Hello everyone!

Time for devlog #2 (you can catch the devlog #1 here).

Firstly, apologies for the silence since the last update, whether it was here, or on Twitter. I've been working solely on combat and combat AI for the past months, and it took way longer than I anticipated as I was constantly running into issues and setbacks. AI is hard - very hard.

Alright, enough about that, lets get into the meaty details!

So, combat in Corpus Edax is solely melee based with objects that you'll be able to pick-up throughout the world. Imagine if Condemned and Deus Ex had a baby, but Condemned was actually having an affair and the true father was Dark Messiah: Of Might and Magic. Or, at least that's what I'm trying to go for.

Player Combat

As the player, you'll be able to attack with punches, kicks, elbows and knees.  Don't forget though, this is an RPG, and this character has the Combat skill at 100 (max level), so I can string some very powerful combos and use special moves that will knock and throw NPCs around for some massive damage.

Don't worry, if you don't want take the Combat route and not level up that skill, you can still come out on top if you level up your Technique skill. This is used to determine your proficiency with grabbed objects. It determines your throwing accuracy, your throwing force and how fast objects are grabbed.

This character also has the Technique skill at 100, so I can very easily manipulate the objects I grab. In this instance, I set up a trap and threw this NPC off the platform.

With a high enough Combat skill, you can unlock this deadly knee move that throws NPCs off their feet.

AI Combat

For AI I'll have to refer to my Twitter thread as I don't want to fill this devlog to be super GIF heavy.

NPCs will have different moves, this one in particular can only throw a couple of punches and kicks. They don't know how to block attacks yet, either.

I wanted the AI to be reactive and fun to fight - they can dodge, grab objects and throw them at you. Not only that, some of the Security Watchdogs will be equally as agile as you if you level up your Athletics and they'll be able to follow you and jump around just as you do.  If they can't quite reach you, they'll start throwing stones at you (thanks Dishonored), while taunting you to come down.

Some of the NPCs won't be as keen at throwing their life away in combat though, and if they feel they're about to die, they can surrender and will stop attacking you, resuming whatever activity they were doing before. Up to you what you do next, finish them off or leave them be.

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So that's it for now, I'm still working on AI and combat and I believe I'll keep doing so for the rest of the month.

My priority right now is ensuring combat against AI is fun, and honestly, I've had some pretty funny and fun moments already so I'll trust my gut instinct that I'm on the right path!

Share your thoughts below if you want, I read everything.