Changelog Update #02 - New Dash Ability

[Blue]

- NEW DASH ABILTIY
This new ability gives the player a 500% speed boost for a fraction of a second. It moves the player in whatever direction they are currently moving by the press of a button. There is no need to unlock it, you have this ability right from the get go! The Dash has 3 charges and it takes 3 seconds to recharge.

Other changes
- reduced player move speed and acceleration by roughly 25%
- tweaked player walk animation
- enemy ambush minimum distance increased by 50%
- enemy fireballs are 75% faster
- fixed muffled audio on switches
- fixed player interaction time isn't affected by slowmotion
- switch activation time reduced to 0.5 sec
- Salem Servant accuracy reduced from 30% to 15%
- Unearthly difficulty does not reduce ammo pickups anymore
- default difficulty when starting a new game is now "Let's be reasonable"
- Enemies now have a higher tolerance for moving targets when melee attacking
- tweaked some existing rooms
- reduced self-damage from explosives from 33% to 20%
- tweaked shotgun reload animation

[Sonnenblume]

What is the key for dash? I don't see anything in the rebindable controls menu and I've been hammering all over my keyboard with no luck.

[Blue]

It's shift. The rebind menu should also show the button to be changed...?

[Sonnenblume]

Shift + direction does nothing for me. I double checked to make sure I downloaded the update and yup it's downloaded (I am seeing the dash counter on the HUD).

Here's what my rebind menu looks like:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1541121285

[Masallan]

Me too.
Pressing shift does not work, it is not displayed in the key binding.

[Blue]

Thanks for your quick responses!
The game didn't update existing config files correctly. I've updated the game to 0.2.1 and it should work now. Shift = dash by default, config screen should let you change the button.

[marmottin]

Originally posted by Blue:

Thanks for your quick responses!
The game didn't update existing config files correctly. I've updated the game to 0.2.1 and it should work now. Shift = dash by default, config screen should let you change the button.

It works fine now =)

[Blue]

Originally posted by marmottin:

It works fine now =)

Thanks, glad to know! Enjoy :D

[Sonnenblume]

Thanks for the quick fix. Just some thoughts and opinions:

1.) Dash feels really good. I quite like using it in tandem with melee(you can hit multiple enemies because of the attack duration and the distance that you cover). An idea that I thought of is if melee attacks during this dash had something like +25% increased base damage because of the increased momentum or whatever.

2.) I have mixed thoughts on the increased fireball speed. It feels good at medium-long range and it allows skillful use of the dash, but at up close when you're using shotgun or melee, the fireball speed is so fast that you get hit without much chance to react. Maybe decreasing the new fireball speed by 10-20% or something might be enough, or giving enemies a longer wind up animation so that you can predict when it's coming and when to dash? Of course it's your game and up to you entirely.

3.) I haven't had this happen to me, but I've heard some people say that bombs can be exploded in your face by salem servant shots. The bomb detonation is so devastating that it would almost discourage use of the bomb around mobs of servants.

4.) Trinket balance. In Unloved different trinkets around the same level were relatively balanced(Except you Deimos Marine Jesus christ fix this useless piece of crap). Ahem, in Dimension Drifter there is a real imbalance between different trinkets; some are just objectively better then others. For example, a 5 star Security Vest provides +10 Max Armor. Meanwhile, my 5 star Protective Thug Shoes provide +10 Max armor AND +10% movement speed. Why would anyone choose the former?

[Shiki]

Nice update. The increased projectile speed keeps you on your toes now, the dash ability complements this very well. Also thanks for no more ammo penality in unearthly difficulty!
Keep up the good work :)

[potterman28wxcv]

Oh wow didn't expect that much in one patch. It looks really good ! Time is hard to find for me these days but I will most definitely give it a go when I can

[Sonnenblume]

Now that I've had some more time to play around with the new update, I wanted to talk about the current state of melee combat: I think it's been indirectly nerfed/made not as viable because of three recent changes: slower player movement, faster enemy fireballs, increased enemy melee tolerance/range. While these changes are fine on their own, they have had the unintended consequence of making it far more dangerous getting up close to enemies to use melee strikes. Before the current update, the player movement speed was fast enough to allow the player to skillfully duck in and out of enemy melee attack range while performing melee strikes of their own (See the video I posted in the gameplay thread where I clear out an entire heavily populated level with only melee). Now I know we have the new dash ability, which is great because it allows the player to perform defensive/offensive dashes while performing the melee attack. However, with the limits of the charge rate and only having a maximum of 3 charges at once, dashes can only be used so much. Right now there is a lot of risk for being in melee range of mobs of enemies without much reward. The game presently encourages medium range gunplay and discourages anything more than sporadic use of melee. You have to ask yourself, what is the final vision for melee in this game: is it something to be used only ocassionally on a lone enemy or conserve ammo here and there, or is it meant to be a core component to the gameplay? I personally think it's the latter and that the player needs a buff of some sort to allow melee to be more viable. I propose any of the following ideas.

1.) Movement speed buff: I'm not talking about reverting it to the original speed. Maybe something like a +10% speed increase to what we currently have (This would be 85% of the original speed). This would still allow dash to be a useful mechanic, while letting the player move with greater ease and freedom during melee combat.

2.) Dash/ Dash+Melee mechanic changes: Something I mentioned above would be if melee strikes during a dash did increased damage. An offensive Dash into Melee strike or a defensive dash out of combat while meleeing are currently the safest ways to deal melee damage to enemies. If this dealt extra damage compared to the base melee attack, than it would allow for stategic but powerful melee combat opportunities. If you don't like this idea, something else you could do would be to implement a mechanic where melee kills(gun kills would not contribute to this for balance purposes) would either instantly generate another dash charge, or recover a percentage of the dash recovery bar. This would allow for more dashes during melee combat, so long as you are successfully getting kills.

3.) Melee Trinkets: Add a melee trinket slot so that we can equip trinkets to buff our melee. Things like increased damage, higher crit rate, faster attack rate/swing speed, greater melee reach. They could also have secondary bonuses like adding +1 to the total amount of dashes the player can hold(bringing it to 4), faster dash recovery rate, or adding something like 20% distance to the dash length.

4.) Flat Melee damage buff: If the risk for engaging in melee combat is going to stay high, than increase the rewards to match it. I'm talking high damage output. Increase the base damage of the melee strike(you can reduce the melee crit multiplier to prevent crits from becoming too powerful).

Just my 2 cents. But what was interesting to me about DD was the interplay between the gunplay and the melee. I used to play a very melee heavy style. But after this update I've shifted to far more gunplay at medium range because it's a lot more viable and safe compared to engaging in melee combat.

[Blue]

Originally posted by Sonnenblume:

Melee Trinkets

They will come in a melee focused update. Right now nothing improves melee in particular.

I like the combination with the Dash energy recharge you mention, for example a melee upgrade could give you Energy leech on melee strikes while another would give you life leech. It gives players different things they might want to spec into with their melee upgrades.

There will be other upgrades related to Dashes, for example shorter recharge or more Dashes in general. Right now the upgrade system is pretty bare bones, but more and more different spec options will be added over time. My next plans are the expansion of Combat Gear, giving it options for armor protection, dash amount and dash recharge time. This way the player has to choose if they prefer better armor or dash ability/move speed on their combat gear.

[Sonnenblume]

Originally posted by Blue:

Originally posted by Sonnenblume:

Melee Trinkets

They will come in a melee focused update. Right now nothing improves melee in particular.

I like the combination with the Dash energy recharge you mention, for example a melee upgrade could give you Energy leech on melee strikes while another would give you life leech. It gives players different things they might want to spec into with their melee upgrades.

There will be other upgrades related to Dashes, for example shorter recharge or more Dashes in general. Right now the upgrade system is pretty bare bones, but more and more different spec options will be added over time. My next plans are the expansion of Combat Gear, giving it options for armor protection, dash amount and dash recharge time. This way the player has to choose if they prefer better armor or dash ability/move speed on their combat gear.

Awesome! Very cool. Glad to hear that there will be a lot more depth and specialization added to melee, dashes, and combat gear.