Kickstarter Update 18: Melee Combat System and PayPal!

13/11 - 2015

Hello and welcome to our eighteenth Kickstarter update!

Melee Combat System and PayPal!

Welcome to another War of Rights Kickstarter update! This time we’re going to be talking about the melee system for the game and what we have planned for the different implementation phases.

But before we get started with today’s update, we wanted to talk about something we’ve been asked a lot about. Now that the Kickstarter has reached its funding goal and that we’re in the final run to the end of our campaign, we wanted to announce that we’ll also be taking pledges on our website with PayPal! This is basically extension of this Kickstarter campaign so that we can aim at securing extra funds from backers who don’t have a credit card or who didn’t get a chance to pledge while the Kickstarter was live.

For a short period of time, the same amounts will be considered for each reward tier for people to pledge their support for War of Rights, but after said window of opportunity the amounts required to pledge for each reward tier will go up, and some of the tiers might be removed all together. So if you know someone who couldn’t pledge to the Kickstarter, please share the link to our PayPal page so that we can hit more stretch goals!

Melee Combat

By the time the American Civil War took place, melee engagements weren’t as usual as in other wars. The soldiers might have fought using classic Napoleonic tactics, but the weaponry used was very much new, powerful and deadly. The transition of rifles replacing the smoothbore muskets greatly upped the accuracy as well as the deadly range of the weapons. This often meant that the fighting soldiers would never even get close to the enemy when performing valiant bayonet charges towards a defending enemy. That being said, there certainly were instances of melee brawls that broke out during the war and this is why we’ll have melee combat in War of Rights. However, a melee charge should be the last resort in order to try and breaking past the enemy - it is highly unadvised to try to rout an organized unit!

Initial Melee System

The initial melee system will be a simplified one. It is much easier for us to start with a simple system and then add as well as tweak features accordingly based on player feedback as well as on the general behavior during the closed and open test phases.

Players will either be able to swing their rifle, should they have no bayonet, or stab with a bayonet when attached. Bayonets can be ordered to be fixed by commanding officers. When defending against a bayonet thrust the player must time his move in order to parry accordingly (effectively hitting the forward going rifle and bayonet and thus messing up the attack direction) as well as position his body accordingly, making sure he’s indeed facing the attacker. The amount of time between a first move and being able to perform another stab or parry is controlled by several factors such as having a wounded arm or reduced stamina. Each performed stab or parry will also reduce the stamina of the soldier by a certain amount.

We have several melee-related ideas and wishes that we’re going to be trying out little by little as we expand upon the initial melee system. Some of these include:

• Different attack angles, allowing players to tactically choose from which angle to attack or parry.

• A Counter attack option that will allow the players to choose to gamble before an attack. If parried at just the right time the player will get an opening for a counter attack, if not exactly parried the player will be off balance and give the opponent another opening for a second attack.

• Crazed berserk mode: If the player manages to kill several enemies in melee there is a chance that he’ll enter a trance state where everything but his immediate vicinity is out of focus while his stamina regeneration - as well as total stamina amount - greatly increases, upping the amount of times he can perform melee actions and sprints.

This is what we’re planning for the stages of development for melee combat. Let us know what you think in the comments below!