K'oss Gets a Facelift

Well, I haven't posted in a while, but i decided to catch you guys up.

Right now, I am currently going over EVERY single move and touching them up. Not only am I doing that, but I am also changing the damage, hit velocity, and in some cases, the entire move itself so that nothing seems stale or useless in K'oss' arsenal.

This is a long process, like spriting, but the rewards are very gratifying. All of the small tweaks and added animations really do add up in the long run.

On unrelated news, K'oss CNS file hit 1mb earlier this week. It's now at 1.1mb, and that's not including the common.

I've added a lot, trust me, but before I can add anymore, K'oss' appearance must be brought up to par with the rest of his features.

The nintendo inspired fighting DNA

Big changes!

This past month, i have been thinking of what i want to do with K'oss to make him even more special. Well, after placing 4th in the Vandylan 2008 smash tournament (out of over 80!), i decided that K'oss needs some pro-ness!

Changes? You bet. SSBM inspired? Count on it.

Welcome to the world of PRO

Free Falling
-More control over the speed and direction of your falling (different equips will perform this better or worse)

Dash Dancing/Dodge Canceling/Crouch Canceling
-Dash dancing can only be done in HH mode due to him being the only mode that runs in both directions. basically, it's just to confuse opponents, but since mugen is mainly vs computers, it has it's other uses.... hehe (you'll see, it's GENIUS!)

-Dodge Canceling is used to cancel out of the after frames (frames after contact) of an attack. More on this later

-Crouch Canceling can be done with all equips besides from HH mode. Works on dash jumps. Crouch immediately afterwards to regain control instantly. Works best with Wing mode due to the way he dashes.

Dodge Dashing
-Same Idea behind the wave dash (youtube it). Now that you can control the aerial dodge in v.80 and up, you can now jump and when you come down dodge downward diagonally to gain about 4 ticks of invincibility and a good slide.

Leaping
-This is the short hop of mugen (as far as i'm concerned :)). With the new slide physics coding, this is done on a crouch slide. Let me explain. First you run, then you crouch, and while crouching, you hit up to jump. Result? A longer, shorter (height wise), jump that has special affects on certain attacks.... you'll see.


There's more, but they are all still in the conceptual stage. More to come later!

Fruits of My Labor

Due to my inability to stay focused on one thing for too long, my 7 hour work block turned into a 5 hour work block, but needless to say, it was productive.

In that time, I finished "Final Editing" for K'oss standing, walking (forward and backward), jumping, and crouching sprites. In addition to that, I did the same for the Fury version. All of this amounted to about 70 or so sprites, so I was very happy.

Spriting wasn't the only thing I focused on during that time period. I also thought how I'm going to make fury mode stand out. As stated in the .74 pre-release document, Fury mode will not have that many moves that differ from the regular mode. So I needed a reason for players to choose Fury instead of wing, HH, or shield.

Well, that's when I used the already coded hit pausing installed in Fury Mode and expanded on it...

NEW IN '0.8

K'oss Fury Mode will now have the passive ability "Combo Burst." This is very similar to Smash chain combo-ing except that requires better timing and takes no special meter to perform.

How it Works? For just about every non-standard attack, if you hit the attack button once again at the right moment (think timed hits), you will unleash a fire burst attack.

However, this can deplete the Discharge bar. More on that later...

7 Hour Work Block Today

Today, I'm running a computer lab at my college for about 8 hours. Luckily, i only have about 1 hour of homework so the rest of the time, I will spend on sprites and coding.

This 7 hour block should prove to be productive and should bring me that much closer to releasing the next version... If i can stay focused for that long.

And now for the new in '0.8 for today....

NEW IN '0.8

Specials. All non-equipped versions of K'oss will have 2 level 1 specials and 1 level 2.

Once equiped, K'oss gains 1 lv 1 special, 1 lv 2 special, and 1 lv 3 special.

However there are other ways to activate hidden specials.....

And the Award for the Worst Blogger of '07 Goes Too...

In all seriousness, I SUCK.

Sorry to the people that actually come to site, because I have been away fro what... 3 months! Man I suck. And the excuse that my site went down is not good enough.

I've also made so many promises to stay on top of my stuff, but last semester was a rough one (College is unforgiving).

Either way, I wont lie. Most of the time off was spent studying and not working on my characters, but that's all about to change. I will continue from my last post and try to give out informational tidbits every week day (kinda like the SSMBB Blog).

Well this is for starters. The new in '08 segment begins now (get it? version 0.8? HAHAHAAAH)

NEW IN '0.8

From now on, when you activate a mode, it will stay for upcoming matches, similar to how the AI operates.

Well, it's a start right? Well back to spriting. And remember, my email is wavebossa13@gmail.com if you want to help in Project K'oss in any way shape or form. Well, good to be back.

4000+ Views! And Some New News

First off, we got 4K!

Big acheivement seeing as how K'oss is the only thing on this site.

Secondly, I'm hitting sprites hard now. REAL HARD. I'm doing as many as I can and i've found the best way to keep from getting bored. Now I do other character sprites when I get tired of K'oss.

This means, more work on Aurdor and EM.

Each day (if I can keep it up), I'll be posting up a number of how many sprites I've done for that day. This will keep me from forgetting to work on them.

So far today I've done:

October, 16, 2007----29 Sprites ------

K'oss Original = 14 sprites*
K'oss Fury = 3 sprites*
K'oss Wing = 2 sprites*
K'oss HH = 1 sprite*
Aurdor (Newest version) = 3 sprites*
EM (Newest version) = 6 sprites*

*Tally subject to change until 11:59pm


To give you an idea of how long this takes...

-Converting K' to K'oss takes about 5 and a half minutes give or take 1 minute based on picture difficulty
-Converting K'oss to K'oss Fury takes about 1 and a half minutes
-Converting K'oss to K'oss Wing takes about 1 and a half minutes
-Converting K'oss to K'oss HH takes about 20 seconds
-Converting Another K' to Aurdor takes about 3 and a half minutes
-Converting Vanessa to EM takes about 4 minutes

When I'm really focused, I go much faster, but these times include the downtime in between

-Creating a new wing custom pic takes about 7 minutes


....This is why I need a spriter

Version .75 Around the Corner, Important Updates.

First off, before I forget to, I gotta say thanks to a lot of people. Mainly, the people who download and play mugen (not just my character) because thanks to you guys mugen is back in effect.

I also gotta thank creators for really pushing the limits of this engine in what they can do with their characters and coding knowledge. Trying to one up certain characters keeps me constantly on my toes (which is a very good thing).

And I can't forget to thank the people who have helped me directly with this project.

Zeckle - Testing, Coding Assistance, AND A SFF THAT CAN USE PALS!!! (I kid u not)
Liger - Very indepth testing and advice
U-Division - Promoting the character
C-Division - Providing me the K sprites
Mugen-Infantry - Positive Feedback and support
MugenGuild - Ditto

And no, this isn't supposed to be a like an award speech or some bull, this is just giving thanks to those who deserve and should expect it, that is all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, lets get to it!

.75 will have a completed sprite edit! I will work as hard as a can (especially with fall break coming up) to finish editing these annoying sprites before the end of October (I want that COTM so baaaad).

Like I mentioned earlier, Zeckle has agreed to provide me with a palette-able sff for K'oss. This means a alot trust me! Each mode will have 2 palettes, the regular one, and the hold start palette.

Holding start and selecting you character will automatically put you into your desired mode (YEAH!), but you will not gain the stat bonuses that you would if you chose regularly (WAAH!)

Of course there will be new moves, I don't even have to mentioned that. Level 1 specials will be back, and 1 level 2 special for each mode.

Once you have activated a mode, you will not be able to go back into the activation process (this clears up the C button for the discharge system.)

Small AI updates, but you're gonna have to wait for v.8 for the big updates in that area.

New intros.

A teaser of the HH mode. NOTE! This will be just be regular K'oss with HH mechanics and HH sprites. This is NOT going to be the full mode, just a little teaser to show you how he handles.

TBR OCTOBER 2007! If you like it, don't be afraid to vote in COTM at MI!

v.74 HAS ARRIVED!!! Wait.... What?

Yeah I know, it's not v.75, but it's close. I am very tired right now due to chemistry and a lack of sleep. I will update you on the meaning of v.74 tomorrow probably. For now, just enjoy the char.

Downlaod K'oss

Now i can get some sleep. Thanks for downloading and supporting.

Get Ready, v.75 is About to DROP! Pre-Release Statement

GENERAL OVERVIEW

"Version 7.5? What about the version 8 that you have talked so much about?"

Yeah, I can imagine that most of you are thinking that, but don't worry, this release has more than enough to constitute for a new version, trust me. My original plan was to release every thing pre-v1.0 in a .x scale, (x being consecutive counting integers, no halves, no fractions). Thats just a fancy way of saying, I wanted to release it all at once. But after remaking my "release-to-do-list" I saw that this was impossible.

Why? Simple, I made a lot of promises without a good foundation. I promised that HH form would at least be available in v.8, I promised that the new costume system would be in effect as well, and I also promised to have a fleshed out A.I.

None of these have been completed for this release (well, the A.I. is better, but not evil-ryu-esque). So what is done? THE FOUNDATIONS!!!

After playing K'oss a lot (yes, I started to actually PLAY mugen again) I noticed a lot of things that should have been fix 3 or 4 releases ago. And I was still going to leave them just out of a laziness! There is something to be said about redoing old moves, I never feel like it.

But, for the sake all who play with/against my char, I have redone a lot in this release. I have fixed tons of bugs (can't say all because there will always be bugs) and I have given the players an actual reason to be excited about the equip system.

In the last release, I really brought the equip system to forefront with the vid I made of it. And it was postively critiscized (rightly so). The problem was, "What was the point?" And to be honest, beside from the equip benefits and a couple of extra moves, there really wasn't one. This has changed drastically. I will wait for my release post to go into more detail, but just know that whatever mode you choose this time around will really affect your style of play.

Probably the most important accomplishment of this release is the number of attacks that I have added. You really can't have an equip system without making tons of attacks to vary each style. I have 2 more moves to make before I release him, but as of now... K'oss v.75 has 18 more attacks than K'oss v.7. Yeah, get ready to combo.

Speaking of combos, K'oss is now an aerial threat. With 8 new combo-able air attacks, 4 more setters (think volleyball, setters hit opponents into to air to start combo attacks), a new and improved "air_pressence" ability, and a much more improved air cyclone, K'oss is just as dangerous from above as he is on the ground.

But back to the equip systems. There may be 18 more attacks this time around, but the equip abilities will prove to be just as important. These ones, I can at least explain.

EQUIP ABILITIES

Wing's Abilities:

Flying - This was already there, but it has been nerfed a little bit. Kinda like Kirby from ssmb/m, The flying effect will decrease with every sucsessive burst. Until you hit the ground, then its back to full

Quick Teleport - Once in the wing mode, teleportation will become much quicker, making it all the more deadly.

Wing Counter - While blocking, you may extend your wing and counter hard, for the price of 1/2 special bar of course. Use the equip key, the dodge key will roll.

Prolonged Sidesteps - All sidesteps/dodges have been prolonged to make them more usefull (seriously, if you get used to it, it becomes seconds nature).

Attack Bonus - With the wing equipped, K'oss' attack goes up to 10%, 2.5% higher then last time around

Defense Bonus - With the wing equipped, K'oss' defense goes up to 7.5%.

Power Recovery - All modes have been granted a power recovery rate. Wing modes is the highest.

Shield's Abilities:

Energy Shield - By holding the dodge button, K'oss will bring out his energy shield. He is nearly impervious to damage in this mode. It drains special and will only last as long as it covers his body (it shrinks). Another Smash tribute.

Shielded Teleportation - K'oss will have a very short period of protection after teleporting. Good for getting in close to the opponent.

Pushout Counter - Not really a counter, more like "GIMME SOME SPACE, BEOTCH" Haha, sorry for that outburst, typing this is taking a long time. Alright, the pushout counter will just launch a quick shield and push the enemy back in mid attack. This will give some much needed space. 1/4 special cost, no real damage done. Use the equip key, the dodge key will roll.

Defense Bonus - With the Shield equipped, K'oss' defense goes up to 20%. 5% more then in the last release. Making him much harder to kill.

Fury's Abilities:

Hit Pausing - If you're a coder, I don't even need to explain this, but I will anyway. Simply, with Fury Equipped, K'oss will add his own pausetime to every attack (a paustime that he can move through). It's not long at all, but long enough to make countering a little easier.

Athleticism...? - Fury mode runs faster and jumps higher then any other mode

Fire Teleportation - Yes, it's back. The super cheap fire teleportation that K'oss used back in v.5. Well, it has been altered to make it not cheap. It still takes special, and it doesn't more the opponent anywhere, it just deals a very small amount of damage and gives about 4 gameticks of time.

Ignition - While blocking, use the equip button to ignite yourself, and your opponent for a cost of 1/2 special bar.

Attack Bonus - K'oss + Fury Equip = 15% attack bonus. +15% attack bonus + Fury Equip Combo-ing ability = Deadly!!!

Discharge - Aaaaah, not ready yet, will be in 7.6! I promise.


As you can see, there is a lot to be said in this release, but there some things that you wont see in this releas that you have seen before.

THE REMOVAL/PENDING LIST

All things you see in this list have been changed from in this release.

ReMapping:

Air striker in unequipped mode has been doubled over to account for the free button
Air cyclone(a & b) in unequipped mode has been doubled over to account for the free button
Air Punisher in unequipped mode has been doubled over to account for the free button
Air Roll in unequipped mode has been doubled over to account for the free button

All Kise attacks have been given a "D, B, F, (attack key)" variation to make them easier to preform.

D, DB, B, a has been remapped for a smash attack. Air pressence is still completable by using D, U

Re-area has been removed, this counter will be upgraded and given to HH mode

Air pressence has been removed and given only to Wing mode

All Hypers have been changed. They all require double buttons now. I did this to discourage using them. They have not been changed at all in over 2 versions. I really want to work on it, but that will come later

Rejuvination mode has been removed for now (it will have a special purpose in the Discharge Release)

Rolling is back, but it can only be done while dodging/blocking and after falling.

HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE

Due to the fact that the costume change is not in effect yet, here are some ways to tell the differences (know what K'oss your fighting).

In unequipped form, it's near impossible, but that wont matter. Just know that your fighting K'oss.

Wing Mode - Purple energy flashes, embers have been changed to purple, All Fire Is Now Purple (took forever). Flying ability. Block has purple shield.

Shield Mode - Orange energy flashes, Shield flashes on and off. Block has shield.

Fury mode - Fire around at all times. Screen shakes. Screen flashes. Red flashes. Flame burst around. Double the amount of embers. Has more fire on all of his firebased attacks.

BUG LIST AND ATTACK LIST

Eh, this post is long enough as it is. I will have the complete attack list and bug fix list along with the release. I will also have my plans for the next few releases. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed typing (or more, hopefully more). Enjoy the new version when he comes. Which should be tomorrow at the latest.

I'll make a new video too, but that may have to wait until the weekend (I have a TON of homework)

Not much to say

I've been away for a bit, trust me, I know. But college classes and college parties are a whole new time consumer. I really haven't done too much work on K'oss since my last post concerning the spriting progress, but that is about to change. I've gauged my work load, work hours, and party time (I love my schedule), and I still have to fit some some good ole Mugen programming in there as well. I guess my little week long hiatus is over and its time to go back to work, in moderation.

Aside from that, I think I may have found a potential spriter, but I wont count my chickens before they hatch or w/e that's supposed to mean. I'll keep you guys updated on the progress and devolopements as best as I can.

On a side note, I was on National TV! (well, hasn't everyone been at some point?). Vanderbilt vs Richmond (yeah, not on espn's top priority, but w/e), when t he class of 2011 rushed out, I was one of the first one's out the gate with my yellow commodore wig and full gold body paint. It was pretty sick to say the least.

GO DORES!