relapse: You get Marked For Death + your speed is lowered by -3 points for 6 seconds.
This might change in the future but we hope this will make the Sensation Man much more fun and viable in Kiseki. Of course, we will also give him class exclusive weapon unlocks. But that will most likely be post-Beta.
If you have any further questions on Kiseki CTF+, please message me on Twitter or comment on this post.
It's been almost a year since Destiny and I have started working on Kiseki CTF+ and strangely enough, the only time we've ever showcased any content within Kiseki CTF+ is through posting screenshots on Twitter and giving a brief description of what we're making without any further context or details. So what better time than to do it now when we're reaching the end of development for the beta version of Kiseki?
1. Rebranding "Kiseki CTF" to "Kiseki CTF+"
Originally, we were going to keep the original name for Kiseki CTF while retaining the original Capture The Flag gamemode. But after some further discussion between Destiny and I, we changed the name to "Control The Flag Plus" because of our plans of adding new gamemodes post-Beta. The only other gamemode that will be available in Beta 1.0 will be a gamemode called "Ticket Deathmatch". Details about this gamemode will be explained later in a different update due to us trying to figure out what it will be.The reason why we called it Control The Flag Plus rather than something simpler like Kiseki is because of our initial design being centered around Flags (it's a bit obvious since the original was just CTF) and Destiny is planning a true sequel to Kiseki that might have the same name. So it's best to call it Kiseki CTF+ to avoid confusion.
Besides, it sounds pretty good.
2. Major Gameplay Changes
Due to the further continuation of Kiseki CTF+'s Beta development, we decided to implement major gameplay changes to the Alpha Version of Kiseki. Some are relatively small in comparison to a few others (like how the way a class is played). But one has caused us to scrap major pieces of content that were seen in the Alpha version. I've mentioned this before on the short pastebin I posted on Twitter but Destiny and I decided to create a new spawn system that changes the way Kiseki is played and how maps operate in the future.A. Respawn System
The Spawn System (dubbed "The Wave") is a special type of spawn system that allows you to spawn in different locations. On the right side of the screen is a list that shows which "waves" you can spawn in. Each map will have at least 1-3 spawn waves to choose from. This map that you see here only has a maximum of two extra waves to spawn on. The way to obtain new spawn waves is by capturing more flags. The more flags you have, the more waves are unlocked. Waves reset after every round though, so use them as much as you can!
You may have also noticed another wave in the list called "Slipgate #1". That's because we changed how the Cultist's "Slipgate" ability works. Instead of it being two teleporters, it's a way for your teammates to spawn in a completely different location. The only problem being that you will gain the "Decay" debuff for a few seconds while having no Forcefield on you.
In addition to this new spawn system, we've also added a bit of a "subsystem" to prevent the winning team from being overpowered. In Valve's Team Fortress 2, there's a spawn system that increases the amount of time you have til you can respawn depending if you're team is winning or losing. This spawn system is only used in CTF and KOTH maps, but I took note of this and implemented it into this new spawn system.
Due to this new Spawn System though, we had to scrap ALL of the maps that were available in Alpha version. Which is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing being more unique maps instead of just slightly modified maps and the curse being more work for us to do. Currently, we only have two available maps in Beta, but we will soon be expanding to a few more maps if we manage to get everything else done. The map you see in the screenshot above is called "Lost Safari" and it was made by me. While the other map is called "Flagstone", which was created by Pokemaster73.
B. Weapon Layouts
Even as early as Alpha, we planned to add a weapon layout system that allowed you to change weapons. And now that we're here in Beta, we've finally made it real. Weapons (that aren't considered Active Abilities) are now divided into two categories. Category #1 is Primary Weapons and #2 being Secondary Weapons. All the default weapons are unlocked but they are only usable by certain classes. We looked back into the past and dug up this table that explains which classes get what weapon. But thanks to the addition of new classes and weapons, we have to do some slight adjustment to this table.
C. Special Classes
Around December of 2018, when the Beta version of Kiseki CTF+ was initially planned to be released, Destiny and I discussed about how the gameplay was tedious and bland due to its repetitive nature. We came up with some ideas that can hopefully spice up Kiseki's gameplay. Two of the things that came in mind were the new respawn system and special classes.
If you ever played Star Wars Battlefront before, you may recall a system where a player can become one of main cast members from the original Star Wars Trilogy (like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, etc). We essentially did the same thing for Kiseki. The idea was to help the losing team turn the tides so they could potentially win the match. These special classes have their own unique specials, weapons, and cosmetics. For an example, the class you see above is called "The Officer". Although the Officer has a revolver, he can use his Heliograph to "Spot" enemies that are within a 100 stud radius and his Artillery Beacon to summon a storm of bombs around the area.
There are two other special classes that will be included in the Beta. The first one being called "The Raider" and the other being "The Samurai". The Raider is a heavy armored class that is resistant to headshots from AMR's and can use his shield to block incoming damage. The Samurai is like the Shinobi with the major difference being that the Samurai has a Katana that can one shot any target.
There will be more special classes in the future, but hopefully these three will be good enough for Beta!
D. Ammunition Rehaul
Earlier in this post I mentioned that we've categorized all regular weapons by making them either Primaries or Secondaries. This was mainly the reason why we did such a thing. We wanted to make it where players have to manage their own ammunition for their primary weapon. This is, of course, due to balancing reasons.
In the Alpha version (and even in the original Kiseki), there was to ammo boxes or anything like that! Which caused some classes to become a lot more viable than others. So to keep the game balanced, we included ammunition packs that players can obtain to keep their primary weapons from losing all of their ammo. Of course, we didn't want to make it where secondary weapons did the same thing. So we made secondaries have no ammunition limitation, but they're weaker than primary weapons (excluding the Chainsaw, Sickle, and Ninjato).
But this left us with another issue: Kiseki doesn't have a class that can give ammunition to teammates. So we decided to create a new class dedicated to filling that roll.
D. New Class: Supplier
The Supplier is a pure support class that can give teammates ammo and health packs. He can also scavenge through corpses to find more ammo and health packs. Unlike other classes, he is also equipped with a Flash Grenade Launcher (FGL for short) that shoots a mini flashbang pellet that blinds all enemies looking at it within a 30 stud radius.
General Stats:
- 105 Base Health
- 110 Armor
- 100 Damage Output
- 18 Walkspeed
- Primary Weapon: FGL
- Secondary Weapon: Compact SMG
Passive Abilities:
- Ammo Magnet: Whenever you kill a player (or get an assist kill), a box of ammo drops from their corpse.
We also included another class just because we thought it was a good idea.
E. New Class: Hunter
The Hunter is a defensive support class that can turn invisible by standing still. He can also place down Bear Traps that stuns an enemy once it has been touched. He's the second class that can make their own body translucent. The only difference being that his body only stays translucent when he doesn't move or shoot. Otherwise, he's very noticeable.
General Stats:
- 120 Base Health
- 95 Armor
- 100 Damage Output
- 17 Walkspeed
- Primary Weapon: Mosin Nagant
- Secondary Weapon: Crossbow
Passive Abilities:
- Camouflage: Standing still for 3 seconds will make your body invisible. Shooting or moving will revert back.
F. Other Changes
There are a lot of other changes that were made. But I don't want to continue on for all day so here's the sparknotes version of every other gameplay change we've made so far.- Barbarian's Berserk now removes all your weapons and temporarily gives you a new tool called "Final Fist". The weapon also takes a few seconds to start up, so make sure you're in a safe area before using it!
- Apprentice now has to collect spells to use any of his special abilities like Meteor or the Final Meteor.
- Touching water while under the effects of Afterburn will immediately remove the effect from your body.
- Afterburn deals less damage towards Wellwishers while dealing more to Phantoms.
- Marksman now has a Spotting Flare Gun. Which replaces the Ballistic Shield and the Marked passive ability.
- Witch Doctor's Defile can now revive fallen teammates from beyond the grave. When revived, only half of their health comes back and they are temporarily under the effects of Decay.
- Animations have been given to Bite, Bash, Assassinate, and Heavy Battlesuit.
- The Minigun for the Heavy Battlesuit now has an "overheat" function that slows down the gun's firerate over time.
- Wellwisher now has a new ability called "Adrenaline Shot". Which allows the user to boost their speed for 5 seconds to get to a new location.
- Cultists can burn themselves in their own fire.
- Slipgate has been completely reworked into being another way for your teammates to spawn in.
- Stun Ward has been given more visual flare to it.
- T-Storm is now back to its old self.
- Pixie Bombs now shoot a circle of bombs down under your feet instead of constantly jumping into the air and dropping a bomb with every step.
- Pixie Bombs will not activate if there's a roof above your head.
- Disarm and Pacifism deals self damage when used. So be careful when using them!
- Sensation Man's class limit has been increased to two. We debuffed the Sensation Man a bit in order to make him available to two other players.
- Exorcist now has the ability to "Cremate" corpses to increase the strength of his Soul Bolt. He can collect up to 5 souls.
- Exorcist now has "Unholy Crusade", which deals 1.3x more damage to demon classes.
- Decay and Blood Thirst (the Vampire's debuff) will not kill the user if their health reaches to 1.
- Haste is a new ability given to the Butcher and Vampire if their health reaches below 35 health.
- Hunter's Scent is a new ability given to the Butcher to find nearby enemies who have been damaged (unless they are also a Butcher).
- Sensation Man gains the ability to use "Self Destruct" when at or below 35 health.
3. Future Content
Despite all the progress we've made so far for the Beta version of Kiseki CTF+, we have yet to finish everything we have planned. Luckily, there are only a few more features we need to finish before we can release Beta 1.0. Here is what we have to finish now.A. Tinkerer's New Sentries
In our strive to improve the overall gameplay of Kiseki, we plan to buff a few classes that are currently being underused. One class in particular, known as the Tinkerer, is one of them. This was an idea that I proposed to Destiny and he approved of the idea. The idea in question is to give the Tinkerer a new variation of sentries.
The original sentry was now going to be known as the "Tactical Sentry" (aka the Compact Sentry). This sentry is gonna be weaker than the other two that you see above. It's an easier build and can be used in a lot of scenarios. Of course, we decided to redesign it so it'll fit with the other sentries. And according to someone I know, the design looks cute.
We will also make the Wrench its own melee weapon (instead of being a thing for summoning a sentry) and make the sentry summoner its own mesh. It's a pretty good idea and we hope this will get more people to play as the Tinkerer.
B. Sensation Man's "Sensation Time" Ability
Even before the Sensation Man's debuff, he was under used by many of our Alpha testers and Pre-Beta testers. Destiny and I decided to give the Sensation Man the ability to sacrifice 3 of his bugs in order to go into a temporary frenzy mode where he can only use dual chainsaws. The idea is to make the Sensation Man much more fun to play as.Ideal Stats:
"Sacrifice your Sensation Bugs to gain a 20 second boost on speed, jump power, and attack power. You also gain Dual Chainsaws and 5 seconds of total invincibility."
Requirements:
- 3 Kills / Sensation Bugs
Buffs:
- 20 second boost on speed, jump power, and attack power (by +6)
- 5 second Forcefield on start
- Given Dual Chainsaws
- Immune to Duress, Afterburn, Pacifism, and Disarm
Debuffs:
- Current Sensation Bugs are destroyed
- Cannot gain Sensation Bugs while on Sensation Time
- Chainsaw Bounded: Cannot use LAW while in this mode
- Sounds Of Hell: Constant music is playing while in Sensation Time
- Relapse: You get Marked For Death + your speed is lowered by -3 points for 6 seconds.
This might change in the future but we hope this will make the Sensation Man much more fun and viable in Kiseki. Of course, we will also give him class exclusive weapon unlocks. But that will most likely be post-Beta.
4. Final Thoughts
Despite a year since the beginning of Kiseki CTF+'s development and two more months of holding the Beta back before the initial release month, I'm really happy about what we've done so far. It made me realize that it's much more satisfying to finish something complex and interesting than it is to release something just because we're done with it. I'd rather hold the Beta release for another month if we have to than to just release a mediocre product. At least, I hope when the release does come around, the product isn't mediocre. There's also a few things I might be forgetting so hopefully in the next post I can address them.If you have any further questions on Kiseki CTF+, please message me on Twitter or comment on this post.
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