Highlights New Beta Branch: Optimized Unloading Currently the game keeps all menu assets in memory, even during gameplay. This results in fast loading between menu and match, but could cause the game to run worse on lower end hardware. If youve experienced issues previously, give this build a try to see if it improves your game feel and memory utilization online. Expect to see a brief black screen after matches end for now since we do not currently have UI during this new phase to reload the menu assets. This black screen will be replaced by an endcard in the future. During testing we observed an issue where music rarely cuts off mid-match. It's unclear if this bug is specific to this build, but we are currently investigating this. Let us know if you experience this issue! Loading Upgrades No more frozen game when waiting for custom content to load on startup or during long downloads online! We now use threading to load content, which prevents the entire game from freezing up and allows us to display a loading bar. Simplified custom content loading procedures behind-the-scenes and updated it to fail more gracefully. A single piece of content failing to load should no longer cause the rest of the custom content to fail. This should fix a bug that sometimes prevented your custom content from loading, alongside generally increased loading stability. Loading logic can be precarious - please let us know if you find any bugs with the new functionality at fraymakers.com/feedback. General Gameplay Parry - You can no longer parry attacks from behind. - Parries now use the same logic as shields when determining if an attack should be parryable. Armor Visuals - Attacks with the various types of armor are now indicated by the character tinting orange during armored frames. Crash - Pressing shield during crash loop now properly results in get up. - Entering crash bounce for the first time now causes a slight screen shake. Announcer First Blood - Now properly occurs every time the first stock is lost. Graphics Vsync is now disabled by default on first launch. - We received reports recently about some setups having substantially lower frame rates when vsync is on. Given the player feedback, we believe vsync defaulting to off will give an improved gameplay experience to most new players on average while we investigate vsync issues. Menus Options Gameplay - Stage backgrounds are now togglable. - If youre having trouble running the game smoothly online or offline, setting this option to "off" should improve performance on lower end hardware. Consider using this option while we work on other optimizations. Sound - Master volume slider added. Online Rollback Stress Test - Fail rating now also suggests turning off backgrounds. Fonts Munro - Adjusted the letter "J" to not look like a left-facing parenthesis. Playable Characters CommanderVideo General - Hurtboxes tightened on neutral special, up special and ledge roll. CPU - Now holds side special until reaching the desired target instead of instantly releasing it. Side Special - Tapping the input now always plays through one frame of the active hitbox. Previously, tapping the input would go straight from startup to endlag without a hitbox ever coming out. Octodad General - Hurtboxes tightened on double jump, crouch, forward tilt, special side air, special up throw, all airdashes, ledge climb and ledge roll. - Corrected colors on ledge roll and airdash forward up. - Frame positioning corrected on airdash back down. - Frame timing adjusted on double jump and ledge get up. Orcane General - Hurtboxes tightened on up tilt, forward tilt, down tilt, crash bounce, crash get up, crash roll, crash attack and ledge attack. Hurt Medium - Adjusted animation length to match the rest of the cast (did not affect hitstun duration). Crash Get Up - Frame timing slightly adjusted. The Watcher General - Hurtboxes tightened on spot dodge and back throw. - Hurtboxes now display their proper color in Training Mode. Hurt Lights - Adjusted animation length to match the rest of the cast (did not affect hitstun duration). . Neutral Air - Weak hitbox stats now properly apply to the second hitbox. Down Tilt - Fixed incorrect colors on pixel art. Grab - Fixed incorrect colors on pixel art. Back Throw - Back layer of ribbons realigned. Welltaro Ammo Meter UI - No longer bounces when Welltaro restores bullets by hitting an opponent. Now only bounces on land. Hurt Lights - Adjusted animation length to match the rest of the cast (did not affect hitstun duration). . Ultra Fishbunjin 3000 General - Hurtboxes tightened on crouch. Forward Tilt - Hitboxes tightened. Forward Strong - Hitboxes tightened. Neutral Special - No longer plays a random effect. - This was potentially a sneaky source of desyncs - please test and let us know if you notice fewer desyncs, particularly in the Fishbunjin vs Orcane matchup. - Hitbox reaches slightly further downward. - Aerial versions hitbox now matches the grounded version. Crash Attack - Hitboxes tightened. Crash Roll - Pixel art adjusted. - Frame timing slightly adjusted. Assists The Silent Now restores poison when you hit an enemy with projectiles and assists. Custom Content Bug Fixes Fixed bug where attempting to set string stats to a null value via any one of their updating methods wouldn't work (e.g. setting "nextAnimation" to "null" for a character animation would have had no effect). New bodyStatusShaderColor stat Introduced new bodyStatusShaderColor animation stat for game objects. This allows the new armor color feature to use a custom color or be turned off on a per move basis. (See https://github.com/Fraymakers/fraymakers-api-docs/blob/main/docs/classes/CharacterAnimationStats.md) Character Template v0.2.4 https://github.com/Fraymakers/character-template/releases/tag/0.2.4 Side Special Added a commented out bodyStatusShaderColor to an alternate Side Special in animation stats demonstrating how to turn off the color. Fraymakers Api Types Plugin v0.3.5 https://github.com/Fraymakers/api-types-plugin/releases/tag/0.3.5 Note: Changes with a in front resulted from suggestions by our community!