Heroine Rumble2 v0.12 - big patch

Download HERE.

New update is here! This patch adds the first story elements, starting character customization, 2v2 exhibition matches, combat and AI tweaks, and lots of bugfixes.

Highlights:

Starting as male or female.

Story "Matches" - note that enemy could be different on your playthrough.

2v2 Exhibition matches. I know there is some text overlapping from the text scaling feature I added, still some kinks to walkthrough. The victory condition check for team matches is first team to have one member pinned loses. You can try soloing these if you wish.

Improved AI behavior for team fights: Preview at tweeter.

New formula to calculate exp. The total exp from level 1 to level 10 is about the same, but then it takes more exp to level from beyond that. This is because the old formula only scaled the cost linearly, and I felt that players maxes out too quickly. I don't want to run into the Heroine Rumble I situation where some players got to level range of 100s and then I had to make the level 100+ challenge enemies.

I also decreased the default damage/toughness scaling per level to 5% each (from 10% each).  This is because with how the mechanics interact in HRII, a character with +100% stats is not just twice as strong, but more than that. Making fighting higher level enemies really difficult. So I decided to tune down the level scaling for a more balanced experience.

New Surrendering & Pin Behavior: AI now surrenders at <20% max HP. Character is considered "finished" if surrendered AND 0% max HP. (Side with all characters "finished" loses the match)

Some history is needed to explain this change. Back in the HR 1 days, pins are added because some players want a "scene-viewer" experience rather than having the game forcibly end when one side reaches 0 max HP. This made sense but pins introduced another problem - "how do I win/end the match? I got the enemy to 0 HP, but the match still continues on, is it bugged?"

HRII didn't have pins originally, but then this made the "scene-viewer" player unhappy, and I added pins back in, and we got the "how do I win" problem again.

How to make both sides satisfied? Well the first observation is that once a character's max HP goes below ~20% ish, it becomes really really difficult to win, because most attacks would just knock the character out.

Instead of making the AI "fight to the death" to 0% max HP, why not make it surrender? So the player have the option to end the fight immediately once AI surrenders via "pin", or you can toy around the enemy some more and reduced their max HP to 0% and have the match auto end.

Furthermore, when using it as a "scene-viewer", because the enemy is not AI controlled, it's not going to surrender and players can go at it however long as you want until you want to end the match via "pin."

New "Skilled" match difficulty, for high level characters.

Full screen mode, more resolution options, + auto font size scaling for big monitors.

Changelog:

General:

• Added the first batch of story/progression events (triggered in this order):
• - intro + char customization event at start of game, including new possibly to start as a male
• - a intro match immediately
• - a slightly harder intro match, requires highest char lvl >= 2 to trigger
• - a "free" recruit, requires highest char lvl >= 3 to trigger
• - a "Newbie Killer" match, requires 5 turns (battles) has passed
• - Note: new saves no longer starts with 3 random characters in your roster
• Add a maybe-fix for a certain black-and-red strip display bug
• Fixed a bug with some character cards containing invalid mod dependency data
• Added text scaling when resolution is changed
• Added new window resolution options in Options - Graphics
• Added new window mode options in Options - Graphics (new: Fullscreen)
• Added Female/Futa/Male indicator in the recruit window
• Sweat effect is not based on max HP (red) rather than current HP (green)
• Renamed "Roster option" to "Loadout" with a more descriptive caption
• Random outfit colors now keeps original material alpha (transparency) value
• Added new Fame rank "Recognition" that requires 1000 Fame to reach
• Added new Match difficulty 4 "Skill Level: Skilled", requires some Fame rank level ups to reach
• Added experimental 2v2 exhibition matches
• Upgraded win condition checking for group fights (first team to have one member pinned loses)
• Changed level up exp requirements use an exponential scaling rather than linear scaling
• -   New exp to level: (75 / (2^0.25)) * (2^0.25)^level + 25 * level
• -   Old exp to level: 50 + 50 * level
• -   total exp from level 1->10: 3321 (new), 3240 (old)
• -   total exp from level 1->20: 17538 (new), 11500 (old)
• -   total exp from level 1->30: 82983 (new), 24750 (old)
• Fixed bug that caused random characters to sometimes generate with invalid skin color
• Fixed bug that caused random characters to sometimes generate with invalid hair material
• Fixed bug that cause you to gain Fame when losing matches
• Fixed bug that cause removing restraints like mouth gag has priority over removing handcuff restraints
• Fixed bug when reapplying the same restraint does not reset that restraint's durability to full
• Fixed certain grabs targeting pp not leaving stains behind when target climaxes
• Fixed head stain invalid json data causing it to not appear
• Fixed faceride and similar grabs not leaving stains behind on face when target climaxes
• Added some additional cleanup checks for mannequins in grab customization
• Fixed female characters generated using random_char_card with PPs misidentifies as futa
• Fixed body requirements not observed by random_char_cards (causing males to generate with a female set)
• Added new random_char_cards, thanks to One.Inch.Man on discord for making them!
• Updated expression "expr_endure_high"
• End of Mission Rewards Grid now shows "Victory!" if you win and "Defeat..." if you fail to win a match
• Fixed shadows light pos not setup correctly
• Fixed an incorrect check on whether opponent has surrendered and is pin-able for the player
• Fixed oddities with finisher climax transition animations when it's the attacker climaxing

Combat & AI Tweaks:

• * Note: from now onwards stamina refers to the yellow stagger meter
• Added new levelup option: "Auto Grab Defense" - While standing, has a chance to push off against grab attempts as long as you have stamina remaining
• Added new levelup option: "Constant Recovery" - fighter class only: increase hit point (green) regeneration by +100%
• Added new levelup option: "Fighter Conditioning" - fighter class only: +5% movespeed, +5% cooldown recovery, +5% max HP
• Added new levelup option: "Footwork" +5% movespeed
• Added new levelup option: "Strength up": +1 STR
• Added new levelup option: "Dexterity up": +1 DEX
• Added new levelup option: "Intellect up": +1 INT
• Added new levelup option: "Charisma up": +1 CHA
• Added new levelup option: "Levelup (Repeatable)": gain no additional bonuses beyond what's granted in a normal level up; can be selected multiple times
• Durability increase per level to +5% / level (from +10% / level)
• Attack increase per level to +5% / level (from +10% / level)
• Ground stagger time to air juggle air time conversion ratio to 65% (from 100%)
• Reduced dash slide attack stagger damage multiplier to 70% (from 100%)
• Reduced Low Sweep Kick stagger damage multiplier to 70% (from 100%)
• Block now depletes stamina when blocking attacks that hits harder enough
• Blocking now fails against strong hits without stamina
• Air drift control is now set to walk-acceleration when jumping or during aerial attacks
• Air drift control is now set to 30% of walk-acceleration when being air juggled
• Improved following levelups: Melee Focus, Flurry Focus, Slugger Focus
• Greatly reduced AI parry chance compared to last patch
• AI now use the same movement handling code as the player instead of their own
• AI can now use the "Pull Up" option when grabbing downed opponents for more variety
• Fixed AI not attempting to dash/evade when downed
• Fixed grabbing a already grabbed character with no red HP left will cause the existing grab to end rather than joining in
• Fixed multiple AIs having difficulty finishing pin on opponent by keep interrupting each other's pins
• Experimental feature: AI levels 3 and above now prefers to knockdown all foes before going for grabs in a group fight situation
• Experimental feature: AI levels 3 and above now prioritize throw-grabs (grabs with new "single_loop" tag) in a group fight situation
• (Maybe?) Fixed a rare bug that cause AI to switch to stand-up animation when they should still be in a downed state
• Fixed cases where the stamina meter refills instantly when it should refill over time
• Fixed cases where AI characters can run in one direction while facing another direction
• Added a turning towards target component to ability "Powerthrough Followup"
• Ability "Low Sweep Kick" energyCost to 8 (from 5), damageMultiplier to 0.5 (from 0.6). (very strong as a combo enabler)
• Ability "Jumping Uppercut" energyCost to 12 (from 10)
• AI does not always followup with optional transitional attacks now
• Reduced the attack radius of ability PowerFist
• Strafing sideways with an animation set without side strafing animations defined (such as handcuffs) now turns the character towards that direction
• AI will now attempt to remove restraints when it has no targets or when target is KOed/downed
• Units no longer takes climax damage when all opponents are defeated
• Added breast-squirt when climaxing under certain conditions
• Lust damage over time from attachments now applies when target is placed onto a device in the default HOLD grab
• Disabled the Grab rock-paper-scissor mini game that only AI was able to play (so AI no longer has a 1/3 chance to push off grabs by default)
• Surrender threshold to <30% of max HP (from <25%)
• AI now surrenders at <20% max HP when grabbed
• Units are considered finished if they surrendered AND has no max HP left even without pinning
• Climaxing while defeated no longer ends the grab
• AI now ends grab willingly on 0 HP targets and goes for pins

Cheats:

• Added a "X" button to the in-battle cheat menu to close it permanently until the modding command is inputted to re-enable it

Modding:

• Fixed custom climax animation not used if attacker climaxes
• Added GrabChange.insertAttach.attachEffects.unitModifiers.limitedActions flag to indicate that restraint is intended to mostly restraint target's actions (such as handcuffs)

Internal:

• added a new internal dialogue editor (not available for public yet)
• added new internal script parser to parse expressions and generate ASTs
• added new internal script interpreter to evaluate parsed ASTs
• standardized the typename of string types to "Text" during serialization/deserialization
• upgraded dialogue system to support playback of nested statement blocks
• fixed bug that prevents dialogues of separate events from playing in a row
• fixed a problem with text area scroll bar not updating when inputting/pasting new text
• added new EventsChain structure for easier authoring of story missions
• added TalentTree .levelUpBonuses (auto granted when condition met, no need to pick)
• Fixed a potential problem with animation effects with animation time ratio near 1.0 could get skipped
• Tweaked SSAO