PolCompBrawlers: State and Revolution Update

Greetings comrades. 

After 1 whole year since the previous update, it is my pleasure to present the biggest PolCompBrawlers update yet! 

New Features:

A new fighter representing the Authleft:

The bourgeoisie-toppling hero of the proletariat: Commie, is now a playable character! I've attempted to convey the ideology and historical references to the best of my ability. Here are some of my favourites:

Commie uses his trusty copy of the Communist Manifesto for a 3-hit jab! The third hit can be used to change directions, chasing the opponent in case they switch sides.

Commie's dash attack is slow, difficult to hit, but heavy in knockback. The manouvre sort of resembles the assassination of a certain revolutionary figure...

Another slow but impactful attack, Commie wields the industrial worker's hammer for his forward smash! As a side effect, the opponent is silenced (indicated by an exclamation mark next to them), temporarily disabling the opponent's ability to attack

Commie's down special slowly constructs a marvel of leftist engineering and economic policy when given enough time - the T34 tank! You won't often land one of these especially in PvP battles, but when you do, it'll always be a highlight in any session!

This is just a little taste of Commie's moveset. I hope you enjoy exploring and picking up the rest!

Reworking Apolitical:

It is no secret that Apolitical's side special was broken and overpowered, while his down special facilitated it even further. Hence, Apolitical's side and down specials have been reworked, with the intention of adding substance and creativity to Apolitical's moveset:

- Apolitical's side special is no longer physically interactable. Instead, it captures an opponent and launches them vertically upwards. I've personally found linking this attack to air-based attacks pretty fun.

- While the 3 stage-mechanic still remains, down special is also no longer physically interactable (besides the semi permeable platform on the top of the grill) When moving downwards, it becomes a moving aoe hitbox, which can be used as a gimp or zoning tool (to name a few ideas)

These changes should hopefully make Apolitical more skillful and fun to play with and against!

Lastly, Demarchy has also been added to the game! Well, not really, but he can randomly pick a character for you. Stages can also now be randomly selected.

Stages:

Settle the score on Worker's Internationale - a stage that rotates between 4 major regions on socialist soil: the USSR, China, North Korea and Cuba! Fight on the hallowed roof of the Kremlin, by the majestic Tiananmen square, near the glorious Monument to Party Founding, and in front of the highly esteemed Palace of the Revolution! Naturally, some of your favourite ideological variants have congregated around here. 

Quality of Life Improvements:

To round off the update, I've committed to making the gameplay feel more like a legitimate fighting game, while making the experience more intuitive. In a nutshell, I've implemented features where I previously cut corners (ex. VFX , SFX, proper respawning procedure), and reworking the Posthumanist AI to become more dynamic with its decision making. Here is the rest of the list if you're interested:

- Adjusted Ancom's menu and HUD graphics 

- Uptilts in characters now lock movement

- Shield colour changes based on player

- Grab attacks are more seamless

- Implemented a weight variable for each character that is factored into knockback calculations

- Grabbing duration depends percentage

- Smash attack knockback depends on charge duration

- Made posthumanist option easier to find 

- Crouching changes the character's hitbox

- An active fighter's hitbox can only hit an opponent once

Closing thoughts:

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone thus far who has viewed and played the game for their continued support despite the 1-year drought! 

My eyes are set on finally offering the full-compass experience as initially envisioned - there is 1 more important character to implement, and more work to do regarding the fighting system itself, whose limitations are  starting to show.

In other words, this is just the beginning: GET EXCITED!!