Throwing

Throwing is done! The controls should feel pretty similar to other weapon sets - hold LMB to start the throw, release LMB to do the actual throwing. Holding it longer than the minimal throw prepare time have the advantage of projectile speed, damage, accuracy, etc.

With throwing, there are a couple new mechanics:

The first is gravity. As you can see above, the rocks fly in an arc rather than in a straight line. So the player have to aim higher than what's on the cross hair to reach the target. The more complicated part is the AI. The AI needs to calculate the trajectory to throw at to reach the target. Anyways, with some help from the helpful peeps on discord, that works now.

The second is (in)accuracy. All ranged weapons can have an inaccuracy value. The projectile is then fired at a random direction in a circle around the crosshair. The size of circle is governed by the inaccuracy value. The distribution is roughly uniform, that is to say, all points on the circle have a roughly equal chance to be picked instead of say, clustered near the center.

The third is headshots. Seems like the vast majority wants locational damage:

I am not quite ready to utilize full locational damages yet. But headshots are easy. So they are in game now. They grant a modest increase in damage (50% more) and extra stagger. 

The head hitbox respects the sliders, so it does mean smaller heads have the advantage. But it's not something I am too worried about atm. 

Another change is that the hitboxes in game are very generous, and it was very easy to hit with ranged weapons, so the game now uses a smaller and more precise hitbox to check against ranged projectiles (and only ranged attacks).

Finally, AI penalties. In play testing, it turns out that projectiles are extremely potent in the hands of AI mobs. (Their stones will blot out the sun). So mobs have a pretty big penalty to firing speed, inaccuracy and damage to make it less overwhelming.

So with all that, the foundations to implement any ranged weapons is done, sans animations for each weapon type and perhaps ammo. Compared to melee weapons, ranged move sets are definitely much easier to do. Only need 2 animations - charging, and firing to be functional. Whoever suggested to use 3 directions for melee rather than 4 is a godsend. 

But rather than turning towards bows and crossbows immediately, I am going to implement something else for now: a new NPC that offers hair change, coloring, and a very unique and expensive "potion" (and the potion to reverse it's effect just in case...).